<p style="color: rgb(47, 76, 90); font-family: Signika; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Tazria, 1 Nissan, 5784, April 9, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.
<p style="color: rgb(47, 76, 90); font-family: Signika; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; text-align: justify;">Who are the four children of the Haggadah? What&rsquo;s this great hullabaloo about them? Why four and not five, six, or ten? Why are they central to our Passover experience? What are their questions, and why are these questions so important?
<p style="color: rgb(47, 76, 90); font-family: Signika; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; text-align: justify;">The premise to answering these questions is that the four children are not external to us; they are within each of us: Within each of our hearts, there are &ldquo;four children&rdquo; who ask four distinct questions.&nbsp;
<p style="color: rgb(47, 76, 90); font-family: Signika; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; text-align: justify;">What are four big&nbsp;questions on Judaism? 1) The strange laws that we simply cannot wrap our brains ahead. 2) How can small people believe that G-d cares about their lives and actions, especially in a painful and scary universe? 3) I lead my own life and define my destiny; I don&rsquo;t need G-d. 4) I don&rsquo;t care.
<p style="color: rgb(47, 76, 90); font-family: Signika; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; text-align: justify;">The Haggadah addresses each of these four powerful questions, with which each of us struggles in one way or another.
<p style="color: rgb(47, 76, 90); font-family: Signika; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; text-align: justify;">Erev Pesach in Bergen Belzen. The Bloshever Rebbe sacrificed his life to obtain matzah. But when the Nazis discovered the matzah bakery, all was gone besides a few matzos. He decided the elderly would get them. Until a woman's voice was heard: &ldquo;Binaranu ubezkananu,&rdquo; the youth must come first.

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Our Children Are Asking the Questions We All Struggle With Internally

Women's Pesach Class

Can You Be Grateful for Each of Your ‘Four Children’? Can You Listen to the 4 Children Inside of You?

<a href="https://www.theyeshiva.net/jewish/8001/lecture-to-chicago-community-on-spiritual-emancipation-when-i-realize-i-have-no-needs-i-can-go-free">Click to watch the full class here</a>

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21_obligations_of_seder_wa_3.e6f5.mp3

YY Moment

Your Anxiety Free Seder

The Mitzva of lighting the Menorah is incredibly unique in the fact that every single person performs it not only in its minimal standard, but in the way described by the Talmud to be the &lsquo;most beautiful of beautiful.&rsquo; How did this develop? The argument between the Talmudic sages how many candles we light each night of Chanukah.

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negativity

dispelling darkness

chanukah

bais shamai

bais hillel

candles

tosafos

positivity

generating light

actualizing potential

Exploring the Opinions of the Schools of Shamai and Hillel on the Number of Chanukah Candles, from a Legal and Spiritual Dimension

Chanukah Class

How Do I Dispel My Inner Darkness? The Analytical & Behavioral Approaches

"For more than three millenia, during the seven days of Sukkos, we eat, drink, feast, schmooze, relax, 
read, and sleep in a hut known as a Sukkah. This structure consists of walls and a roof composed of 
material that grew from the ground, like bamboo, straw or branches.
How many walls does the Sukkah require? According to Jewish law, a Sukkah must have two complete 
walls plus a third wall that may even be one handbreadth long. If your Sukkah has three or four 
complete walls, that's wonderful; but the minimum requirement is two walls and a tiny piece of a third 
wall."
"Why does the law dictate this exact requirement for the Sukkah walls? And what really is the spiritual 
and psychological significance of spending seven days in a hut on your porch or in your backyard?
The great Kabbalists teach that Sukkos is the holiday, the celebration, of G-d loving and embracing the 
Jew. The Sukka is essentially G-d’s hug.
There are two forms of love—reciprocal love and unconditional love."
"I may love you because of what I receive in return for my relationship with you. You may be wise, deep, 
sensitive, kind, beautiful, humorous, challenging etc. - qualities expressed in and through your face, your 
eyes, ears and mouth and general look - and I love you because of these or other tremendous qualities 
that enrich my life.
Yet there is a far deeper love – unconditional, unqualified and absolute love. I don't love you because of 
me; I love you because of you. You may not give me anything in return for my love, you may even want 
me out of your life, but I still love you with all my heart, because my soul loves your soul."
"This great unconditional love is physically evident in the Sukka itself.
This class will examine four different languages of love: Words of affection, a kiss, a gaze, and a hug. We will study the kabbalistic significance behind each, and discover the greatest love of all: the Sukka."

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unconditional love

sukkos

sukkah

embrace

chebuk

Between a Word, a Kiss, a Gaze and an Embrace: The Kabbalistic Perspective on the Sukkah. When G-d Hugs Us

Were You Ever Hugged?

Of all the Rabbis cited in the Talmud, only one became a heretic. His name was Elisha ben Avuya. He was, by all accounts, one of the outstanding Jewish sages of the second-century, a contemporary of Rabbi Akiva and the teacher of Rabbi Meir, the leading scholars of his generation.

Elisha moved so far from Jewish tradition that his colleagues stopped referring to him by his name, but rather called him Acher, &ldquo;the other&rdquo;, the outcast, the renegade. Only his student Rabbi Meir remained loyal to the man who had once been his master, sought out his company and still believed that he might one day repent.

Against this backdrop we find a deeply moving scene in the Talmud. It is Shabbat, and Elisha ben Abuya is publicly desecrating the holy day by riding on a horse. Walking alongside him is Rabbi Meir. Heretic teacher and faithful disciple travel together along the road arguing and debating Jewish law. Rabbi Meir, the pious Jew, has become so immersed in the conversation that he has not noticed they are nearing the limits beyond which one may not walk on Shabbat. &ldquo;Acher&rdquo;, the apostate, realizes this and says: &ldquo;Meir, turn back. I have measured the distance we have walked by the paces of my horse, and we have reached the Shabbat limit. Beyond here, you are forbidden to walk.

Meir replied: &ldquo;You too turn back.&rdquo;

&ldquo;I cannot turn back,&rdquo; says Elisha. &ldquo;One day I was riding on my horse. It was Yom Kippur, which in that particular year fell on Shabbat. I was roaming behind the Holy of Holies, when I heard a heavenly voice saying: &lsquo;Turn back to me, O lost children, except for Acher... &rsquo;&rdquo;

What is the message of this story? That G-d indeed does not forgive all humans who want to repent? That some must truly be condemned forever? This would contradict a fundamental idea in Judaism that nothing stands in the way of repentance.

Furthermore, if G-d did not want Elisha to repent, why did He communicate with him at all? Why did the heavenly voice begin with words of love and encouragement &ldquo;Turn back to me, O lost children,&rdquo; and end with the fearful decree &ldquo;except for Acher&rdquo;? And why did Rachel name her long-awaited-for son Joseph, so that &ldquo;G-d may grant me yet another son!&rdquo; Why not celebrate this child?

This class will analyze the tragic story of Acher, the mysterious call to him on Yom Kippur, and his misinterpretation of it. It will teach us about the pain and destiny of our own lives, often lost and fragmented.

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yosef

yom kippur

teshuva

rabbi meir

rabbi akiva

elisha ben avuya

judaism

acher

The Story of the Greatest Heretic in Jewish History: Elisha Ben Avuyah

The Holy Heretic

Four Perspectives On Sin: An evening of song &amp; inspiration with Rabbi Jacobson and Cantor Berel Zucker singing stirring high-holiday melodies. The lecture explores a "panel discussion" between wisdom, prophecy, Torah and G-d on sin.

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teshuvah

teruah

tekiya

rosh hashana

confession

shevarim

Kumzitz with Rabbi YY Jacobson & Cantor Berel Zucker

Four Perspectives On Sin

The hallmark of a loving marriage is each partner&rsquo;s readiness to fulfill the explicit will of their spouse. If one partner expresses a desire for something, the other will do everything in his or her power to bring about its fulfillment.

A greater love is demonstrated when each partner also strives to fulfill the implied will of the other. To the truly devoted spouse, it makes no difference if a desire has been explicitly expressed or merely hinted at&mdash;he or she will carry it out with the same devotion and commitment to the loved one&rsquo;s gratification.

Finally, there are those very special marriages in which there is no need for even the merest of allusions. So deep is the bond between husband and wife that each intuitively knows what the other wants of him or her. Indeed, when two people love each other to such a degree, there is no greater joy than that experienced when one has succeeded in sensing and satisfying the other&rsquo;s desire all on one&rsquo;s own.

The observances of the month of Tishrei also fall into three categories. There are &ldquo;biblical precepts&rdquo;&mdash;commandments that are explicitly stated in the Torah. These include mitzvot such as sounding the shofar, fasting on Yom Kippur, or eating in the sukkah. There are also a number of &ldquo;rabbinical mitzvot&rdquo;&mdash;observances instituted by the prophets and the sages by the authority vested in them by the Torah. For example, the five prayer services held on Yom Kippur, the taking of the &ldquo;Four Kinds&rdquo; on all but the first day of Sukkot, and the pouring of the water on the Temple altar on each morning of Sukkot, are all rabbinical institutions.

Finally, the month of Tishrei has many minhagim or &ldquo;customs,&rdquo; such as eating an apple dipped in honey on the first night of Rosh HaShanah or conducting the kapparot in the wee hours of the morning on the day before Yom Kippur. The minhagim are not mandated by biblical or rabbinical law, but by force of custom: these are things that we ourselves have initiated as ways to enhance our bond with our Creator.

This class will analyze the difference between the three types of relationships and demonstrate how the relationship between the Jew and G-d is established during the month of Tishrei in the same three paradigms. It explored the three major categories of Jewish tradition: biblical instructions, rabbinic injunctions and Jewish customs.

Finally we will discover the climax of Tishrei: The dancing Hakafot on Simchat Torah, merely a custom, yet generating the most intense joy.

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torah

shavuos

mitzvos

marriage

jewish customs

hakofos

minhag

rabbinic mizvos

biblical mizvos

Between Biblical Commandments, Rabbinic Instructions, and Jewish Customs

A Tale of Three Relationships -- Communication, Intimation and Intuition

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), the founder of Chassidism, granted Judaism a sophistication, depth, and richness, which allow us to appreciate Torah with a new light.

One of his most fundamental teachings was that G-d was not a force above the world manipulating and controlling it, but rather G-d was the name we use to describe the very truth and essence of Reality; the core and backdrop of all existence.

Therefore, in every thought there was meaning, in every experience there was joy, in every encounter there was energy of the Divine. You can find G-d in all.

This class takes us on a journey into one of the Baal Shem Tov&rsquo;s teachings on how to deal with alien and destructive thoughts that inundate us during prayer and meditation. 150 years before the birth of psychoanalysis, the Baal Shem Tov taught us how the external manifestation of a thought may eclipse its inner meaning. Every thought needs healing and sublimation. Yet there are exceptions.

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prayer

chassidus

baal shem tov

chassidism and psychoanalysis

addiction

psychoanalysis

keser shem tov

unholy thoughts

davening

machshavos zaros

The Holiness of Unholy Thoughts: Chassidus & Psychoanalysis 

Shavous -- Yartzeit of the Baal Shem Tov

The Baal Shem Tov's Approach to Addictive & Dysfunctional Thoughts

"The 19th chapter of Exodus describes the final week of preparation for the reception of the Torah at Sinai. By analyzing the Torah's account, the Talmud pieces together the following chronicle of events for these six days, the 1st through the 6th of Sivan:"
"Sivan 1: The day we arrived at Sinai: “Moses did not say anything at all to the Jewish people, since they were weary from the journey.” "
"Sivan 2:At dawn, Moses ascends Mount Sinai. He brings back the following message from G-d: “You have 
seen what I have done to Egypt, and how I bore you upon the wings of eagles and brought you to Myself. 
Now, if you will obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My chosen treasure from among all the 
nations, for all the earth is Mine. You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” With these 
words, G-d expressed His desire that we become His “chosen people.” The day is accordingly marked in our calendar as Yom HaMeyuchas, “The Day of Designation.”"
"Sivan 3: G-d commands Moses to fence in the mountain, marking the boundaries where everyone is to stand 
when G-d reveals Himself upon the mountain and gives them the Torah. Moses may approach closer than Aaron, who may approach closer than the kohanim (priests), who may approach closer than the rest of the nation. "
"Sivan 4: The Jewish people are told to purify and sanctify themselves by suspending marital relations and 
immersing in a mikveh, a ritual bath. 
Sivan 5: Moses builds an altar at the foot of the mountain and seals the covenant between G-d and Israel. The entire people proclaim, “All that G-d commands, we shall do and we shall hear (comprehend).” "
"Sivan 6: The Giving of the Torah: “When morning came, there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud 
upon the mountain... The voice of the shofar sounded, growing stronger and stronger... G-d descended upon Mount Sinai ... and spoke the following words, saying: ‘I Am G-d your G-d, who has taken you out of the land of Egypt…’” "
"But there is something strange: From the moment that Moses brought them word of the promised 
redemption, the Jewish people awaited the revelation at Sinai. From the day they left Egypt, the Jews literally 
counted the days to the morning on which they would behold the reality of G-d and be granted the liberating truth of truths. In light of this, the events—or rather, the non-event—of the 1st of Sivan is most difficult to understand"
"This was the day on which “Moses did not say anything at all to the Jewish people, since they 
were weary from the journey.” But human nature is such that the closer one comes to an anticipated point in 
time, the stronger one’s yearning and desire becomes. Why, after six weeks of anticipation and preparation 
for the great day, would everything screech to a halt merely because the Jewish people were “weary from the journey”? Why would they not do “anything at all” in preparation for their receiving of the Torah, on the very day on which they arrived at Mount Sinai?"
"This class will take us on a journey onto the essence and meaning of Torah. What exactly occurred at Sinai? 
Why is the study of Torah considered the highest ideal? Then we can discover how the silence on the first day of Sivan actually constituted the deepest preparation for Sinai. It was the silencing of the Jewish mind to absorb the gift of infinity."


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mount sinai

moshe

moses

sivan

rosh chodesh sivan

Sometimes Doing Nothing can be the Most Strenuous Activity of All -- Exploring the Essence of Torah

What We Hide Our Children Expose

Class Summary:

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