The Forgotten Souls

I am truly looking forward to tonight's class, what a title! And thank you David and Eda, G-d bless you for this tremendous work.

I'm so excited that this is being offered...for myself and my freinds who haven't had the opportunity to hear you speak and learn from you in person. Thank you!!!

for selfless people like you you Uplift a whole nation from this deep darkness at liest for the time of the lecture

Please note that the curriculum includes G-d's name and should not be discarded!!!

It's late here, so i'll watch the rest later, but thanks for doing this.

How could Rabbi Akiva's students die from lack of Ahavas Chinam

"Rabbi Akiva taught that "Love your fellow as yourself is a cardinal principle in Torah"; indeed, this is the most famous of his teachings. One would therefore expect that Rabbi Akivas disciples would be the foremost exemplars of this principle. How was it that they, of all people, were deficient in this area? But their very diligence in fulfilling the precept "Love your fellow as yourself" was their undoing. Our sages have said that "Just as every person's face differs from the faces of his fellows, so, too, every person's mind differs from the minds of his fellows." When the twenty-four-thousand disciples of Rabbi Akiva studied their master's teachings, the result was twenty-four-thousand nuances of understanding, as the same concepts were assimilated by twenty-four-thousand minds -- each unique and distinct from its 23,999 fellows. Had Rabbi Akiva's students loved each other less, this would have been a matter of minor concern; but because each disciple loved his fellows as he loved himself, he felt compelled to correct their erroneous thinking and behavior, and to enlighten them as to the true meaning of their master's words. For the same reason, they found themselves incapable of expressing a hypocritical respect for each others' views when they sincerely believed that the others' understanding was lacking, even in the slightest degree. The greater a person is, the higher are the standards by which he is judged; in the words of our sages, "With the righteous, G-d is exacting to a hairsbreadth." Thus, what for people of our caliber would be considered a minor failing had such a devastating effect upon the disciples of Rabbi Akiva." (http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2895/jewish/24000-Plus-One.htm)

i am so impressed with the Technical expertise that goes into this Weekly Avoda. within just 2 hours the MP3 file of the March 16,2009 Shiur was already available... Chazak U'Boruch! Toda Raba

how do the kabalist reconcile 600,000 letters in the Torah corresponding to 600,000 primal souls- when in face the Torah has closer to 300,000. half the amount?

There is a famous saying, from the Zohar Chadash on Song of Songs (74d), that there are 600,000 letters in the Torah. The Megaleh Amukot (186) explained that these letters correspond to the 600,000 Jewish souls that exist (evidently, a person can have part of a soul because there are more than 600,000 Jews). He also suggested that the word Yisrael is an acronym for "Yesh Shishim Ribo Otiyot LaTorah" - "There are 600,000 letters in the Torah". The difficulty with this is that the Gemara in Kiddushin 30a says that there are 5,888 verses in the Torah. Even if each verse had 100 letters, and a quick check will reveal that the average is well below that, the Torah would still have less than 600,000 letters (see Chavot Yair 235). Furthermore, our Torahs have 304,805 letters. This can be verified by counting and is recorded by the famous 10th century Masorete Aharon Ben Asher in his Dikdukei Taamim. For the Torah mentioned by the Zohar Chadash to have 600,000 letters it must be almost twice as long as our Torah. However, we have ancient Bibles such as the Septuagint (third century BCE) and the Samaritan Torah (from before Ezra) that are almost identical to our texts (we discuss the differences elsewhere). It is inconceivable that there was ever a Torah that was twice as long as the Torah we currently have. Rather than this saying being a statement about ancient Torah scrolls and therefore an indictment of ours, it is a puzzling statement that does not seem to describe any known or possible variant of the Torah.

Thanks for the great job! world class learning while being on a mountain top in aretz yisroal.

How do you straight face tell a class that Rabbi Akiva taught Moshe how this posuk should be understood. Him being later 1300 years?!

thank you so much for the mp3s. At 8:30 I was at a community Tehillim for the boys in Japan. So, will have to listen to the Rabbi another time. PS to Brookline at 5:50PM - It's in the Gemara, about Moshe Rabbeinu, the taglin on the letters, and R' Akiva. It's TORAH! Also, the new site is really shaping up nicely. It's soothing on the eyes. Kol HaKavod.

The only possible way is, at the beginning of the year, to give several lessons explaining the difference between Pshat, Drush, Kaballah, etc. Teachers can and should train their students how the Midrashim are metaphoric and not literal and to focus on the underlying message and not the metaphysical details. Good Luck. You have to clarify this (probably new) approach to learning chumash,etc.. I am positive that Rabbi Jacobson can do a far better job answering you than I did.

keep it up, to keep me up at this time for an hour, u got 2 b good, and it was. THANKS

What is the sourse for the "Azla Gayrash" insight?

We need to discover the dignity in ourselves beyond the obvious letter that we represent, also the holiness contained in "thorn" within us. And that very "thorn" is also our very own "crown." This was the great contribution of Rabbi Akiva. and when we do not give that to our children and loved ones, we generate hate and deep anger for a frustrated potential.

thank you again to David and Eda Schottenstein for bringing this weekly shiur alive.
Rabbi Jacobson, your shiur was fascinating. In addition to the formidable knowledge and explanations, you have such great intellectual "tricks" to get a thought across. There cannot be a better method for the insight into "v'es ha'kesef..." than your reading it with the appropriate "trupp." You served not only as a visual aid, but a human one!
I look forward to the next one!

Bsd Yosher Koiach!!! Kol Hakavod! Bracha ve Hatzlacha!

השיעור עצמו מצויין הסאונד טעון עדיין שיפור עדיין מידי נמוך בלי אופציות לשמוע היטב גם במקומקות שהרב מנמיך את קולו

This is a great class and has many concepts. I plan on listening to it at least one more time. You must get this site out to MANY more people. ADVERTISE. The Rabbi is one of a kind

Why Does Shimon Hoamsoni's inability to expound n the verse Es Hashem Elokecha Tira detract from the validity of all of the other Ess'n that he expounded upon? If in fact it did negate all the others why only was it necessary for Rebbi Akiva to come along and Darshan on the one verse which Shimon Hoamsoni was unable to expound upon and not all the others?

Great shir

Since Shemon Hamsoni saw that the “es” in one place did not fit the bill, it meant to him that the entire theory was flawed, that his reading into the “es” was a mistake.

I agree. I want to suggest that each of us suggests these classes to all of our friends, that is how we can promote these absolutely amazing teachings.

Were Rebbi Akiva's Drashos of all the Es'n in the Torah different than Shimon Hoamsoni?

It does not seem so.

How is it possible for Moshe to forget any Jewish soul? He was the faithful Sheppard, chasing after a single stray sheep. Is there a source for this moment of forgetting? It seems to me Moshe only forgot during times of anger.

I understood the point to be that he could not find their source in Torah, not thet he forgot their identity, but that he could not identify them in the Torah.

The Megaleh Amukos quoted in the class and quoted in the PDF curriculum below the videp clearly states that Rabbi Akiva revealed tis truth to Moshe. I do not know his source.
Also in Gemarah, Menachos 29b, we see that Moshe sat in at a class of Rabbi Akiva and heard ideas from Rabbi Akiva which he did not know, as the Gemarah says there. So Clearly, on a spiritual level Rabbi Akiva communicated with Moshe.

Possibly according to this we can add that the ''tagim',crowns on the letters look also like hooks, like vovim.

Just want to thank the rabbi for his time to teach us.

An interesting comment, but usually the "tagim" are described as little "zayins," as they do reflect the letter Zayim more than the letter Vuv.
Yet they still do look like hooks.

it was amazing i learned alot and im 9 becoming 10 i listend with my mother