Two divergent roads have defined the voyage of our people. If I was asked to sum up the core of all Jewish arguments from time immemorial till today I would say it is the conflict between the sun and the moon, between &ldquo;Solar Jews&rdquo; and &ldquo;Lunar Jews.&rdquo; The first group believes in consistency; the latter group cherishes creativity.

Often, the conflict between the lunar and the solar personalities emerge in a company, a business, or an organization.

Often the conflict flares up in a marriage. We tend to overemphasize one of the two approaches, so that we can form some sense of identity. Judaism, in its profound understanding of human nature and the process of history, challenges us to embark on the road less traveled.

The Jewish Leap Year Challenges Us to Integrate Creativity and Consistency

Essay on Leap Year/Adar Reshon/Bo 

Are You a Sun or a Moon?

Always Late

Sarah was always late to work no matter how much she tried to be on time, or how many times her boss scolded her. She just could not wake up on time. Her boss said she would fire her if it did not stop. Sarah decided to seek the advice of her doctor. He prescribed her some medication and told her to take one pill before going to sleep, so she can fall asleep immediately and rise early.&nbsp;She did just that and she woke up before dawn and headed into work feeling well-rested. Sarah told her boss about the doctor’s prescription and how well it worked.

Her boss said, “That is great, Sarah, but where were you yesterday?”

Choosing the World &amp; the Jews 

It is a strange Midrash, found in this week’s Torah portion, Bo. At the surface, it seems baffling, but upon deeper reflection, it contains an extraordinary meditation on how we live our lives and manage our time.

The Jewish calendar has twelve lunar months. The first day of each month is known as Rosh Chodesh (the head of the month); the first day of the year (the first day of the first month of the year) is known as Rosh Hashanah (the head of the year.)

Says the Midrash:<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" name="_ftnref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>

שמות רבה טו, יא: דָּבָר אַחֵר, הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם. הֲדָא הוּא דִּכְתִיב&nbsp;(תהלים לג, יב) אַשְׁרֵי הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר ה' אֱלֹהָיו, מִשֶּׁבָּחַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּעוֹלָמוֹ, קָבַע בּוֹ רָאשֵׁי חֳדָשִׁים וְשָׁנִים, וּכְשֶׁבָּחַר בְּיַעֲקֹב וּבָנָיו קָבַע בּוֹ רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים שֶׁל גְּאֻלָּה.

When G-d chose His world, He established ‘heads of months’ and ‘heads of years.’ When G-d chose Jacob and his children, the Jewish people, He established the ‘head of the month of redemption’ (the first day of the month of Nissan, the month of the Exodus).

What does this Midrash mean? What does it mean “when G-d chose His world?” Why does the Midrash not say, “when G-d created His world?”

And what does choosing a world have to do with the establishment of the head of a month and the heads of a year? And what does the Midrash mean when it says that “when G-d chose Jacob and his children, He established the Head of the month of redemption?”

Delineating time into months and years is based on the astronomical lunar and solar orbits. The moon completes its orbit after one month. The sun completes its orbit after a year. What does any of this have to do with G-d “choosing His world,” or “choosing Jacob and his children?”

An Address to High School Girls

On January 16, 1964 (2 Shevat, 5724), the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) addressed a group of teenage girls, the graduating class of a New York Jewish girls’ high school, Beth&nbsp;Rivkah.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" name="_ftnref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a> He offered them a most marvelous insight into this Midrash. This profound perspective can teach us volumes about how to view a one-liner in Midrash, and how to speak to the hearts of teenage girls.

(This coming Shabbos, 10 Shevat,&nbsp;marks the 74th anniversary of the passing of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Scnheerson (1880-1950), who passed away on Shabbos morning, Parshas Bo, 10 Shevat, 5710, January 28, 1950. On the same day, one year later, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbem succeeded his father-in-law as the leader of Chabad-Lubavitch. The following insight is characteristic of the profundity and richness of the Rebbe's&nbsp; Torah insights and perspectives.)&nbsp;

Three Types of Time

Aristotle said that time was the greatest teacher who killed all his students. There is no “teacher” like time. What we learn through time and aging is unparalleled by any class or teacher. The experience of life is the greatest teacher. The saying goes: When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience ends up with the money; the man with the money ends up with an experience.

And yet the clock stops for nobody. “Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings,” John Updike said. You may be sleeping, sipping a coffee, surfing the web, or getting angry at your boss or your spouse, the clock is ticking away. How do we deal with the merciless reality of time?

There are three ways, suggests the Midrash. There are three experiences of time: depressing time, meaningful time, and redemptive time. You choose in which time-zone you will breathe.

Depressing Time

For some, time is just an endless flow, a shapeless blob, a random stream that never ceases. A day comes and a day goes, and then another day comes and goes. Each day is the same as the day before, and they all add up to nothing.

Sometimes you watch people who allow their days and years to pass without goals. Every day is an invitation to squander yet another 24 hours until it too will bite the dust. If the boredom gets to you, you find ways to escape and dull the void.

This is an empty time: time devoid of any theme. Time as it is on its own, without human initiative and creativity. Shapeless and formless. One set of 24 hours is indistinguishable from another set of 24 hours.

Productive Time

Comes the Midrash and says, “When G-d chose His world, He established ‘heads of months’ and ‘heads of years.’” For the world to become a chosen place, a desirable habitat, a place worth living in, a place that G-d not only created but chose, we must grant the endless flow of time the dignity of purpose. Every day ought to have a productive objective, every month—a meaningful goal, every year—a dynamic rhythm. The world G-d chose and desired was one in which humanity learns to confer meaning on time, to utilize it for constructive and beneficial endeavors. A meaningful life is a life in which every day is filled with meaningful choices and experiences, utilized to promote goodness, righteousness,&nbsp;and justice.

This is what it means to choose your world and choose your life, to appreciate that G-d chose this world. There is meaning and purpose in each moment. You can view life as random and valueless, or you can see life as a gift, and view time as priceless, something I ought to cultivate in the fullest way.&nbsp;I choose to invest all my energy, creativity, and passion into each moment; and for me, each day is an invitation to deeper growth and awareness.

So “When G-d chose His world, He established ‘heads of months’ and ‘heads of years.’” For time to be utilized purposefully, every month must have a “head,” which gives the month its tone and direction. Every year must have a “head,” Rosh Hashanah, the time to put into focus the year that passed and the year ahead. For time to be used productively, it must be delineated. I&nbsp;must take note of sunrise and sunset, of a new month and a new year. Each presents me with a specific energy,&nbsp;calling, and opportunity.

Redemptive Time

You can live a productive life, mark your days with worthy objectives. Your life has rhythm. You have a morning, a night, a lunch break, a weekend, and a vacation.

But you are still confined within the realm of a mortal, finite and frail universe. As one wise man&nbsp;said, Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them. Or: Time is a storm in which we are all lost; time is free, but it’s priceless; you can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.

Within the restricted structure of our bodies, life span, and circumstances, we can use our time productively.&nbsp;Yet, we can’t free ourselves from the prison of mortality. Even when I work hard and use my time well, it is still cruel to me. It ages me. At any moment something can happen which will shake up and destroy my entire structure and rhythm.

Here is where the Midrash opens us up to another dimension of time, and this is where the Jewish story is introduced into history. “When G-d chose Jacob and his children He established the head of the month of Redemption.” G-d gave us the ability to liberate and redeem ourselves from the natural, mortal, and finite reality. He allowed us to align our posture with Divine infinity; not just to be productive with our time, but to confer upon each moment transcendence, to grant it the resonance of eternity, to liberate it and ourselves from the shackles of mortality.

You can be productive with your time. You can use it to shovel the snow, mow the lawn, fix the garage, read a good book, shop in Costco, enhance your computer speed, sell a building, cook a gourmet meal, and help society. This is worthwhile. But you are capable of more: You can make each moment Divine, elevating it to the realm of the sacred, where each moment, hour, day, week, month, and year become infused with G-dliness and are thus transformed into eternity. You can allow your time to become a conduit for the timeless.

"When G-d chose Jacob and his children He established the head of the month of Redemption.” This is the month of Nissan, the month when we were set free of Egyptian bondage and were empowered to free ourselves from every form of bondage. Torah and Mitzvos make our time not only productive but Divine.

When you align your time rhythm with the Divine, realizing that every moment of time is an opportunity to connect with the infinite light vibrating through your body and the cosmos; when you use your time to study G-d’s Torah, to connect to G-d, to perform a mitzvah, and to live in the Divine consciousness of oneness, your time is not only productive, but it is redemptive, uninhibited by the shackles of nature finitude. You redeem and transform your time—by aligning it with the divine blueprint for life.

The Choice

When the sun rises, and I declare “Shema Yisroel” to align my posture with Divine oneness—the moment of sunrise is now etched in eternity. When the sun of Friday is about to set and I kindle the Shabbos lights, it is a moment transformed into transcendent peacefulness. When I take a moment to do a favor for another person, for tuning into the love of the universe, for studying Torah or praying, I elevate the moment into transcendence.

In the words of the Tanya (ch. 25), "In the higher reality, this union (between the soul and G-d when we perform a mitzvah) is eternal, for G-d and His will transcend time... Only here below is the union within the limits of time."&nbsp;

Each of us can choose in which “time zone” we will live. Do I live in a “depressing time,” letting my days and nights pass without meaning? Do I elevate my days into worthwhile experiences? Or, in my ultimate calling, do I turn each day into a redemptive experience, into a conduit for infinity?

How We Study Science and Physics

The Rebbe said one more thing to these girls about their academic studies. Some of us study the sciences and see them merely as interesting data, raw facts. However, much of humanity has come to appreciate that when we study biology, physics, history, or math it must be with a productive and meaningful purpose—to make the world a better place, to enhance life on our planet, and to promote justice and compassion.

Yet, our ultimate calling is to see all of our studies, all branches of wisdom, as an instrument to transform our world and our lives into an abode for the Divine infinite reality, to infuse all aspects of our lives with true and timeless meaning, with everlasting love and holiness, by revealing that ultimately, we are all one, and everything is part of that oneness.

__________________________

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" name="_ftn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Shemos Rabba 15:11. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" name="_ftn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> The talk is published in Likutei Sichos vol. 4 p. 1263-1267. (The Rebbe bases his explanation on Or Hatorah Parshas Bo p. 264. This Sicha is an extraordinary example of how to “translate” a maamar into relevant language. The maamar in Or Hatorah is abstract and the Rebbe applied it in the most practical and relevant way.)

It is a strange Midrash. When G-d chose His world, He established &lsquo;heads of months&rsquo; and &lsquo;heads of years.&rsquo; When G-d chose Jacob and his children, the Jewish people, He established the &lsquo;head of the month of redemption&rsquo; (the first day of the month of Nissan, the month of the Exodus).

What does this Midrash mean? What does it mean &ldquo;when G-d chose his world?&rdquo; Why does the Midrash not say, &ldquo;when G-d created His world?&rdquo; And what does choosing a world have to do with the establishment of the head of a month and the heads of a year? And what does the Midrash mean when it says that &ldquo;when G-d chose Jacob and his children, He established the Head of the month of redemption?&rdquo;

On January 16, 1964 (2 Shevat, 5724), the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) addressed a group of teenage girls, the graduating class of a NY Jewish girls&rsquo; high school, Beis Rivkah. He offered them a most marvelous insight into this Midrash. This profound perspective can teach us volumes about how to view a one-liner in Midrash, and how to speak to the hearts of teenage girls.

We are introduced to three forms of time: Depressing time, productive time, and redemptive time. Our calling in life is to turn depressing time into productive time and productive time into sacred time.

Is Time a Storm in Which We Are All Lost?

Essay Parshas Bo

Depressing Time, Productive Time, and Redemptive Time

This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 6 Shvat, 5784, January 16, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The Double Dip of Jewish History, and the Infamous Blood Libels

Women's Pesach/Bo Class

The Night Before Redemption, We Needed to Confront One Final Demon

This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 2 Shevat, 5783, January 24, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.
It is a fascinating law in this week&rsquo;s portion. If I am eating the Afikoman and I fall asleep, when wake up I can&rsquo;t continue eating it. Because it is as though I am beginning a new, second meal, and the Passover offering meal, as well as the Afikoman, have to be eaten in one single uninterrupted meal.
The above law applies if a person was conducting a seder alone. But what if he or she is eating the Passover offering or the afikomen with a group of other Jews, then even if he or she falls asleep, they can continue eating after they awake, as long as some members of the group remained awake.&nbsp;
The logic is clear. If I am eating in your company, then even if I fell asleep, my meal has not been interrupted, because you are awake. As long as you guys are awake, when I resume consciousness, I am right back in the game. The fact that I took a nap for an hour or two does not mean that my meal has ceased.
At first glance, it seems like a technical law, even if quite fascinating and also a bit of a stretch. It was on the 20th of Teves, 5750, January 17, 1990, when I heard from the Lubavitcher Rebbe the deeper emotional and historical meaning of the above law. &nbsp;I still recall how emotional and moving the Rebbe&rsquo;s explanation was, including of how marvelous it was to see a seemingly technical law reflecting such a splendid insight into Jewish history. It also contains timeless lessons on how we view our brothers, sister, and children, who at some point feel detached from the story of Judaism and the Jewish people.
&nbsp;

Your Child Fell Asleep? Make Sure to Stay Awake.

Women's Class Parshas Bo/Pesach

The Sleepers

This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Va&#39;eira, 24 Teves, 5783, January 17, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

Freedom Comes in Two Forms: Escape and Transformation

Women's Class Va'eira

Why the Need to Lie to Pharaoh?

This weekly women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 2 Shevat, 5782, January 4, 2022, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. It explores how free choice works, and do we really even have it?

Did Pharaoh Have Freewill? Understanding Your Brain Can Help You Acquire the Gift of Choice

Women's Vaeira/Bo Class

Do I Have Free Choice? It Depends

This&nbsp;was a &quot;Shabbos Hagadol Derasha (Sermon)&quot;&nbsp;by Rabbi YY Jacobson addressing the Young Israel of Century City, CA, on&nbsp;Sunday, 8 Nissan, 5781, March 21, 2021.

Three of the four questions we ask at the Seder are answered during the night, if only indirectly. But not the fourth question. &ldquo;On all other nights, we don&#39;t dip even once. Why on this night do we dip twice? One time, karpas&mdash;a vegetable&mdash;in saltwater; the second time, maror in charoses, bitter herbs (or Romaine Lettuce) in the sweet mixture of apples, pears, nuts, and wine.&rdquo; During the entire seder, it seems, we never get an answer to this question. What is the answer? Why do we dip twice?

There are two dips that characterize Jewish history&mdash;one was the beginning of our exile, and one created the end of our exile. Both involved blood and goats. Joseph&rsquo;s brothers dipped his coat into the blood of a goat, and that is how our exile began. The Jews dipped a hyssop plant into the goat&rsquo;s blood on the eve of Passover&mdash;and that is how redemption began! What do these two dips represent? There is the dip that creates Jewish exile; and the dip that ends it.

Of all the slanders about Jews throughout history, the Blood Libel stands out as the most insane. How could have this ever taken root? The last thing a Jew would ever eat is blood. The Torah categorically prohibits a Jew from eating blood. What is more, there is a heavenly death penalty for a Jew eating blood! Reb Elchanan Wasserman suggested a daring explanation.

The Tragic Story that Came Full Circle on the Night of Pesach

Shabbos Hagadol Derasha Young Israel Century City

A Bloody Tunic: The Dip that Creates Exile; and the Dip that Ends It 

This weekly women&#39;s class&nbsp;was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 6 Shevat, 5781, January 19, 2021, live from Rabbi Jacobson&#39;s home in Monsey, NY.

Can You Be Fully Present to the New Flow of Energy Every Moment?

Women's Class -- Sefas Emes Bo

To Live With the Divine Is to Live in the Now

“Come to Pharaoh”

The opening of the 10th chapter of Exodus, the beginning of this week’s Torah portion Bo, reads: "And G-d said to Moses: 'Come to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants in order that I might show My signs in their midst...'”

Two obvious questions come to mind. First, why does G-d tell Moses to “come to Pharaoh” (Bo el Paraoh), rather than “Go to Pharaoh” (“Lech el Pharaoh”)?

Second, the sentence “Come to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart” is enigmatic. What is the sequence? How does the fact that “I have hardened his heart” constitute the reason to “come to Pharaoh”? The Torah should have stated, “Come to Pharaoh and warn him.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" name="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a> I have hardened his heart so that I might show My signs.”

The Torah, it seems, should have structured this sentence as it did earlier, where G-d tells Moses:<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" name="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a> “You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron, your brother, shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I will increase My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay My hand upon the Egyptians.” Note: First G-d tells Moses and Aaron to speak to Pharaoh and instruct him to let the Jews go free; then G-d adds that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart.

Here the message is different: “Come to Pharaoh because I have hardened his heart.” But the fact that G-d has hardened Pharaoh’s heart is not a reason to “come to Pharaoh.”

Moses’ Fear

The Zohar, the fundamental text of Kabbalah, presents a daring answer to the first question.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn3" name="_ednref3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a> Moses was terrified to go to Pharaoh. G-d could not say to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh.” He was too afraid. So G-d told Moses, “Come to Pharaoh,” meaning “Come with Me to Pharaoh.”<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn4" name="_ednref4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref4')">[4]</a> You are not alone. I will hold your hand and accompany you as you we go together to the tyrant. 
 
But then G-d added something even more profound. “Come to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart.” First, He said, you are not going alone, you are coming with Me. Second, you ought not to be scared, because it is I who have hardened his heart. His stubbornness comes also from Me; his mighty resistance is all My doing.

G-d was telling Moses, that it was He, Hashem, not Pharaoh, who has “hardened his heart.” Pharaoh is not the one in control. He does not possess ultimate power. The reason he can develop such obstinacy is because G-d has hardened his heart.

And why would G-d make his heart hard and immovable if G-d wanted His people to go free? For this G-d continues telling Moses: “In order that I might show My signs in their midst...” I want to be able to show My people the wonders and miracles I performed in order to liberate them from their oppressive bondage.

Why should you, Moses, be terrified? It is all Me, not him. I, your loving Creator, I am the one who is behind his hardness and inflexibility. It is not an objective reality; it is part of My reality. It is an integral part of the road toward redemption. Its entire purpose is so that I can perform all My miracles in Egypt. The purpose of his resistance, orchestrated by the Almighty, is to help the cause of redemption, not to stop it.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn5" name="_ednref5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref5')">[5]</a>

Life’s Hardships

Each of us faces fears, obstacles, and challenges. We encounter people and circumstances which scare us deeply, overwhelm us, and bring out the worst in us. They cause us to become indignant, paralyzed, and miserable.

These are natural human emotions. I am trying to do something and then some fellow shows up and tries to undermine me and my work. I am trying to live a normal life and then a curveball knocks me off my feet. How do I respond?&nbsp;

We have the ‘fight or flight’ response, guided by the amygdala. Of course, at times, one or the other are the way to go. But there is always another perspective that must inform the former two.

Portals, No Barriers

G-d tells Moses: “Come to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart.” 

When I encounter a Pharaoh in my life—a potent force that refuses to allow me to go free and to live my life to the fullest, to maximize all of my G-d-given potentials and serve G-d with joy, passion, creativity and a full excited heart—I need to recall that this reality was placed here by G-d. “I have hardened his heart.” Don’t get distracted by this guy and his incentives. He is doing what he is doing and G-d will take care of that in due time.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn6" name="_ednref6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref6')">[6]</a> As far as I am concerned, G-d wants me to know that it is He who placed this barrier in front of me, in order to inspire my conviction, to stimulate my courage, to empower my soul, to dig deeper into my integrity, do excavate deeper recesses of the soul, to allow me to flex my muscles and take a stand in life.

And remember, you never go alone to face adversity. You are coming with Me. I am always with you.&nbsp;

What G-d was telling Moses was this: You must always remember that you never encounter obstacles in life, and therefore you never have to be afraid of them. Rather, they are all part of your journey to fulfill your glorious mission in life. They are not obstructions but passages; not barriers but portals; not blockades but windows to discover who you are and allow you to fulfill your ultimate destiny. Every experience that seems so difficult and traumatizing is really here to assist you to discover your deepest potentials, powers and energies that may be completely hidden even to yourself.

Sometimes, the journey is painful. Building muscle is always painful. It requires all tissue to be torn. But it must never frighten or paralyze you. It must motivate and incite you. As you discover all of those “hardened hearts” out there in the world and you want to go mad, take a deep breath, and recall the words “I have hardened his heart.” This is part of what G-d wants you to deal with, to confront, to look at, to reflect on, and always in order to bring you to unknown heights.

How do you climb a tall mountain? Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths. Climbing mountains straight up is nearly impossible. This is the story of life. Sometimes life is like a zig zag of challenges but it’s the only way to reach to the top.

Uncharted Territory

There was a young man who was suffering from deviant sexual tendencies. He penned a letter to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, asking one simple question: Why me?

On 25 Shevat, 5746, Feb. 4, 1986, the Rebbe responded:<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn7" name="_ednref7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref7')">[7]</a>

We do not know. The mysteries of people’s journeys are beyond our human finite comprehension. But then he offered an incredibly comforting insight. Sometimes, the Rebbe wrote to this struggling soul, your soul has inherent power and potential that can literally inspire the world. But you are unaware of this facet of your soul. You don’t really know who you really are. Then you discover a serious challenge in your life. And in order to overcome it, you need to dig very deeply to find the stamina and resources to overcome adversity. You are thus compelled to travel to an uncharted place in your psyche that would have otherwise remain unexposed. In that process, you come across the true power and light of your soul. You discover your true extraordinary powers, which can then illuminate your life and your world in incredibly powerful ways.

Life offers us this opportunity each day of our lives by providing us with tests or challenges—some of them easier, some of them tougher. To be sure, many of these challenges remain mysterious and incomprehensible. Why do some of us endure challenges so disturbing, painful, and shattering? Nobody knows. I stand in awe before some of my friends and students whom I know have been through so much. We don’t know why. All we know is what our calling and response must be. The function of every challenge, small or large, is to invite us to go much deeper into ourselves and excavate our full inner radiance, discovering the resources and potential we need to muster to face these tests and triumph over adversity.

“Every flower must grow through dirt,” goes the saying. Thoreau once said: “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.”

Being totally happy with life is great, but you learn nothing about yourself from it. Most of what we learn about ourselves, we learn during our struggles. Use this as an opportunity to see what you’re really made of.

The Donkey

I once asked an elderly wise person whom I used to approach for advice, "Where do you get such good judgement from?" He answered, "Good judgment comes from bad experience." He related the following story.

One day, a donkey fell into a pit. The animal cried and whined for hours while his owner tried to figure out what to do. Finally, the farmer decided that since the animal was old, and the pit needed to be covered up anyway, he'd just bury the old donkey right there. He got a shovel and started filling up the pit. The donkey kept up its wailing, but then fell silent. After an hour of furious shoveling, the farmer paused to rest. To his amazement, he saw his old donkey jump out of the pit and trot away!

At first, when the donkey realized what was happening, he cried even more piteously. But then the animal hit on a plan. As each spadesful of dirt hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up on the growing mound of earth. Eventually, the mound grew tall enough for him to jump out of the pit.

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the pit is to shake it off and use the dirt to climb one step up. How do you do that? By always remembering that “I hardened his heart.” That every single hardship and challenge eclipsing your light and obstructing your spiritual growth has no substantive power of its own; it is really a husk that contains a Divine seed, a Divine energy, a Divine opportunity. It is merely another pathway in your journey to greatness.

Yes, sometimes, it is nerve racking. But do not lose composure; do not lose hope. And do not give it any power or validity. Rather, ask yourself what is my mission here at this moment in this situation? What is G-d teaching me here?

70 Years

This above insight in the Torah portion and its application to our lives was presented by the Lubavitcher Rebbe at a gathering on Motzaei Shabbos Parshas Vaeira, 28 Teves, 5738, January 7, 1978, three months after suffering Two life-threatening heart attacks. It was a life changing perspective, one that redefines every hardship you face.

This Wednesday, 10 Shevat 5780 (Feb. 5, 2020) marks the 70th yartzeit of his father-in-law, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (1880-1950), who almost single handedly took on the Communist regime during the 1920s and built an incredible underground network of Judaism in the darkest of times and the harshest of places. “Fire will not burn us and water will not drown us,” was the motto of his Chassidim in the abyss of the Soviet Union.

The day also marks seven decades of the leadership of his son-in-law, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902-1994), who always taught this message: Every hardship you encounter on your path toward wholeness and on your journey to change the world is only a reflection of your own state of mind. In essence it is all part of G-d's loving plan for you. “I have hardened his heart.” I am here with you in the darkest of moments, helping you discover the true meaning behind your challenges: an opportunity to perform your own unique miracle and experience G-d’s infinite light shining through you.

It was this approach the Rebbe lived by and taught to thousands of disciples. “Internalize it,” he pleaded, “and you will set the world on fire.”

(My brother and I, and Rabbi Dovber Pinson,&nbsp;will hold a special event in Monsey, NY, to mark this day, on Tuesday evening, Feb. 4, 2020, 7:30 PM. Please <a href="https://www.theyeshiva.net/jewish/7327">click here</a> to watch the livestream.)

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" name="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> See Rashi to this verse, Exodus 10:1

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" name="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> Exodus 7:2-4

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref3" name="_edn3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> Zohar, part II, 34a

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref4" name="_edn4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn4')">[4]</a> To quote the mystical words of the Zohar: “G-d summoned Moses into a chamber within a chamber, to the unique, supernal and mighty serpent… But Moses was afraid. Until this point, Moses had only approached the rivers surrounding the serpent (Pharaoh), and he was scared to approach the serpent itself…”—Zohar, part II, 34a

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref5" name="_edn5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn5')">[5]</a> To be sure, G-d was not absolving Pharaoh from guilt over his gruesome actions. Yet what he was telling Moses was that his ability to stop Jews from leaving Egypt is not because he controls their destiny; rather it is because G-d has closed his heart.

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref6" name="_edn6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn6')">[6]</a> See Tanya Igeres Hakodesh chapter 25 where this theme is explained.

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref7" name="_edn7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn7')">[7]</a> I have seen a copy of the letter. What follows is an elucidation of the Rebbe’s message according to my understanding.

The opening of the 10th chapter of Exodus, the beginning of this week&rsquo;s Torah portion (Bo) reads: &quot;And G-d said to Moses: &#39;Come to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants in order that I might show My signs in their midst...&#39;&rdquo; 
 
Two obvious questions come to mind. First, why does G-d tell Moses to &ldquo;come to Pharaoh&rdquo; (Bo el Paraoh), rather than &ldquo;Go to Pharaoh&rdquo; (&ldquo;Lech el Pharaoh&rdquo;)? Second, the sentence &ldquo;Come to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart&rdquo; is enigmatic. What is the sequence? How does the fact that &ldquo;I have hardened his heart&rdquo; constitute the reason to &ldquo;come to Pharaoh&rdquo;? The Torah should have stated, &ldquo;Come to Pharaoh and warn him. I have hardened his heart so that I might show My signs.&rdquo;

Each of us faces fears, obstacles, and challenges. We encounter people and circumstances which scare us deeply, overwhelm us, and bring out the worst in us. They cause us to become indignant, paralyzed, and miserable. These are natural human emotions. I am trying to do something and then some fellow shows up and tries to undermine me and my work. I am trying to live a normal life and then a curveball knocks me off my feat. How do I respond?&nbsp;

We have the &lsquo;fight or flight&rsquo; response, guided by the amygdala. Of course, at times, one or the other are the way to go. But there is always another perspective that must inform the former two.

Every Flower Must Grow through Dirt

Essay Bo

The Guy Who Drives You Mad

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Bo 5778, January 16, 2018, at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY

We Never Reject a Jewish Child

Bo/Pesach Women's Class

Sometimes You Find Your Child's Soul on Ski Slopes

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moses says to Pharaoh, &ldquo;Also our cattle will go with us; not a [single] hoof will remain, for we will take from it to worship the Lord our G-d, and we do not know how we will worship G-d until we arrive there.&rdquo; Moses is making a strange argument. We need all of our cattle with us, he tells Pharaoh, because we are unsure how we will worship G-d until we arrive at our destination of worship. Perhaps G-d will ask for more cattle.

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What does this mean? Did Moses mean these words for real that G-d might want more cattle? If not, why did he say them? And why did Pharaoh not tell him to ask G-d how much cattle they need? And why, after these words of Moses, did Pharaoh suddenly have a change of heart yet again and decided to remain obstinate? 

Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Altar, the first Rebbe of Ger, known as the Chidushei HaRim, offers an interesting interpretation. Moses&rsquo; words &quot;we do not know how we will worship G-d until we arrive there&rdquo; were meant for Pharaoh but also for every Jew in every generation until the end of time.

Small People, Small Acts, Change the World

We Never Know the Full Meaning of Our Lives 

Question for Rabbi YY

This is a text-based class on a Sicha, an address presented by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to the graduating class of Beth Rivkah, on Thursday Parshas Bo, 2 Shevat 5722, January 16, 1962. It is published in Likkutei Sichos vol. 4 (Hosafos, Parshas Bo).

Rabbi YY Jacobson presented this class on Monday, Parshas Bo, Rosh Chodesh Shevat, 5782, January 3, 2022, streaming live from his home in Monsey, NY.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe Speaks to Girls on Time Management

My Time Can Be Empty; My Time Can Be Productive; My Time Can Be Eternal

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