JEM Launches Revolutionary Face Recognition Feature

Thirty years since Gimmel Tammuz, the most precious gift one can receive is a living memory of a personal moment with the Rebbe. Hundreds of thousands of people were fortunate to receive a dollar from the Rebbe, partake in Kos Shel Bracha, or engage in one of the numerous other opportunities for personal interaction that were often photographed.

The joy and emotion of discovering a previously unknown snapshot of one’s personal moment is truly special. Today, JEM is launching a brand-new technology that allows unprecedented search accessibility to the half a million photos of personal interactions with the Rebbe.

JEM is proud to announce our new face recognition feature on JEM’s photo archive website, https://photos.jemedia.org/face-recognition, which allows users to upload a photo and scan our extensive archives to find similar faces. With so many photos of personal interactions with the Rebbe already on our website, the potential for discovery is immense.

Here’s how it works:

1. Find a Photo: Choose a clear photo of yourself or a family member from around the time they were with the Rebbe. The clearer the photo, the more accurate the results will be.
2. Upload the Photo at https://photos.jemedia.org/face-recognition
3. Get Results: The system will quickly scan hundreds of thousands of photos on the website and display the results that most closely match your uploaded photo.
4. Share the results with family, or order a copy of your photo via our website. Video stills are also included in this search and video encounters are available for purchase as well.

This cutting-edge feature is part of JEM’s ongoing mission to bring everyone closer to the Rebbe. Using the power of artificial intelligence we can now offer an unprecedented level of accessibility to our cherished archives, allowing users to discover personal connections to the Rebbe that they may have never known existed. 

This is a huge step forward, which the JEM tech team has been diligently working on over the past year, fine-tuning it and making it as accurate and user-friendly as possible. Although it is still a work in progress, we are excited to offer it to the public in honor of Gimmel Tammuz. 

As we launch this remarkable feature, it will be open and accessible to everyone for one month. After this period, it will become an exclusive benefit for JEM Members.

We want to be transparent about the current limitations of the face recognition feature. The number of results and the comprehensiveness of the photo database are still being improved, and you can expect updates to be rolled out in later versions. It’s not yet 100% accurate, and we cannot guarantee that you will find all possible photos. However, we are committed to continuously refining the technology and expanding our photo database.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the many individuals who worked tirelessly to make this project a reality. Special thanks to Motti Hazan and Memke Schmukler from the archive team, Levi Naki and Levik Shmotkin from the Product and Design team, Elchonon Korenblit and the entire technology team. We also express our deepest appreciation to Rabbis Elkanah Shmotkin and Mendel Gourarie for their vision and leadership.

JEM remains dedicated to sharing the Rebbe with all, and this new feature is a testament to our commitment. We are excited about the possibilities it offers and look forward to helping more people deepen their connection to the Rebbe with this feature.

Visit photos.jemedia.org/face-recognition today to experience this revolutionary feature, and uncover your personal moments with the Rebbe.