Parsha by Rabbi YY Jacobson

Women's Class -- Sefas Emes Beshalach: This weekly women's classwaspresented on Tuesday, Parshas Beshalach, 13 Shevat, 5781, January 26, 2021, live from Rabbi Jacobson's home in Monsey, NY.

Women's Class -- Sefas Emes Bo: This weekly women's classwas presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 6 Shevat, 5781, January 19, 2021, live from Rabbi Jacobson's home in Monsey, NY.

Women's Class Sefas Emes Va'era: This weekly women's class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Vaera, 28Tevet, 5781, January 12, 2021, live from Rabbi Jacobson's home in Monsey, NY.

Chassidus: Torah Ohr Lo Teheye Meshakala #5: This class was presented on Monday Parshas Terumah, 29Shevat, 5780, February 24, 2020, at the Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY

This class was presented at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY, on Sunday Parshas Vayakhel Pekudei, 21 Adar, 5777, March 19, 2017. It is a strange story. Moses seemingly distorted what G-d told him, telling the craftsman of the Sanctuary to first build the furniture and only afterward the outer structure. It was Betzalel who reminded him of the simple truth that you first build a house before you furnish it. Upon deeper reflection, this incident captures the story of our lives. Many great thinkers, writers, and artist, produced extraordinary works. Their content was great, their message potent, and their talent exceptional. What they lacked was the exterior structure for their souls lavish output. Sadly, in our world art needs a proper frame. Lacking the frame, the art may remain in its corner and melt into oblivion. The great argument between Moses and Betzalel was which came firstthe energy or the container, the vision or the structure? Moses was a visionary; Betzalel was a man of action. In conclusion, we discover, they were both right: In the world of thought and strategy, art precedes the frame; in the world of action and implementation, the frame precedes the art. In the world of light, vision takes precedence. In the world of shadows, your dreams must follow your actions, not the other way around. The class continues to explore another perspective by Reb Tzadok of Lublin. Judaism consists of two componentswhat G-d gives us and what we give G-d. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah. One is Divine; the other is filtered through human creativity. But are they really different? Depends from whose perspective.

Likkutei Sichos Terumah/The Three Weeks: This text-based class onLikkutei Sichot, vol. 21, Parshas Terumah, explains in anovel way the reason for the Rambam giving us a history lesson about the Holy Ark in his halachik work: "When King Solomon built the Holy Temple, knowing that it was destined to be destroyed, he built a place in which to hide the Ark, [at the end of] hidden, deep, winding passageways. It was there that King Josiah placed the Ark twenty-two years before the Temples destruction. The Holy Temple in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon in the year 2928 from creation (833 BCE), and was destroyed410 years later, on the ninth day of the month of Av, by the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later it was rebuilt; the second Temple stood for 420 years, until its destruction by the Romans, also on the ninth ofAv, in 3829 (69 CE). From the Rambam's words about the Ark we discover that the core of the Beis Hamikdash (the Holy Temple) was never destroyed. What is more,it means that the first, second and third Temples are not three different structures, but the continuum of a single edifice. The class also tackles the question of why we allow ourselves to make such destructive mistakes. It turns out, we are the ones who do this to ourselves, for a very healing reason.

This class, presented to women on Parshas Terumah 5768 (2008), explores a majopr debate about the Cherubs hver the Holy Ark. Foremost among the commentaries compiled by our sages on the Torah are those by Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) and Nachmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270). Rashi defines his goal by stating: I come only to explain the simple meaning of the verse. On the other hand, Nachmanides, a noted mystic and kabbalist, often uncovers a deeper stratum of significance in the Torahs words, exposing its students, as he puts it in his introduction to his commentary on Torah, to delightful things, for those who know and understand the hidden wisdom. Rashi and Nachmanides often differ in their interpretation of a particular word or verse. One example of this is their different conceptions of the kapporet and the keruvim. Rashi sees the ark and the kapporet as two different objects. The Sanctuary contained various vessels, each with a designated function (e.g., the menorah, the altars); according to Rashi the ark and the kapporet are two different vesselsit is only that the designated place of the kapporet is atop the ark. Nachmanides, on the other hand, sees the kapporet as the cover of the ark (indeed, the word kapporet means cover)as a component of the ark itself, rather than another of the Sanctuarys vessels. Another difference between the interpretations of Rashi and Nachmanides concerns the form of the keruvim. According to Rashi, these were two winged figures, each with the face of a child (a boy and a girl). Nachmanides is of the opinion that they were a representation of the celestial figures seen by the prophet Ezekiel in his vision of the divine chariot. This class explores the underlying argument behind them, and their dramatic relevance to our lives today.

Trees of Hope -- Prehistoric Cedars: Yaakovs grove: a source of lumber and comfort, in Egypt and today

What Was the Real Shape of the Menorah? - Why did the Rambam depict a different Menorah than everybody else?

An Ode to the Businessman: Sometimes being far makes you close, and being on the outside puts you inside . Studying the book of Torah Or Terumah Maamar Mi Yetencha -- Class 3 of 3