This weekly women's class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Terumah, 30 Shevat, Rosh Chodesh Adar I, 5782, February 1, 2022, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The Whispering Cedars of Yaakov & Reb Akiva: You Belong to Redemption

Women's Teruma/Pesach Class

Even In Darkness, We Soar On the Wings of Eternity

This weekly women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Terumah, 4 Adar, 5781, February 16, 2021, live from Rabbi YY Jacobson&#39;s home in Monsey, NY.

When You Make a Blessing Over Food, You Reveal Its Divine Chemistry

Women's Class - Sefas Emes/Terumah

You Can Find G-d In Every Desire

The Smuggler

Tony comes up to the Mexican border on his bicycle. He's got two large bags over his shoulders. Joe, the border guard, stops him and says, "What's in the bags?"

"Sand," answers Tony.

Joe says, "We'll just see about that. Get off the bike." Joe takes the bags and rips them apart; he empties them out and finds nothing in them but sand. He detains Tony overnight and has the sand analyzed, only to discover that there is nothing but pure sand in the bags.

Joe releases Tony, puts the sand into new bags, hefts them onto the man's shoulders, and lets him cross the border.

The next day, the same thing happens. Joe asks, "What have you got?"

“Sand," says Tony.

Joe does his thorough examination and discovers that the bags contain nothing but sand. He gives the sand back to Tony, and Tony crosses the border on his bicycle.

This sequence of events is repeated every day for three years. Then Joe runs across Tony one day in a cantina in Mexico.

"Hey, buddy," says Joe, "I retired. I know you are smuggling something. It's driving me crazy. It's all I think about ... I can't sleep. Just between you and me, what are you smuggling?"

Tony sips his beer and says, "bicycles.”

Cedar Trees

One of the most employed materials in the building of the Tabernacle—discussed in this week’s portion, Terumah—was cedarwood (“atzei shitim.”) Much of the structure and many of the vessels of the Tabernacle were fashioned from cedar.&nbsp;

Says Rashi, quoting the Midrash:

How did the children of Israel obtain [cedar wood for the construction of the Sanctuary] in the desert? Rabbi Tanchuma explained: Our father Jacob foresaw with his holy spirit that Israel was destined to build a Sanctuary in the desert; so he brought cedars to Egypt and planted them [there], and instructed his children to take them along when they left Egypt.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" name="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>

This seems strange. Why carry trees from the Holy Land to plant in Egypt for use in a building to be constructed centuries later? Surely, there is no dearth of wood in wealthy Egypt, and, in any case, it could always be obtained for a price wherever their descendants might find themselves. Even the Sinai desert was not far from populated areas from where the Jews could obtain cedarwood.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" name="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a>

From the day Jacob descended to Egypt till the Exodus, 210 years passed. In life, it is good to plan long-term. I know people who pack for a trip one week before the flight. It is not my style, but I can respect them. Yet to pack up 210 years before a journey, seems like going overboard. Did Jacob feel that he needs to prepare the cedar wood 210 years before it was needed? Could he not have told his children to obtain cedars in or around Egypt?

Imagine, a fellow by the name of Jacob Isakson (son of Isaac) is relocating from Russia to the US in 1810. He brings with him cedar saplings to plant in America. He tells his children that one day in 2020 they might leave America to go build a sanctuary in the desert and they will need cedarwood. It would be strange; we could buy the wood in America!

It is not like Jacob came to Egypt empty-handed, so he had nothing to take along, but some cedar trees. Jacob, at the age of 130, was relocating his entire life, family, livestock, and his enormous wealth, to Egypt. The last thing he needed to add to the wagons were cedar trees!

Finding Comfort

The answer to this question I heard from the Lubavitcher Rebbe at an address on Shabbos Parshat Terumah, 6 Adar, 5747, March 7, 1987.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn3" name="_ednref3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a> I can still vividly recall the profound emotion with which the Rebbe shared this insight—and it moves me deeply to this day.

The answer, the Lubavitcher Rebbe suggested, is intimated in the name of the Sage who transmitted this tradition: Rabbi Tanchuma. As a rule, Rashi rarely quotes the authors of the teachings in Talmud and Midrash he quotes in his commentary. Here is one of the exceptions. Because it is the name of the rabbi who shared this teaching, Tanchumam which explains why Jacob would engage in this seemingly unnecessary toil, two centuries before his descendants would need the cedar.

The name “Tanchuma” means to comfort and console. Jacob our father knew that one day the very country which has been so hospitable to him and his family, the country saved by his son Joseph, would turn its back on the Hebrew tribe and transform their lives into purgatory. Egypt would impose one of the most torturous conditions upon the young Hebrews. Jacob knew that the people of Israel would need something to hold on to, something tangible to remind them that they don’t belong here; something concrete to imprint upon their tormented hearts that they come from somewhere else, and they will one day leave this hellish concentration camp and return home.

A promise? Yes. He and Joseph promised the family that they would leave Egypt one day. But a verbal promise is insufficient. People can’t live on words alone. Jacob needed to give them something tangible that could comfort them and offer a measure of relief as they walked in a valley of tears and watched their infants plunged into a river.

Whispering Trees

Hence, the cedar trees. Jacob transported from the Land of Canaan young, tender saplings of cedar and lovingly planted them in the soil of Egypt, instructing his children, that one day, when they depart from this country, they must take these trees with them.

Jacob dies. Joseph dies. All the siblings die. Then all the grandchildren die. The first generations of Jews who still knew Jacob and his children passed on. A new Pharaoh began to enslave the young nation. Brutal labor and the extermination of Jewish babies began to become the Jewish plight.

And throughout this entire horrific ordeal, the crushed Hebrew slaves watched these cedars grow. And with it, their hope grew. They harbored the knowledge that long before their enslavement by the Egyptians, these trees had grown in the soil of Holy Land—the land promised to them as their eternal heritage. Each generation of Jews pointed out these cedar trees to their children, transmitted to them Jacob’s instructions to take these trees along when they would leave Egypt, to be fashioned into a Sanctuary for G-d.

And so, throughout their long and bitter exile, these cedars had whispered to the Jewish slaves: This is not your home. You hail from a loftier, holier place. Soon you will leave this depraved land behind, to be reclaimed by G-d as His people. Soon you will uproot us from this foreign land and carry us triumphantly to Sinai, where you will construct of us an abode for the Divine presence, which shall once again manifest itself in your midst.

These cedar trees stood as a permanent, tangible, silent but powerful, and tall symbol of courage, dignity, and hope in a bright future. They gave a nation of tormented, wretched slaves something to “hold on to” in a very concrete way, as they struggled under the yoke of their Egyptian oppressors. These trees offered the Jews some measure of “Tanchumah,” of solace and fortitude, during their darkest moments.

When the Jewish people held on to Jacob’s “prehistoric” cedar trees, for a brief moment, they felt free. And that’s what you need in order to endure. It reminded them that in their essence they were not slaves, they did not deserve to be beaten and oppressed; they were inherently free and one day they would see that freedom.

Staves of Faith

“The Tzaddik shall bloom as a palm,” sings the Psalmist, “as a Cedar of Lebanon, he shall flourish.”<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn4" name="_ednref4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref4')">[4]</a> Jacob planted cedars in Egypt, and G-d plants exactly such cedars in our midst throughout our long and turbulent history.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn5" name="_ednref5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref5')">[5]</a> These are the Tzaddikim, the Rebbes, the spiritual giants, defined in Psalms as “cedar trees,” providing us with a link to the past and hope for the future.

The Tzaddik is a soul that towers above the transience and turbulence of exile; a soul that is rooted in Israel’s sacred beginnings and pointed toward the ultimate Redemption—a soul whose two feet stand on earth, but whose head touches heaven. When our subjection to the temporal and the mundane threatens to overwhelm us, we need only look to the cedars implanted in our midst. In these timeless staves of faith, we find guidance and fortitude, comfort, and encouragement. We remember who we are and what we are capable of becoming.

Above Exile

This is the function of every Rebbe, every leader among our people—and in today’s age, who of us is not in a position to influence one or more of our brothers and sisters. The Rebbe is the Jew who by his sheer presence and love reminds us that are we “higher,” that we must never surrender to a life of quiet desperation; that we are Divine ambassadors of love, light, hope, and redemption.

When we connect to a Rebbe, a Tzaddik, we too become, at least for a moment, free. We are all exposed to challenges, obstacles, and pressures; we must face trauma, darkness, pain, addiction, depression, disappointment, filth, and degradation. We can become apathetic, cynical, and indifferent. But when we gaze at the cedars in our midst, and at the cedar inside each of our souls, we remember that we are fragments of infinity, sent to this world to transform its landscape. We remember that we are on a journey from Sinai to Moshiach; that as beautiful as America is it is not our true home; it is but a temporary stop in our journey toward Moshiach. As comfortable as this great country is and as much as we cherish it, it is not the place we call home. A child who has been exiled from the bosom of his father, even if he is living in the Hilton, is living in exile.

That is the function of every spiritual “cedar tree” teacher in Judaism: <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn6" name="_ednref6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref6')">[6]</a> To remind all of us that even as we are in exile, our souls can soar on the wings of eternity.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn7" name="_ednref7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref7')">[7]</a>

____________________

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" name="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Rashi to Exodus 25:6

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" name="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> Indeed, this is the view of some of the commentators. See Divrei David (Taz), Ibn Ezra, Baalei HaTosfos and Chizkuni on the verse (Exodus 25:6).

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref3" name="_edn3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> Part of the address was published in Likkutei Sichos vol. 31 Terumah pp. 142-148.

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref4" name="_edn4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn4')">[4]</a> Psalms 92:13

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref5" name="_edn5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn5')">[5]</a> The Hebrew word&nbsp;Nassi&nbsp;(“leader”) is an acronym of the phrase&nbsp;nitzotzo shel Yaakov Avinu, “a spark of Jacob our father.” The soul of every leader of Israel is an offshoot of the soul of Jacob, father of the people of Israel (Megaleh Amukot, section 84).

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref6" name="_edn6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn6')">[6]</a> See Sichas Shabbos Parshas Shemos 5752, 1992—explaining why the first idea Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah said as a leader was that we are obligated to mention the Exodus of Egypt also during nighttime. This captures the role of the leader: To help people experience Exodus even when night prevails, and darkness overwhelms.

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref7" name="_edn7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn7')">[7]</a> My thanks to Rabbi Yanki Tauber for his rendition of this address. I used some parts&nbsp;from his essay: <a href="https://www.meaningfullife.com/prehistoric-cedars/">https://www.meaningfullife.com/prehistoric-cedars/</a>

Why did Jacob, as our sages tell us, carry trees from the Holy Land to plant in Egypt for use in a building to be constructed centuries later? Surely, there is no dearth of wood in wealthy Egypt, and, in any case, it could always be obtained, for a price, wherever their descendants might find themselves?

The answer to this question I heard from the Lubavitcher Rebbe at an address on Shabbos Parshat Terumah, 6 Adar, 5747, March 7. 1987.

A Father Plants Saplings 210 Years Early, Offering Solace to His Children

Essay Terumah

In a Dark Exile, Whispering Trees

The Jewish Future - Rebuilding. A live Broadcast by Rabbi YY Jacobson

How Reb Yochanan ben Zakai Defeated Rome 

Tisha B'av 5777 Lecture 

The Titanic and the Secret of Jewish Eternity 

This class was presented at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY, on Sunday Parshas Vayakhel Pekudei, 21 Adar, 5777, March 19, 2017.

It is a strange story. Moses seemingly distorted what G-d told him, telling the craftsman of the Sanctuary to first build the furniture and only afterward the outer structure. It was Betzalel who reminded him of the simple truth that you first build a house before you furnish it. Upon deeper reflection, this incident captures the story of our lives.

Many great thinkers, writers, and artist, produced extraordinary works. Their content was great, their message potent, and their talent exceptional. What they lacked was the exterior structure for their souls lavish output. Sadly, in our world &ldquo;art&rdquo; needs a proper &ldquo;frame.&rdquo; Lacking the frame, the art may remain in its corner and melt into oblivion.

The great argument between Moses and Betzalel was which came first&mdash;the energy or the container, the vision or the structure? Moses was a visionary; Betzalel was a man of action. In conclusion, we discover, they were both right: In the world of thought and strategy, art precedes the frame; in the world of action and implementation, the frame precedes the art. In the world of light, vision takes precedence. In the world of shadows, your dreams must follow your actions, not the other way around.

The class continues to explore another perspective by Reb Tzadok of Lublin. Judaism consists of two components&mdash;what G-d gives us and what we give G-d. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah. One is Divine; the other is filtered through human creativity. But are they really different? Depends from whose perspective.

What Comes First, the Frame or the Art? The Debate between Moshe and Betzalel

How Do I Know When to Trust a Rabbi?

This class was presented on Sunday morning, 25 Tamuz 5776, July 31, 2016, at Ohr Chaimshul, Monsey, NY. It explains the reason the Rambam gives us an unusual history lesson about the Holy Ark in his halachik work. ​"W​hen ​K​ing Solomon built the Holy Temple, knowing that it was destined to be destroyed, he built a place in which to hide the Ark, [at the end of] hidden, deep, winding passageways.&rdquo; It was there that King Josiah placed the Ark twenty-two years before the Temple&rsquo;s destruction.
The Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon in the year 2928 from creation (833 BCE), and was destroyed 410 years later, on the ninth day of the month of Av, by the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later it was rebuilt; the second Temple stood for 420 years, until its destruction by the Romans, also on the ninth of Av, in 3829 (69 CE).&nbsp;
From the Rambam's words about the Ark we discover that the core of the Temple was never destroyed. What is more, it means that the first, second and third Temples are not three different structures, but the continuum of a single edifice. in this class we also discover why we allow ourselves to make such destructive mistakes. It turns out we are the ones who do this to ourselves for a very healing reason.

The Core of the Holy Temple Was Never Destroyed 

The Subterranean Beis Hamikdash: Where Is the Aron?

​This text-based class on&nbsp;Likkutei Sichot, vol. 21, Parshas Terumah, explains in a&nbsp;novel way the reason for the Rambam giving us a history lesson about the Holy Ark in his halachik work: &quot;W​hen ​K​ing Solomon built the Holy Temple, knowing that it was destined to be destroyed, he built a place in which to hide the Ark, [at the end of] hidden, deep, winding passageways.&rdquo; It was there that King Josiah placed the Ark twenty-two years before the Temple&rsquo;s destruction.

The Holy Temple in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon in the year 2928 from creation (833 BCE), and was destroyed&nbsp;410 years later, on the ninth day of the month of Av, by the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Seventy years later it was rebuilt; the second Temple stood for 420 years, until its destruction by the Romans, also on the ninth of&nbsp;Av, in 3829 (69 CE).&nbsp;

From the Rambam&#39;s words about the Ark we discover that the core of the Beis Hamikdash (the Holy Temple) was never destroyed. What is more,&nbsp;it means that the first, second and third Temples are not three different structures, but the continuum of a single edifice.

The class also tackles the question of why we allow ourselves to make such destructive mistakes. It turns out, we are the ones who do this to ourselves, for a very healing reason.

The Core of G-d's Home Was Never Destroyed 

Likkutei Sichos Terumah/The Three Weeks

The Secret Beis Hamikdash

This class, presented to women on Parshas Terumah 5768 (2008), explores a majopr debate about the Cherubs hver the Holy Ark.
Foremost among the commentaries compiled by our sages on the Torah are those by Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) and Nachmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270). Rashi defines his goal by stating: &ldquo;I come only to explain the simple meaning of the verse.&rdquo; On the other hand, Nachmanides, a noted mystic and kabbalist, often uncovers a &ldquo;deeper&rdquo; stratum of significance in the Torah&rsquo;s words, exposing its students, as he puts it in his introduction to his commentary on Torah, to &ldquo;delightful things, for those who know and understand the hidden wisdom.&rdquo;
Rashi and Nachmanides often differ in their interpretation of a particular word or verse. One example of this is their different conceptions of the kapporet and the keruvim. Rashi sees the ark and the kapporet as two different objects. The Sanctuary contained various &ldquo;vessels,&rdquo; each with a designated function (e.g., the menorah, the altars); according to Rashi the ark and the kapporet are two different vessels&mdash;it is only that the designated place of the kapporet is atop the ark. Nachmanides, on the other hand, sees the kapporet as the cover of the ark (indeed, the word kapporet means &ldquo;cover&rdquo;)&mdash;as a component of the ark itself, rather than another of the Sanctuary&rsquo;s vessels. 
Another difference between the interpretations of Rashi and Nachmanides concerns the form of the keruvim. According to Rashi, these were two winged figures, each with the face of a child (a boy and a girl). Nachmanides is of the opinion that they were a representation of the celestial figures seen by the prophet Ezekiel in his vision of the divine &ldquo;chariot.&rdquo;
This class explores the underlying argument behind them, and their dramatic relevance to our lives today.

A Debate On the Image of the Keruvim Mirrors Two Forms of Love

Does G-d Love Me Unconditionally?

The Talmud relates a profoundly strange incident that occurred moments before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple: &ldquo;When the pagans entered the Holy Temple, they saw the cherubs (the two golden winged figures, one male and one female located in the "Holy of Holies") cleaving to each other. They took them out to the streets and said: &lsquo;These Jews ... is this what they occupy themselves with?&rsquo; With this, they debased [the Jewish people], as it is written: &lsquo;All who had honored her have despised her, for they have seen her nakedness.&rsquo;&rdquo; 
This seems strange. The Talmud also teaches that when the relationship between G-d and Israel was sour the two faces of the cherubs turned away from each other, as when spouses are angry with each other. When the relationship was healthy, the two faces of the cherubs would face each other. Yet when the enemies of Israel invaded the Temple to destroy it, and the relationship between G-d and His people was at its lowest possible point, precisely at that moment that the cherubs were intertwined, symbolizing the profoundest relationship between G-d and Israel. How are we to understand this?
This class explores six different perspectives.

As Jews Faced the End, Their Lover Impregnated Them with the Seed of Moshiach

Class The Three Weeks/9 Av

Love in the Flames

A speech given to mental health professionals at the Amudim Conference on February 18, 2015.

How Do They View Themselves, Agents of Terror or Pure Souls?

Empowering Victims of Abuse

Trees of Hope -- Prehistoric Cedars: Yaakov&rsquo;s grove: a source of lumber and comfort, in Egypt and today

Prehistoric Cedars: Yaakov’s grove: a source of lumber and comfort, in Egypt and today

Trees of Hope

Rabbi YY Jacobson delivered a lecture via zoom for Tomchei Shabbos of Toronto, Wednesday, 28 Shevat, 5781, February 10, 2021

Pagan Idea that Crept into Judaism: If You're Happy G-d Must Be Miserable

Why Does Torah Refer to Giving as Taking?

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