This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Va&#39;eira, 24 Teves, 5783, January 17, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

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22_ac_women_veira_5783_r02.ee9a.pdf

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21_8857_women_class_vaera_5783.e073.mp3

Freedom Comes in Two Forms: Escape and Transformation

Women's Class Va'eira

Why the Need to Lie to Pharaoh?

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Bo 5778, January 16, 2018, at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY

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22_source_sheet_bo_5778_women_monsey.3ef2.pdf

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21_womens_shiur_bo_1_16_18.1e33.mp3

yeravam

four sons

education

menaseh

ben rasha

pesach seder

We Never Reject a Jewish Child

Bo/Pesach Women's Class

Sometimes You Find Your Child's Soul on Ski Slopes

This women&#39;s class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday Parshas Bo, 4 Shevat 5777, January 31, 2017, at Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY

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21_tue_morning_womens_shiur_01_31_17.mp3

shliach

shemos

moshe/moses

The Invention of the Divine Ambassador

Women's Class Bo/Shemos

Finding the Leader within Yourself

This weekly women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 2 Shevat, 5782, January 4, 2022, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. It explores how free choice works, and do we really even have it?

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pharaoh

exile

daas

self-awareness

free choice

Did Pharaoh Have Freewill? Understanding Your Brain Can Help You Acquire the Gift of Choice

Women's Vaeira/Bo Class

Do I Have Free Choice? It Depends

This class, presented on Sunday Parshas Bo, 2 Shevat 5777, January 29, 5777, at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY, explores the structure of the Jewish calendar.

Given the inherent challenges of a lunar based calendar (including the fact that it needs to be synchronized with the solar seasons), why did the Torah choose set up the calendar and base Jewish life around the moon? Also, what is the significance of the fact that for the first half of Jewish history we established our Rosh Chodesh based on live witnesses who observed the moon; yet, for its second half, the system was altered to follow a pre-set calendar. And if the calendar is a fair way of navigating time, why did the Torah demand that the optimal way of establishing the first day of the month is through the tedious and complex process of witnesses traveling to the court and being cross examined there? Why not always use the calendar?

Third, why is the mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon told to Moses as a prelude to the redemption of the Jews from Egyptian bondage? What connection is there between the moon&rsquo;s renewal and the Egyptian Exodus? And why right now? It is strange that with so much going on, G-d decides at this precise moment to discuss the Jewish calendar! The end is near; liberation is about to happen. Why are we now concerned with the calendar?

Fifth, why was this the first mitzvah given to the Jewish people, days before they were to become a free nation?&nbsp;

In a deeply moving address in 1959, the Lubavitcher Rebbe offered a majestic and heart stirring explanation.

&nbsp;

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22_ac 5777.pdf

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21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_20170129_fixed.mp3

pain

solar year

moon

calendar

crisis

kidush hachodesh

astronomy

rebirth

lunar year

The Two Phases of Jewish History in Responding to Crisis

Understanding the Jewish Calendar: The Math & the Psychology

This&nbsp;was a &quot;Shabbos Hagadol Derasha (Sermon)&quot;&nbsp;by Rabbi YY Jacobson addressing the Young Israel of Century City, CA, on&nbsp;Sunday, 8 Nissan, 5781, March 21, 2021.

Three of the four questions we ask at the Seder are answered during the night, if only indirectly. But not the fourth question. &ldquo;On all other nights, we don&#39;t dip even once. Why on this night do we dip twice? One time, karpas&mdash;a vegetable&mdash;in saltwater; the second time, maror in charoses, bitter herbs (or Romaine Lettuce) in the sweet mixture of apples, pears, nuts, and wine.&rdquo; During the entire seder, it seems, we never get an answer to this question. What is the answer? Why do we dip twice?

There are two dips that characterize Jewish history&mdash;one was the beginning of our exile, and one created the end of our exile. Both involved blood and goats. Joseph&rsquo;s brothers dipped his coat into the blood of a goat, and that is how our exile began. The Jews dipped a hyssop plant into the goat&rsquo;s blood on the eve of Passover&mdash;and that is how redemption began! What do these two dips represent? There is the dip that creates Jewish exile; and the dip that ends it.

Of all the slanders about Jews throughout history, the Blood Libel stands out as the most insane. How could have this ever taken root? The last thing a Jew would ever eat is blood. The Torah categorically prohibits a Jew from eating blood. What is more, there is a heavenly death penalty for a Jew eating blood! Reb Elchanan Wasserman suggested a daring explanation.

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blood

dipping twice

karban pesach

goat

yosef's tunic

The Tragic Story that Came Full Circle on the Night of Pesach

Shabbos Hagadol Derasha Young Israel Century City

A Bloody Tunic: The Dip that Creates Exile; and the Dip that Ends It 

The question is obvious: Why the change in the blessing before the tefilin we wrap on the arm and the one we place on our head? Why does the arm tefilin get the blessing &ldquo;to put on tefilin,&rdquo; and the head tefilin, &ldquo;for the mitzvah of tefilin?&rdquo; Both tefilins are put on, and both of them are a mitzvah! So why this distinction?

Rabbi Yosef Engel (1858-1920) and Rabbi Yosef Rozen (1858-1936), the Ragatchover Gaon, answer this question in a novel fashion. Take for example a bride getting dressed for her wedding. We all understand that the ultimate objective is not for her to put on the wedding gown; the objective is for her to be wearing the gown. It is just that in order to wear the gown, she needs to put it on. Is the same true about tefilin? Is the mitzvah to have the tefilin on you (if even for a short while), or perhaps the mitzvah is simply to put them on? Which part of the two components makes you fulfill the mitzvah? Which one of the two is the ultimate objective? Is it the act or the result of the act? Is it the act of wrapping tefilin on your arm and head, or is it the result of the wrapping, namely, that you are wrapped by tefilin? Rabbi Engel and Rabbi Rosen prove that in each one of the two boxes of tefilin, the definition of the mitzvah is completely different.

Which brings us to the deeper question: Why this strange distinction mitzvah between the tefilin on the arm vs. the tefilin on the head? Why would G-d desire different things for the two tefilins we wear? Why two different objectives for the arm tefilin and head tefilin?&nbsp;It was the Lubavitcher Rebbe who explained the novel approach of the Ragatchover from a deeper psychological and spiritual perspective. Essentially the distinct definition of the mitzvah in each one of the tefilin boxes reflect the stunning path of Judaism toward living a serene, wholesome, happy and maximized life, in which we learn to create peace between the mind and the heart.

&nbsp;

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22_ac.pdf

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21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_01102016.mp3

tefilin

The Legal and Spiritual Difference between the Arm & Head Tefilin

Class Parshas Bo/Vaeschanan

Mind and Heart: The Halacha & Psychology of Tefillin

This weekly women&#39;s class&nbsp;was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 6 Shevat, 5781, January 19, 2021, live from Rabbi Jacobson&#39;s home in Monsey, NY.

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22_woem_class_bo_sfas_emes.fe32.pdf

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21_7911_women_class_bo_5781_sfas_emes.80af.mp3

rosh chodesh

power of now

living in moment

Can You Be Fully Present to the New Flow of Energy Every Moment?

Women's Class -- Sefas Emes Bo

To Live With the Divine Is to Live in the Now

&ldquo;I will terminate (v&#39;hishbati) evil beasts from the land,&rdquo; the Torah states in Bechokosei. The precise meaning of the Hebrew word hashbatah, rendered here as &ldquo;terminate,&rdquo; is debated by our sages.

According to Rabbi Judah, the term implies the utter cessation of a thing&rsquo;s existence. Thus, Rabbi Judah understands the divine promise to &ldquo;terminate evil beasts from the land&rdquo; to mean that in the harmonious world of Moshiach all destructive creatures and forces will be &ldquo;removed from the world.&rdquo; Rabbi Shimon disagrees: in his opinion, hashbatah implies only the termination of a thing&rsquo;s particular characteristics&mdash;in this case, the destructive nature of &ldquo;evil beasts.&rdquo; It is this feature of their being that G-d will eliminate, while they continue to exist in their new harmless and gainful cast.

The class explores that this is the root of several other debates between Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Shimon, concerning the elimination of Chametz, rest on Shabbos, Moshiach, the nature of the Roman Empire, and many other themes in Jewish law.

The class goes on to explore the debate on a physiological and spiritual level. How do we deal with children who are &ldquo;wild animals?&rdquo; How do we deal with our ego and arrogance? And how do we view the essential nature of the world?

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22_yyj bechukosai- english source sheet.pdf

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21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_05102015.mp3

shabbat

rabbi shimon bar yochi

chametz

arrogance

reb yehudah

Reb Yehuda and Reb Shimon Debate Rome, Shabbos, Chametz, the Ego, and Moshiach

Class Bo/Bechokosei/Lag Baomer

To Be Or Not To Be? Two Paths Diverged in Judaism

This is a text-based class on a Sicha, an address presented by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the graduating class of Beth Rivkah, on Thursday Parshas Bo, 2 Shevat 5722, January 16, 1962. It is published in Likkutei Sichos vol. 4 (Hosafos, Parshas Bo).

Rabbi YY Jacobson presented this class on Monday, Parshas Bo, Rosh Chodesh Shevat, 5782, January 3, 2022, streaming live from his home in Monsey, NY.

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22_sicha_hosafas_bo_vol_4.789d.pdf

21_8367_likkutei_sichos_vol_4_hosofos_bo.46f0.mp4

21_8367_likkutei_sichos_vol_4_hosofos_bo.46f0.mp3

time

beth rivkah

My Time Can Be Empty; My Time Can Be Productive; My Time Can Be Eternal

Likkutei Sichos Bo

The Lubavitcher Rebbe Speaks to Girls on Time Management

Rabbi YY Jacobson delivered this Pesach lecture, on Thursday evening, 6 Nissan 2016, April 14, 2016, on the subject of: How Do We Address the Four Sons of the Hagaddah in Our Own Homes and Communities?

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22_source sheet 4 sons 5776.pdf

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_pesach_5776.mp4

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_pesach_5776.mp3

pesach

seder

The Holy Child; the Angry Lad; the Spineless Youngster and the Apathetic One

How to Address the Four Sons in Our Own Homes & Communities

To Cook or to Roast—That is the Question. Why Am I Never Satisfied?

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22_pesach_5770-0.pdf

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Pesach5770.mp3

freedom

roasting

Why Am I Never Satisfied?

To Cook or to Roast—That is the Question

This text-based class on Likkutei Sichos vol. 21 Parsjas Bo explores the debate in the Mishnah between Rabbi Shimon and the Rabbis if relatives are accepted as witnesses that they saw the new moon, in order to establish Rosh Chodesh.

The class explores the question why do we, in Jewish law, believe two witnesses? Is it statistical truth or Halachik truth? And why is it that by this particular law, we don&#39;t rely only on two witnesses, as with all other Torah laws, but we require astronomical calculations to go along with the testimony? As it turns out, this represents two fundamental approaches to all of Judaism.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Logical Truth Vs. Halachik Truth

Understanding the Debate if Relatives Are Trusted to Testify about the New Moon

Class Summary:

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