Weekly Women's Class by Rabbi YY Jacobson

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, Parshas Pinchas, 15 Tammuz 5786, June 30, 2026, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, Parshas Chukas-Balak, 8 Tammuz 5786, June 23, 2026, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

It is almost incomprehensible. G-d always gave him decisive directives. Suddenly, G-d tells Moses, I am staying out of this one. Yet astonishingly, Moses does not back off. Why? A reflection on two models of Judaism, two models of relationships, helps us appreciate when and how to trust ourselves in life. 

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, Parshas Shlach, 24 Sivan, 5786, June 9, 2026, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, 17 Sivan, 5786, June 2, 2026, Parshas Be'haloscha, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, 10 Sivan, 5786, May 26, 2026, Parshas Nasso, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

It is one of those strange, intriguing, poignant, and profound Talmudic tales. It includes such wonders as a dialogue with G-d-the-Scribe, instantaneous time travel, and the convergence of humility and self-expression in the evolution of Judaism.

When Moses ascended on High (after the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai on Shavuos), he found G-d sitting and tying crowns on the letters of the Torah. Moses said before G-d: Master of the Universe! Who is preventing You from giving the Torah without these additions? What is lacking in the words themselves that You must add crowns as well? G-d said to him: There is a man who is destined to be born after several generations—Akiva the son of Yosef is his name. He is destined to derive from each and every ‘thorn’ of these ‘crowns’ mounds upon mounds of halachos (laws). It is for his sake that the crowns must be added to the letters of the Torah. Moses said before G-d: Master of the Universe! Show him to me. G-d said to him: Turn around. Suddenly, in a classic case of “back to the future,” Moses finds himself 1600 years ahead of his day. He went and sat at the end of the eighth row in Rabbi Akiva’s study hall.

Rabbi Akiva is teaching Torah to his disciples, but Moses does not understand what they are saying. Moses’ strength waned; his energy departed from him. He was demoralized. When Rabbi Akiva arrived at the discussion of a particular exposition, his students asked him: Master! From where do you derive this? Rabbi Akiva said to them: It is a halacha, a law, transmitted to Moses from Sinai. When Moses heard this, his mind was put at ease.

The entire story seems absurd. For starters, how could Moses not comprehend the lecture of Rabbi Akiva? Moses studied on Mt. Sinai for forty days at the “feet” of the best teacher of all time, G-d Himself.

What is even stranger is Moses’ response. When he fails to understand, his strength wanes; his energy is deflated. But then, when Reb Akiva quotes him, his mind is put at ease… Was Moshe’s ego first shattered by his lack of understanding and then placated by hearing his name quoted? What happened to the legendary humility of Moses?

It was at the Farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Shemini, 26 Nissan, 5726, April 16, 1966, when the Lubavitcher Rebbe offered a most powerful and extraordinary explanation of this Talmudic narrative.

The sermon takes on a fascinating journey through the Mesorah of Judaism, from master to student. We enter with Moses into the study hall of Reb Akiva, and we discover the great revolutionary composing unsurpassed symphonies of Torah wisdom. 

This powerful and life-changing women's Lag Baomer class, on why we shoot arrows on Lag Baomer, was presented on Tuesday, Lag Baomer, 5786, May 5, 2026. 

It is a most perplexing and fascinating story—Hagar and Yishmael—and it is read every Rosh Hashanah. 

Did you notice a very strange expression? As she walks away from her thirsty child, not to be with him at his moment of distress and not see his death, the Torah says, she sits down at a distance, “a bowshot away.” It is the only time such an expression is used in Tanach. What is it supposed to mean and symbolize? It could have just said, “she sat at a far distance”?!

And then a few verses later, we come back to the bow. Yishmael, her son, becomes an archer, “the master of the bow.” What’s the significance of this detail? He may have also taken on pickleball or yoga. Why is this important?

There is a profound message here, and it will teach you about our world today more than any website, newspaper, or book in the world. It will also teach us our mission today during turbulent times.

There are three ways to respond to tension, pressure, and anxiety. The Hagar away: You look away, or you run away. The Yishmael way: You become the master of tension, making the world panic as you smile.

Today we want to discover a third way. This is the Jewish way, and it’s the Jewish secret. We are the “masters of the arrow.” The secret of the arrow is: The deeper the tension, the more you apply the pressure, the further it strikes, with more impact and intensity. We are the Divine arrows of history. The more tension we experience, our “arrows,” our force and light, soar and reach the greatest of distances with the deepest might and power.

The story of Jacob, David, Joseph, Moses, and Esther—captures the powerful secret of Jewish history. Reb Akiva taught us how to take the bow of Yishmael and transform it into transformative growth, becoming G-d's arrows to transform the world from darkness to light, from exile to redemption.

This class, exploring the perplexing and disturbing story of the Blasphemer who was stoned to death, was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, Parshas Emor, 11 Iyar, 5786, April 28, 2026, The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

This class, exploring the three phases of emotional healing according to the Baal Shem Tov, was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, 4 Iyar, 5786, April 21, 2026, Parshas Achrei - Kedoshim, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

How do you know when to trust the person giving you advice? How do you know to trust your own advice? Three steps we each need to engage in in our work of healing: Surrender, unblending, and sweetening.

This is why Hashem tells the first Jew: Leave your earthiness and ego (surrender), your birth template (unblending), and your anger (sweetening). These are also the three stages in our annual calendar of Pesach (surredner), counting of the Omer (unblending), and Shavuos (sweetening). 

This class, exploring the deeper meaning of passing through the sea after leaving Egypt, was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, 6 Nissan, 5786, March 24, 2026, Parshas Tzav, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY.

Why do we say "Dayanu" if G-d would have split the sea but not taken us through it? How would that help anyone? A profound explanation of living in two states of consciousness simultaneously, in the state of infinite oneness, and in the state of a fragmented ego, represented by the sea vs. the dryland.

We tell the story of Raba bar bar Chana, who went to BBQ on an island, which turned out to be a whale, and turned over on him. Living in times when G-d is expediting consciousness, many of us are falling apart. It is time to let go! Just let it all go. 

As the sea splits in our lives, and we experience ego-death, some of us come to life; some of us perish. The death of the Egyptians by the sea came from the very experience that saved the Jews. When oneness is revealed, some parts of us live; others wither away.