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Why would Rivka, one of the great matriarchs of the Jewish people, instruct her beloved son Yaakov to deceive his father Yitzchak? Did she really believe that Yitzchak would not recognize the difference between his two sons? In this fascinating women's class on Parshas Toldos, we explore an extraordinary interpretation presented by Rabbi David Fohrman, suggesting that Rivka's intentions were far deeper than they initially appear. Perhaps Rivka was not asking Yaakov to become Esav, but rather challenging him to discover something about himself that he had never recognized. Yaakov was gentle, spiritual, introspective, a dweller of tents. Esav was bold, aggressive, confident, a man of action. But Rivka understood that Yaakov could not fulfill his extraordinary destiny if he remained confined to only one dimension of his personality. He needed to discover that within his own soul lay the courage, assertiveness, strength, and capacity to engage the world that he associated with his brother. The goal was not to abandon his authentic self, but to uncover its full depth and power. And this brings us to one of the most haunting and transformative questions in the entire Torah: "מִי אַתָּה בְּנִי?" — "Who are you, my son?" This is not merely Yitzchak's question to Yaakov. It is the question life asks every single one of us. Who are you, my daughter? Beneath your fears, defenses, insecurities, expectations, wounds, and the identities you developed to survive, who are you really? Every journey we travel, every relationship we encounter, every disappointment, every betrayal, every triumph, and every moment of confusion can become part of a sacred process of discovery. Sometimes life challenges us precisely because we have become identified with only a fragment of ourselves. We think we know who we are, but Hashem sees infinitely more. Our struggles may be calling forth dimensions of our soul that have remained dormant for decades. The purpose of our journey is not to become somebody else. It is to finally discover the person we have always been, in the deepest recesses of our being. Perhaps the most important question we can ever answer is not "What have I accomplished?" or "What have I endured?" but "Who am I, really?"

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, Parshas Toldos, 30 Cheshvan, 5787, November 10, 2026.

This Chabad Chassidic discource is the ultimate manual for healing trauma, addiction, and emotional pain.

This is the first of a series of classes on the Maamar (discourse) Yafeh Sha'ah Achas (מאמר יפה שעה אחת) by the Miteler Rebbe, published in Maamarei Admur Haemtzarei (מאמרי אדמו"ר האמצעי קונטריסים). 

The class by Rabbi YY Jacobson was presented on Monday, Parshas Toldos, 29 Cheshvan, 5787, November 9, 2026.

This class is the second and final in a series on the Maamar Yegaleh Lan Taamei, presented by the Alter Rebbe on Shabbos Tetzaveh, 5567 (1807), published in Torah Or Parshas Chayei Sarah.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Thursday, Parshas Chaye Sarah, 25 Cheshvan, 5787, November 5, 2026.

The heartbreaking regrets of the dying reveal an uncomfortable truth: We spend our lives seeking approval, hiding our authentic selves, and forgetting why we came into this world. Abraham and Sarah offer another way.

G-d promised him a nation, a homeland, and an extraordinary future. At 137, he had no grandchildren and not even a burial plot. Yet he was blessed with everything. What did Abraham understand that we are missing?

Why is a Torah portion about death called Chayei Sarah, the Life of Sarah? Because Abraham and Sarah reveal the secret of a meaningful existence: Live authentically, embrace your divine mission, stop chasing approval, and discover the serenity that comes from knowing why you are alive.

This life-changing class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, Parshas Chayei Sarah, 23 Cheshvan, 5787, November 3, 2026.

This class is the first in a series on the Maamar Yegaleh Lan Taamei, presented by the Alter Rebbe on Shabbos Tetzaveh, 5567 (1807), published in Torah Or Chayei Sarah. The class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Monday, Parshas Chayei Sarah. 22 Cheshvan, 5787, November 2, 2026.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on 18 Cheshvan, 5787, October 29, 2026.

This class is the fifth and final one in a series on the Maamar Mayim Rabim, said by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Motzei Shabbos Parshas Noach, 3 Cheshvan, 5738, October 15, 1977, in his room.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on 17 Cheshvan, 5787, October 28, 2026.

When Hagar is dying of thirst beside her dying son, the Torah does not say that G-d created a well or sent an angel with water. It says something far more startling: vayifkach Elokim et eineha — "G-d opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water." The water was already there. The salvation was already within reach. She was weeping over the absence of something that was fully present — she simply could not see it. Building on the Chiddushei HaRim (quoted by the Sfas Emes) — that everything a person needs already stands before him, if only he would open his eyes to see it — this class explores the quiet miracle that is harder than any splitting of the sea: not G-d changing our reality, but G-d changing the way we see the reality we already have. From Helen Keller's awakening at a water pump, to Otto Frank discovering the inner world of a daughter he thought he knew, we confront how even profound love can fail to truly see the human being standing in front of us.

The class then turns inward through one of the strangest stories in the Talmud (Taanis 20b): Rabbi Elazar, flush with Torah and pride, insults an "exceedingly ugly" man — who, the Tosafos tell us, may have been Elijah himself, and who, on a deeper level, may have been Rabbi Elazar's own soul confronting his own ego. "Go tell the Craftsman who made me how ugly is the vessel He fashioned." We learn that the soul has no shame — only the ego does; that to call ourselves ugly or worthless is to speak against the One who created us; and that real growth comes not from self-contempt but from self-respect, from seeing ourselves as we were before the trauma and before the shame. We meet people only as deeply as we meet ourselves. The same open eyes that let Hagar see the well let us finally see our spouse, our parents, our children — and ourselves. The well is already there. Our work is to open our eyes.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, Parshas Vayeira, 16 Cheshvan, 5787, October 27, 2026.

This class is the fourth in a series on the Maamar Mayim Rabim, said by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Motzei Shabbos Parshas Noach, 3 Cheshvan, 5738, October 15, 1977, in his room.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on 11 Cheshvan, 5787, October 22, 2026, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.