Why Was Moses Afraid to Gaze at G-d?- In His Greatest Moment Moses Chose Earth Over Heaven

In His Greatest Moment Moses Chose Earth Over Heaven

Class Shemos

Why Was Moses Afraid to Gaze at G-d?

In the opening of this week&rsquo;s portion, Vaeira, G-d tells Moses: "I, too, have heard the moans of the children of Israel, from the slavery that the Egyptians are enslaving them, and I remembered My covenant.&rdquo;
The verse is raddled with questions. First, what is the meaning of the words &ldquo;And I too have heard the moans?&rdquo; Second, the words &ldquo;from the slavery that the Egyptians are enslaving them&rdquo; seem superfluous. Finally, we are puzzled by the final words of the verse, &ldquo;and I remembered My covenant,&rdquo; as though to say that if not for the outcry of the children of Israel He might have not remembered His covenant.
Today we will share an incredible insight by one of the greatest Kabbalists of all time, Rabbi Shimson of Astropole, murdered by the Cossacks in 1648.
Rabbi Yochanan, compiler of the Jerusalem Talmud, was one of the greatest teachers of the Talmudic era. Living an extraordinary long life, from 180 CE till 279 CE, one century after the destruction of the second Temple, his teachings are studied in depth to this very day, His life was also filled with enormous pain. His father died before his birth, and he was orphaned of his mother soon after. Tragedy would mark the rest of his years with the death of each of his ten children in his lifetime. And yet this great man never lost his equilibrium, his faith, optimism, joy and focus. He was a master, a teacher, a leader and a spiritual giant.
In one place in Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan discussed pain. And when such a man discusses pain, we ought to listen. Pain, he taught, elevated a human being to a unique plateau. People in pain live in a different realm. Their perspectives on life, death, love, meaning, truth, faith profess a depth and sensitivity of different proportions than the rest of humanity.
Yet, while Reb Yochanan compared pain to the tooth and eye of the slave, Reish Lakish compared pain to salt. The disagreement is profound. Pain transforms people forever. It takes them to places the rest of us never visit. But does this demand of them that the pain has a purpose? This was the great argument between the two Talmudic sages. In Egypt, G-d embraced one opinion.&nbsp;
We often look at our generation and wonder how can Moshiach come to our generation, seemingly so lowly and distant? We fail to recognize, the incredible holiness embedded in our people as a result of all the pain our people has endured. We are ready and worthy of Moshiach.

Two Sages Debate the Meaning of Pain--and G-d's Verdict

Class Vaeira

Welcome to the Holiest Generation of Jews

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head></head><body>A Doctors advice
A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor's office. After his checkup, the doctor called the wife into his office alone. He said, "Your husband is suffering from a very severe stress disorder. If you don't do the following, your husband will surely deteriorate and die.
"Each morning," instructed the doctor, "fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant at all times. For lunch, make him a nutritious meal. For dinner, prepare an especially nice hot meal for him, and have it waiting for him when he comes home from work. Don't burden him with chores. Don't discuss your problems with him; it will only exacerbate his stress. No nagging is allowed. You also must compliment him at least five or six times a day, telling him how brilliant and talented he is. And most importantly, never disagree with him.
"If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year," the doctor said, "I think your husband will regain his health completely."  On the way home, the husband asked his wife, "What did the doctor say?"
"He said you're going to die," she replied.
Deception
Jacob flees his home in Canaan and travels east to the house of Laban. Upon arriving, he meets Laban’s younger daughter Rachel and falls in love with her. Laban proposes a deal: work for me for seven years and I will give her to you in marriage. Jacob does so, but on the wedding night Laban substitutes Leah for Rachel. Leah enters the dark tent rather than Rachel. Jacob consummates the marriage, and discovered the deception only the next morning. Ultimately, Jacob accepted his fate and remained with Leah. But he later also married Rachel, the bride of his choice.
This is how the Torah describes it (Genesis ch. 29):
And he [Jacob] cohabited with Rachel also, and he also loved Rachel more than Leah; and he worked with him yet another seven years.  And G-d saw that Leah was hated, so He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.  And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, "Because the Lord has seen my affliction, for now my husband will love me."  And she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, "Since the Lord has heard that I am hated, He gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon.
Did He Really Hate Her?
This is one of the most intriguing stories in all of the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible). It contains some of the profoundest ideas about relationships, love, and the workings of the human mind. But today I want to ask a simple question: How can Jacob hate his own wife, Leah? Jacob is the third Patriarch of Israel, the father of every Jew living since. Did he really hate his own spouse? And if he did, why did he not divorce her?
And what lesson does this teach us? After all, Torah means “lesson.” The stories in Torah are not merely historical narratives, for only few stories are recorded. Each story constitutes a timeless lesson, a blueprint for our own lives. What can this story teach us?
In fact, the Talmud<a id="_edn1"></a>[1] cautions us heavily against living with a spouse that we despise. Either change your attitude or get out of the marriage. It is especially harmful for children of such a relationship. If Jacob really loathed Leah why did he stay married to her?
There are many interpretations, spanning hundreds of years. The most original and creative I have discovered is in the writings of the first Chabad Rebbe, one of the greatest minds in the annals of Jewish history, Rabbi Schnuer Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), known as the Alter Rebbe. (It is even more elucidated in the writings of his son, Rabbi Dov Ber, known as the Miteler Rebbe (1733-1828). The yartzeit as well as the birthday of the Miteler Rebbe is this shabbos, 9 Kislev, and the anniversary of his liberation from Czarist imprisonment is the following day, 10 Kislev).<a id="_edn2"></a>[2]
In the Zohar, Leah and Rachel are described as “the hidden world” and the “revealed world.”<a id="_edn3"></a>[3] Leah, the Alter Rebbe explains, was far deeper than Rachel. While Rachel represents the conscious self, the self that is projected, manifested and expressed in articulated emotions and words, Leah represents the unconscious self, or the super-conscious self—the components of identity that are hidden from the surface of our conscious experiences and conceptualized sense of self.
We each have our “Rachel” and our “Leah,” within ourselves, within our spouses, within our children, within our parents, siblings, and friends, within our entire lives—and, of course, in our experience of G-d. Rachel symbolizes those dimensions of yourself that you can make "sense of;" those aspects of your spouse that you comprehend, grasp, appreciate, and can somewhat control; you can wrap your brain around them. Rachel represents those aspects of your children that you “get” and are comfortable with. Rachel reflects the parts of yourself that you can categorize, classify, and see their patterns and structures; those aspects of your psyche that you have come to terms with.
Leah—oy my G-d!—represents the components of your spouse that challenge you, the aspects of your children that force you to reevaluate everything about yourself and your parenting, the dimensions of your identity that you have long ago repressed (or supressed) and they trigger deep fears. Leah embodies the aspects of yourself that you cannot make sense of.
Rachel is naturally loveable; Leah is naturally hated. Why? Here, the Alter Rebbe makes a stunning observation:<a id="_edn4"></a>[4]
People hate what they don't understand. They recoil from that which they can’t wrap their brains around; they fear that which they can't conquer; they loath that which they can’t control. I appreciate, love and enjoy that which I can assimilate into the modalities and structures of my identity, fit into my “box.” When I am faced with a reality that defies my comfort zone, it triggers deep unrest in me, it scares and overwhelms me. It raddles everything I came to “know” about myself. It makes me feel vulnerable, it forces me to give up control, it informs me of how much I have been blacking out of my system in order to survive. So what do I do? I hate it! That allows me to ignore it and move on. The resistance, in the form of hate, allows me to ignore truth.
Rachel is "the shapely and beautiful” woman; she is attractive and beautiful. We love Rachel because we “get her,” and we appreciate what we get. She fits in into our comfort zones, and as such, she enhances our lives. In Hebrew Rachel means "ewe," an animal characterized by its bright white color and its serene and lovable nature. The numerology of the Hebrew name Rachel, 238, is the same as the numerology of the Hebrew words “Vayehe Ohr,” "and there was light."<a id="_edn5"></a>[5] Rachel is light. She is our projected self, she embodies the light which allows us to observe and understand.
Leah is derived from the Hebrew word “nileh,” or "leuit," exhaustion. She embodies an infinite depth that tires us out—it perplexes, confuses and overwhelms us. Leah rattles our conscious psyche. She has no filter. We don’t “see” Leah; we are just made uncomfortable by her. You can’t see your unconscious. Your finite eyes can’t reach it. You can just get shaken by it, because you never “have it;” it has you.
How do you encounter Leah? Never consciously. Jacob can’t enter into a relationship with Leah by choice. Leah always surprises us. It is not something we get ready for—because that which we prepare ourselves for is always a reflection of our own aspirations and expectations. Leah represents the parts of yourself that you do not “know” in a systematic way. It enters into your life unconsciously. Leah personifies the realities of life that defy our constructs and hence we encounter them “by mistake.” Things that transcend your systems enter into your lives via unconscious pathways. Jacob can't agree to marry Leah. He would never do such a thing, because Leah defies his very sense of "I." My conscious I would never choose Leah. It is his super conscious self that chooses, in an unconscious way, a relationship with Leah. Because that is where he grows most.
Jacob chooses to marry Rachel. But in the process he marries Leah. Each of us marries two people: Leah and Rachel. Our conscious self marries our conscious spouse; our unconscious self marries our unconscious spouse. One spouse we love; the other challenges us deeply.
Jacob understood this. Slowly, he learnt to appreciate, respect and love Leah. We too must discover this ability within ourselves. Those aspects in your life that you run away from most—may contain the deepest “tikunim” (healing powers) for you; those aspects in your spouse that irk you most, may hold the secret to your recovery; those aspects in your relationships that challenge some deep emotions in you, may contain the key to ultimate self-discovery.  Sometimes we hate things because they are bad for us. But not always. Some things we hate because we are scared of their truth; or because we are scared to open ourselves to unknown horizons. We hate them because they makes us feel ignorant and vulnerable. Or because they force us to go to places we have long repressed.
Yet as the Torah puts it so shockingly simple and profound: “And G-d saw that Leah was hated, so He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.” It is often in that which are so afraid of that allows us to give birth to our deepest soul-powers. From surrounding yourself only with things and people that make you feel in control, you remain barren. By exposing yourself to the unknown, you can give birth to infinity.
What is more, your path to Rachel always goes through Leah. You can never love your Rachel if you do not make peace with your Leah.
<a id="_ednref1"></a>[1]  Nedarim 20 <a id="_ednref2"></a>[2] Toras Chaim Vayeitzei p. 168, based on a discourse by his father, Maamarei Admur Hazaken 5572 p. 100; 102. <a id="_ednref3"></a>[3] See Torah Or Vayeitzei and references noted there. <a id="_ednref4"></a>[4] Maamarei Admur Hazaken 5572 p. 100; 102. Toras Chaim Vayeitzei 169a. <a id="_ednref5"></a>[5] Yonas Alem by the great mystic Rabbi Menachem Azaryah of Fano (1548-1620) Chapter 5; explained in Likkutei Sichos vol. 30 p. 286.</body></html>

The story of Laban&rsquo;s deception, exchanging Rachel with Leah, is one of the most intriguing stories in all of the Tanach. It contains some of the profoundest ideas about relationships, love, and the workings of the human mind. But today I want to ask a simple question: How can Jacob hate his own wife, Leah? Jacob is the third Patriarch of Israel, the father of every Jew living since. Did he really hate his own spouse? And what lesson does this teach us?&nbsp;

In fact, the Talmud cautions us heavily against living with a spouse that we hate and despise. Either change your attitude or get out of the marriage. It is especially harmful for children of such a relationship. If Jacob really hated Leah why did he stay married to her?

There are many interpretations, spanning hundreds of years. The most original and stunning interpretation, though, is found in the writings of the first two masters of the Chabad dynasty, Rabbi Schnuer Zalman of Liadi, known as the Alter Rebbe (1745-1812), and his son, Rabbi Dov Ber, known as the Miteler Rebbe (1733-1828.) People hate what they don&#39;t understand; they recoil from that which they can&rsquo;t wrap their brain around; they fear that which they can&#39;t conquer; they loath that which they can&rsquo;t control.

We Hate What We Don’t Understand

Essay Vayeitzei

Did Jacob Really Hate His Wife?

Rashi says that in trying to impress and deceive his father Isaac, Esau would ask his father, "How does one tithe the salt and the straw?&rdquo; Yet this seems strange. For this question implies not extra piety but absolute ignorance! For it is a clear law that these items are exempt of all tithing obligations.
The class goes on to explore this Rashi on two levels&mdash;the literal and the mystical. In the first we discover the intelligence and depth of Eisav&rsquo;s question, considering the unique properties of salt and straw. Then we go on to explain this question from a deeper perspective, analyzing the majesty and tragedy of Eisav, whose struggles were unique and who attracted the deep love and empathy of his father. The prophet says that G-d loathes Eisav. But the Kabbalists show us how easy it is to miss the real message of the verse.
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE;">The class aims at liberating us from the erroneous notion that struggling with evil is evil. It is the other way around: Our struggle with evil is where our unique spiritual potential and greatness lay.&nbsp;
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE;">This class is based on Likkutei Sichos Vol. 20 and Vol. 25 Parshas Toldos.

The Struggle Against Evil is Not Evil

Class Parshas Toldos

The Majesty and Tragedy of Eisav

This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Tetzaveh, 11&nbsp;Adar I, 5784, February 20, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The class explores the end of the Code of Jewish Law on the availability of constant bliss, the joy of the month of Adar, and the grief of the month of Av. We explore the enigmatic Talmudic story of Reb Akiva&#39;s visit to Rome and why he laughed, the explanation of the Alter Rebbe on bliss and pain, and the exchange between the Rebbe and Eli Wiesel on the question of the Holocaust, and why Jews have not lost their faith, even in the face of such adversity.

We finally explain how pain and joy merge together in the profoundest experience of the soul&#39;s bliss.

&nbsp;

Why Didn’t Jews Lose Their Faith? Reb Akiva, Eli Wiesel, and the Rebbe

Adar/Purim Katan Women's Class/Joy

How to Live in Bliss: If I Can’t Feel the Pain, I Can’t Feel the Joy 

This class was&nbsp;presented on Thursday, Parshas Behar, 20&nbsp;Iyar, 5783, May 11, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The Darkness Is Not You; You Volunteered to Take It On

Chassidus: Derech Mitzvosecha - Kohen Baal Mum #4

The Secret of Your Pain: Why Some Souls Choose a Journey of Pain & Abuse

This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday&nbsp;Parshas Vayetzei, 5 Kislev, 5783, November 29, 2022, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The Midrash relates that when Jacob discovered the switch between the two sisters, he told Leah, &ldquo;You are a liar, the daughter of a liar,&rdquo; his way of saying that the apple did not fall far from the tree. &ldquo;Why did you deceive me?&rdquo;

Leah responded to Jacob&rsquo;s accusation: Every craftsman creates students. Even a barber inspires students who learn from him the skill of cutting hair. My father and I, too, had a mentor who taught us how to deceive. Some time ago, Leah said, there was an old man, who wanted to bless his oldest son but was deceived by his younger son..

On a simple level, Leah was teaching Jacob the rule of &ldquo;what goes around comes around.&rdquo; He deceived his father, causing the blessing reserved for the older son to go instead to the younger son. What he did to his father and brother, was now done to him.

Scathing indeed, but deeply disturbing. Let&rsquo;s assume for a moment Jacob was wrong in taking the blessings&mdash;how does that exonerate Leah and Laban in deceiving him? Can I deceive you in a business deal, because you deceived your brother in a deal seven years earlier?

Yet, a deeper reflection reveals a profounder reading of this narrative. The deeper dimension has been revealed by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad, known as the Alter Rebbe, in a discourse of 1811, during the last year of his life; his colleague, Rabbi Yisroel Hopstein, known as the Kozhnitzer Maggid (1737-1814), in his work Avodas Yisroel; and by the third Rebbe of Ger, known as the Sefas Emes (1847-1905). It was all brought together in an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, on Shabbos Parshas Toldos 5741, and Shabbos Vayishlach 5747 (1987).

The Avodas Yisroel and the Sefas Emes discuss the meaning of the actual Midrash. The Alter Rebbe and the Rebbe explore the inner soul of these ideas. Coupled together we have an outstanding tapestry woven together, with profound lessons for our lives today.

The class explores why Yaakov wept when he met Rachel? Why Leah wept when people said she would marry Eisav? Why was Yaakov given a name for holding on to his brother&rsquo;s heel? And why do we define Eisav as wicked when he was already struggling in his mother&rsquo;s womb, completely beyond his choice? We discover how Judaism views the struggles and traumas we need to contend with.

Whatever I Don’t Deal With, Will Resurface Later in My Life for Repair

Women's Vayetzei Class

Can You Make Space for My Struggle? Why Yaakov Had to Marry Leah

On Wednesday evening, January 19, 2022 (17 Shevat, 5782), the world-renowned expert on trauma, Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, author of &quot;The Body Keeps the Score,&quot; had a zoom conversation with Rabbi YY Jacobson, on healing trauma in the Jewish community. It included an intimate&nbsp;and raw Q&amp;A session with Fresh Start Alumni.

The program was moderated by Tova Korn, Co-Founder of Fresh Start, and Yochanan Polter, founder of Fresh Start.

Fresh Start Retreat is an intensive 7-day retreat designed for men and women who want to understand, process, and heal from unresolved trauma, neglect, and abuse. To learn more about Fresh Start Retreat Center please visit&nbsp;https://www.thefsrc.com

Where Psychiatrists Get It Wrong; How Do You Know Your Therapist Is Good? Does Judaism Believe in Somatic Work? How Do We Help People with Trauma? Understanding Children's Rebellion

Rabbi YY Interviews Author of The Body Keeps the Score

Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk & Rabbi YY Jacobson: Healing Trauma in the Jewish Community

Rabbi YY Jacobson addressing a live Instagram chat on 19 Tammuz, 5781, June 29, 2021. Hosted by Sarah Guigue&nbsp;(&quot;Hasidic Hipster Girl&quot; @hasidic.hipster.girl), joined by Joseph Dahan, (co-founder and director Hatzalah of South Florida @hatzalahsouthflorida),&nbsp;Steve Eisenberg&nbsp;(speaker &amp; educator,&nbsp;local resident of Bal Harbour/Surfside). Arranged by Zalman Herz.

This conversation explored the recent tragedy in Surfside, Florida, the collapse of the&nbsp;Champlain Towers&nbsp;on Thursday, June 24, 2021, and the theological issues connected with the tragedy. Are we allowed to ask questions on G-d? What is the Jewish approach? What are&nbsp;the lessons we can all learn when so many structures are crumbling in our lives?

Can We Question G-d?

Surfside Tower Collapse

When Structures Are Crumbling, What’s the Message?

Faith in Times of Anxiety - Address to Chabad of Montclair

Been Down so Long, How Do I Get Up From Here?

Lecture for Mental Health Initiative Chabad NJ

Faith in Times of Anxiety

This zoom lecture to the South African Jewish Community, organized by the Arch and the Base, was presented on Wednesday Parshas Balak, 13 Tamuz 5781, June 23, 2021.

Can You Contain My Pain?

Class Summary:

Categories

Related Classes

Please help us continue our work

Sign up to receive latest content by Rabbi YY

Ways to get content by Rabbi YY Jacobson