This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday, 6 Tamuz, 5778, June 19, 2018, at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY

5511_fist_1.c7ad.jpg

21_yyj_speak_to_the_rock_understanding_our_generation.c274.mp4

21_yyj_speak_to_the_rock_understanding_our_generation.c274.mp3

chukas

education

leadership

models of education

models of leadership

chukat

hitting children

moshe hitting the rock

spanking

sela

tzur

Why Was Moshe Punished So Harshly for Hitting a Rock?

Women's Chukas Class

Speak to the Rock: Understanding Our Generation

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Chukas, 6&nbsp;Tammuz, 5779, July 9, 2019 at the Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY

7050_depositphotos_34005701_xl_2015_luminar.602b.jpeg

21_7050_rabbi_yy_jacobson_womens_class_chukas_5779_r03_.ae55.mp4

21_7050_rabbi_yy_jacobson_womens_class_chukas_5779_r03_.ae55.mp3

serpent

snake

nachash

I Will Not Let Go of My Trauma Until It Blesses Me

Teaching the Fly to Look Up

The women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Chukas-Balak, 8&nbsp;Tammuz, 5780, June 30, 2020, streaming live from Rabbi Jacobson&#39;s home in Monsey, NY

7575_women_class_chukas.f0c2.jpg

22_chukas_balak_monsey_5780___english_source_sheet.3358.pdf

21_7575_rabbi_yy_jacobson_womens_chukas_balak_5780.9fa3.mp4

21_7575_rabbi_yy_jacobson_womens_chukas_balak_5780.9fa3.mp3

yiftach

yiftach's daughter

pinchas

child sacrifice

When Religion Becomes Dangerous: The Story of Yiftach's Daughter

Chukas Women's Class

Did Yiftach Suffer from PTSD?

At last, the great moment had arrived. For forty years, the Jewish People had wandered together through the desert. The older generation had already passed on. Even beloved Miriam was no more. By now, under the leadership of Moses, the young nation of Israel was finally ready to enter the Promised Land. But an incident occurred that would transform the nation's destiny.
The people run out of water. They cry to Moses, who turns to G-d. G-d commands Moses to produce water from a rock miraculously, by speaking to it. Instead, Moses hits the rock twice, which indeed produces water. It is the most subtle and enigmatic &lsquo;sin&rsquo; in the entire Torah, yet because of it Moses&rsquo; greatest dream is shattered and he is denied entry into the Land of Israel.
What exactly was Moses&rsquo; sin? There are dozens of divergent interpretations. The common denominator behind all of them is that somehow this was a rebellion against G-d or a demonstration of an apparent flaw in Moses. But maybe we have to read the story differently?
It was the Rogatchover Gaon, Rabbi Yosef Rosen (1858-1936), who reframes the story completely. Moses&rsquo;s error consisted of using Aaron&rsquo;s wooden staff, rather than his own made of rock. As a result, Jewish women did not have a mikvah for a while and peace in the home was effected. The class explores this original insight and shows its parallels in the teachings of Kabablah and Chassidus.
&nbsp;

2484_rogatchover 2.jpg

22_yyj chukat- source sheet 5775 monsey.pdf

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_06212015.mp4

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_06212015.mp3

mikvah

moshe not entering holy land

sholom bayis

peace in marriage

The Day Normal Family Life Was Disrupted

The Stick & the Rock: The Rogatchover Reframes the Story 

Why Did Moses Not Enter the Holy Land? On the journey from slavery to freedom, the model of leadership must change

67_67_mosesrockh_edited.3e1d.png

22_ac_chukas-0.pdf

chukas.360p.mp4

chukas.mp3

strike the rock

moses

moshe

mei merivah

speak to the rock

On the Journey From Slavery to Freedom, the Model of Leadership Must Change

Why Did Moses Not Enter the Holy Land?

The family members of great figures in history are often eclipsed and live in the shadow of their legendary relative. However, many times they are fascinating and inspiring characters in their own right.

This class will compare and contrast the different philosophies of Yisro and Moshe, focusing on their views of the ideal and most meaningful Jewish education.

Yisro, Moshe&rsquo;s father-in-law, was a spiritual seeker who had studied and experimented with every spiritual and religious discipline of his time, until finally recognizing and embracing the G-d of the Jews.

This class explores that strange midrashic story that Moses made an oath to his father in law that his first child he would dedicate to a life of idolatry. How can we make sense of this? Yet it is here that we discover the genesis of a major debate about Jewish education that persists to this very day.

46_einsteinh.jpg

22_yisro_ac.pdf

yisro_5769_revised.360p.mp4

yisro_5769_revised.mp3

yisro

tziporah

statue of micha

open minded

idolatry

moshe/moses

gershom

eliezer

avodah zara

alef

red heifer

para aduma

faith and reason

yitro

jethro

Moses and Jethro Debate What is the Best Curriculum for Jewish Education

Yisro Class

How Open Minded Should Our Children Be?

2861_wiesel and yy.jpg

rebbe

lubavitcher rebbe

death

rebbetzin chaya mushkah

elie wiesel

chabad rebbetzins

red cow

gershon jacobson

parah aduma

eli wiesel

The Day Moses' Face Turned Green 

The Mystery of Death: Elie Wiesel's Eulogy for My Father

No Complaining

After seventy years of communist oppression and seven hours of flying, Boris, a burly immigrant from Moscow steps off the plane in a free land to begin his new life in his new home, Israel. Standing at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, a young and enthusiastic Israeli reporter plunges a microphone in front of him with a level of excitement that is only seen when an inside scoop is about to be caught.&nbsp;The reporter asks with focus: “Tell me, what was life back in Russia like?”

To which the Russian immigrant replies: “I couldn’t complain.”

An obviously unexpected answer, the young reporter continues to probe: “Well how were your living quarters there?” To which the Russian responds “I couldn’t complain.”

Not expecting this answer either, the reporter decides to hit him with a question that is bound to get the answer he is looking for: “What about your standard of living?” To which the Russian replies again: “I couldn’t complain.”

At this point, the reporter’s frustration with the new immigrant’s answers reaches a crescendo, and so in a derogatory tone the reporter yells out, “Well, if everything was so wonderful back in Russia, then why did you even bother to come here?”&nbsp;To which the new immigrant replies with gusto: “Oh, here I can complain!”

The Serpents

It is a strange biblical episode --&nbsp;in this week’s portion of Chukas.

When poisonous snakes attack the Jews in the desert, G-d instructs Moses to fashion a special healing instrument: a pole topped with the form of a snake. Moses sculptures a snake of copper and duly places it on top of a pole. Those who had been afflicted by the snake bite would gaze on the serpentine image on the pole and be cured <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>.

According to some historians, this was the forerunner of the caduceus, the snake-entwined rod which is today the emblem of the medical profession.

Yet the question is obvious: What was the point of placing a snake on top of the pole to cure the Jews who were bitten? If it was G-d who was healing them miraculously, why the need to look up at a copper snake atop a pole?&nbsp;The question is raised in the Talmud <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a>:

"But is the snake capable of determining life and death?!” the Talmud asks. And the answer is this: “Rather, when Israel would gaze upward and bind their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they would be healed; and if not, they would perish." Fixing their eyes on the snake alone would not yield any cure; it was looking upward toward G-d, it was the relationship with G-d, which brought the cure.&nbsp;But if so, why bother to carve out a copper snake in the first place, which can only make people believe that it is the copper snake that is the cause of healing?

In fact, this is exactly what occurred. The copper snake that Moses made was preserved for centuries. In the passage of time, however, its meaning became distorted, and people began to say that the snake possessed powers of its own. When it reached the point of becoming an image of idolatry, the Jewish King Hezekiah (in the 6th century BCE) destroyed the copper snake fashioned by Moses, and that was the end of that special copper snake <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a>.

Which only reinforces the question: Why ask people to look up at a man-made snake which can lead down the path to a theological error of deifying the snake?

There is another question. The snake was the reptile that caused the harm in the first place. Healing, it would seem, would come from staying far away from serpents. Why in this case was the remedy born from gazing at the very venomous creature which caused the damage to begin with <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref4')">[4]</a>?

A Tale of Two Snakes

The snake&nbsp;in the biblical story -- as all biblical stories capturing the timeless journeys of the human psyche -- is also a metaphor for all of the “snakes” in our lives.&nbsp;Have you ever been bitten&nbsp;by a "venomous snake"? Poisoned by harmful people, burnt by life, or by abusive situations? Have you ever been crushed by a clueless principal, a manipulative boss, a deceiving partner, a toxic relationship? Were you ever back-stabbed by people you trusted? Is your anxiety killing you? Are you weary and demoralized by your life experience?

What is the deeper meaning of suffering? And how do some people know how to accept affliction with love and grace?

These are good questions that cannot be answered easily, if at all. But one perspective is presented in the story of the serpents.&nbsp;G-d tells Moses: “Make a serpent and place it on a pole. Whoever gets bitten should look at it and he will live.”&nbsp;The key to healing, the Torah suggests, is not by fleeing the cause of the suffering, but by gazing at it. Don’t run from the snake; look at it. Because deep inside the challenge, you will find the cure. Deep inside the pain, you will find the healing light.&nbsp;

But there is one qualification: you must look&nbsp;up to the snake; you must peer into the reality of the snake&nbsp;above, on top of the elevated pole, not on the serpent crawling here below.

The Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), who had three Jewish grandparents and was considered by many to be one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, once said that his aim as a philosopher was, "to show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle." The fly keeps banging its head against the glass in a vain attempt to get out. The more it tries, the more it fails, until it drops from exhaustion. The one thing it forgets to do is look to the sky.

Every experience in life can be seen from two dimensions – from a concrete, earthly perspective, or from a higher, more sublime vantage point, appreciating its true nature and meaning from the Divine perspective.&nbsp;There is the “snake” down here, and there is the very same “snake” up there. I can experience my challenges, struggles, and difficulties in the way they are manifested down here.&nbsp;But I can also look at these very same struggles from a more elevated point of view. The circumstances may not change, but their meaning and significance will. From the “downer” perspective, these challenges, curveballs, painful confrontations, and realizations can throw me into despair or drain me of my sap. From the “higher” perspective, the way G-d sees these very same realities, every challenge contains the seeds for rebirth.&nbsp;Within every crisis lies the possibility of a new and deeper discovery.

Many of us know this from our personal stories: Events that at the time were so painful to endure, in retrospect were those that inspired the most growth. Those painful events moved us from the surface to the depths, challenging us to become larger than we ever thought we can be, and stimulating conviction and clarity unknown to us before.

This is not about suppressing the pain. On the contrary, it is about taking the pain back to its deepest origin; going with it back to its primal source, seeing it for what it really is in its pristine state.&nbsp;&nbsp;

To perceive clarity from the midst of agonizing turmoil we must train ourselves to constantly look upward. When faced with a “snake,” with a challenge, many people look to their right or to their left. Either they fight, or they cave in. But there is another path: look upwards. See the “snake” from the perspective above.

And in that upward gaze, you might find a new sense of healing: the questions might become the very answers, the problems may become the solutions, and the venom may become the cure.&nbsp;Remarkably, snakebites today are cured with anti-venom manufactured from small quantities of snake venom that stimulate the production of antibodies in the blood.

It's the same idea taught by Moses: The source of the affliction itself becomes the remedy <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref5')">[5]</a>.&nbsp;This is true in all areas of life. As viewed by the Creator, from the perspective above, transgression is the potential for a new self-discovery; failure is the potential for deeper success, holes in a marriage are the seeds of “renovation” to recreate a far deeper relationship, the end of an era is always the beginning of a new one, pain is a springboard for deeper love and frustration is the mother of a new awareness <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref6')">[6]</a>.

Bless Me

This is surely the meaning in that famous, enigmatic passage in Genesis 32 in which Jacob, far from home, wrestles with an unknown, unnamed adversary from night until the break of day. The mysterious man maims Jacob, causing him to limp.

And yet at the end of a struggling night, a night to remember,&nbsp;Jacob says to the stranger/angel/God: “I will not let you go until you bless me.”&nbsp;

“Bless me?!” Is this how you bid farewell to a man who attempts to destroy you?

Jacob was teaching us the secret of Jewish resilience. To be a Jew is to possess that unique ability to say to every crisis: “I will not let you go until you bless me.” I know that deep down your entire objective is to elevate me, to bring me to a higher place, to climb the mountain leading to the truth, allowing me to emerge stronger, wiser, more blessed.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref7')">[7]</a>&nbsp;

_____________

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Numbers 21:6-10. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> Rosh Hashana 29. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> II Kings 18:4. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn4')">[4]</a> See Ramban: “This was a miracle within a miracle.” The literal answer is that it was indeed insufficient to just ask G-d to save them, without the snake-on-a-pole therapy. The people had to gaze upon the snake and focus on the fact that only G-d, who created the snake in the first place, could transform that same venomous creature into a medium of healing. The people had to acknowledge that albeit they were bitten by a snake it was not the snake itself, but the creator of the snake, which was responsible for their life and death. They were looking at a snake but they were seeing G-d. The deeper perspective is presented below. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn5')">[5]</a> This same method of healing is used elsewhere. Moses used a bitter stick to sweeten bitter waters (Exodus 15:25). And it was salt that Elisha used to purify the harmful water (II Kings chapter 2). 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn6')">[6]</a> The verse in Deuteronomy (13:4) “For G-d is testing you,” is interpreted also as “For G-d is elevating you.” In Hebrew, the same word – Nesayon -- is used for a” test” and for “elevation.” Every test, each challenge, is essentially also an invitation, an opportunity, for an elevation, for growth. In the story of the serpents too, the word used is “place it on a pole,” “sim oso al nes,” on an elevated object. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn7')">[7]</a> This essay is based on Rabbi Schnuer Zalman of Liadi, Likkutei Torah Chukas pp. 61d-62b. For an elaborate explanation of this discourse in Likkutei Torah, see Sichas 12 Tamuz, 5729 (1969).

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 12.75pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">There is a strange biblical episode in this week&rsquo;s portion of Chukas. When poisonous snakes attack the Jews in the desert, G-d instructs Moses to fashion a special healing instrument: a pole topped with the form of a snake. Moses sculptures a snake of copper, and duly places it on top of a pole. Those who had been afflicted by the snake-bite would gaze on the serpentine image on the pole and be cured . 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 12.75pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">It is interesting to note that according to some historians, this was the forerunner of the caduceus, the snake-entwined rod which is today the emblem of the medical profession.

The question is obvious: What was the point of placing a snake on top of the pole to cure the Jews who were bitten? If it was G-d who was healing them miraculously, why the need to look up at a copper-snake atop a pole?

2498_snakish.jpg

copper snake

Looking Up: The Meaning behind the Snake on the Pole

Essay Chukas

Can I See Anxiety as an Opportunity?

Joseph Vs. Moses
"G-d became angry with me because of you, and He did not listen to me," Moses states in the beginning of this week's portion (Vaeschanan). "G-d said to me, ‘It is too much for you! Do not continue to speak to Me further about this matter.’”
Thus, G-d refuses the pleading of His faithful servant, Moses, to be allowed entry into the Promised Land. Instead G-d tells Moses: “Ascend to the top of the cliff and raise your eyes westward, northward, southward, and eastward, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>
The Midrash, which transcribes the oral traditions passed down the generations, presents a moving dialogue between Moses and G-d:<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a>
Moses said to G-d, “Master of the universe, the bones of Joseph will enter the land, and I will not?!”
What he meant was this: At the conclusion of Genesis, Joseph the viceroy of Egypt, just before his death, adjured the children of Israel, that they take his bones with them when they leave Egypt. More than a century later, when the Jewish slaves embarked on their path to freedom, “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he [Joseph] had firmly adjured the children of Israel saying, ‘G-d will surely remember you, and you shall bring up my bones from here with you.”<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a>&nbsp;
Joseph’s casket wandered with the Jews during their forty-year sojourn in the desert. When Joshua led the people into the land, Joseph’s bones were interred in the city of Shchem,<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref4')">[4]</a>&nbsp;known today also as Nablus. (The gravesite was burned and destroyed in October 2000, in the beginning of the second Intifada. Rabbi Hillel Lieberman, who came to protect the site, was murdered. Since then it has become forbidden for Jews to visit the site, besides for certain occasions.)
This was the irony hinted in Moses’ plea to G-d: I was the one who carried Joseph’s bones for forty-years; yet these bones that I carried all this way will enter into the Holy Land, while I will remain behind!
What perturbed Moses, according to this Midrash, was not so much that he wouldn’t be allowed to enter the Land alive. Moses could understand that his leadership was designed for the generation that left Egypt and that now it was time for his pupil Joshua to take over the reins. The brunt of Moses' hurt was that G-d would not allow even his body to be interred in the soil of the Holy Land! The remains of Joseph, who died 180 years earlier, can enter the land, while the body of Moses, who led the Jews all the way till the border, cannot enter?
G-d’s response is nothing less than astounding. It goes like this:
He who acknowledged his land, will be buried in the land; he who did not acknowledge his land, will not be buried in the land. Joseph acknowledged the land; Moses did not.
The Midrash quotes two episodes demonstrating Joseph’s loyalty to the land.
The First Episode
At the age of seventeen, Joseph was living with his father Jacob in Hebron. The young handsome lad was kidnapped by his brothers and sold into Egyptian slavery. There he acquired the trust of his master, Potiphar, who put him in charge of the home, while his wife was unsuccessfully attempting to seduce Joseph into immoral behavior.
One day when nobody was home, the woman held on to Joseph, demanding that he betray his morality. Joseph fled the home leaving his cloak in her hand. She seized the opportunity and cried out: “Look! He [my husband] brought us a Hebrew man to sport with us; he came to lie with me but I screamed out loudly! When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me, fled and went outside!”<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref5')">[5]</a>&nbsp;
For this, Joseph was sentenced to prison. For twelve years he remained incarcerated in an Egyptian dungeon, until he was finally liberated to interpret a mysterious dream of the Egyptian emperor, Pharaoh, following which he rose to become the viceroy of the country.
How did Potiphar’s wife describe Joseph? As a “Hebrew man” (“Look, he brought us a Hebrew man to sport with us.”) This was a most obvious and conspicuous characteristic of Joseph's. Clearly, he never disguised his origin; everybody was aware that he was member of the Hebrew tribe, coming from the Land of Israel.
The Second Episode
The second episode occurs ten years later, while in the Egyptian dungeon. There, Joseph interprets the enigmatic dreams of two of Pharaoh’s assistants, his baker and his butler. The baker, Joseph predicts, will be executed; the butler will be set free and restored to his previous post in the palace.
Joseph asks of the butler: “If only you can do me a favor, and mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this place, for indeed I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to them to put me in the dungeon.”<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref6')">[6]</a>
Here again Joseph proclaims his connection to the Holy Land. “I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews.”
Indeed, when the butler does present Joseph’s case to Pharaoh, two years later, that is exactly how he describes Joseph: “There [in the dungeon] with us was a Hebrew youth, a slave….<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref7')">[7]</a> The first characteristic by which he defines Joseph is his being “a Hebrew youth.”
Why Risk Your Freedom?
In Egyptian society, to be a Hebrew was a badge of shame.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn8" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref8')">[8]</a> That may be the reason why Potiphar’s wife when seeking to gain credibility for her version of the story that Joseph attempted to violate her, defined him first and foremost as a “Hebrew man.” She knew that this would help her case. When people will hear that he is a Jew, they will believe all the ill behavior attributed to him. The Jew is capable of all…
And Joseph made it known that he was a Hebrew, a resident of Israel. Disguising it would perhaps allow him to integrate into Egyptian society, but that would mean lying to himself and to the world. What type of life is that?
Years later, while suffering in prison, attempting to seek the Egyptian ruler’s grace to set him free of his misery, it would have been even more logical for him to underplay his true identity. Why did he tell the butler, “I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews” and put his entire freedom at risk?&nbsp;&nbsp;
Furthermore, how can Joseph define the land as “The land of the Hebrews”? At the time, the land was home to 31 kingdoms, consisting of large and powerful tribes, while the Hebrews were comprised of fewer than 70 members,<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn9" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref9')">[9]</a> and lived in part of one city, Hebron?
An Organic Connection
What is the connection between the Jewish people and the Holy Land, both in the past and in the present? Is it merely a national one: Jews reside in Israel they are citizens of the country, so they are naturally connected to it. No! For the last 2000 years, Jews have been exiled and dispersed all over the globe, yet they still spoke of Eretz Israel as their home; they cried for it as their spiritual epicenter. It was the core of their longings, dreams, and aspirations.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn10" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref10')">[10]</a>]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
For 2000 years, Jews have prayed three times a day in the direction of Israel; they have beseeched G-d to return them to their homeland; they have concluded every Seder and Yom Kippur service with the declaration, “Next year in Jerusalem!” they have fasted each year, without fail, on the day their exile from Israel began.
Why? If it were merely a nationalistic obsession, it should have diminished with the two millennia of living elsewhere.
The answer to this enigma has been articulated in countless works of Jewish philosophy and mysticism:<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn11" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref11')">[11]</a> Each and every Jew—secular and observant alike—is organically linked to the land of Israel. Israel for the Jew is not merely a nationality; it is the home of the Jewish inner consciousness: The Jewish soul is rooted in the energy vibrating in the atmosphere of Eretz Israel.
The 10th century Jew thriving on the Rhine, the 16th century Jew walking the streets of Krakow, the 20th century Jew struggling in communist Moscow, and the Jew of 21st century sipping coffee in a Soho Starbucks—each of them was and is aware, on a conscious or subconscious level, that his or her soul is inherently interconnected with Eretz Israel. He may have never visited the physical territory, but it is still home. How? Because his or her soul originated there, and was merely grafted to the Diaspora, in order to imbue it with the sanctity of Eretz Israel.
Joseph was a slave, then a prisoner. He was living in Egypt and was powerless to change that. Ultimately he would become the prime minister of the country. But that was only his body; his soul was still living in Eretz Israel. Thus he was never ashamed to remain loyal to himself and declare the truth: I am residing in Egypt, but a part of me has never left the Holy Land. I may one day come to love Egypt, but Eretz Yisroel will always remain my home. Because it is home.&nbsp;&nbsp;
One with the Land
Now let us shift our attention to Moses.
Following his escape from Pharaoh’s sword, Moses spent time at the well of Midyan. There, the Jewish boy who grew up in the Egyptian palace rescued Jethro's seven daughters from the shepherds who were harassing them, and he gave water to their sheep. When the daughters came home and their father asked them how they managed to make it home so quickly, they replied, “An Egyptian man saved us from the shepherds and he even draw water for us and for the sheep.”<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn12" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref12')">[12]</a>
“An Egyptian man” was the way they described Moses. In other words, Moses allowed them to get the impression that he was Egyptian. Moses did not necessarily tell them he was an Egyptian; he merely didn’t protest their impression of him as such.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Joseph, concludes the Midrash, embraced his land, hence he was interred there; Moses did not, hence he remained outside of it.
This was not a punishment. Moses, we can be sure, had good reason for his behavior. (Moses stood up to the superpower of his time, so he clearly suffered not of Jewish self-hate, nor was he fearful of sounding “too Jewish.” The reason he behaved so is beyond the scope of this present essay). Nevertheless, to be worthy of the Land of Israel, you need to be one with it.
The Modern Crisis
In recent years, some of our brothers have lost touch with this innate sense etched in the hearts of our people for four millennia. We began to question our right to that small territory in the Middle East, surrounded by hundreds of millions of Muslims. The Balfour declaration of 1917 and the UN resolution of 1947 became for many the sole basis for our right to establish the State of Israel.
Israel’s neighbors, acutely aware of this change of heart in Israeli modern culture, seized this weakening of the Jewish connection to Israel in order to build their armies with the objective of defeating the country. Instead of giving the terrorists a full blow the moment terror reared its ugly head, Israel was consumed by self-doubt as to its own legitimacy in conquering “Arab land”. Israel had a strong army, but it lost much of the spirit giving the Israeli military a soul and a passion.
Now Israel was horrifically awakened from more than a decade of illusions. The dream that concessions, a withdrawal from the 1967 occupied territories, the creation of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem will create a climate for peace, has tragically turned into a nightmare. We hoped the Israeli left would have been proven right, but that was not the case. The country that was relatively safe in the mid-80’s, has, following the Oslo Peace accords, become a bloodbath. Thousands of innocent Jews and Arabs lost their lives in the process.
At this defining moment, we must reclaim our inner sense of unity and purpose, embedded in the depth of every Jewish heart. The Land of Israel is really the land of the Jewish people. It is not about occupation; it is about reality: The Jewish soul is linked with a million chords to the territory of Eretz Yisroel; it is an inherent connection, coded into the very DNA of the universe.
Over the past 4000 years the Torah never let us down. Not once. We can trust it on this truth, too: The land is G-d’s gift to the Jewish people.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Joseph was a man of the world. He walked the corridors of the United Nations and the State Department. He was a loyal and faithful citizen of Egypt, contributing immensely to its economic growth and rescuing it from famine. But he never hesitated to say the truth: that Israel was the eternal home of the Jewish people, given to them as a gift from the Creator of heaven and earth.
Today we all need to be Josephs.
(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;
&nbsp;
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Deuteronomy 3:26-27.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> Midrash Rabah Devarim 2:8.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> Exodus 13:19.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn4')">[4]</a> Joshua 24:32.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn5')">[5]</a> Genesis 39:13
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn6')">[6]</a> Ibid. 40:14
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn7')">[7]</a> Ibid. 41:12.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref8" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn8')">[8]</a> Genesis 43:32.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref9" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn9')">[9]</a> Ibid. 46:27
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref10" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn10')">[10]</a> See, for example, the extraordinarily dramatic poem by Rabbi Yehudah Halevi (12th century Spain), “Zion will you not seek the welfare of your prisoners?”
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref11" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn11')">[11]</a> See, for example, Likkutei Torah Parshas Massei. Sefas Emes Parshas Balak.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref12" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn12')">[12]</a>Exodus 2:19.

Ashamed To Defend Their Home - Why Moses was Denied Entry into the Holy Land

900_dsc_0156-1.jpg

22_behaalaosecha_5770-2.pdf

yosef

israel

jewish pride

Why Moses was Denied Entry into the Holy Land

Ashamed To Defend Their Home

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#1.&nbsp;​Why Was I Created?&nbsp;Why Addiction Never Does the Trick.

This class was presented Parshas Chukas 5777, at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

5286_snake_copper.eff9.jpg

22_likutay_torah_chukas___maamar_vayaas_moshe_nochosh.ed9e.pdf

21_chassidus_thurs_6_29.62cd.mp4

21_chassidus_thurs_6_29.62cd.mp3

Why Addiction Never Does the Trick

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#​​1​

​Why Was I Created?

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​Nschash #2.&nbsp;Don't Try to Make Sense of the Holocaust:&nbsp;The Views of Reb Avigdor Miller, the Satmar Rebbe and the Lubavitcher Rebbe​.

5285_holocaust.09dd.jpg

22_likutay_torah_chukas___maamar_vayaas_moshe_nochosh.6a05.pdf

21_chassidus_6_30_fixed.ab37.mp4

21_chassidus_6_30_fixed.ab37.mp3

pain

holocaust

suffering

evil

The Views of Reb Avigdor Miller, the Satmar Rebbe and the Lubavitcher Rebbe​

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#​2​

Don't Try to Make Sense of the Holocaust

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#3.&nbsp;Every Breakdown Contains a Child Waiting to Be Born.&nbsp;Whatever Comes Your Way In Life, Search for Its Innermost Core

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Every Breakdown Contains a Child Waiting to Be Born

Whatever Comes Your Way In Life, Search for Its Innermost Core

Class Summary:

Categories

Related Classes

Please help us continue our work

Sign up to receive latest content by Rabbi YY

Ways to get content by Rabbi YY Jacobson