This women&#39;s class was given on Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei, 5769, March 17, 2009, and it is partially based on the last public address by&nbsp;the Lubavitcher Rebbe, presented on Shabbos Parshas Vayakhel, 25 Adar I, 5752, February 29, 1992, and on Likkutei Sichos vol. 21 Vayakhel-Pekudei. 
 
Vayakhel means to gather -- the gathering of distinct parts to create a community; whereas Pikudei means to count. Counting serves as a&nbsp; function of distinction, and separation, with an emphasis on the individual being counted.

These two portions then capture two dimensions of life. On the one hand, we crave intimacy, seek community, and inherently belong to a larger family.&nbsp;On the other hand, we are pulled toward individualism, independence, and self-actualization.&nbsp;

Where is the balance?&nbsp;How do we reconcile the two?

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community

individuality

I'm I Part of the Community or Is the Community Part of Me?

Women's Class Vayekhel-Pekudei

The Individual Vs. the Community

This weekly women&#39;s class&nbsp;was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Vayigash, 7 Tevet, 5781, December 22, 2020, live from Rabbi Jacobson&#39;s home in Monsey, NY.

The text-based class on Midrash Rabah and Sefas Emes Parshas Vayigash explores two enigmatic Midrashim on the portion, about Yehudah surrendering to Yosef, and Yosef&#39;s &quot;rebuking&quot; his brothers. How do we deal with our wounds inside and our challenges outside? Does the world hate us or love us? Is G-d my best friend or just my heavenly boss? How my own mind and actions can cause what is really love to be seen as hate, what is really light to be seen as darkness. We are given a blueprint of how to face every trauma and challenge and see it as an opportunity for infinite love and growth.

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yosef

faith

trauma

yehuda

Your Darkness Is Your Best Friend & the World Is Your Greatest Ally

Women's Class - Sefas Emes Vayigash

The Day You Discover that Everything Is Love

This lecture was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson, in the Great Synagogue, in Jerusalem, on 21&nbsp;Kislev, 5774, November 24, 2013.&nbsp;The lecture explores&nbsp;some of the Torah paradigms for&nbsp;psychology and the human psyche. The event was organized by Chabad of Talbiya.

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elisha ben avuya

dreams

darwin

freud

psychology

human identity

acher

Three Stories in the Talmud Sketch the Map of the Human Psyche

Lecture Great Synagogue, Jerusalem 

Darwin, Freud & the Alter Rebbe

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Bo, 2&nbsp;Shevat, 5779, January 8, 2019, at the Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY

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Don't Trust People Who Don't Send You Back to Yourself

Bo/Pesach Women's Class

Sometimes, You Are the Only One Who Can Answer Your Questions

The second episode of our Chanukah 5778/2017, a video a day series.
The Secret of the Dreidel by Rabbi YY Jacobson.

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chanukah

a video a day

dreidel

My Craving for Power, Thirst for Knowledge, Longing for Love, & Passion for My Body

Chanukah 5778 -- a video a day

Day #2: The Secret of the Dreidel

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Two Roads Diverged in the Woods of History: The Path of Enlightenment &amp; the Path of Surrender. Which One Will Triumph<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">?

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yehudah

vayigash

vayeishev

bitul

self expression

The Split Between Yehuda & Yosef Throughout History

Is Religion about Surrender or Self-Expression? 

This class was presented Lech Lecha 5774 (October 2013) to seminary students of Beth Rivkah in Brooklyn, NY.&nbsp;What is the genesis of Judaism? How did our faith begin? What was the first conversation&nbsp;between G‐d and the first Jew, Abraham?
&ldquo;Go for yourself from your Land, from your Birthplace, and from your Father&rsquo;s House to the&nbsp;Land I will show you.&rdquo; But what a strange way of phrasing this eviction notice! If you had to pack&nbsp;up your bags and leave the Country, the realities of Geography dictate that you would have to&nbsp;first leave the house, then leave your birthplace, and only then could you leave your country. So&nbsp;why phrase this command in the reverse order?
By reversing the geographical order, the Torah reveals that G‐d is commanding far more than just Abraham's physical departure from his country. He was challenging Abraham to make a&nbsp;departure from his inner &ldquo;stories&rdquo; that might obstruct the full realization of his true &ldquo;I,&rdquo; of his&nbsp;true existence.

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lech lecha

avraham

abraham

teshuvah ilaah

Lech Lecha: Say Goodbye to the "Stories" that Obstruct the Real You 

I Am I Becaue I Am I

<span style="font-size: 8.5pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">This class, presented to women, Noach 2011/5772, explores a&nbsp;peculiar story in the Midrash Rabah on Noach. Alexander the Great visiting the King of Keitza to see how he runs his country. He observes how the monarch deals with two people coming to the king because one found a treasure in a newly bought filed and wants to return it. The seller refuses to accept it. The story may serve as an allegory to appreciate the tension in the human psyche between the two souls within us.&nbsp;

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noach

divine soul

animal soul

tanya

nefesh habahamis

alexander the great

nefesh elokis

The Battle of the Two Souls within the Human Psyche

Alexander The Great Discovers Idealism In The African Mountains

This class will travel into the world of some of Judaism’s greatest geniuses, Maimonides, Rabbi Yosef Rosen, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and see how they understood some of life’s deepest truths from textual halachik nuances.
What is freedom – is it merely the absence of slavery and oppression? What is rest – is it merely the termination of work?
Maimonides says that the obligation to remember and recount the story of the Exodus on Passover is the same as the obligation to remember Shabbos. Why does he make this comparison?
But how is ‘rest’ different than ‘refraining from work’? How is ‘freedom from slavery’ differ from active ‘freedom?’ Indeed, the Hebrew language offers us two words to describe liberty: Chofesh and Charus. The difference between them is dramatic: One is freedom defined by what we are not; the other is freedom defined by what we are.
The famous Rogachover Gaon, Rabbi Yosef Rosen, teaches an extraordinary and innovative law based on Maimonides: It is not enough to refrain from work on Shabbos, but one must actively engage in rest. 
This then is Maimonides’ point. It is not enough to be released from slavery, one must actively live ‘free.’

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who am i

true self

slavery

slave

shavuos

shabbat

searching for self

resting on shabbos

pesach

moshe

moses

liberty

inner self

freedom

cheirus

39 prototypes of work

search for self

Let freedom ring! But what does it mean to be free?

Is Judaism Stifling or Liberating?

Yud Shevat 5773 Webcast : Why We Need G-d In Our Schools. Can We Turn Our World Into a Garden? How Do We Educate Children? Is Man Inherently Good or Bad? 

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22_schedual_final_final.pdf

rabbi_yy_jacobson_yud_shevat_5773.360p.mp4

rabbi_yy_jacobson_yud_shevat_5773.mp3

yud shevat

schools

god in schools

moment of silence

Can We Turn Our World Into a Garden? How Do We Educate Children? Is Man Inherently Good or Bad?

Yud Shevat 5773 Farbrengen: Why We Need G-d In Our Schools

Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, "I'd like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream."
The waitress replies, "I'm sorry, monsieur, but we're out of cream. How about with no milk?"
The Chanukah Game
There is a lovely tradition of playing dreidel during the festival of Chanukah.
What is a dreidel? It is a four-sided top, containing the four Hebrew letters of Nun, Gimmel, Heh and Shin. The four sides join to form a point, upon which the dreidel spins<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>.
All Jewish customs contain profound spiritual meaning. Today we will discuss the deeper symbolism behind the dreidel game.
The Five Components
Jewish philosophy and mysticism teaches that human behavior is driven by four primary factors: ego, bodily urges, reason and a compulsion to destroy.
Each of us has an ego -- a craving for power, self-dominance and self-determination. All of us experience incessant demands from our bodies. We all have the power of reason, the ability to try and make sense out of reality. And, each of us has a compulsion toward evil and destruction. For many of us, this impulse finds expression merely in a dream or a fleeting thought; for others, it is actualized in behavior.
This last impulse is unique in the sense that it rarely displays its genuinely disturbing face to the man who experiences it. Our compulsion toward evil usually disguises its demeanor behind the veil of the other three human qualities. It uses the ego, bodily needs or human reason as a means to explain and justify its abominable goals. Yet at the root of this urge is a simple craving toward evil and destruction, rooted in the human psyche.
Beneath these four familiar components of our personality lies a fifth and deeper dimension, known in Kabbalah as the "higher self," or the "inner self." This is the moral conscience of the human spirit -- the spark of G-d within us -- that drives us to transcend ourselves and attemot to touch the truth of reality. This inner self inspires human idealism and reflects the goodness and integrity of its Creator.
If the four elements of the human engine are detached from the higher divine self, potentially each can become dangerous. A self-serving ego can drive us to destroy those who are standing in our way. Our bodily urges and temptations can plunge us into the abyss. Excessive self indulgence breeds addiction and chaos.
The power of reason on its own allows a person to rationalize any type of behavior and invalidate the world's moral boundaries. With reason alone we may justify cruelty and barbarism. Our rational and intellectual sophistication can even lead us to justify true evil: terrorists are turned into "frustrated militants" and human monsters who burn little children alive are judged as equals to their victims. Reason alone devoid of moral clarity can become dangerous.
Finally, our impulse toward evil may easily compel us to inflict suffering on innocent human beings.
On the other hand, if we open ourselves to the Divine essence of our personality and begin absorbing ts beautiful melodies, we can employ these four components as instruments for our spirituality and moral growth.
Our egos, bodily desires and power of reason may be used in a constructive and good fashion. Even our impulse to destroy can be used as a weapon to eradicate and destroy the evil within ourselves and to put an end to the evil within the world around us.
Four Empires
In Kabbalah, the microcosm reflects the macrocosm and vice versa. Thus, the Kabbalah explains that these four elements of the human psyche were represented by the four global empires that dominated the world in past history<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a>.
The first was the Babylonian Empire, notorious for its ambition of unbridled power and dominance. Its first king, Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the first Temple in Jerusalem and exiled our people to Babylonia (present day Iraq), embodied the egotist par excellence<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a>.
Then came the Persian Empire, notorious for its incessant indulgence in hedonism and materialistic pleasures<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref4')">[4]</a>. Achashverosh, the Persian king and husband of Queen Esther, threw a party that lasted for 187 days<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref5')">[5]</a>! Imagine a party that continues for six months straight…
The Greek Empire followed. Its contribution to civilization was the development of logic and philosophy. For the Greeks, the human mind was the zenith of existence.
Then came the Roman Empire. This empire was led mostly by cruel monarchs whose brutality often knew no limits. Rome destroyed the Second Temple, massacred millions of Jews and countless other innocent human beings, but perhaps most importantly, Rome turned brutality into a culture. The Gladiator, the height of Roman sports, was a chilling example of this.
After a Gladiator's defeat, if the crowd gave the signal for him to die there was a ritual to be observed. With one knee on the ground, the loser grasped the thigh of the victor, who, while holding the helmet or head of his opponent, plunged his sword into his neck or cut his throat depending on his weapon. To die well a Gladiator was not allowed to ask for mercy and was not allowed to scream when killed. If defeated but mortally wounded the Gladiator was not killed in front of the audience but was taken from the arena to be executed "humanely" with a hammer on the forehead in private.
Now, each of these four empires dominated the world, and astoundingly, each of them saw Judaism and its carriers as a threat to their very existence and success. Babylonia, Persia, Greece and Rome each declared war against the people of Israel, attempting to destroy them. Why where these mighty empires obsessed with a tiny minority, the Jews?
The answer is that to their minds, as to the many monarchs and rulers that would follow, the Jewish people represented the “fifth dimension,” which challenged the very way they perceived the objective of life. Hitler put it in these words: “Conscience is a Jewish invention. It is a blemish, like circumcision.”
The Jews throughout their entire history were obsessed with the question of right and wrong. They still are. (I know of no other group that is so critical of its behavior as the Jews.) Judaism taught that the most important thing for civilization is not self aggrandizement (Babylonia), nor indulgence (Persia), nor even logic and the pursuit of knowledge (Greece), and certainly not unbridled aggression (Rome), but rather the most critical component of society its unequivocal commitment to a universal morality, based on the presence of a living G-d who cares about human behavior.
The Jews saw themselves as chosen to bestow upon human history the dignity of purpose and to refine and sublimate the ego (Babylonia), the body (Persia), logic itself (Greece) and the evil impulse (Rome) as instruments to serve the moral and spiritual cause.
According to the teachings of Jewish mysticism, one of the primary reasons for the Jewish people living im exile among these four empires was to gain insight and depth into the unique energy of these civilizations and then utilize them as instruments for serving G-d, defined in Kabbalah as "elevating the sparks." But in the process, the clash was usually profound.
The confrontation between Judaism and Ancient Greece can serve as a good example. The most influential thinker in Greece (and perhaps in all Western intellectual history) -- none other than Aristotle -- argued in his Politics (VII.16) that killing children was essential to the functioning of society. He wrote: "There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up. And to avoid an excess in population, some children must be exposed . For a limit must be fixed to the population of the state."
Note the tone of his statement. Aristotle isn't saying "I like killing babies," but he is making a cold, rational calculation: over-population is dangerous; this is the most expedient way to keep it in check.
Plato wrote in his Symposium (178C): "I, for my part, am at a loss to say what greater blessing a man can have in earliest youth than an honorable lover ..."&nbsp;&nbsp;
The Greeks introduced into human consciousness an idea that the human being is the center of all things. The human mind and its ability to understand and observe and comprehend things rationally is the be-all-and-end-all. To the Jews, human beings were created in the image of God. To the Greeks, gods were made in the image of human beings. To the Jews, the physical world was something to be perfected and elevated spiritually. To the Greeks the physical world was perfect. To Greeks, what was beautiful was holy; to the Jews what was holy was beautiful.
Such disparate views were bound to clash.
And they did in the second century BCE. The Syrian-Greek empire sought to Hellenize Jews by force and put an end to the faith of Judaism. Women who allowed their sons to be circumcised were killed with their sons tied around their necks.
The scholars of Israel were hounded, hunted down and killed. Jews who refused to eat pork or sacrifice hogs were tortured to death. The altars to Zeus and other pagan deities were erected in every village, and Jews of every area were forced to participate in the sacrificial services. Chanukah celebrates the victory of the Jewish way of life over the Greek one.
Spin Your Personality
Now we will appreciate the secret behind the dreidel.
The four sides of the dreidel represent the four dimensions of the human psyche: ego, body, reason and evil. This is reflected in the four Hebrew letters of Nun, Gimmel, Shin and Heh, which stand for the words Nefesh, Guf, Sechel and Hakol.
Nefesh, meaning self or identity, reflects the human ego. Guf, meaning body, represents all of the bodily urges and temptations. Sechel, which means reason, defines the human quest for knowledge and understanding<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref6')">[6]</a>. And finally, Hakol, which means everything, symbolizes the evil force in man, which, as mentioned above, will cloak itself in everything and anything to reach its goals.
The sharp, almost immeasurable point situated at the foundation of the dreidel, represents the fifth -- and divine -- component of the human spirit. This spark of infinity within us cannot be measured by space and time, and it serves as the foundation and quintessence of each human being, just as it serves as the foundation of the dreidel.
On Chanukah, celebrating the victory of the Jewish way of life over Greek Hellenism, the triumph of divine ethics over human esthetics, we are charged with the mission to kindle our inner G-dly flame, represented by the Chanukah candles. Chanukah is therefore the opportune time for spinning our psychological four-sided dreidel on its point, directing the other four components of our personality and reorienting them as tools to express the pure love and spirituality of the soul<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref7')">[7]</a>.
(Please make even a small and secure contribution to help us continue our work.&nbsp;<a href="https://secure.theyeshiva.net/Donate">Click here</a>.)
&nbsp;
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> These four letters stand for the Hebrew words "Nes Godal Hayah Sham," which means, "A Great Miracle Happened There."
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> See at length Ner Mitzvah by the Maharal of Prague and the many references noted there
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> See Daniel 2:37-38; 7-4 and Ner Mitzvah ibid.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn4')">[4]</a> See Kedushin 72a and Ner Mitzvah ibid.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn5')">[5]</a> Esther chapter 1.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn6')">[6]</a> In the Holy Land the Shin is replaced by the Hebrew letter Pei. In light of the explanation of this essay, it may be that Pei stands for the word "philosophy," similar to the word "Sechel" in the Diaspora dreidel (thanks to my student Rabbi Yisroel Geisinsky for pointing this out to me).
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn7')">[7]</a> This essay is based on the writings of the Maharal of Prague and the Chassidic Masters (Neir Mitzvah by the Maharal; Benei Yissachar Mammarei Kislev. Cf. Ketzurim V'Hearos L'Tanya by the Tzemach Tzedek to Tanya chapters 1-2).

The Psychology of the Dreidel - Exploring the Five Components of the Human Personality

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rome

persia

babylonia

greece

Exploring the Five Components of the Human Personality

The Psychology of the Dreidel

This Chabad Chassidic discourse, Ashrei Tivchar Utekarav, was delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in his office in Brooklyn at a "vach nacht," to Rabbi Ephraim Eliezer Yoles, chief Rabbi of Philadelphia, on the "vach nacht," the evening before the Bris of his grsndson, 16 Cheshvan 5716 (1955). It explores the three souls within each Jew, his or her four levels of consciousness, and the parallel to the four worlds.

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Maamar Ashrei Tivchar Utekarav 5716 (1955), by the Lubavitcher Rebbe

The Animal Soul, the Rational Soul, the Divine Soul: A Bris Maamar

My soul your soul their soul........

rational soul

two souls

bris milah

circumcision

three souls

four worlds

The Animal Soul, the Rational Soul, the Divine Soul: A Bris Maamar

Maamar Ashrei Tivchar Utekarav 5716 (1955), by the Lubavitcher Rebbe

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