Rabbi YY Jacobson addressed a sold-out crowd of more than 200 members of EMET&#39;s couples division. Presenting a&nbsp;candid view of marriage and relationships, he discussed the universal feelings and struggles we all experience, and taught how we can shift our focus and learn to like and respect the people we love.

This lecture was delivered on Sunday, 14 Iyar, 5778, April 29, 2018, at Emet Outreach, at the Bukharian Center, Queens, NY

&nbsp;

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22_shem_meshmuel.375f.pdf

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21_7213_rabbi_yy_jacobson_how_to_like_the_people_you_love_emet.b2ef.mp3

love

emet queens

sefirah

reb akiva students

Truth In Marriage Is Never Objective

Sefirah/Relationship Lecture at “Emet”

How to Like the People You Love

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday, 29 Nissan 5777, April 25, 2017, at Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY.

Rabbi Akiva taught his students to love. But they could still not learn to respect their colleagues. Why?

There are people you like but you don&#39;t love; there are people you love but you may not like. There are people that you love and you like, and there are people, well, that you don&#39;t love and you don&#39;t like either. You love your parents. You love your brothers. You love your sisters. But you don&#39;t necessarily like them&hellip; Sometimes you love your husband, but you have a hard time liking him.

What is the difference between &quot;liking&quot; and &quot;loving&quot;? What is the difference between anti-Semites who hate Jews and Jews who dislike Jews? Why do we count both &quot;day&quot; and the &quot;week&quot; in the counting of the Omer? Why are there so many couples who &ldquo;fall in love,&rdquo; but after some time, they find themselves so far apart?

The class explores two concepts: Love vs. respect. The Hebrew word for love, Ahavah, is the same numerical value as the word Echad, oneness. Love grows out of our oneness and sameness. Respect grows out of appreciating our differences. Both are crucial in relationships between families, communities and nations.

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21_womens_class_4_25_17_love_and_respect.a8cd.mp3

You Love Other Jews, But Can You Respect Them?

You Love Your Wife, But Do You Respect Her? You Love Your Children, But Do You Respect Them?

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Emor, 9&nbsp;Iyar, 5779, May 14, 2019 at the Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY

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22_ac_days_and_weeks_women_monsey_5779.9938.pdf

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21_6319_rabbi_yy_jacobson_womens_sefirah_class_5779.0664.mp3

emotions

inner work

john nash

suicide

sefiras haomer

spiritual growth

schizophrenia

thoughts

counting days

therapy

mental illness

counting weeks

middos

trauma

counting of omer

Why We Count Days & Weeks: How to Confront Mental Illness, Depression and Trauma

Women's Sefirah class

It's a Beautiful Mind

In May 2015, John Nash, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, was killed with his wife in a devastating car accident in NJ. It is hard not to shed a tear when you read the biography &ldquo;A Beautiful Mind&rdquo; about the tragic and triumphant life of Mr. Nash. Promising to become one of the most promising mathematicians in the world, Nash was struck by the mental illness of schizophrenia. When Nash was offered a prestigious chair at the University of Chicago, he declined because he was planning to become Emperor of Antarctica. John believed that all men who wore red ties were part of a communist conspiracy against him. 

His poor wife divorced him, then remarried him, and in 1994 he won the Noble Prize for Economics. But right after the Noble ceremony, there is a scene that represents the profound human triumph of John Nash.

There is something strange about the way we count sefirah&mdash;the 49-day count between Passover and Shavuos. The Torah instructs us to count both the days and the weeks. But why is the Torah adamant that we count both the days and the weeks simultaneously? One of these counts is superfluous. What do we gain by counting the week after we have already counted the days? What would be missing if we left out the weeks, or conversely, if we left out the days? 

Even more perplexing is the view of the 13th century French and Spanish sage, Rabbeinu Yerucham. He says that it is a biblical mitzvah to count the days also when the Beit HaMikdash is not extant, but the mitzvah to count the weeks applies only when the omer is offered, and is thus today only a rabbinical commandment.

Strange it is. Counting is counting. What exactly is the difference between saying &ldquo;Today is twenty-eight days of the Omer&rdquo; and saying &ldquo;Today is four weeks of the Omer&rdquo;? How can we make sense of the notion that counting days is a biblical mandate and counting weeks is a rabbinic mandate?

Let&rsquo;s excavate the mystery of the days and the weeks and the view of Rabanu Yerucham, from the deeper emotional, psychological and spiritual vantage point. This explanation was offered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe during an address, on Lag B&rsquo;Omer 5711, May 24, 1951.

How did Winston Churchill deal with his depression? How do we define the meaning of Jewish identity? As part of the natural historical process, or as supernatural? Are we part of the natural cycle, embracing its rhythm and changes, or are a chip off another block, governed by a different system, steeped in a reality which is unchangeable? The story of the Nazi desecrating a Torah scroll, which then ended up on the Holy Land.

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sefirat haomer

depression

Counting Days and Weeks: Confronting Mental Illness, Trauma, and Depression

Essay Sefirah

It’s a Beautiful Heart

During the Second Temple Period, a fierce controversy raged concerning the date for bringing the springtime offering of barley, called the Omer. (An omer is a measure of volume, around 86 ounces; this was the amount of barley flour baked and then brought in the Temple as a meal offering.) The verse says the Omer is to be offered &quot;on the day after the Shabbos,&quot; but which Shabbos? According to the Oral Tradition, this &#39;Shabbos&#39; is the first day of the Passover holiday. The Boethusians rejected this tradition.

What was the underlying argument between the Boethusians and the Sages? The class explores the views of three giants of the past century. It comes down to the question, can man really touch and embrace the Divine?

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22_source sheets sefirah 5775 morrow of shabbos.pdf

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21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_the_debates_between_the_tzedukim_and_the_sages.mp3

shavuos

emor

tzedukim

rabbi kook

suducess

meir don plotzky

klei chemdah

The Views of Rabbi Meir Don Plotzky, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook & the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Sefirah/Shavuos Class

The Morrow of the Shabbos: The Dispute Between the Tzedukim and Chazal

Rabbi Akiva taught his students to love. But they could still not learn to respect their colleagues. Why?

How does Jewish law and Jewish mysticism view the reality of the collective vs. the individual? An analysis by the Rogatchover Gaon on the view of Rabbi Akiva in various Talmudic laws reveals a pattern of thought: The collective is not only a sum of many individuals joined together; but there is a transcendent reality in which all of the individual details melt away in a single integrated oneness.

There are two charged terms in the Hebrew language: Love and respect. The first comes from a sense of oneness; the latter is born from a sense of distinctiveness. Can it be that the students of Rabbi Akiva knew how to love but not how to respect?

There are people you like but you don&#39;t love; there are people you love but you may not like. There are people that you love and you like, and there are people, well, that you don&#39;t love and you don&#39;t like either. You love your parents. You love your brothers. You love your sisters. But you don&#39;t necessarily like them&hellip; Sometimes you love your husband, but you have a hard time liking him. What is the difference between &quot;liking&quot; and &quot;loving&quot;? What is the difference between anti-Semites who hate Jews and Jews who dislike Jews? Why do we count both &quot;day&quot; and the &quot;week&quot; in the counting of the Omer? Why are there so many couples who &ldquo;fall in love,&rdquo; but after some time, they find themselves so far apart? What happened to the love? Most of us love our children. But do we respect them?

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22_sefirah 5775 english source sheet.pdf

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_me_or_we_edited.mp4

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_me_or_we_edited.mp3

rabbi akiva

community

24000 students

individuality

respect

How to Like the People You Love: The Mistake of Rabbi Akiva’s Students

Me or We? The Individual vs. the Collective in Halacha & Kabbalah

This is a text-based class on the Maamar, Chassidic discourse, by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, U&#39;sfartem Lachem, presented by the Rebbe on Lag Ba&#39;omer, 18 Iyar, 5711, May 24, 1951.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Monday Parshas Tazria/Metzora, 30 Nissan, 5781, April&nbsp;12, 2021, live from his home in Monsey, NY

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22_usfartem_5711.3cbe.pdf

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21_8007_maamer_usfartem_lachem_5711_1.937d.mp3

Why Would the Omer Offering Be From Animal Fodder?

Chassidus: Maamer U'sfartem 5711 #1

The Animal Soul Can’t Always Hear the Music

This is a text-based class on the Maamar, Chassidic discourse, by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, U&#39;sfartem Lachem, presented by the Rebbe on Lag Ba&#39;omer, 18 Iyar, 5711, May 24, 1951.

This class was presented on Thursday, Parshas Tazria/Metzora, 3 Iyar, 5781, April&nbsp;15, 2021, live from Rabbi Jacobson&#39;s home in Monsey, NY.

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22_usfartem_5711.b96a.pdf

21_8010_maamer_usfartem_5711_2.b25b.mp4

21_8010_maamer_usfartem_5711_2.b25b.mp3

When the Religious Quest Destroys Emotional Creativity

Chassidus: Maamer U'sfartem 5711 #2

Some People Are Portraits: Perfect, But Lifeless

This is a text-based class on the Maamar, Chassidic discourse, by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, U&#39;sfartem Lachem, presented by the Rebbe on Lag Ba&#39;omer, 18 Iyar, 5711, May 24, 1951.

This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Monday, Parshas Emor, 14 Iyar, 5781, April&nbsp;26, 2021, live from his home in Monsey, NY.

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22_usfartem_5711.b005.pdf

21_8054_maamer_usfartem_5711_4.7f62.mp4

21_8054_maamer_usfartem_5711_4.7f62.mp3

How the Love of the Divine Soul & the Animal Soul Gets Filtered Through Seven Mediums

Chassidus: Maamer U'sfartem 5711 #5

Understanding Addiction

This is a text-based class on the Maamar, Chassidic discourse, by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, U&#39;sfartem Lachem, presented by the Rebbe on Lag Ba&#39;omer, 18 Iyar, 5711, May 24, 1951.

This class was&nbsp;presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Thursday, Parshas Emor, 17 Iyar, 5781, April&nbsp;29, 2021, live from his home in Monsey, NY.

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22_usfartem_5711.b278.pdf

21_8055_maamer_usfartem_5711_5.7f4f.mp4

21_8055_maamer_usfartem_5711_5.7f4f.mp3

Why Reb Shimon Ben Yochai Represents Hod Sheb'Hod

Chassidus: Maamer U'sfartem 5711 #6

If You Know How to Surrender You Have Hope

Counting of the Omer - 49 Steps Toward Inner Wholeness with Rabbi YY Jacobson

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49 steps

personal refinement

A Daily Meditation for Each Day of Sefirat HaOmer

The Sefirah Series

Counting of the Omer: 49 Steps Toward Inner Wholeness

This lecture was presented Lag Baomer, 5778, May 3, 2018, at a Seudas Hodah, a thanksgiving celebration, for the&nbsp;miraculous&nbsp;birth of Hadasah Miriam Klein, hosted by her parents, Ari and Naomi Klein.

Davening Is Made up of Three Emotions

Each Of Us Will Have to Confront Truth -- and It May Be Painful

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