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  Anonymous -12 years ago

  Beautiful
  

  
  Rabbi Jacobson,

  
  

  
   

  
  

  
  Pashut beautiful. This is what speaks to so many ba’alei teshuva, something

  
  

  
  that can only be described in feeling. Thanks for composing these simple, yet

  
  

  
  deep words to give Am Yisrael chizuk. At the end of the day we are

  
  

  
  all still Yisrael, our true self, even if Esav brings us to forget that sometimes.

  
  

  
   

  
  

  
  Can’t wait to share this over and over again.

  
  

  
   

  
  

  
  Besorot Tovot,

  
  

  
  Aitan

  
  

  
   

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• BR

  Bat. Rachamim -12 years ago

  Balaam's Praise
  This was nice but I'm not sure that I agree exactly with the interpretation of the symbolism of the tent and the dwelling. I mean exhibiting a little uncertainty or even some doubt in the divine (as the commentary likens to a tent) is not only not wrong, but an idea instilled in the Jewish character. That fact is even referenced below with the name Yisrael, it means to "wrestle with G-d", the Jewish people have always been prone and even encouraged to question and delve into those uncertainties of life, to say that as a people we have certainly answered all our questions about the universe is both an insult to the unbounded divinity of G-d and an exhibition of utter hubris on our part.  After all, we still do not understand the reasons behind the Choks (laws-decrees) that G-d commanded us to follow.
  
  Looking at the context in which the phrase in question was spoken, that of unadulterated praise of the Jewish people I would personally be more inclined to understand the phrase in a more positive light. I understood the phrase to mean that no matter where we are, settled in a dwelling in Israel, or as nomads in the Diaspora there is a character of goodliness and holiness in our homes wherever we are and no matter the conditions we live in, because no matter where we are our belief in G-d remains intact and that is perhaps what Balaam intended to say.

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: Balaam's Praise
    I agree with you. You are on target. The praise of Balaam is that even Yaakov creates  a "tent" for Hashem. There is a holiness embedded in the very depth of the Jewish soul and psyche.

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• L

  Leizer -12 years ago

  יפה יפה
  

  
  Beautiful piece. Trememdous chizuk!

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  yidfromtoronto -12 years ago

  confused
  with all due respect, it sounds like you are giving lecatchila promoting a life filled with spare moments of tapping in to spirituality over a life saturated with torah, avodah and gemilas chasodim!!!
  
  
  
  
  
  ( also where is the source for this bal shemtov?)

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: confused
    Hi Reb Yid From Toronto, Of course not! We are discussing a person who struggles with spirituality and Avodah, someone who may have deep struggles inside, or much stress outside, or a combination of both-- this includes basically so many of us--not someone who willingly rejects Avodas Hashem. And we are giving this person comfort and strength to appreciate the tremendous value of their "small" Avodah. By the way, their lives may be filled with Gemach, they may daven and learn every day, but they are still pulled down by the incessant gravitational forces of material pressures in all their manifestations, not by their fault, but by their destiny. A similar concept we find in Tanya ch. 27 where the author comforts the Jew who never stops struggling. Cf. Tanya ch. 35. I don't recall presently the source in the Baal Shem Tov. I will search for it. Here are two other sources, which are connected:
    
    

    
    
    
    
    
    מה טובו אוהליך יעקב משכנותיך ישראל. יש לפרש בזה בדרך רמז דהנה אהל היינו מה שהוא דרך עראי ומשכן הוא דבר קבוע, וזהו שמרמז מה טובו אהליך היינו אפילו נסיעה שלך שאינך בביתך, יעקב אף שאתה מדריגה תחתונה והטעם משכנותיך ישראל שזה הוא בזכות אבותיך הקדושים שהיו משכן להקב"ה והיו זוכים להשראת שכינה זה אמרתי לפי השעה והצורך
    
    
    בעת ההוא והמשכיל יבין, ועוד יש בזה מילין לאלוק' וכשיזכני ה' בחסדו
    
    
    הגדול אזי אבאר: דגל מחנה אפרים
    
    
    או יאמר אוהב כו' ע"פ הפסוק מה טובו אוהליך יעקב כו' דמדרגת יעקב הוא מדרגה התחתונה וישראל הוא מדרגה
    
    
    עליונה ואהל הוא בנין עראי ומשכן הוא הקבוע * וזהו מה טובו אהליך יעקב פירוש מה טוב הוא כשהמוני עם
    
    
    קובעים לתורה עיתים כאהל שהוא בנין עראי * משכנותיך ישראל פירוש הצדיק השלם שהוא קובע עצמו בקביעות
    
    
    בעבודות הבורא כמשכן הקבוע. והנה דרך הצדיק העובד ד' בקביעות נדמה אליו תמיד שעדיין לא התחיל כלל
    
    
    לכנוס בעבודת הבורא ודומה לו שאינו עומד אלא על שער העבודה וזהו שאמר אוהב ד' שערי ציון שאוהב השם הטוב
    
    
    אותם הצדיקים המצויינים בהלכה והם בעיניהם כעומדים על השער עדיין מכל משכנות יעקב פירוש מאותם
    
    
    הנקראים בשם יעקב והם סוברים שכבר עשו בעבודתם בנין קבוע כמשכן הקבוע וק"ל: נועם אלימלך – פ' קרח.

    
    
    

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  • Y

    yidfromtoronto -12 years ago

    Re: confused
    ahhh thanx for the clarification

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• B

  Benveniste,Tsfat -12 years ago

  A lechaim from our hippyish Pesach table."Lechaim ...to Pain!"
  Bs"d
  
  As we quizzically pondered the remark,he concluded "...May the pain from our past... become the strength of our future!" -Michoel Benveniste,zt"l,said on Pesach Seder night,early 70's,Berkeley,Ca.

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Rabbi YY Jacobson

• February 2, 2012
• |
• 9 Sh'vat 5772
• |
• 1552 views

Classes in this Series

• 

  3 hr 13 min

  Yud Shevat 5783 with Rabbi YY Jacobson

  Yud Shevat Farbrengen: The Power of Love & Connection

  “I Have Come to My Garden:” The World’s Essential Goodness

• 

  4 hr 44 min

  Yud Shevat 5777 Farbrengen Kumzitz

  Let's Stop Breaking People

• 

  1 hr 40 min

  Kumzitz/Farbrengen Yud Shevat 5776: Stories of Warmth & Love

  Judaism Does Not Tell You Who You Should Be; It Tells You Who You Are

• 

  3 hr 10 min

  Yud Shevat 5775 Farbrengen with Rabbis Rudinsky & Jacobson

  The Secret of Lubavitch, By Rabbi Bezalel Rudinsky

• 

  32 min

  Yud Shevat Children's Program: The Rebbe Spends Shabbos in a Bar

  Two Stories about the Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (1880-1950)

• 

  1 hr 55 min

  Yud Shevat 5773 Farbrengen: 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?

• 

  52 min

  Yud Shevat 5769 Farbrengen: G-d's Orchard -- Do You Think Most People are Rotten?

  The Final Words of a Rebbe Which Transformed a Dark World into a Garden. An Evening of Song & Inspiration in Tribute to 59th Yartzeit of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe

• 

  3 hr 57 min

  Yud Shevat 5770 Farbrengen: What is the Role of a Rebbe?

  Song & Inspiration in Tribute to the 60th Anniversary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Leadership