TheYeshiva.net - Rabbi YY Jacobson

The Tension between Selfhood and Selflessness

A Journey into the Biblical Prohibition Against Offering Yeast or Honey

1 hr 5 min

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The Tension between Selfhood and Selflessness- A Journey into the Biblical Prohibition Against Offering Yeast or Honey

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AS
Av Schwartzberg -14 years ago
mp3 finding
I eenjoy your classes and like downloading them so I can hear them 2x and at my convenience. But the mp3 button is not so easy to find.
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NG
Nicole Green -14 years ago
Bamidbar
Rabbi Jacobson,
I wait impatiently each week for your amazing essays.I think it would be wonderful to have them published in a book, parsha by parsha, and make them available to so many
I thank you for the inspiration which you provide me every week and which I make a point of sharing as part of our weekly shiur in Cape Town, SA. Hashem and the Rebbe have blessed you with incredible insight into the Torah and Chassidus.May you always find the words to express so generously the essence of Torah, thank you!!!
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- Anonymous -2 years ago
  We are waiting for your book dear Rabbi Jacobson. I think the jews in Israel are in desperate need of someone like you to talk to them in their language
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YSTAI
yonatan silverman Tel Aviv Isr -14 years ago
reform and conservative judaism
why does the orthodox chief rabbinate in Israel tyrannize and persecute non-orthodox Jews as if they were jews for jesus?
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J
jack -14 years ago
deep
a lovely insight, on all thre levels. thanks
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L
Laurie -14 years ago
Sacrifice
You are so brilliant and you are an inspiration to all of us.. I am in awe of how you teach and with all the references to the Torah.. I would like to turn what you say into a deep and meaningful workshop where each person can also share their relationship to your teachings..
Where do we eat from pleasure? How to we hold on to what is contaminated when we are going for purification? How does this relate to our lives today.
I have so many Religious Clients who are cooking for Sedar but inside their soul they do not feel seen or loved by their parents of children..
Much respect to you.
Warmly,
Laurie Schwartz-Friedman
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A
Admin -14 years ago
Admin
The MP3 uploaded is the complete shiur. Please make sure that you are allowing the MP3 to download completely before you play it.
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YG
Yisroel Gurvich -14 years ago
The four levels
How was R' Jacobson able to categorize the perushim into the levels of remez and drush? Where does one draw the line between symbolism and integration?

If G-dliness is the ultimate good, then how could a person be destroyed and consumed by it by being exposed to G-dliness too much too early in the process of growth?
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SYK
Shmuel Yosef Kamman -14 years ago
The Tension between Selfhood and Selflessness
Wonderful!! --- Uplifting!!!
Unforgettable!!!
The following is only one of the reasons for my above exclamations:

By using the Chassidic teaching methodology, you have brought out Hashem's kindness towards His Creation. You accomplished this tremendous feat by demonstrating how, by learning the Torah in all its four levels and then, utilizing Chassidus, the fifth level, we are able to understand from the outer through to the innermost parts of our selves and thereby come to see more of how Hashem is in everything and everything is in Hashem.
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DW
David Wieseneck -14 years ago
questions
Questions and Exercises

1. What are some of the literal reasons for not using yeast and honey as an offering?

To bring yeast or honey in a sacrifice would be to cancel out the sacrifice; to carry a rodent into the mikveh.

2. What are the symbolic reasons?

Yeast rises, and one must wait for the yeast to rise. One must not delay in the performance of mitzvos therefore don't delay.

3. What are the inter-connected reasons?

Idolaters commonly brought these items and we want to do the opposite of everything they do.

4. What are the mystical reasons?

To rouse the mind while performing sacrifices in order to momentarily transcend physicality.

5. What is the Chassidic explanation?

Yeast is a symbol of pride and arrogance

6. How do you maintain a healthy balance between egotism and selflessness? How do you
ensure that selflessness does not turn you into a shemateh (i.e. that you are not taken
advantage of)?

I don't have a healthy balance; I have not yet figured out how to not become a shemateh.

7. When must you hold on to your ego, and when must you dispose of it?

The ego is the husk, and it is is useful only in the beginning. It must be discarded at maturity.

8. Do you ever experience a moment of true selfless and altruistic giving to another? When?

When I threw a surprise party for my ex-girlfriend.

9. How should we educate our children – to be givers or takers? Both? How?

Educate them to be givers; I don't know how.

10. In a relationship, should you focus more on your needs being met, or on the needs of your
spouse? How do you know when you are going overboard in either direction?

There should be an equal balance, but I also have yet to figure out how to do this.
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KK
Kayo Kaneko -14 years ago
Chassidus
Baruch HaShem,

I was amazed by the depth of Chassidus.

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S
Sylvia -14 years ago
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
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Rabbi YY Jacobson

March 24, 2012
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1 Nisan 5772
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1837 views

Dedicated by David and Eda Schottensteinin the loving memory ofAlta Shula SwerdlovAnd in honor of their daughter, Yetta Alta Shula, "Aliya," Schottenstein