TheYeshiva.net - Rabbi YY Jacobson

The Last Lecture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe: How to Love

Why Is It So Hard to Serve G-d With Bliss? How to Love Your (True) Self & the Other

1 hr 48 min

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Class Summary:

This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Vayakhel, Parshas Shekalim, 25 Adar I, 5784, March 5, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

This Sabbath, Jews the world over will read, in addition to the weekly Torah portion, an extra Torah portion, known as Parshas Shekalim, or the "portion of the coins."

This section of the Torah records the mitzvah incumbent upon the people of Israel, to make a yearly contribution of a half shekel to cover the cost of all communal Temple offerings. A shekel was a specific weight of silver (about 16 grams) that was the standard coinage used by the Jews in the desert. The Jewish people were instructed to contribute a half-shekel coin, which was a silver coin weighing about 8 grams, to the Temple.

The Torah is extremely particular about the amount of the contribution: "The wealthy shall not increase and the destitute shall not decrease from half a shekel." I do not think there was ever again in Jewish history an appeal made setting a limit to the contributions of the rich!

What is baffling about this mitzvah is the Torah's insistence that the contribution consist of a half-coin, rather than a whole, complete coin. Why would G-d instruct the Jewish people to give a contribution that is not complete? Especially considering that the Torah demands all elements connected to the Temple service be as complete and perfect as possible.

In his final address, two days before he suffered a stroke, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, presented a profound explanation. This was Shabbos Vayakhel, 25 Adar I, 5752 (1992). It explored the question if a human being in his deepest place is a lonely creature, struggling with a mysterious and complex self in a way that nobody else can really understand or appreciate?

Many philosophical and spiritual disciplines eloquently describe the sense of solitariness that comes hand in hand with one's journey into the inner chambers of the self. The deeper you go, the lonelier you become. But the Rebbe presented a very different view, one which helps teach us how to live with love and joy, despite the pain and disappointment.

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Please leave your comment below!

Anonymous -1 month ago
Fantastic.
Thank you so much. :)
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MY
mendel yakovson -1 month ago
i have a question: i learned that the angle of the zar of rasha came to reb shmuel aba shepiero from slaveetia and asked reb shmuel aba to forgive the czar of rasha for his torture that he caused reb shmuel aba when he -the czar- was allive and reb shmuel aba refused to forgive this wicked man. and chassidom say this story to show how reb shmuel aba won the czar! so how does that fit with this class that forgivness is victory?

i have an ancer: there is a difrence between a goy and a yid a goy who does bad its really him/her so why forgive one who is bad but if it is a jew it means that the jew is in prisen in the yetzer harah so when the jew hurt me and now im free to live with my nishumah and ahvas yisrael unlike that jew who is stuck in the yetzer harah...
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LH
Lane Harris -1 month ago
Amazing 👏
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H
Had -1 month ago
By giving a half shekel they are atoning
For selling Yosef, giving back the money they got. But Benyomin didn't participate. Levi DID participate. Yakov himself didn't participate obviously. Dina didn't participate. Those who did or did not participate in the sale and gotten money for selling Yosef, doesn't correspond exactly to those who must give a half shekel.
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H
Had -1 month ago
Only the men participated in the
Chait he'egel. Yet it says they took off their earrings, their gold and jewelry, etc. Did the men then wear such feminine jewelery? What about the single men? Did they participate? What about the vort that only the erev rav actually participate What about the levvim who didn't participate?
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רפ
רינה פרסיקו -1 month ago
Great Sicha!

Is there a source sheet?
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H
Had -1 month ago
YY. First you say how a marriage us a reunion
And the couple are bashert for each other. How a marriage allows us to be whole within ourselves as well as whole with another. Then you say how tragic a divorce is. BUT then you go to say how nit giving (or accepting) a gett is cruel, etc. YET there are spiuses who, so to speak, don't give or accept a gett because they believe in the unconditional nature, the reunion of 2 souls, etc. AND there are no egregious or serious reasons to divorce other than the selfishness of one spouse. In those cases the non-cooperating spouse was never abusive during the marriage, isn't cruel by not participating, but wants sholem bayis. YET, you publicly shame them (the Alter Rebbe says public shaming is kefia which prevents the necessary component of voluntarinrss and thus prevents a gett beforehand or pasuls it afterwards); and join the anti-halachic liberal feminist crowd shouting the erroneous slogan of "gett on demand" which just copies the nonjews of only recent decades of secular no fault divorce; and is a blatant contradiction to the fact that whereas Rabbeinu Gershon forbid forcing a gett on a wife against her will, this anti-halachic modern mantra attempts to force a gett out of him even without grounds as you have publicly afbocated for.
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- Anonymous -1 month ago
  Wrong! Your comment is a classic idea of an idea in Chassidus being taken out of context and used for the biggest evil.
  
  Chassidus is the soul of Judaism, and Halacha is the body. Chassidus doesn't change halacha at all. According to Halacha, there are cases where the Rabbonim are authorized to force a husband to divorce his wife, even using physical coercion and more.
  
  In chabad we grew up on stories of the Tzemach Tzedek, the 3rd Lubavitcher Rebbe who helped countless agunos find their husbands and get them to give a divorce.
  
  I love you so I will torture and imprison you. That's essentially your point, and you are using the teachings of the Tzemach Tzedek's namesake to justify your evil behavior.
  
  Get a life, and a wife that actually wants to be married to you. G-d decided the rules, and he put the idea and ability of divorce in Torah for a reason. Don't be smarter than Him.
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H
Had -1 month ago
In true intimacy the soul is relaxed
Yet, for most people who went into yechidus with the Rebbe, which is true intimacy, they were the opposite of relaxed! They were in awe, they were overwhelmed!
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H
Had -1 month ago
If marriage is a reunion of 2 souls
And bashert. YY, why do you participate in and advocate for the division of a Jewish couple, i.e. divorce, especially when one party wants out for selfish reasons and has no real serious halachic or practical reasons to divorce? Moreover you advocate publicly for "gett on demand", i.e. baseless divorce. Absent any real reasons or grounds, it is, perforce, selfish.
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H
Had -1 month ago
Hashem created animals separately,
Male and female. He also created them like the entire cosmos and planet, water, vegetation, living creatures by His word.

But, contrasted to the creation of animals separately and by His word, He created man yesh m"yesh (from earth) and in only one body.

So marriage is not a union of two souls but a REunion. Bashert.
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H
Had -1 month ago
V'ahavta reiachta c'mocha
Love your fellow like yourself.

Considering the yidden, the planet, etc., are one large interconnected body (like the astronauts said looking at the planet); its like saying THE HEART SHOULD LOVE THE BRAIN AS IT LOVES ITSELF AND VICE VERSA. (ditto for every part of the body)
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H
Had -1 month ago
Call it a half shekel OR
call it 10 gerim. 10 small silver coins. There is special significance to the number 10, not to the number 20
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Wanda -1 month ago
Dear Rabbi, Please repeat or provide a summary of the comments coming from the audience, for the benefit of those of us online. We can't hear what is being said. And oftentimes it seems their comments are valuable, insightful and or humorous, so we'd love to be able to be included.
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EGR
Erik Glenn Richter -1 month ago
Dear Rebbe please forgive my spelling im on a time limmit,my question today is does every countery that ends w/ the 'ish' at the end of the pronunciation come origanly from Hebrew orJewish roots. Sincerly, E.r
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RC
Rachel Carlsen -1 month ago
Question for Rabbi YY
Thank you!
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