All Classes

An excerpt of Talkline With Zev Brenner- Are Neturei Karta Jews? Rabbi YY Jacobson & Jake Turx Senior White House correspondent of Ami Magazine discuss and debate how we should relate to the small number of members of our community that belong to the anti-Israel group that supports Hamas and other enemies of the Jewish people.

The "My Israel Narrative Podcast" Interviews Rabbi YY About Hamas Israel War on Dec 25, 2023, 13 Teves, 5784

For the Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@myisraelnarrative

This is the third of a series of a text-based class on the Chassidic discourse, Basi Legani 5724 (1964), which was said by the Lubavitcher Rebbe 60 years ago at the Farbrengen of Motzei Shabbos Beshalach, 11 Shevat, 5724, January 25, 1964. Rabbi YY Jacobson gave this class on Monday, 27 Teves, 5784, January 8, 2024, in Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY.

This is the second of a series of a text-based class on the Chassidic discourse, Basi Legani 5724 (1964), which was said by the Lubavitcher Rebbe 60 years ago at the Farbrengen of Motzei Shabbos Beshalach, 11 Shevat, 5724, January 25, 1964. Rabbi YY Jacobson gave this class on Thursday, 23 Teves, 5784, January 4, 2024, in Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY.

The theme of the second class of the maamar is the deepest Divine treasures that are given to the soldiers in order to be victorious in the battle of history, to defeat hate with love, fragmentation with oneness. During faceoff with the enemy who wants to destroy the good and love in the world, the deepest chord of “netzach,” the power of the soul to triumph against diversity emerges. The class explores what are those deepest spiritual Divine “Crown Jewels,” by introducing the teaching of the Zohar that the infinite Divine light extends down to the lowest of the low.

This is an excerpt of the Women's class on Tuesday, Parshas Shemos, 21 Tevet, 5784, January 2, 2024.

Einav Efrat Danino, mother of Ori, 24, who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7th 2023, attended the class and delivered a life-changing message of resilience and faith in the face of the unfathomable.

This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Shemos, 21 Tevet, 5784, January 2, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

Why Moshe? Why was he chosen as the first and greatest Jewish leader, teacher, and prophet? The Torah does not provide an explicit reason. But it does give us a clue.

Often people ask me why the Torah focuses so much on men. The question is strange, because in Genesis, almost every important history-changing decision is made by a woman. And in Shemos, it is six women who are responsible for the entire story of the Egyptian Exodus: Shifra, Puah, Yocheved, Miriam, Pharaoh’s daughter Batya, and Tziporah.

These six extraordinary people refused to bow their heads to the inevitable; they are giants in the story of mankind and in the story of the Jewish people. They were also, it seems, the role models who molded, crafted, and mentored Moses; they taught him how to live, how to think, how to act. The three stories the Torah shares about Moses, which made him the man suitable to be the greatest leader ever, are essentially all stories inspired by these women who impacted his life, who—like our mothers, wives and daughters to this very day—helped him become the person who would change history forever.

The class concludes with a life-changing message by Einav Efrat Danino, the mother of Ori, 24, who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7th 2023, may we see his redemption, and the redemption of all the hostages, very soon.

This is the first of a series of a text-based class on a Chassidic discourse, Maamar Basi Legani 5724 (1964), which was said by the Lubavitcher Rebbe 60 years ago at the Farbrengen of Motzei Shabbos Beshalach, 11 Shevat, 5724, January 25, 1964. Rabbi YY Jacobson gave this class on Monday, 20 Teves, 5784, January 1, 2024, in Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY.

The theme of the first class of the maamar is how we are charged with the work of fusing all part of our life and our world with the Divine truth, and how we repair the insanity of our dark reality only with holy "insanity," transcending our intellect. This is why the Jewish people are called “the army of Hashem,” because the soldier going to battle must transcend every last vestige of ego and calculations, committed unwaveringly with every fiber of his being to the mission of victory. The class explored the war between Hamas and Israel and the extraordinary sacrifice of the Jewish soldiers waging battle against Jihad; and how we can only defeat Jihad not through rationality, but through the unbridled passion of the Jewish soul.

The class explains the power of “enlightened ignorance,” which allows one to be a conduit for infinity, and the difference between a cult and transcendence. One if afraid of the mind, the other has graduated and seeks that which rationality can’t define or control.

Is Hakaras Hatov a halachic requirement, or just a nice thing to do?

Rabbi YY Jacobson addresses these questions on the Halacha Headlines podcast Hosted by Rabbi Ari Wasserman, on Motzei Shabbos Parshas Vayechi, 18 Teves. 5784, Dec. 30, 2023

This is an excerpt of the podcast. The full podcast also includes Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb – Rabbi in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Director of Tzalash https://tzalash.org/ 

This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Vayechi, 14 Tevet, 5784, December 26, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

On his deathbed, Jacob speaks to Joseph: “A charming son is Joseph, a son charming to the eye; the women strode along to see him. They made his life bitter, and they quarreled with him; archers despised him.” Rashi explains: “The women of Egypt strode out on the wall to gaze upon his beauty." 

What is Jacob trying to bring out? Literally, that Joseph’s beauty was dazzling. Not only was he appealing to any eye that saw him, but even the Egyptian women were enthralled by his figure. They ascended the walls and fortresses of Egypt to be able to gaze at him. But why is this relevant on the deathbed of Jacob?

For this we have to understand what was at the root of this conflict in the first family of Israel. Could it be that a multicolored coat or a favorite son’s share of his father’s affections should generate such profound strife? 

Something deeper was at stake. Joseph and Judah embodied two divergent worldviews. They possessed different approaches on the meaning of Judaism, which was just beginning to bud, and how we achieve a state of transcendent oneness.

There is a remarkable law in Talmud: While when the Temple existed in Jerusalem, you could only eat the meat of the sacrifices within the Jerusalem walls, when the Tabernacle stood in Shilo, in Joseph’s territory, you could eat the meat of the offerings as far as the eye could behold the Tabernacle. This law captures the magic and revolution of Joseph, which we must emulate today.

We explore the unique role of women in gazing at Joseph and the power of the woman to reveal Divine oneness within the material fragmented reality. The class explains how our daily lives must integrate the visions of Judah and Joseph, so that even as our thoughts can pull us in all directions, we remain anchored in the "solar core."