This is an excerpt of the Women&#39;s class on Tuesday, Parshas Shemos, 21 Tevet, 5784, January 2, 2024.

Einav Efrat Danino, mother of Ori, 24, who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7th 2023, attended the class and delivered a life-changing message of resilience and faith in the face of the unfathomable.

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ori danino

Einav Danino Speaks of Resilience, Faith, and Gratitude in the Face of the Unfathomable

Mother of Hamas Hostage Ori Danino: I Say ‘Thank You’ Every Morning

Touched to the Core

The Jewish world is on fire.

The bloodbath orchestrated by Hamas and Iran on Saturday, Simchat Torah (October 7, 2023) in Southern Israel has woken up a part in every single Jew that was dormant. Our people have been touched to the core; Jews are more aware of their own Jewishness than they have been in a very long time.

The glee of the enemy in slaughtering Jewish babies reminded us that this has nothing to do with occupation, colonization, apartheid, or any other myth. This was a manifestation of visceral evil which craves to destroy every single Jew. Had Hamas had its way, it would joyfully perform this mini-Holocaust daily, until all 6.6 million Jews in Israel lay lifeless.

Every Jew living today feels the need to respond. Of course, we must defend ourselves in every possible way; we must support Israel and our soldiers with every fiber of our being—encouraging them to fulfill their moral historic duty of eliminating every vestige of bloodthirsty evil. Of course, we must lift the morale of our brothers and sisters in Israel and the world over through an unprecedented outpouring of support, love and oneness, like never before.

But there is one more critical weapon that every single Jew living today, all 16 million of us, can embrace—and it will change everything.

The Weapon of Eternity

Is there a scientific explanation for our survival and success, 4000 years later?

Death for the Jews has been plotted by tyrants of every age. The greatest Empires of the ancient world—Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, and Rome, all the way down to Stalin and Hitler—attempted to annihilate us; yet they have all vanished, and we survived. Jews have been expelled from nearly every country in which they resided, yet we are here to tell the tale. What did we have that they did not have? How did a hunted-down nation constituting less than one-quarter-of-one percent of humanity survive and thrive?

All these nations and tyrants had large territories of land, mighty military prowess, culture, language, and affluence. What is the secret of our immortality?

There is only one rational way to answer this—to search for the one unique and exclusive weapon that the Jewish people possessed from the day they became a people, and it accompanied them through all their history. Can we identify such a weapon?

In science, we search for the permanent trait in an organism to explain its longevity in difficult circumstances. With the Jewish people, the search is not difficult. There is only one single weapon that has been with us forever, in every milieu, in every location, under all circumstances: The Torah and the Mitzvos that our people studied, observed, and celebrated with unwavering commitment on a daily basis, and bequeathed to their children and grandchildren.

I may logically understand the power of the Torah and the Mitzvos, or not; but I can’t argue with the plain facts: This is the only “weapon” that the Jewish people had from the day they became a people till this very day, which no other army or empire possessed. It is our mightiest weapon—it has outlived every single one of our enemies for over four millennia, and we remain the energetic people we are today, filled with passion, love, and creativity.

This, then, is the historic calling of this time—to encourage and inspire every single Jew living today, to acquire, or finetune, this indestructible Jewish weapon.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

What Hamas and its supporters targeted was not just a piece of land, but an entire people. We have once again been confronted by the force of evil and diabolical hatred that craves to destroy G-d’s eternal people. At such a time, our response must be:&nbsp;Let’s be Jewish like never before in history, and let's be united like never before!

My beloved brothers and sisters! Let us become the greatest Jews ever, by studying what it means to be a Jew and living it.

<ul>
	<li>Put a Mezuzah on your door.</li>
	<li>Wrap Tefillin each morning.</li>
	<li>Study Torah on a daily or weekly basis.</li>
	<li>Engage in prayer and spiritual meditation.</li>
	<li>Eat kosher and make your home kosher.</li>
	<li>Light Shabbos candles and celebrate our day of peace and rest, the holy Sabbath.</li>
	<li>Give charity every day.</li>
	<li>Give your children an education filled with Jewish love and wisdom.</li>
	<li>Become a passionate ambassador of love and unity among our people.</li>
	<li>Imbue your marriage with purity, love, and holiness, or choose any other mitzvah.</li>
	<li>Come to synagogue and get involved with a community.</li>
</ul>

Judaism is about cultivating an ongoing relationship with your deepest soul-essence, filling your heart with the love and peace beating in your soul, and aligning yourself every moment with the universal Divine consciousness of oneness. Every mitzvah, every prayer, and all of Torah, is about becoming channels for the source of all love, peace, light, and truth—and drawing it down into our world. These are the spiritual weapons of victory and eternity.

We do not have time now to live in fear and paralysis; we are the chosen people, we are a singular spiritual organism, and we have a mission: to draw down each day, each moment, infinite love into our hearts, our homes, our communities, our people, our homeland, and the entire world. We need Hashem (G-d, the Creator and source of all love and peace) in our lives. That’s how we can grant the most profound power and courage to our people, our homeland, and all good people in the world.

The support for Hamas in institutions of higher education, and the silence of people so many of us respected, has sickened us. This is the time for courage, resolve, and fortitude. Let’s not shrink, and let’s not shirk our calling. Some of us were drafted into the front lines of battle with Hamas; the rest of us can’t afford to remain spectators. We were all drafted into battle, on a physical or spiritual level.

You can’t argue with the facts: 4000 years later, we are here, and it’s because of that immortal weapon called Torah and Mitzvos.

16 million Jews are waiting for their marching orders. Will we heed their call?

(<a href="https://onemitzvah.org/israel/rabbiyyjacobson">Here is a link to share with friends and family to accept a mitzvah today</a>).

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

16 Million Jews Waiting for Marching Orders:&nbsp;Let&rsquo;s Not Forfeit a Historic Opportunity

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jewish survival

Let’s Not Forfeit a Historic Opportunity

Essay on Hamas-Israel War

16 Million Jews Waiting for Marching Orders

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We Don't realize the Impact of Our Words

YY Moment

Words that Saved a Life 

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You Never Know

This weekly women&#39;s class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Toldos, 27 Cheshvan, 5782, November 2, 2021, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The class explores a fascinating commentary by the Italian Rabbi, Doctor and Kabalist, Reb Moshe David Vali (1697-1777) how Yitzchak&#39;s words to Eisav &quot;you shall worship your brother&quot; intimates the future religion of Christianity, choosing a Jew as the son of G-d, and is a sign for the times of Moshiach when the Divinity of each Jew will emerge in its full splendor.&nbsp;

The class discusses and explained the very delicate topic of the strange fact that Judaism attributes the name of G-d to certain human beings. How can we explain this? And what does this teach us about our lives today?

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eisav

christianity

tzaddik

yeshu

moshe david vali

How Yitzchak's Blessings to Eisav and Yaakov Projected the History of Religion

Women's Toldos Class

Why Did Christianity Turn a Jew into a Deity?

An excerpt of chassidus morning class:&nbsp;https://www.theyeshiva.net/jewish/8065

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Are You a Frog or an Elephant?

A Miracle in Israel:&nbsp;2,500 Year Old Seeds Come to Life &nbsp;

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mesada

palm trees

date seed

dates

The Eternity of Our People; the Eternity of a Soul

YY Moment: A Miracle in Israel/Inspiration

2,500 Year Old Date Seeds Come to Life  

The Blank Spaces

This essay will not dissect a portion of the Torah, nor a chapter, verse, sentence, or word. We will not even focus on a letter or a syllable in the Torah. We will explore a glaring omission in this week’s portion.

Any person who has been called up to the Torah, or those who had an opportunity to gaze at a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) will note that it does not contain the familiar kind of punctuation used in books. There are no periods, exclamation points, or question marks; no commas, colons, semi-colons, or hyphens.

But there are two forms of punctuation in the Torah to indicate (at least in many instances<a onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')" id="_edn1" href="javascript: void(0);" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a>) the beginning of a new topic—and they are blank spaces between words, marking the end of one “Parsha,” or theme, and the beginning of a new one.

[There are two types of spaces in a Torah scroll, one is called “setuma,” which means closed; the other is called “pesucha,” which means open. When a topic in Torah comes to an end, and a new topic is about to begin, the words stop before the end of a line, the remainder of the line is left open. Then the new topic begins only on the next line. This is called a “pesucha,” or an open-ended line. However, when a new, yet related, topic begins, the line is not left open at the end, but a space the length of nine letters is left empty between the words, and the next topic begins on the same line. This is called a “setuma,” or a closed-ended line. They are indicated in every printed Chumash with a Hebrew letter “pei” (פ for pesucha) or the Hebrew letter “samach” (ס for setuma).]

Here is an image of a few pages in the Torah scroll containing both types of spaces, a “pesucha,” then a “setuma.”

<img alt="" height="667" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/theyeshivacnd-d/content/itemcoverpics/default/7261_scroll.4fc1.jpg" width="889">

Two Exceptions

All portions of Torah are filled with numerous such blank spaces. Take a look at any portion in your printed Chumash and you will see at every new topic a letter “pei” (פ) or a letter “samach” (ס).

There are two exceptions—this week’s portion, Vayeitzei, and the portion of Miketz. Vayeitzei contains 148 verses; Miketz—146 verses, and they both lack these breaks. The entire portion is written as a run-on sentence, with no “space” to breathe.

This is strange. Vayeitzei is one of the longer portions in the Torah and it covers twenty full years in the life of Jacob, years filled with diverse encounters, experiences, and tribulations. Why is there not a single space in the entire portion?

Leaving Home

It was Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Altar, the second Rebbe of the Ger dynasty, known as the Sefas Emes, who offered a marvelous explanation.<a onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')" id="_edn2" href="javascript: void(0);" name="_ftnref2">[2]</a>

The portion begins with these words: “And Jacob left Be'er Sheba (where his parents lived in the south of the Holy Land) and traveled to Charan.” Harran was a city in ancient Mesopotamia, located today in Southern Turkey, on the border of Syria and Iraq.&nbsp;Jacob leaves the cocoon of his parents, an&nbsp;environment infused with the Abrahamic vision of life, and travels to Harran, where he would live with a deceitful father-in-law, Laban, and would endure many a trial. The portion ends, two decades later, with Jacob leaving Laban and returning to the Holy Land: “And Jacob went on his way and Divine angels encountered him.”

What allowed Jacob to maintain his moral and spiritual equilibrium throughout his two decades in exile? Why did the first Jewish refugee not assimilate and forfeit his spiritual identity?

The answer is hinted in the Torah by the omission of any space throughout his journey from the Holy Land and back there. From “And Jacob left Be'er Sheba,” in the opening of Vayeitzei, through “Jacob went on his way and Divine angels encountered him,” at the end of Vayeitzei, there was no chasm. Geographically, Jacob left Be'er Sheba in the Holy Land, he departed from Isaac and Rebecca and their Divine-centered world; but in his mindset, there was no gulf between the two. He knew he is on a journey, he was sent on a mission, and he will return.

Jacob never lost touch with where he came from, and thus never got lost in the vicissitudes of his exile life. "He&nbsp;who has a why to live for can bear almost any how," Friedrich Nietzsche said. When you know who you are and the task that lay before you, the changing circumstances do not override your inner anchor. There is a uniform serenity that pervades your life.

The Secret of Longevity

This portion captures the long drama of Jewish exile. Jacob is the first Jew to leave his parents’ cocoon and recreate Jewish life on foreign soil; his descendants would be forced to do so numerous times throughout their history.

What is the secret of the descendants of Jacob to be able to endure millennia of exile and yet remain firmly etched in their identity as Jews?

The Mission

The late astrophysicist, Professor Velvl Greene, who worked many years for NASA, once related the following story.

Many years ago, Dr. Greene shared, a noted scientist delivered a lecture at a Space Science Conference on the broader aspects of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Program in the USA. Among other things, the lecturer drew a parallel between the problems which will face space explorers in the future and our current conditions on earth.

Using a hypothetical manned voyage to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, as an example, he emphasized the remarkable engineering, biological and sociological problems that would be encountered during the execution of this enterprise. Since the star is 4.3 light-years away, a spaceship traveling at 1,000 miles per second would require more than 800 years to get there and another 800 years to get back. Any original crew we launched would not survive for even a fraction of the mission's duration. Instead, we would have to "man" the capsule with men and women who would have children who would carry on the mission. These children would themselves have children, continuing this for 1,600 years. Ultimately, after many generations, the remote progeny of the original crew would complete the mission.

This interstellar spaceship would have to be completely self-sustaining and self-supporting. But the lecturer pointed out that the engineering and technical problems are only one side of the coin. In the spaceship, the crew would have to learn to tolerate each other, generation after generation. They would have to learn, and learn quickly, that you don’t blow up only part of a spaceship.

And then the speaker touched on a key topic: Would the fiftieth generation, after a thousand years, still share the aspirations of their pilgrim fathers who set out from earth so long ago? How, indeed, can you convey to a generation still unborn the basic information about where they came from, where they are going, why they are going there, how to get there, and how to get back?

One of the scientists stood up, and to my surprise and delight, declared: “If we could figure out how the Jewish people managed to survive these thousands of years, we’d have our answer!”

The scientist was on target. To a Jew, this story is no mere fantastic flight of imagination; it captures our millennia-long narrative. Almost four millennia ago, Abraham heard a call to become a blessing for all mankind. Over three thousand years ago, at Mount Sinai, we were launched with specific instructions and suitable maps. And we were told that we ought to transmit this mission to our children and grandchildren, for generations to come. The task was to bring healing and redemption to the world.&nbsp;

We were charged with the mission to reveal that the universe has a soul, that humanity has a soul, that each of us has a soul. That we are living in G-d’s world, and our mission is to transcend our superficial shells and reveal the infinite oneness that unites us all.&nbsp;

For more than a hundred generations we knew where we came from, where we were going, why we were traveling, who was the Project Officer, and how to get back. We had no real difficulty in transmitting this intelligence unbroken from generation to generation—even to generations who were not physically present during “take-off” at Sinai. How? Because the Torah, our Divine logbook, contained macro and micro guidance. Notwithstanding all challenges, this logbook has met the only real criterion of the empirical scientists—it worked. Our presence demonstrated&nbsp;that it worked.

As long as we did not allow an interruption in the transmitting of the Torah from generation to generation, the mission and the people remained intact.

The Challenge

But somehow, not too long ago, a “space” emerged in the middle of this long and incredible journey. A generation of "astronauts" arose who decided that they could write a better logbook. They thought the original was old-fashioned, restraining, complicated, and irrelevant to the problems of modern times. They lost their "fix" on the celestial reference points.

Many of them know something is wrong, but they could not pinpoint the malfunction and get back on course. Our mission today is to teach by example how there is indeed no gorge and no gulf between Sinai and modernity. It is one continuous uninterrupted chain, and—unlike with Darwinism—there is no missing link. The glorious narrative of our people is that we never allowed for an inter-generational gap. The same Shabbos our grandmothers celebrated 3000 years ago, we still celebrate. The same tefillin my great grandfathers donned in Georgia 300 years ago, I still wrap today in New York. The same texts Jewish children in Florence and Barcelona were studying 700 years ago, my children study today.

Abraham began the story, Moses consolidated it, and we will complete it.

To watch a full class by Rabbi YY on this theme, please <a href="https://www.theyeshiva.net/jewish/6058">click here</a>.

_________________

<a onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')" id="_ednref1" href="javascript: void(0);" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> Sometimes it is unclear to us the purpose of the break at&nbsp;a particular location of the text.

<a onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')" id="_ednref2" href="javascript: void(0);" name="_ftn2">[2]</a> Sefas Emes Vayeitzei 5650 (1899). In his own words:

שפת אמת ויצא תר"נ: בסדר ויצא לא נמצא שום פרשה פתוחה וסתומה. וכ"ה בספרי מסורות כי לא יש סדר כזה בתורה זולת ויצא. ונראה דהרמז שלא פסק אבינו יעקב ולא הוסח דעתו מיציאתו לחו"ל עד שחזר ויפגעו בו מלאכי כו'. וז"ש וישבת עמו ימים אחדים שהיו כל הימים באחדות ודביקות בשרשו. [ויתכן ג"כ כי זה פי' הפסוק ויהיו בעיניו כימים אחדים באהבתו אותה כי ע"י אהבה זו הי' דבוק באחדות. וידוע כי אהבתו ברחל הוא סוד השכינה.] וזה הי' עיקר הנדר והבקשה אם יהי' אלקים עמדי בו' שלא יתפרד מן הדביקות ע"י לבן הרשע ותחבולותיו כנ"ל.

There are only two portions in the Torah which lack any space to breathe. Vayeitzei and Miketz. Unlike all other portions, in the Torah scroll, these two portions lack any blank spaces to indicate a break.

This is strange. Our portion is long&mdash;it contains 148 verses and covers twenty full years in the life of Jacob, years consisting of diverse encounters, experiences, and tribulations. Why is there not a single space in the entire portion?

It was the Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Altar, the second Rebbe of the Ger dynasty, who offered a marvelous explanation, capturing the story of our people over 4000 years.

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yaakov

charan

space mission

jewish mission

pesucha

setumah

The Omission of a Blank Space in the Torah Captures the Story of a People

Essay Vayeitzei

No Missing Links

This powerful tour de force on the meaning of Jewish identity in today&#39;s world was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson in Cape Town, South Africa, June 18, 2011 (Motzaei Shabbos Parshas Shlach, 16 Sivan, 5771). The MC is Rabbi Osher Feldman, spiritual leader of Gardens Shul,&nbsp;Cape Town.

Who are we? Are we a parochial tribe&nbsp;or a universal people? Must we stand apart from the rest of the world, or should we integrate?&nbsp;Drawing on one of the most dramatic biblical stories about Jacob wrestling with a mysterious man in middle of the night, following which Jacob and his twin Esau, longtime rivals, embrace with love, we discover some of the profoundest truths about the drama,&nbsp;pain and blessing of Jewish existence.&nbsp;

The lecture draws on the kosher signs for fish, fins and scales, and how they represent the cosmic and parochial components of Jewish life.

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yosef

vayishlach

esau

jewish identity

jewish pride

kosher

self hating jews

fins

scales

south africa

sinai indaba

yaakov eisav

Why do Many Jews Feel Uncomfortable with Themselves?

Lecture Sinai Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa

The Epic Struggle of Jewish Identity

This lecture was presented at the Petach Tikvah shul in Toronto, on Tuesday, 28 Cheshvan, 5779, November 6, 2018, in honor of Holocaust Education Week in Toronto. The lecture was dedicated in the memory of Shmuel (Sam) ben Chaviv Buzaglo, who passed away on Hoshnah Rabah 5779, by his family. Prefacing remarks were delivered by Holocaust survivor Anita Ekstein, who shared her story of survival.

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holocaust

germany

petach tikvah

nazis

emunah

faith after holocaust

toronto

How Can G-d Allow It? How Could the Germans Do It? What Does It Teach Us About Our People? Dry Bones Returning to Life

Toronto Holocaust Lecture

Faith After the Holocaust

This&nbsp;​lecture by Rabbi YY Jacobson was organized by Chabad of Guelph (in Ontario, Canada), in tribute to the first Yartzeit of renowned Jewish activist, philanthropist and pillar of the Guelph community, Jeff White. The speech was presented at Chabad&#39;s Israel&#39;s Center, Toronto, on Tuesday, July 10, 2018.

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Our Pure & Untouchable Essence

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