All Classes

Watch the full class here

Watch full class here

Watch full class here

This women's class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bereishis, 25 Tishrei, 5784, October 10, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The class took place three days after Hamas breached the fence and attacked Jewish towns near Gaza, on Shabbos morning, Simchas Torah, 5784, October 7, 2023. 1300 Jews were murdered, thousands were wounded, and more than 100 were taken as hostages to Gaza.

Watch full class here

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, 11 Tishrei, 5784, September 26, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

Sukkos is called the “Festival of Joy”, but what exactly is so joyful about it? The other major holidays are named after their very essences: Passover is the “Festival of Our Redemption,” and Shavuot is the “Festival of the Giving of Our Torah.” What’s the deep connection between joy and Sukkot?

And how can we understand the mystery of the four plants we shake on Sukkos? If someone unfamiliar with our tradition were to stop you today walking down the street with your four species and say, what are you holding in your hand? You would say: “This is my ritual bouquet!” Then they ask: What do you do with it? “Well, we shake it.” Hu?

What is more, the Torah states that when you take these four plants, “you shall rejoice before your G-d seven days.” Why? How does holding on and shaking these four plants generate happiness?

Who was the first person to take a fruit from a beautiful tree? Of course, Eve and Adam. What fruit was it? The Midrash says: the Esrog. It would appear that on Sukkos we are repeating the same story: we are again taking the Esrog off the tree, but this time around, we take it, shake it, swing it, but don’t eat it. It is almost like G-d is telling us, I want you to do this over again.

In the case of Adam and Eve, they were cursed with sadness. This time around we are blessed with joy. Also, after Adam and Eve eat the fruit they feel like they have to hide from G-d. On Sukkos, when we take the fruit, we “rejoice in the presence of G-d.” What is going on here?  

The class (based on this wonderful class by Rabbi Ami Silver: https://www.alephbeta.org/playlist/arbaminim) provides us with a deep reflection on how Sukkos and the Four Species can help us calm our nervous system, reorients our brains, change our paradigms, and ease up the tension in our life, by going away from dissociation to connection. The Sukkah is the virtual “Garden of Eden,” and the four plants allow us to repair what happened millennia ago in the original Garden of Eden, once again reclaiming the joy and ecstasy of life.

The story of the raffle that happened in the IDF captures the timeless unity of our people who were chosen to unite the entire world under the sovereignty of Hashem.

Does Yom Kippur Cause You Anxiety? - Live Blunt conversation with Rabbi YY, Motzai Shabbos, Parshas Haazinu, September 23, 2023.

This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Haazinu, 4 Tishrei, 5784, September 19, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

Rabbi YY Jacobson presented this class  presented on Thursday, 28 Elul, 5783, September 14, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

This is part two of a text-based class in a Sicha, a public address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, presented on Shabbos Parshas Nitzavim-Vayeilech, 23 Elul, 5749 (September 23, 1989), published in Sefer Hasichos 5749 vol. 2, exploring the true meaning of not blowing shofar when Rosh Hashanah coincides with Shabbos.
 
How is it possible that we don’t coronate G-d as King when Rosh Hashanah is Shabbos?
 
The Rebbe explores three states of Bitul—of alignment with the Divine oneness.  The first is the way it can be experienced on Rosh Hashanah during the weekdays; the second is the experience of Shabbos Rosh Hashanah, and finally, the experience in the Beis Hamikdash, where they blew shofar even on Shabbos.

The first level is about surrender of self; the second, deeper level, is the complete fusion of self with Divine oneness, without any act of surrender, thus not blowing the shofar is far deeper than blowing the shofar. Then there is the third state, when nothing needs to be negated, not even a sense of identity and self. That is why in the Beis Hamikdash we did blow shofar on Shabbos Rosh Hashanah.

There is you. There is no you. And there is the space where “you” need not be negated, so that you can be you. Transcendence and infinity can also be a trap, and don’t capture the ultimate reality. Whenever we negate something, “He is not finite,” “I am not my ego,” we are still defined by it, albeit in a negative way. In the ultimate truth, the self is not a contradiction to oneness.

This class was presented on Tuesday, 26 Elul, 5783, September 12, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.