This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Chukas, 8&nbsp;Tamuz, 5783, June 27, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

9030_waves_next_to_rock.f07f.webp

moshe hitting rock

To Access My Profoundest Light, I Need to Confront My Deepest Darkness

Women's Class Parshas Chukas-Balak

Moshe & The Rock: The Mystery of Pain

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday, 6 Tamuz, 5778, June 19, 2018, at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY

5511_fist_1.c7ad.webp

chukas

education

leadership

chukat

hitting children

moshe hitting the rock

spanking

sela

tzur

models of education

models of leadership

Why Was Moshe Punished So Harshly for Hitting a Rock?

Women's Chukas Class

Speak to the Rock: Understanding Our Generation

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Chukas, 6&nbsp;Tammuz, 5779, July 9, 2019 at the Ohr Chaim Shul, Monsey, NY

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serpent

snake

nachash

I Will Not Let Go of My Trauma Until It Blesses Me

Teaching the Fly to Look Up

The women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Chukas-Balak, 8&nbsp;Tammuz, 5780, June 30, 2020, streaming live from Rabbi Jacobson&#39;s home in Monsey, NY

7575_women_class_chukas.f0c2.webp

pinchas

child sacrifice

yiftach

yiftach's daughter

When Religion Becomes Dangerous: The Story of Yiftach's Daughter

Chukas/Pinchas Women's Class

Did Yiftach Suffer from PTSD?

At last, the great moment had arrived. For forty years, the Jewish People had wandered together through the desert. The older generation had already passed on. Even beloved Miriam was no more. By now, under the leadership of Moses, the young nation of Israel was finally ready to enter the Promised Land. But an incident occurred that would transform the nation's destiny.
The people run out of water. They cry to Moses, who turns to G-d. G-d commands Moses to produce water from a rock miraculously, by speaking to it. Instead, Moses hits the rock twice, which indeed produces water. It is the most subtle and enigmatic &lsquo;sin&rsquo; in the entire Torah, yet because of it Moses&rsquo; greatest dream is shattered and he is denied entry into the Land of Israel.
What exactly was Moses&rsquo; sin? There are dozens of divergent interpretations. The common denominator behind all of them is that somehow this was a rebellion against G-d or a demonstration of an apparent flaw in Moses. But maybe we have to read the story differently?
It was the Rogatchover Gaon, Rabbi Yosef Rosen (1858-1936), who reframes the story completely. Moses&rsquo;s error consisted of using Aaron&rsquo;s wooden staff, rather than his own made of rock. As a result, Jewish women did not have a mikvah for a while and peace in the home was effected. The class explores this original insight and shows its parallels in the teachings of Kabablah and Chassidus.
&nbsp;

2484_rogatchover 2.webp

mikvah

sholom bayis

peace in marriage

moshe not entering holy land

The Day Normal Family Life Was Disrupted

Class Parshas Chukas

The Stick & the Rock: The Rogatchover Reframes the Story

The family members of great figures in history are often eclipsed and live in the shadow of their legendary relative. However, many times they are fascinating and inspiring characters in their own right.

This class will compare and contrast the different philosophies of Yisro and Moshe, focusing on their views of the ideal and most meaningful Jewish education.

Yisro, Moshe&rsquo;s father-in-law, was a spiritual seeker who had studied and experimented with every spiritual and religious discipline of his time, until finally recognizing and embracing the G-d of the Jews.

This class explores that strange midrashic story that Moses made an oath to his father in law that his first child he would dedicate to a life of idolatry. How can we make sense of this? Yet it is here that we discover the genesis of a major debate about Jewish education that persists to this very day.

46_einsteinh.webp

yisro

tziporah

statue of micha

open minded

moshe

moses

idolatry

moshe/moses

gershom

eliezer

avodah zara

alef

red heifer

para aduma

faith and reason

jethro

yitro

Moses & and Jethro Debate What is the Best Curriculum for Jewish Education

Yisro/Chukas Class

How Open Minded Should Our Children Be?

Why Did Moses Not Enter the Holy Land? On the journey from slavery to freedom, the model of leadership must change

67_67_mosesrockh_edited.3e1d.webp

strike the rock

speak to the rock

mei merivah

On the Journey From Slavery to Freedom, the Model of Leadership Must Change

Class Chukas

Why Did Moses Not Enter the Holy Land?

This class was&nbsp;presented on Thursday, Parshas Chukas, 10&nbsp;Tamuz, 5783, June 29, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

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red cow

The Secret of the Red Cow: Understanding Temptation

Likkutei Torah Zos Chukas #1 5783

The Path of Healing: Discovering the Raw Core of Your Animal Soul

No Complaining

After seventy years of communist oppression and seven hours of flying, Boris, a burly immigrant from Moscow steps off the plane in a free land to begin his new life in his new home, Israel. Standing at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, a young and enthusiastic Israeli reporter plunges a microphone in front of him with a level of excitement that is only seen when an inside scoop is about to be caught.&nbsp;The reporter asks with focus: “Tell me, what was life back in Russia like?”

To which the Russian immigrant replies: “I couldn’t complain.”

An obviously unexpected answer, the young reporter continues to probe: “Well how were your living quarters there?” To which the Russian responds “I couldn’t complain.”

Not expecting this answer either, the reporter decides to hit him with a question that is bound to get the answer he is looking for: “What about your standard of living?” To which the Russian replies again: “I couldn’t complain.”

At this point, the reporter’s frustration with the new immigrant’s answers reaches a crescendo, and so in a derogatory tone the reporter yells out, “Well, if everything was so wonderful back in Russia, then why did you even bother to come here?”&nbsp;To which the new immigrant replies with gusto: “Oh, here I can complain!”

The Serpents

It is a strange biblical episode --&nbsp;in this week’s portion of Chukas.

When poisonous snakes attack the Jews in the desert, G-d instructs Moses to fashion a special healing instrument: a pole topped with the form of a snake. Moses sculptures a snake of copper and duly places it on top of a pole. Those who had been afflicted by the snake bite would gaze on the serpentine image on the pole and be cured <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>.

According to some historians, this was the forerunner of the caduceus, the snake-entwined rod which is today the emblem of the medical profession.

Yet the question is obvious: What was the point of placing a snake on top of the pole to cure the Jews who were bitten? If it was G-d who was healing them miraculously, why the need to look up at a copper snake atop a pole?&nbsp;The question is raised in the Talmud <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a>:

"But is the snake capable of determining life and death?!” the Talmud asks. And the answer is this: “Rather, when Israel would gaze upward and bind their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they would be healed; and if not, they would perish." Fixing their eyes on the snake alone would not yield any cure; it was looking upward toward G-d, it was the relationship with G-d, which brought the cure.&nbsp;But if so, why bother to carve out a copper snake in the first place, which can only make people believe that it is the copper snake that is the cause of healing?

In fact, this is exactly what occurred. The copper snake that Moses made was preserved for centuries. In the passage of time, however, its meaning became distorted, and people began to say that the snake possessed powers of its own. When it reached the point of becoming an image of idolatry, the Jewish King Hezekiah (in the 6th century BCE) destroyed the copper snake fashioned by Moses, and that was the end of that special copper snake <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a>.

Which only reinforces the question: Why ask people to look up at a man-made snake which can lead down the path to a theological error of deifying the snake?

There is another question. The snake was the reptile that caused the harm in the first place. Healing, it would seem, would come from staying far away from serpents. Why in this case was the remedy born from gazing at the very venomous creature which caused the damage to begin with <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref4')">[4]</a>?

A Tale of Two Snakes

The snake&nbsp;in the biblical story -- as all biblical stories capturing the timeless journeys of the human psyche -- is also a metaphor for all of the “snakes” in our lives.&nbsp;Have you ever been bitten&nbsp;by a "venomous snake"? Poisoned by harmful people, burnt by life, or by abusive situations? Have you ever been crushed by a clueless principal, a manipulative boss, a deceiving partner, a toxic relationship? Were you ever back-stabbed by people you trusted? Is your anxiety killing you? Are you weary and demoralized by your life experience?

What is the deeper meaning of suffering? And how do some people know how to accept affliction with love and grace?

These are good questions that cannot be answered easily, if at all. But one perspective is presented in the story of the serpents.&nbsp;G-d tells Moses: “Make a serpent and place it on a pole. Whoever gets bitten should look at it and he will live.”&nbsp;The key to healing, the Torah suggests, is not by fleeing the cause of the suffering, but by gazing at it. Don’t run from the snake; look at it. Because deep inside the challenge, you will find the cure. Deep inside the pain, you will find the healing light.&nbsp;

But there is one qualification: you must look&nbsp;up to the snake; you must peer into the reality of the snake&nbsp;above, on top of the elevated pole, not on the serpent crawling here below.

The Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), who had three Jewish grandparents and was considered by many to be one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, once said that his aim as a philosopher was, "to show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle." The fly keeps banging its head against the glass in a vain attempt to get out. The more it tries, the more it fails, until it drops from exhaustion. The one thing it forgets to do is look to the sky.

Every experience in life can be seen from two dimensions – from a concrete, earthly perspective, or from a higher, more sublime vantage point, appreciating its true nature and meaning from the Divine perspective.&nbsp;There is the “snake” down here, and there is the very same “snake” up there. I can experience my challenges, struggles, and difficulties in the way they are manifested down here.&nbsp;But I can also look at these very same struggles from a more elevated point of view. The circumstances may not change, but their meaning and significance will. From the “downer” perspective, these challenges, curveballs, painful confrontations, and realizations can throw me into despair or drain me of my sap. From the “higher” perspective, the way G-d sees these very same realities, every challenge contains the seeds for rebirth.&nbsp;Within every crisis lies the possibility of a new and deeper discovery.

Many of us know this from our personal stories: Events that at the time were so painful to endure, in retrospect were those that inspired the most growth. Those painful events moved us from the surface to the depths, challenging us to become larger than we ever thought we can be, and stimulating conviction and clarity unknown to us before.

This is not about suppressing the pain. On the contrary, it is about taking the pain back to its deepest origin; going with it back to its primal source, seeing it for what it really is in its pristine state.&nbsp;&nbsp;

To perceive clarity from the midst of agonizing turmoil we must train ourselves to constantly look upward. When faced with a “snake,” with a challenge, many people look to their right or to their left. Either they fight, or they cave in. But there is another path: look upwards. See the “snake” from the perspective above.

And in that upward gaze, you might find a new sense of healing: the questions might become the very answers, the problems may become the solutions, and the venom may become the cure.&nbsp;Remarkably, snakebites today are cured with anti-venom manufactured from small quantities of snake venom that stimulate the production of antibodies in the blood.

It's the same idea taught by Moses: The source of the affliction itself becomes the remedy <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref5')">[5]</a>.&nbsp;This is true in all areas of life. As viewed by the Creator, from the perspective above, transgression is the potential for a new self-discovery; failure is the potential for deeper success, holes in a marriage are the seeds of “renovation” to recreate a far deeper relationship, the end of an era is always the beginning of a new one, pain is a springboard for deeper love and frustration is the mother of a new awareness <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref6')">[6]</a>.

Bless Me

This is surely the meaning in that famous, enigmatic passage in Genesis 32 in which Jacob, far from home, wrestles with an unknown, unnamed adversary from night until the break of day. The mysterious man maims Jacob, causing him to limp.

And yet at the end of a struggling night, a night to remember,&nbsp;Jacob says to the stranger/angel/God: “I will not let you go until you bless me.”&nbsp;

“Bless me?!” Is this how you bid farewell to a man who attempts to destroy you?

Jacob was teaching us the secret of Jewish resilience. To be a Jew is to possess that unique ability to say to every crisis: “I will not let you go until you bless me.” I know that deep down your entire objective is to elevate me, to bring me to a higher place, to climb the mountain leading to the truth, allowing me to emerge stronger, wiser, more blessed.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref7')">[7]</a>&nbsp;

_____________

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Numbers 21:6-10. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> Rosh Hashana 29. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> II Kings 18:4. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn4')">[4]</a> See Ramban: “This was a miracle within a miracle.” The literal answer is that it was indeed insufficient to just ask G-d to save them, without the snake-on-a-pole therapy. The people had to gaze upon the snake and focus on the fact that only G-d, who created the snake in the first place, could transform that same venomous creature into a medium of healing. The people had to acknowledge that albeit they were bitten by a snake it was not the snake itself, but the creator of the snake, which was responsible for their life and death. They were looking at a snake but they were seeing G-d. The deeper perspective is presented below. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref5" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn5')">[5]</a> This same method of healing is used elsewhere. Moses used a bitter stick to sweeten bitter waters (Exodus 15:25). And it was salt that Elisha used to purify the harmful water (II Kings chapter 2). 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref6" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn6')">[6]</a> The verse in Deuteronomy (13:4) “For G-d is testing you,” is interpreted also as “For G-d is elevating you.” In Hebrew, the same word – Nesayon -- is used for a” test” and for “elevation.” Every test, each challenge, is essentially also an invitation, an opportunity, for an elevation, for growth. In the story of the serpents too, the word used is “place it on a pole,” “sim oso al nes,” on an elevated object. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref7" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn7')">[7]</a> This essay is based on Rabbi Schnuer Zalman of Liadi, Likkutei Torah Chukas pp. 61d-62b. For an elaborate explanation of this discourse in Likkutei Torah, see Sichas 12 Tamuz, 5729 (1969).

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 12.75pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">There is a strange biblical episode in this week&rsquo;s portion of Chukas. When poisonous snakes attack the Jews in the desert, G-d instructs Moses to fashion a special healing instrument: a pole topped with the form of a snake. Moses sculptures a snake of copper, and duly places it on top of a pole. Those who had been afflicted by the snake-bite would gaze on the serpentine image on the pole and be cured . 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 12.75pt; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">It is interesting to note that according to some historians, this was the forerunner of the caduceus, the snake-entwined rod which is today the emblem of the medical profession.

The question is obvious: What was the point of placing a snake on top of the pole to cure the Jews who were bitten? If it was G-d who was healing them miraculously, why the need to look up at a copper-snake atop a pole?

2498_snakish.webp

copper snake

Looking Up: The Meaning behind the Snake on the Pole

Essay Chukas

Can I See Anxiety as an Opportunity?

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#1.&nbsp;​Why Was I Created?&nbsp;Why Addiction Never Does the Trick.

This class was presented Parshas Chukas 5777, at Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

5286_snake_copper.eff9.webp

Why Addiction Never Does the Trick

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#​​1​

​Why Was I Created?

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​Nschash #2.&nbsp;Don't Try to Make Sense of the Holocaust:&nbsp;The Views of Reb Avigdor Miller, the Satmar Rebbe and the Lubavitcher Rebbe​.

5285_holocaust.09dd.webp

pain

holocaust

evil

suffering

The Views of Reb Avigdor Miller, the Satmar Rebbe and the Lubavitcher Rebbe​

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#​2​

Don't Try to Make Sense of the Holocaust

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#3.&nbsp;Every Breakdown Contains a Child Waiting to Be Born.&nbsp;Whatever Comes Your Way In Life, Search for Its Innermost Core

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

5288_snake_copper.6b02.webp

Whatever Comes Your Way In Life, Search for Its Innermost Core

Likkutei Torah Chukas Vayaas Moshe ​#3

Every Breakdown Contains a Child Waiting to Be Born

<span style="color: rgb(47, 76, 90); font-family: Signika; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;">This class was presented on Tuesday, 3 Tamuz, 5784, Parshas Chukas, July 9, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

9379_women_class_chukas_3_tammuz_5784.mp4

animal soul

Find Your Pristine, Unblended, Red Cow, And You Will See What a Beautiful Person You Are

Chukas Women's Class

The Healing Recipe for Our Generation -- to Disentangle Our Coping Mechanisms from Our True Identity

The Healing Recipe for Our Generation -- to Disentangle Our Coping Mechanisms from Our True Identity

Find Your Pristine, Unblended, Red Cow, And You Will See What a Beautiful Person You Are

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