This class, the first of a series in the Maamar Zos Chukas HaTorah, Likkutei Torah Chukas, was presented on Thursday, 28 Sivan, 5784, Parshas Korach, July 4, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

This class was presented on Tuesday, 26 Sivan, 5784, Parshas Korach, July 2, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

This class was presented on Thursday, 21 Sivan, 5784, Parshas Shlach, June 27, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

This class was presented on Tuesday, 19 Sivan, 5784, Parshas Shlach, June 25, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

This text-based class on Likkutei Sichos vol. 23 Shlach was presented on Monday, 18 Sivan, 5784, Parshas Shlach, June 24, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

Something very disturbing emerges during the story of the spies. When G-d tells Moses He will annihilate the entire nation, Moshe argues that this will cause the Egyptians to claim that G-d was incapable of bringing the people into the Promised Land. Could Moses not find any other rationale to influence G-d not to annihilate an entire nation of some three million people, men, women, and children, save the fact that it won’t look good for the neighbors?!

Moshe should have said: “These are Your creatures, which you created. These are Your children, Your nation, which You have taken out of Egypt and chosen as Your people! Have compassion for them!” This is exactly what he said at a previous disaster when the nation constructed the Golden Calf, and G-d wanted to annihilate them.

At the Fabrengen of Shabbos Parshas Shlach 5740 (1980), published in Likkutei Sichos vol. 23 Shlach, the Lubavitcher Rebbe offered a paradigm shift in understanding rewards and punishments in the Torah.

Just as many young people who are not religious become Orthodox, so do many young Orthodox Jews leave Orthodox practice behind. Colloquially, this is often called being “off the derech” - that is, off “the” way of traditional Torah practice.

The phenomenon of Orthodox Jews becoming less classically religious is real, and it’s important to think about why it happens. Is it simply a question of disbelief or doubt regarding dogma? Are there other reasons that we, as parents and educators, should take into account? In what ways are our educational methods to blame, how can we work to reform those problems, and can we fix the well-meaning but mistaken messages that may have been imparted to our children? What can we learn from those who leave Orthodoxy, and do we have a responsibility to try to convince them to come back? How can parents of children who are not shomrei Shabbat avoid the sense of failure, or a belief that their kids have rejected them and everything that they believe? On the other hand, if children seem well-rooted in an Orthodox belief system, is there any reason for concern when they attend secular college or the Israeli army?

In order to address these questions, Scott was honored to speak to Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson on this episode of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast

This class was presented on Monday, 4 Sivan, 5784, June 10, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. This is a text based class on Likkutei Sichos Vol. 18 Shavuos, an address presented by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Shavuos 5737, May 24, 1977.

Shavuos is linked to three gigantic persons in Jewish history—who all embodied, more than anyone else in Jewish history, royalty and aristocracy. Moses, David and the Baal Shem Tov.

And all of them gleaned this royal energy from Shavuos—the day of the giving of the Torah, when G-d declared: “You shall become for Me a kingdom of princess and a holy people.” Torah turned the Jews into royals. The Jew is no longer just a citizen of the world; the Jew is not anymore only a victim of nature and its fluctuations. The Jew is an ambassador of the Almighty, a carrier of Divinity, a representative of infinity. He or she is not chained down by the shackles of a vast, scary world. He is a king. She is a queen. He looks at the world and knows that it was all created, as Rashi says in the opening of the Torah, “for the Torah and the Jewish people.” 

Yet Moses, David, and the Baal Shem Tov lived in three very distinct generations. It is easy to feel like a king when you are in a desert eating manna, surrounded by clouds of glory. It is also possible to feel like a king when you are living in your own homeland with a powerful leader who defeated all of his enemies. But it was the Baal Shem Tov who taught Jews how to live as kings in the depths of the dark and bitter exile. How?

Amazing & Inspiring Kids Program with Stories, Science, Davening, Learning, and Live Q & A with Rabbi YY. Ask any question here or text or Whatsapp (718) 977-5279. 

This class was presented on Thursday, Parshas Bamidbar, 29 Iyar, 5784, June 6, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

This class was presented on Wednesday, Parshas Bamidbar, 28 Iyar, 5784, June 5, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.