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How the Baal Shem Tov Changed Our Understanding of the Self

Never Stuck in Your Emotions

1 hr 7 min

Painting by Alex Levin, www.artlevin.com

Class Summary:

This is a text-based class by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Likkutei Sichos vol. 29 Shabbos Chazon, exploring the famous metaphor of Reb Levi Yitzchak of Barditchov about Shabbos Chazon, on the father who shows his child the exquisite garment, and Hashem who shows the Jews the third Beis Hamikdash. 

The class was presented on Monday, Parshas Va'eschanan, 6 Av, 5780, July 27, 2020, streaming live from Rabbi Jacobson's home in Monsey, NY

Please leave your comment below!

  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    We must not seek elsewhere but merely look inside

    And shed  layers.  Like blowing away the  dust from an engraved stone. Like the luchos.  And not ink on parchment.  

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    Notice that we may wear anything but if we wear a four cornered

    Garment it must have tsistsis which constantly remind us. Yet wearing such a  garment is itself optional. 

    Notice also that the Cohanim had to have an exact configuration of garments tho they were his size. Not one item could be lacking from those garments. 

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    "If the glove fits, you must

    Submit!" 

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    Our avodah is like a litvish, a garment

    How does this Square with the  fact that after the chait aitz harass, Hashem first gave livushim to Adam and Chava? 

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    • M

      Moshe -4 years ago

      livush

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    "The Baal Shem tov revealed ayn od Milvado

    But, didnt the Ari and his chevra know this? The Rambam? The Rashbi? Moshe? The Avos? Etc.

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    It was said that the son must accustom himself to proper behavior

    Nachum Segal plays Berel Wein jewish history tapes in the nine days. By hashgocha today he said that the overwhelming yidden in eastern Europe in the late 1800s engaged in "societal yiddishkeit". Women were totally illiterate and most men never held a gemora. It was no wonder therefore that even that fell apart when they emigrated to America.  

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  • S

    Sara -4 years ago

    So this experience

    this transition  that you are describing won't happen for each of us until the 3rd beit hamikdash arrives? 

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    The sicha says that a garment is custom fitted, whereas a house is not

    Yet, when I buy a shirt or any other garment i buy the exact size i need which is  a mess produced item. It's hard, especially for a man, to make a garment individualized and distinct. (Ironically chasidic men all dress alike). (Women are a different matter).

      A house may be made similar to  others yet each householder has far  more opportunity to customize the interior of  a house than he does for his clothing. 

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    "Hakoach binifal b'poel". The power of the creator in creation

    I became frum as an adult  being convinced of the Truth of Mattan Torah as a historical fact. But I quickly realized that there at least 31 "Baskin Robbins" (cholov stam) flavors, each of which is an authentic but different expression of yiddishkeit.  

      I soon went to the smorgasburg of yiddishkeit   I saw in Lubavitch chasidim, something I didn't see elsewhere. It was the "koach hanifal b'poel" the power of the entire line from the Baal Shem tov, thru all the rebeeim until today even, in these chasidim.  Search for a  flavor done. 

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    If the Beis hamigdash was the "brain" of the world

    Are we "brain dead" now? Is golus comparable to  being brain dead? What is the heart of the world? 

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  • M

    Moshe -4 years ago

    The sicha shows how the moshel of a garment, er, "fits" where a house might have been more similar to the Beis hamigdash

    Notice that Yakov Avinu also chose to give his favorite son a garment.  He could have given precious jewels, even a special house. That garment triggered jealousy, which triggered the brothers plot to kill or sell into slavery, in turn which became the famous story of  Yosef's rise to  power in Mitzrayim which saved the family from starvation.  That in turn led to the first golus,  golus  mitzrayim and eventually to the first  geula and Har Sinai.

      I.e. it all started with the special garment for Yosef the favorite son. 

      Could there be  a  hint in the moshel by use of a special garment for a  favorite son to our final geula? 

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