Is Hakaras Hatov a halachic requirement, or just a nice thing to do? 
Do we just feel gratitude, or do we need to say &ldquo;thank you&rdquo; or more? 
Historically, did the Gedolim show Hakaras Hatov towards the soldiers of the IDF? 
Why have a few Roshei Yeshiva said they are concerned about showing gratitude? 
If Torah learning protects, why does Israel need an army? 
Does the Israeli army enable those in Yeshiva to learn? Do those learning in Yeshiva enable the army to have military success?

Rabbi YY Jacobson addresses these questions on the Halacha Headlines podcast Hosted by Rabbi Ari Wasserman, on Motzei Shabbos Parshas Vayechi, 18&nbsp;Teves. 5784, Dec. 30, 2023

This is an excerpt of&nbsp;the&nbsp;podcast. The full podcast also includes&nbsp;Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb &ndash; Rabbi in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Director of Tzalash&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://podbean.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D09ccfef203385073f41543f1a%26id%3D4529e87972%26e%3Df387e113a6&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1704154400639000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3GpUfLRa8kUT6GO4idvrCv" href="https://podbean.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=09ccfef203385073f41543f1a&amp;id=4529e87972&amp;e=f387e113a6" target="_blank">https://tzalash.org/</a>&nbsp; 
&amp; Rabbi Doniel Haymann &ndash; Rosh Kollel, author of Hakaras Hatov L&rsquo;Halacha&nbsp;with Rabbi Joshua Friedman &ndash; founded of Israel Select&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://podbean.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D09ccfef203385073f41543f1a%26id%3D06b9f36ef8%26e%3Df387e113a6&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1704154400639000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0WOFY9hjS5aetvbeIriiv3" href="https://podbean.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=09ccfef203385073f41543f1a&amp;id=06b9f36ef8&amp;e=f387e113a6" target="_blank">https://thechesedfund.com/israelselect/tefillin?aff=WA</a>&nbsp;&amp; Clip from Rabbi Baruch Rosenblum &ndash; educator, author, and popular magid shiur. To listen to full episode:&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/halacha-headlines/id1048703487">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/halacha-headlines/id1048703487</a>

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What Should Be Our Relationship to IDF Soldiers?

Interview on "Headlines"

Our Soldiers Are the Holiest of the Holy

This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Beshalach, 13 Shvat, 5784, January 23, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

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The Art of Empathy: Why Dasan and Aviram Earned Their Own Splitting of the Sea

Beshalach Women's Class/ Israel-Hamas War

Crème De La Crème: The Brisker Rav on Israeli Soldiers

Ollie From J-TV Speaks to Rabbi YY Jacobson About the Big Questions Surrounding the Jewish People in the Aftermath of the October 7 Massacre

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The Historic Calling of the Jewish People Today

Rabbi YY Interviewed on J-TV

Why Such Hatred to Israel? What’s the Best Solution for Gaza?

We Are All Soldiers on the Front Lines United to Uplift the Morale of Our People. What is our Mission today? How can this happen? Why? Where do we go from here?
Let's Get Real show with Coach Menachem featuring Rabbi YY Jacobson with Eli Beer, the head of United Hatzolah Live from Israel, will provide insights directly from the front lines.&nbsp;Additionally, Dr. Akiva Perlman will join to discuss pertinent issues.

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israel

coach menachem

hamas

We Are All Soldiers on the Front Lines United to Uplift the Morale of Our People

Let's Get Real: Rabbi YY Jacobson, Eli Beer, & Dr. Akiva Perlman

The Hamas War: Clarity, Courage, Faith and Unity

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

This class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Yisro, 20 Shvat, 5784, January 30, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

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amalek

anti semitism

jewish history

yisro

Three Truths that Inspired Yisro to Join Israel

Yisro Women's Class/ Israel-Hamas War

Why You Should Be a Proud Jew Today: Crash Course on Jewish History

On Motzei Shabbos Parshas Vayeira, 20 Cheshvon, 5784, November 4, 2023 Rabbi YY Jacobson addressed MDY, Merkaz Daf Yomi, under the leadership of Reb Eli Stefanski, in the Armon Hotel, Stamford, Conn. The Shabbaton took place in honor of the Siyum on Kiddushin and completion of half of Shas in Daf Yomi.

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As Jews Want to Be More Jewish Than Ever, We Have a Historic Calling

Keynote Lecture Merkaz Daf Yomi

The Jewish Dispute How to Confront Anti-Semitism; Time for Reconciliation

This women&#39;s class was&nbsp;presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bereishis, 25 Tishrei, 5784, October 10, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.

The class took place three days after Hamas breached the fence and attacked Jewish towns near Gaza, on Shabbos morning, Simchas Torah, 5784, October 7, 2023. 1300 Jews were murdered, thousands were wounded, and more than 100 were taken as hostages to Gaza.

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pain

gaza

Grief and Pain Must Lead to Resolve, Confidence, Faith and Unity

Lecture on Simchas-Torah Massacre & Gaza War

In This War, We Are All Soldiers on the Frontlines

The &quot;My Israel Narrative Podcast&quot; Interviews Rabbi YY About Hamas Israel War on Dec 25, 2023, 13 Teves, 5784

For the&nbsp;Channel:&nbsp;https://www.youtube.com/@myisraelnarrative

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Why Do We Call Israel Our Homeland When We're Living Outside of It?

Podcast about Hamas-Israel War

Should All Jews Make Aliyah to Israel Now?

An excerpt of Talkline With Zev Brenner- Are Neturei Karta Jews? Rabbi YY Jacobson&nbsp;&amp; Jake Turx Senior White House correspondent of Ami Magazine discuss and debate how we should relate to the small number of members of our community that belong to the anti-Israel group that supports Hamas and other enemies of the Jewish people.

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Who Are These Supposed Religious Jews Who March With Hamas?

Rabbi YY on "Talkline With Zev Brenner"

The Horrific Behavior of Neturei Karta

Rabbi YY Jacobson at&nbsp;a Q & A with Jewish Students on Campus, Thursday, 18 Cheshvon, 5784, November 2, 2023

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The Most Powerful Jewish Weapon

Conversation With Campus Students

The Role of Jewish Students Today

This talk by&nbsp;Rabbi YY Jacobson is an excerpt of a Yud Tes Kislev Farbrengen, which took place on Motzei Shabbos Parshas Vayishlach, 19 Kislev, 5784, December 2, 2023

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The Tragic Mistakes Made by Israeli Leaders Leading to the October 7th Massacre

Hamas-Israel War: The Rebbe's Words

The Lubavitcher Rebbe's View on the Security of Israel

This lecture, presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson, followed by Q and A,&nbsp; was given to 18 Chabad Girls' High Schools, on Wednesday, 28 Tishrei, 5785, October 30, 2024.
This Zoom event was arranged by the Lubavitch Girls Virtual High-school Kinus 5785, and was hosted by Beis Rivka High School.

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Why Do the Chosen People Suffer So Much? Do Our Prayers Help? Should I Listen to the News?

Israel at War: Lecture to High School Girls

If G-d Loves Us, Why All These Tragedies? How Do We Cultivate Emunah?

If G-d Loves Us, Why All These Tragedies? How Do We Cultivate Emunah?

Why Do the Chosen People Suffer So Much? Do Our Prayers Help? Should I Listen to the News?

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