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We Need to Believe in These Kids

The Eye of the Storm: Understanding Today’s Youth

1 hr 13 min

Rabbi YY Jacobson lecturing at Madreigos Midwest, in Chicago

Class Summary:

This lecture for Madreigos Midwest of Chicago, helping children with social or academic challenges, was presented on Thursday Parshas Vayigash 3 Teves 5778, December 21, 2017

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  • Anonymous -1 year ago

    I am speechless.!!! I have a son off the derech and a daughter in between.  Had I heard this 20 years ago maybe things would've been different.  Thanks for this amazing speech!!

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    Yisroel -6 years ago

    We need to believe in these kids

    there is a story going around that there was a women that came to Harav R Eliyashov ZT'L crying that 1 of her children is nebach slipping away from the derech she asked what to do .
    R Eliyashov ZT'L told her to "keep the child home"
    the mother asked "what about the other children"
    R Eliyashov ZT'L answerd "send them out" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    Rachel -6 years ago

    My Feelings About the New Generation

    When I’m willing to make eye contact with the Universe I connect to a new energy that is so powerful and devastating at the same time.
    Like an unforgiving wave, we either are able to ride on it and then manage to reach such incredible heights that would we have lived in a previous time in history we never would have reached......or we start to fight the waves of this new era along with the strong currents of truth and revelations that are raining down  hard on us, trying to awaken us.
    When we feel threatened by impending danger, we don’t feel safe, we start to struggle against the current, the waves, trying to swim back to the safe shore.
    We used to enjoy to spend a beautiful warm day at the beach allowing the sun to brush our cheeks with a golden tan and fill our minds with sweet melodies and memories of yesterdays.
    Unfortunately the more we want to free ourselves from our waves of awareness the deeper we get pulled into an ocean of despair, panic and fear.
    We end up drowning in it all and losing all grips on life.
    Most of us fail to appreciate and recognize the opportunity that this Tsunami  brings to us, with wild untamed energy of spirituality that has been released and unleashed wildly down into our atmosphere without warning.
    From the heights of heavens down into every space down here, like a Niagara Falls of rushing waters flooding our World, watching this new powerful energy being spilled all over without mercy or restraint.
    When faced with it, most of us run into hiding by pretending to ignore and continue with life as usual.
    When we deal by ignoring all, we start becoming anxious, uncertain, confused and try even harder to suppress all we don’t want revealed by our consciousness, either through meds, addictions, etc.
    These days the natural instinct of the Universe is to reveal all truths and vomit up all lies.
    Our minds want to take flight.
    Rather than witness revelation, they will grab anything.
    Like a drowning man, we are panicking, we dont want so much truth.
    Not about our own life, the World, medicine, science, etc.
    Now instead of searching for truth, we are searching for anything that can numb and stop so much knowing and awareness.
    We would prefer to slide into unconsciousness.
    Our mind races in search of any distractions, superficiality or ignorance.
    That avoidance drives us more into insanity, depression and madness.
    We are fighting a very strong, powerful current of truth and revelation.
    We declare in the name of God and Yidishkeit  that nothing need or should be changed.
    Let’s keep all the way it always was.....and always should be......
    We refuse to acknowledge that a new reality has emerged.
    Like the passengers of a drowning ship that is sinking deeper and deeper into the depth of an ocean, who stay in denial and refuse to believe that their ship is sinking and won’t be able to bring them to the shores safely and alive.
    It’s time to abandon fake illusions.
    It’s time to embrace reality and put on the life vests and jump onto the life boats of this new reality.
    When this huge wave of truth and spirituality comes our way we either ride the wave and grow to incredible heights, that we could have never imagined possible or we drown and get pulled to the bottom of insanity and become enveloped, trapped with surreal suffering at the bottom of an endless sea of hell.
    So much unnecessary death, either from suicide or drugs.
    I go to Shiva houses and listen to the sad stories, of how those very young kids were just snatched away so prematurely from their life.
    All those souls were washed away from the shores of life.
    Their lives couldn’t make room for so much truth.
    Their pain was consuming them, while their desperate search and need for spirituality to fill up their very empty, meaningless and hollow life took them to far away lands and foreign places.
    They become ready to sell all, even their soul for any cheap version of high that would lift them out of  their abysses.
    It’s  their indifferences and numbness to life that brought  such unbearable pain.
    Even just for a few seconds, at any cost we want to experience the feeling that life is pulsating in our veins.
    We want to grab on to the skirts and edges of life....just to feel something else then the deep pain of nothingness.
    It drove them insane and the insanity of nothingness was too powerful with just the few tools they had in their toolboxes.......They couldn’t find room and space for their life down here and left......
    Their bodies were too weak to carry and sustain their incredibly deep souls.
    Without learning or hooking into Chassidus, it is like being lost in a maze without a map.
    It is hopeless.....walking around earth in circles,  never  leaving, never arriving.
    It’s the Maka of darkness for the ones that keep their eyes shut.
    The darkness is thick and heavy.
    You feel alone in it and disconnected with no hope, only despair.
    All is dark not a crumb of light.
    Do we have the courage to open our eyes?
    We will see so much brightness and truth, but we will still have to deal with a blinding pain.
    But it’s a hopeful pain that holds so many promises,  purpose and meaning.
    We will need to have courage, faith strengths and endurance to be able to stay without quitting while witnessing miracles, blessings and  redemptions and at the same time, enormous pain, blood and death, watching all this without veering off right or left? Can we remain in the lap of faith through it all?
    If you hold my hand.

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Chicago Education Lecture

Rabbi YY Jacobson

  • December 21, 2017
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  • 3 Tevet 5778
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  • 3528 views

Dedicated by Chana Mandelbaum in honor of her family

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