• BG

  benjamin grajales -10 years ago

  What a beautiful explanation
  Rabbi Jacobson, What a powerful insightful explanation of the Noah account. As a God Fearing Man. and a believer in the Bible, you sermon rung so true. We are to choose being always a Dove, even when pressure around us to become ravens is building. It requires active work from our part and faith in God to become a Dove. The ability to do good and forgive requires much more work and continuos dedication. To do the opposite doesn't require much sacrifice. May God continue giving you discernment of his Word to teach others.
  

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• M

  Malka -11 years ago

  Charla
  Muy linda la charla, me encantó!
  
  
  

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• DS

  David Schwed -12 years ago

  Last Paragraph
  The last paragraph is worth the whole article.

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• KT

  Kayo, Tokyo -13 years ago

  The mother of future
  Baruch HaShem
  
  The last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
  "A person was not a son of his past, but the father of his future."
  
  Quote of Viktor Frankl from "Mrs. Mozart, Viktor Frankl and the Lubavitcher Rebbe" By Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson

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• D

  dovid -13 years ago

  thank you great shiur

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• D

  dovefly12 -13 years ago

  interesting
  Years ago I felt led to reread the story of the flood as I was reading Song of Solomon, I felt God impress upon my heart that he had given me the eyes of the dove even though I had been humbled by the circumstances of life to the point I didn't want to live anymore.. since a little girl,I had lived with a broken heart as I was reading the story of Noah I heard God say to me (not audibly) but in me, "I will be your place of rest...the third time I send you out you will be strong, You will start your new beginning."
  Tonight I could not sleep and thought I would look for art work, I wanted to find artwork on the Raven and the Dove, instead I found your video...and once again God is impressing upon my heart and giving many many pieces to my journey of sadness, sorrow and survival. Thank You, I am now Jewish, but I am eternally grateful for the Jewish people, for without you I would not have my Messiah(Yeshua)...his spirit has carried me through the loss of 4 sons, a marriage, and my family. I am all alone and cry out to him daily for I long to be with him in eternity. That is when my new beginning will begin forever and all tears will be wiped away...
  Genesis 8:9
  God has been my place of rest..
  Thank you for this video.....and valuable insight...
  Dovefly

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• ZB

  Zeev Berg -14 years ago

  my point
  I am really (no kidding) honored that you wrote back.
  I guess I was trying to say that I think us Jews are still hiding our great "spiritually" physical strength.
  Anyway, I basically agree with you.
  I must compliment you, even though you don't want it. But you taking the time to write back to an unknown person (me), shows that you are a chosid of the Rebbe. The Rebbe answered everybody.
  May Hashem bless you with the wisdom & super "spiritual" strength to always help the Jewish People (lehavdil, everyone else).

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• SS

  silene Sarah -14 years ago

  Hanukkah
  B"H
  Toda raba! Beautiful!
  
  

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• B

  Belle -14 years ago

  your facts are wrong
  Only approximately 10%-20% of the Jews living in the world during the time of the Maccabees were living in Israel -the remainder never left Baylon to come to Israel, when the 2nd temple was rebuilt.
  therefore, it is incorrect to say that the entire world Jewish population would have been destroyed had the revolt failed.

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• B

  bassie -14 years ago

  thanks
  beautiful and powerful piece.

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• LG

  Linda Goddard -14 years ago

  Chanukah Story
  Dear Rabbi Jacobsen,
  I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughtful article on the history and meaning of your lovely festival of light. I am a Christian but appreciate the Jewish people and their faith.
  Happy Chanukah!

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• SO

  Sarah Oberlander -14 years ago

  The Version of the Alter Rebbe
  Thank you for such a beautiful and powerful article! I have read your articles through the years and feel that this is from your best articles yet. Your rebuttal is well put.
  People erroneously put greater emphasis on things that make a greater impression at the moment which would seem, as you wrote, that the jug of oil was only a minimal part of our ness.
  To this I might add that reading through "al hanisim" and then "Bimei Matisyahu" it is interesting to note that the Alter Rebbe removed the words "v'al hamilchomos" from the worldly nusach of "al hanisim" which makes your article that much stronger since now it is referring totally to the spiritual ness as otherwise, and also many mefurshim, do see it as a reminder of the physical war the Yidden waged at the time.

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• Y

  YYJ -14 years ago

  To Zeev and Mordi
  The Talmud is a work of Torah, called Torat Emet, the Torah of Truth, so its messages are a depiction of truth. Generally, we don’t find that the Talmud ignores Jewish battles and military victories.
  
  Your point though is important: Don’t undervalue the great vital miracle of military victory. I agree. In fact, the Al Hanisim prayer recited on Hanukah, expresses thanks just for that, not even for the lamp miracle. The point of the article was that military victory alone is not the source of a timeless celebration, if it does not manage to kindle the light of the soul and the human spirit, the torch of morality, Torah and holiness.
  
  Your example of Israel is good. Israel won in 1967, but their victory only caused them confusion and self loathing, because they did not follow it up with rekindling the spark of Jewishness. They remained stuck in a psychological and spiritual exile. Sometimes you can win on the battlefield but lose the internal war – in your mind and the mind of your children. This is the story of many a people, including modern Israel. We have won political independence, but have become mentally subjugated to other cultures and countries.
  
  With Chanukah it was the other way around: it represented the fact that even while Jews were physically in exile, there was a part of them that was completely free. Only with that in place can you even hope for physical victory on the battle field. If your spirit and internal sense identity is lost, you have lost the battle.
  
  Many victories have occurred in history. Chanukah is unique. Because it created something timeless. This is not to undermine at all the vital critical need to fight our foes and come out on top. It is rather a reflection on the next step – what happens after the victory.
  
  By the way: what is the source that the 24,000 died on the battlefield?

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• CB

  Chana Bluma -14 years ago

  great
  terrific, as ever.
  any way to get THIS into the New York Times to redress the balance?
  

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• ZB

  Zeev Berg -14 years ago

  Wrong
  Who am I to disagree ?
  But....
  The Talmud was written many 100's of years after the miracles of Chanukah...in Galut (Babylon). Maybe the Rabbis of Babylon were too scared to emphasize the military "miracle". (Don't want to excite the natives into thinking that the Jews have any strenghth). And isn't a military miracle just as spiritual as an oil miracle ?
  Same thing with Lag B'Omer.......
  After so much Galut, we make up new meanings to the source of our holidays/heritage. For instance:
  1. the bow & arrow on Lag B'omer..does it not symbolize Our Kosher, physical fighting spirit ?
  2. opinions that R. Akiva's students died on the battlefied as holy Jewish warriors....after all, R. Akiva backed the Bar-Kochba revolt.
  But, instead of praising the Jewish physical might (which is also spiritual) that Hashem gave us, We make up new themes to our holidays (eq. - his students died because they did not respect each other),..Why ?... because of our fear of the goyim who we must bow down to due to 2000 years of living (& being slaughtered) in their lands.
  And isn't this the same, embarrassed mentality of our confused Israeli government of today. Too ashamed & scared to say right out:
  God is on our side. Watch Out ! We have supernatural military power (even if we sometimes corrupt it like the Hashmonaim).
  Just thinking.
  Would appreciate a short reply or article.
  Thank You.
  Zeev Berg
  Tiberias
  

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• M

  mordi -14 years ago

  military victory did last
  I disagree. The military victory did last. If it didn't, there would be no Judaism. All other religions were wiped out by the Syrian Greeks. Judasim survived, and you are here to tell the story. No victory, no oil, no story, and to underplay the victory is wrong. To this very day Jewry fights to stay alive. We look back into our history for inspiration. The Macabean victory was a miracle. Similarly, the Six Day War. To downplay our historic battles is wrong. Sorry.

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• E

  Esther -14 years ago

  educate en masse
  I suggest you submit this article to the New York Times as a rebuttal to Brook's let's get some equal time and request they publish it to give equal time to the other side of the story.
  
  It is very disheartening to me to say the least, that the NY Times would print an article that is so denigrating to the holiday of Chanukah--and Jewish tradition.
  
  It is an ominous sign of the times.
  
  Esther

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• JWM

  John W McGinley -14 years ago

  The Hasmonean Disgrace
  The writers of the Talmud were well aware that the Hasmonean Dynasty -- inaugurated by the Maccabees -- was, arguably, the worst period of Jewish rule in Jewish history up until that time. The whole period is an embarrassment for Jewish History. It is noteworthy that the Hasmonean production of the heroic Maccabean stories about the foundation of the Dynasty were nothing but a blatant whitewash and a false glorification. The Rabbis, to their credit, did not allow these deplorable fictions into the Biblical canon. The Rabbis properly focused in on the one and only "light" in that period of embarrassing darkness: the re-dedication of the Temple. Even so the rededicated Temple itself effectively became re-descarated by the way the Priesthood totally cooperated with the embarrassingly corrupt Hasmonean leadership.

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• RM

  Ray Merson -14 years ago

  Brooks articel
  Nice rebuttal. Brooks, who is Jewish ,wrote an article many Jews found superficial and offensive. I understand it was labelled "Offensive" on Facebook and taken off. Insulting, politically correct, and catering to the snobbery of the Times, Brooks' , the piece was a disaster. Many, not all, NYTimes readers thought it was fine. Because the Maccabees became corrupt, does not give Brooks permission to besmirch a Jewish Holiday of Joy. For shame.

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• SM

  Shmuel Melech -14 years ago

  Greeks/Romans
  In latter years, the Greeks and Romans by converting to Christianity declared that There is one G!D, the Creator, who had Revelation at Sinai. that their past philosophy and life styles were wrong and the Jew was right! They just weren't ready for a complete acceptance yet. But they are getting closer, perhaps.
  

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• Y

  yisroel -14 years ago

  more explanation
  The explanation of “spiritual light” is quite brief when compared to the lengthily question and quotes from DB. Just doesn’t feel balanced, but leaves you thirsting for it to be more clearly spelled out.
  What the oil represents, its significance, etc.
  
  I personally enjoy your essays and weekly videos! And continue to share pieces of them, the way you present, etc. in my own chabad house.
  
  On another note: I was wondering as to the mokor (is there one?) of the Kidush b’mokom seuda vort you elaborated on so nicely at the 19th kislev farbrengen.
  The concept is obviously all over chassidus, I’m asking about the makor to connecting this concept to this halocha.

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• GS

  Gary Sternberg -14 years ago

  Thanks for Rebuttal
  Thank You for the rebuttal.
  
  
  
  I found the article loathsome and exactly what I would expect from the Times.
  
  The article embodies a smugness and ignorance so typical of the perversion that liberalism has become - you addressed it well in your article - Brooks easily overlooks the darkness that was a part of the greek culture and consigns the maccabees (or any strong believers) to being "extremists".
  
  
  
  Brooks sits in a tower of knowingness that is really a tower of ignorance and uses that platform to spread his ignorance to the many.
  
  

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• R

  roslyn -14 years ago

  chanukah
  goot gezukt

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• S

  sharon -14 years ago

  thanks
  thanks for lighting our yomtov in such a deap way
  i work in a speicial dorm for girls in crisis and this is a real inspiration for all
  thanks

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• Y

  yitzchak -14 years ago

  3-times
  whats the significance of the sending 3-times and the leaf of olive ??

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• Y

  Yitzchak -14 years ago

  Raven
  רש"י מביא והוא מחז"ל שנח לא רצה לקבל העורב והקב"ה אמר לו שהוא מוכן לשליחות אחרת להביא אוכל לאליהו. והרי אליהו הי' בבחינת גבורה, קנא קנאתי לה' צבאות, ולחם נגד עובדי הבעל ונגד אחאב ואיזבל וכו' וכו' ועד שביקש את נפשו למות, וזה מסמל בחינת העורב שנתבאר בהשיעור שהוא בחינת גבורה שצריך להקיף ולשמור על החסד שלא תהי' ממנו יניקת החיצונים, ולכן אולי הוא גם מגיע לכל ברית שהיא בחינת הסרת הערלה המסתירה על אור האלקי. כן אולי יש להוסיף בדרך אפשר
  .

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• CN

  Chava Nesye -14 years ago

  Divine Toming
  BS"D
  On the day when I learned about the tragic death of 3 year old Alta Shula Swerdlov, A"H what an incredible message of the Rebbe's that you articulated, and at this particular time!
  As if you were meant to share this with the world just today to seap straight into the hearts of those who have had the unknowable happen to them. May there only be good news!

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• TG

  Tamir Goodman -14 years ago

  Thank You
  Thank you Rabbi Jacobson and everyone who makes these Shiurim possible. Each week they inspire us in an increasing manner!
  

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• S

  sharonafc -14 years ago

  the shiur
  thanks so so much rabby jacobson
  for inspiring us in such a deap way evry week and holiday of mine has been so difrent since i hear your classes/my students from a dorm of youth in crisis/benefit from it aswell

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• A

  annonymus -14 years ago

  video
  this is an amazing video

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• S

  shmuel -14 years ago

  video
  amazing as usual this is beautiful

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Rabbi YY Jacobson

• October 19, 2009
• |
• 1 Cheshvan 5770
• |
• 5626 views

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