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

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

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

The Most Powerful Jewish Weapon

Conversation With Campus Students

The Role of Jewish Students Today

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.

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

A Rockland Jewish Community Gathering in honor of the Shloshim of Pittsburgh massacre on Wednesday evening, 20 Kislev, 5779, November&nbsp;28, 2018, &nbsp;at the Jewish Community Campus 450 West Nyack RD, West Nyack, NY&nbsp;

What Antisemitism Teaches Us About Jews and Judaism

Gathering For Shloshim of Pittsburgh Massacre

Night of Light -- Shloshim for Pittsburgh Slain Jews

An Instagram live conversation, on Wednesday, 15 Sivan, 5781, May 26, 2021, about how to stand up against the new-old&nbsp;wave of Antisemitism, following the Hamas-Israel war in May of 2021.&nbsp;Participants in the conversation are Rabbi YY Jacobson, Victoria Zirkiev&nbsp;(President of @chazaq_org Women&#39;s Division, @victoria_zirkiev), Gad Elbaz&nbsp;(Singer/Composer @gadelbaz), and Rudy Rochman (Jewish-Israel Rights Activist @rudy_israel).

What's the Secret Behind this Millenia-Long Hatred?

Instagram Live with Rabbi YY

Take a Stand Against Antisemitism!

A fascinating Midrash compares Haman to a foolish bird attempting to take revenge on an ocean that destroyed its nest. This deceivingly simple fable tells about the secret behind Anti-Semitism, the inner conflict within the Jewish psyche, and the meaning of Jewish history. A journey into the heart of what it means to be a Jew.

The Frog

A lonely frog, desperate for any form of company, telephoned the Psychic Hotline to find out what the future has in store for him. 
 
His Personal Psychic Advisor advises him, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you." 
 
The frog is thrilled and says, "This is great! Where will I meet her, at work? At a party?" 
 
"No," says the psychic, "in a biology class."

The Bird and the Sea

As our brothers and sisters in Ukraine face brutal uncertainty, let us pay heed to a Midrash about the Purim story which occurred in present-day Iran, in ancient Persia. 
It is a&nbsp;fascinating and enigmatic Midrash <a name="_ednref1" title=""></a>[1] describing the plot of Haman, the villain of the Purim story:

“What is a suitable parable for the vicious Haman? To what can he be compared? To a bird which made its nest on the shore of the sea, and then the sea came and swept away the nest. The bird said: I will not budge from here until the sea becomes dry land, and the dry land becomes the sea.&nbsp;What did the bird do? It took some water from the sea in its mouth and dropped it on dry land, and took dirt from the land and dropped it into the sea. Its friend came and stood alongside. He said to the bird: You ill-fated, hapless one! How do you ever hope to succeed in destroying the sea? 

“Similarly, G-d said to Haman the Evil One: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy the Jewish people and was unsuccessful, as it is written <a name="_ednref2" title=""></a>[2] ‘He intended to destroy them [and would have] were it not that Moses, His chosen one, stood before Him in the breach to return His wrath from destroying,’ and you, Haman, think you will be able to decimate and annihilate them?! I swear by your life, that your head will be in place of theirs; they will be saved and you will be hanged.”

At first glance, the Midrash is saying that the annihilation of the Jews is as impossible and ludicrous as the draining of the ocean, beak-full by beak-full, by a bird. The bird is so blinded by its anger at the sea for destroying its nest, that it does not realize the absurdity of its quest.

Yet the Midrash is perplexing.

1) The role of a metaphor in Midrashic and Talmudic literature is to explain and clarify a difficult concept, an abstract idea.&nbsp;What is the concept being clarified via this metaphor of a bird attempting to drain an ocean? What component of the Haman story begs for enlightenment to be understood only via this metaphor?

2) In the Midrashic fable, the sea first sweeps away the bird’s nest, arousing its quest for revenge. What is the paralleled meaning of this sequence of events? What did the Jewish people – compared to the sea – do to Haman – compared to the bird -- to trigger his desire to destroy them? Is the Midrash suggesting that we, the Jews, were guilty of his hatred <a name="_ednref3" title=""></a>[3]?

3) The bird was quite foolish in its strategy to dry an ocean drop by drop. It is a ludicrous proposition. Haman -- the viceroy of the greatest empire of the time, who had the full cooperation of the mightiest man in the world, King Achashveirosh – had a well-thought-out plan, and it came dangerously close to fruition. Why then is he compared to the bird trying to drain the ocean, defined as the “fool of fools?”

4) The Midrash relates that “G-d said to Haman the Evil One: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy the Jewish people and was unsuccessful.” How can G-d be “unsuccessful?” Who can possibly stop G-d from executing His plans?

Why the Jews?

In truth, this simple fable in the Midrash captures the secret behind Anti-Semitism,&nbsp;the inner conflict within the Jewish psyche, and the ultimate meaning of the long Jewish story. In this Midrashic metaphor, we are invited on a journey into the heart of what it means to be a Jew and how to ensure Jewish continuity.&nbsp;<a name="_ednref4" title=""></a>[4].

What was it that really perturbed Haman about the Jewish people? What was it about the Jews that struck such a deep chord in so many Haman’s throughout the ages, including during our very own times? “Why the Jews?” is one of the oldest mysteries of civilization. Are we really that different?

The Midrash, in its own inimitable way, gives us perspective. Like that little desperate bird trying to take revenge for a nest which the sea swept away, Haman felt that as long as the Jews were alive, the nest he attempted to build would be washed away.

One millennium before Haman was born, at the foot of a lone mountain, the Jewish people received a gift that transformed their destiny and changed the landscape of human civilization. It was an experience that imbued Jewish life with the nobility of transcendence, the majesty of Divine ethics, and the grandeur of holiness. The gift of the Torah inculcated Jewish life with great moral and spiritual responsibility, but it simultaneously bestowed upon the Jewish heart, the Jewish home, the Jewish family, and the Jewish community a piece of heaven, a glow of eternity.

But what is heaven for one person may spell hell for another; piano lessons for a 4-year-old Mozart is a paradise, while for another child the lessons may be a living purgatory. Heaven for the Jews was hell for the Hamans of the world. If G-d exists, then the moral law prevails,&nbsp;and there&nbsp;must be limits to power and self-aggrandizement. If G-d exists the barbarian must vanquish himself. Haman felt that two diametrically opposing and mutually exclusive powers were competing for the heart of humanity. If his “nest” was to take root, the Jews must be obliterated <a name="_ednref5" title=""></a>[5].

2300 years later this notion was captured by a contemporary Haman, Adolf Hitler. He remarked that “The Jews have inflicted two wounds on the world: Circumcision for the body and conscience for the soul. I come to free mankind from their shackles."

But Haman, the avid student of history <a name="_ednref6" title=""></a>[6], knew that this was no simple task. He had seen many powerful and seemingly permanent “nests” washed away by the Jewish “sea.” He knew what had happened to Pharaoh, Sisera, Goliath, Sancheirav, and Nevuchadnezzar; how they each attempted to “drain the sea,” to eradicate the Jew once and for all and how they each ended up eradicated and forgotten themselves. Like that poor frog that ends up having its moment of glory in a biology class, all of these cultures and civilizations today appear only in history classes…

Yet the Jew still remained. Not only in Wikipedia, but in real life as well. What was the secret of this “sea?”

It is here where Haman invented an ingenious strategy. Haman believed that he had the “final solution” which had eluded all of his predecessors; he knew how to solve the “Jewish problem,” this time for real. And that was by taking beak-full after beak-full of water and dumping it on dry land.

Haman’s Final Solution

The key to this puzzle lies in reflecting on another Talmudic metaphor concerning “sea” vs. “dry land.”

The Talmud relates the following story <a name="_ednref7" title=""></a>[7]:

The Evil [Roman] Empire had prohibited Torah study. Pappus the son of Yehuda came and found Rabbi Akiva making large public gatherings and teaching Torah. Pappus said to him: Akiva! Aren’t you afraid of the authorities? And Rabbi Akiva replied: I will give you a parable.

A fox is walking along a river. He sees the fish frantically scurrying from one place to another. 

He says to them: From whom are you running? 
 
From the nets and traps of the fishermen. 

Why don’t you come up to the dry land, and we will live happily together, just as our forefathers did! 

The fish replied: Is it really you whom they call the cleverest of animals? You are not clever, rather a fool! If we are afraid in the place of our vitality, how much more so in the place of our death!

Rabbi Akiva concluded: If the life is tough as we are sitting and studying Torah, about which it is written “It is our life and the length of our days,” how much worse it will be if we cease to study Torah. 

The Torah – Rabbi Akiva is saying -- is to the Jew what the water is to the fish. It is his necessary habitat, the source of his vitality, it is where he can live, breathe, thrive, and be most creative. Like a fish washed up ashore, the Jewish soul deprived of Torah, will struggle to find real endurable meaning on “dry land,” in an environment unsuitable for his spiritual DNA to flourish and express itself fully. He, like the fish, will flip and flop, experiment with different ideologies and lifestyles, desperately attempting to find solace for his aching soul. He may become a Darwinist, a Marxist, a Bundist, a Buddhist, or what have you, failing to realize that by his essential nature he must remain in his water.

Haman, therefore, understood that what he had to do was dry up the sea; sever the relationship between the Jewish people and their Torah. His goal must be to antiquate the Torah, to teach the Jews how to become “land animals.” He must invite them, in the words of the fox, to “live together with us in peace as our forefathers did.” Once the fish was out of the water, it would be vulnerable to destruction.

And the time seemed ripe for this endeavor.

Out of the Waters

The Talmud asks <a name="_ednref8" title=""></a>[8], why was annihilation decreed on the Jews of that generation? Because they enjoyed the feast of that wicked man (Achashveirosh, the Persian king).” As the book of Esther relates in its opening chapter, the Persian monarch threw a major feast, and the Jews of Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire, enjoyed the feast.

Note the words: The Talmud does not state that they were guilty of eating non-kosher food (if so, it would not make a difference who was serving the meal – a wicked or a righteous person, nor is death the penalty for eating non-kosher food), in fact, the Talmud relates <a name="_ednref9" title=""></a>[9] that there was a designated kosher section at the king’s feast. The issue was that “they enjoyed the feast of that wicked man.” It was not the food; it was the psychological transformation of the Jewish psyche: Their dignity and sense of inner worth did not stem from their own soul and identity; it came from being invited to the Persian “White House,” from rubbing shoulders with the Iranian celebrities and from having their photos appearing on the front pages of “The Shushan Times.” As they took their places among the Persians, Medians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and the other nationalities at the feast, they felt that they finally “made it.” After seventy years of exile, they had set themselves free from the “Jewish stereotype,” they were now a member of equal standing in the family of nations at Achashveirosh’s table <a name="_ednref10" title=""></a>[10].

Alas, the fish left the water and it was given a royal welcome! Everybody was cheering for the fish which finally made it out of its “prison,” the fish was flipping and flopping to demonstrate its excitement. But inside – it was dying…

This, then, was Haman’s strategy: Dry up the sea, take the Jews out of the water, introduce them to dry land, and they will become vulnerable to destruction.

So “G-d said to Haman: Fool of fools! I myself planned to destroy them and was not able to do so… and you, Haman, thought you would be able to decimate and annihilate them?!”

This divine response captures the essence of Jewish existence. G-d Himself, so to speak, could not destroy the Jews. Why?

Because the Jew is one with G-d at his or her very core. that innate connection and oneness can never be obliterated because it is intrinsic and essential. Just as no one can destroy G-d, no one can destroy His people, as the prophet Malachi says, "I G-d have not changed, and you have not been destroyed." G-d says: Even I cannot destroy them, because at their core they are Divine; it is not something that anyone can change. It is who they are. The Jew is the manifestation of the Divine light in this world.&nbsp;

The relationship between the Jew and Torah is innate, intrinsic, and essential, and it can never be severed; only eclipsed. Unlike the fish, the Jew can never really leave the water. What occurred at Sinai was that Torah had become part of the very DNA of the Jew; he can love it, he can hate it, but he can’t ignore it. He can embrace it, he can run from it, but he cannot stop being defined by it, if sometimes only negatively.

Jewish DNA

The Anti-Semites of the world never loved secular, modern, and assimilated Jews any more than religious and observant Jews. They acutely felt that the Jewishness of the Jew is embedded into his or her very essence, no matter the amount of “nose jobs” or "soul jobs" he or she undergoes. 
 
And paradoxically, this very truth has become our very source of eternal life. Since the Jewish people can never sever their relationship from Torah, our sea can never dry, and our existence can never be obliterated.

This is what G-d is telling Haman: Even I have tried… When the Jews sinned, I planned to destroy them, but I could not because My relationship with them proved deeper than all of our “issues” with each other. It is like the relationship between parents and children: Parents sometimes harbor deep resentment toward the behavior of children who make their lives miserable. Sometimes a parent has been tempted to write-off a child, to stop helping him, even to stop loving him. But they can’t… The inner bond proves far more powerful. “A kind is a kind,” a child is a child.

Haman’s strategy was brilliant, but he failed to understand “vos eiz a yid,” what is a Jew. He did not realize that Torah to the Jew is what the piano was to Mozart, and even more.&nbsp;The fish will never fully leave the water, and the Jews will never die.

And this gives us all perspective on how we ought to view and embrace each Jew, no matter who he or she is. If he was Jewish enough for Hitler to send him to the gas chambers he is Jewish enough for me to love him, embrace him and be there for him. We need to be here for each other unconditionally, and we ought to remember that as we become more saturated with Yiddishkeit and Torah, we bring light and salvation to each of our brothers and sisters.&nbsp;

(This essay is based on an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Purim 5720 (1960) and Purim 5724 (1964)).

<a name="_edn1" title=""></a>[1] Esther Rabbah 7:10.

<a name="_edn2" title=""></a>[2] Psalms 106:23.

<a name="_edn3" title=""></a>[3] The Yafah Anaf to Midrash ibid. suggests that it was Haman’s revenge against the war of the Jews against his great-great-grand father Amalek. Yet this begs the question: Amalek, too, launched an unprovoked war against the Jewish people when they left Egypt.

<a name="_edn4" title=""></a>[4] For alternate explanations for this Midrash, on the Kabbalistic and Chassidic realm, see Or Hatorah Megilas Esther; Sefer Hamamarim 5629 p.87; Pelech HaRimon Shemos Megilas Esther pp. 370-379. In essence, this essay, based on Sichas Purim 5764, presents the Kabbalistic explanation in relevant language.

<a name="_edn5" title=""></a>[5] This is the depth behind the famous Talmudic metaphor about the “pit” and the “mound” (Megilah 14a), explained at length in Sichas Purim 5725, translated and discussed in a previous Purim essay.

<a name="_edn6" title=""></a>[6] See Talmud Megilah 13b.

<a name="_edn7" title=""></a>[7] Berachos 61b.

<a name="_edn8" title=""></a>[8] Megilah 12a.

<a name="_edn9" title=""></a>[9] Megilah ibid. Esther Rabah 2:13.

<a name="_edn10" title=""></a>[10] See at length the Sichos of Purim 5722, 5726, 5727 (1962, 1966, 1967). Likkutei Sichos vol. 31 pp. 170-176 and references noted there. This is one of the most prevalent themes in the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Purim Farbrengens (gatherings) over the years, as he fought for the soul of American and world Jewry.

Revenge of a Bird:&nbsp;The Secret behind Anti-Antisemitism &amp; the Conflict within the Jewish Psyche

When G-d Told Haman: "Even I Could Not Destroy the Jews!" On Anti-Antisemitism & Jewish Eternity

Purim Essay

Futile Revenge of a Bird

As Israel and the Jewish people face the horrors of October 7th, 2023, I wish to share the story of a fascinating 9-11 diary (capturing a significant theme of the weekly Torah portion&nbsp;of Shemini). This diary can shed light on the ongoing struggle between Israel, the West, and radical Islam.

September 11, 1941: The world is swimming in Adolf Hitler's bloodbath. In a few days, the Germans will capture Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and massacre 100,000 innocent human beings in a ravine named Babi Yar.&nbsp;On this day—9/11 1941—in Arlington, Virginia, the U.S. Department of Defense starts construction on its new headquarters, the Pentagon.

On the same day,&nbsp;a middle-aged new immigrant to the shores of the United States, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, later to become known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, writes an entry in his private journal concerning two traits that make for a moral and productive human being: "fins" and "scales."<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>

Nobody imagines that sixty years later, on 9/11 2001, the free world would be struck again. Radical Islamists would crash planes into the Pentagon and the Twin Towers, murdering thousands. A new era of global terror would descend on our planet.&nbsp;

The Journal

The idea the Lubavitcher Rebbe presented in his journal on this day is worth reflecting on today.

The Torah states in this week’s portion (Parshas Shmini as well as Reah): “This may you eat of all that is in the waters: everything that has fins and scales, you may eat. But anything that has no fins and scales, you may not eat.” <a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a> For a fish to be kosher, it needs both fins and scales.

The Talmud states a fascinating fact: “All [fish] that have scales also have fins [and are thus kosher]; but there are [fish] that have fins but do not have scales [and are thus unkosher].”<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a>

“If so," asks the Talmud, "the Torah could have written only 'scales,' without having to also write 'fins?’” If a fish that has scales inevitably has fins, why is there a&nbsp;need for both signs? The Talmud answers:&nbsp;"Said Rabbi Abahu, and so it was learned in the study house of Rabbi Ishmael: “This is so that the Torah should be increased and made great." This is a strange answer.&nbsp;Where is the logic in presenting fins as an identifying sign for kosher fish when it is totally irrelevant and inconsequential since scaled fish inevitably have fins as well? How does this make the Torah greater?

Also, why are fins and scales the characteristics that distinguish kosher fish? What is special about these two identifying signs to deem fish suitable for Jewish consumption?

Food’s Force

The Rabbis and Mystics teach that the physical attributes of fish, and of all animals, reflect their psychological and spiritual qualities. They further explain that the food a person consumes has a profound effect on his or her psyche. Therefore, when one eats the flesh of a particular creature, the “personality” of that creature affects the person in some way.

Fins and scales too embody two qualities embedded in the souls of these types of fish that are necessary for the healthy development of human character. When the Jew consumes the substance of such fish, he becomes a more "kosher" and refined human being. When he consumes fish lacking these characteristics, it may dampen some of these vital qualities.

Drive &amp; Direction

Scales, the "armor" that shields and protects the body of the fish, represent the quality of integrity, which protects us from falling prey to the many pitfalls that life presents. A person of integrity will not deceive his customers, despite the apparent financial profits involved. He will not tell a lie to a friend, despite the short-term comfort gained by doing so.&nbsp;He will not cheat on his spouse&nbsp;despite the tremendous temptations.

Integrity means that you have absolute standards of right and wrong and that you are committed to a morality that transcends your moods and temptations. Integrity preserves and protects your life and your soul.

Fins, the wing-like organs that propel fish forward, represent ambition. A healthy sense of ambition, knowing one’s strengths and wanting to utilize them in full, gives a person the impetus to traverse the turbulent sea of life and to maximize his or her G‑d-given potential. It propels us to fulfill our dreams and leave our unique imprint on the world.

What Is Our Priority?

Which of these two qualities is more important to cultivate in life—fins or scales? What ought to be the main function of education? Should we concentrate primarily on providing our children with the confidence and skills necessary for them to become productive and accomplished human beings? Or ought we to focus more intensely on raising children of high moral standing, concentrating more on how they will live than on how they will make a living?

The Talmud teaches that all fish that have scales also have fins. But some fish have fins but do not have scales and are thus non-kosher.&nbsp;On a deeper level, this symbolizes the idea that a human being who possesses fins may still lack scales and thus remain "non-kosher." He might swim and frolic through large seas and oceans with his talent and genius, but his achievements may be corrupt, hurting others in the process. Creating ambitious and confident children does not guarantee their moral uprightness and integrity. In our times, we have seen the result of people who had fins but no scales.

On the other hand, the Talmud tells us that all fish with scales have fins. If you teach your children to approach life with truth and honesty, with an unyielding commitment to morality and decency, this child will certainly succeed and develop "fins" as well. Regardless of his or her degree of intellectual prowess, they will find the "fins" with which to advance in their learning and their achievements to make the world a more beautiful place.

To Change the World

"If so," asks the Talmud, "the Torah could have written only 'scales,' without having to also write 'fins'." On a deeper level, the Talmud is asking, why is it important to emphasize the need for fins in developing a "kosher" human being?&nbsp;Why does an emphasis on ambition constitute part of a moral and "kosher" education? Why not just focus on integrity and ethics?

The Talmud’s answer is marvelous: "This is so that 'Torah be increased and made great.'" This means that our spiritual mission consists not only of professing integrity and morality but also of developing our full potential materially and spiritually.&nbsp;G-d wants us to be good; but He also wants us to be successful and shine; to utilize all of our talents and resources to transform the landscape of our planet into an abode for the Divine; to make the Torah “great and large.” The light, majesty and depth of Torah must penetrate the entire world and turn it into an oasis of goodness and holiness.

Cruel Ambition; Deadly Surrender

The events of September 2001, like those of September 1941, dramatically altered our view of the world. Both ushered in a new era of violence, bloodshed, grief and terror. The first was by Nazi Germany; the second was by radical Islamists. Yet the roots of the two wars were very different: The Germans personified a culture possessing fins but no scales. Their ambitions, achievements, and love of life were impressive, yet their morality and sense of ethics were horrifically skewed. While they loved and nurtured their dogs, appreciated poetry, philosophy, and scientific advancement, they sent millions to die in gas chambers.

September 11,&nbsp;2001, on the other hand, was perpetrated by people with a deep faith and commitment to the will of Allah, yet with a hatred for all progress and advancement, and a desire to destroy all who do not adhere to their dark vision of the world. They died for what they believed to be the ultimate in morality and holiness; yet their perception of G-d was horrifically skewed: theirs was a god who wanted them to die, as long as they can kill others.

People somehow delude themselves into thinking that Hamas and the people living in Gaza are two distinct entities and&nbsp;that Hamas took control of Gazans. They forget that Hamas does not control Gaza; rather, Gaza thinks Hamas. Hamas was elected by the people of Gaza in 2006, and more than 70 percent of Arabs living in Gaza and in the West Bank support the murders of October 7th, 2023.&nbsp;

Many young Muslims are being taught today to develop scales but no fins: to surrender their lives to Allah, without appreciating that G-d wants them to live, and not to die; to build the world, not destroy it, and to respect other peoples, not blow them up. To create a “kosher” world, we need scales, but we also need fins. Muslim leaders, parents and educators must begin to teach their youth to love their own lives more than they hate the lives of others.

They must discover that the love of G-d does not require a love for blood.

Israel and the Jewish people stand at the forefront of this conflict. This is not a time to back down but to stand with unwavering commitment to the sacredness of life and the fight against those who gleefully want to see us dead. With clarity, we ought to call out the evil we are facing and fight to eradicate it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

________

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, escaped Nazi-occupied France with his wife, via Portugal, and arrived to these shores in June 1941. This journal of the Rebbe (among many more), dated Elul 19, 5701 (equivalent to September 11, 1941) was discovered in his study after his passing in June 1994 and published in Reshimos #39, pp. 6-8. I'm sharing my exposition based on the ideas presented in the above journal. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a>&nbsp;Leviticus 11:9. Deuteronomy 14:9–10. – In 1941, Sep. 11 coincided with the Torah portion of Reah. 
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> Niddah 51b.

The 9-11 Diary: Hitler and Hamas.&nbsp;G-d Wants You to Be Good, But He Also Wants You to Shine

G-d Wants You to Be Good, But He Also Wants You to Shine

Essay Shmini/Reah

10-7 and 9-11: Hitler, Hamas, and a Historic Diary

Mehut&nbsp;presents &quot;Leaders at Your Desk&quot;, featuring&nbsp;Rabbi YY Jacobson, to address Jewish College students in Europe about the topic: Why Celebrate Judaism in an Antisemitic World.&nbsp;The&nbsp;lecture, followed by Q and A, streamed live&nbsp;Tuesday, 1 Tammuz, 5780, June 23, 2020.

Can Assimilation Solve the Problem of Jew-Hatred?

Zoom Lecture to European Jewish Students

Why Celebrate Judaism in an Antisemitic World?

On Thursday, January 23, 2020, the five counties of Rockland County, New York, united to speak out against hate.&nbsp;Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann, Haverstraw Supervisor Howard Phillips, Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny, Ramapo Supervisor Michael Specht and Stony Point Supervisor Jim Monaghan have formed the&nbsp;Rockland County Supervisors&rsquo; Coalition&nbsp;to stamp out hate and promote unity in Rockland County.&nbsp;

The Coalition,&nbsp;organized by Ramapo Chief of Staff Mona Montal, was&nbsp;joined by the Police Chiefs of the five Town Police Departments. The coalition hosted its&nbsp;inaugural forum&nbsp;at the Crowne Plaza, in Suffern, N.Y. Rabbi YY Jacobson gave the invocation.

The Opening Story of Genesis and Exodus Provide a Blueprint for a World Devoid of Hate

Lecture on Antisemitism to Leaders & Police Chiefs of Rockland County

How Do We Eradicate the Hate?

On Shabbat, the last day of Passover, April 27, 2019, a gunman attacked the Chabad synagogue in Poway, Ca., murdering Lori Kaye, and wounding the Rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein, Almog Peretz and his 8-year-old niece, Noya Dahan.

This lecture, presented by Rabbi Y.Y. Jacobson at a &ldquo;peace and unity event,&rdquo; brought together many communities from NJ in a show of solidarity, on Monday, April 29, 2019. The evening was held at the Chabad Center of Short Hills, NJ, and was organized by Rabbi Mendel Solomon and Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum. The event was led by Rabbi Solomon, spiritual leader of Chabad, Short Hills.&nbsp;

We Must Revive the Conscience of Our Nation

Terrorism/Antisemitism

Murder at Chabad of Poway: A Bullet in the Soul of America

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.

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

<div style="text-align: justify; line-height: 120%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Money
Two Jews, Yankel and Shmerel, were walking past a church. A sign on the church read "$20,000 to all who convert today!" Both were out of work and had been for quite some time.
Shmerel said, "Yankel, I'm going to do it. The kids need food."
"Shmerel, don't!"
"I've got to, my family needs the money," said Shmerel, and he walked into the church.
Yankel waited outside. Shmerel came out a half-hour later.
"So," said Yankel, "did you get the $20,000?"
Shmerel looked at Yankel with disgust and said, "You people are all alike. All you think about is money."
Why Kill Everyone?
Why did Haman, the Persian Prime Minister, want to annihilate all of the Jews? The book of Esther tells the story:<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>
“All the king's servants at the king's gate kneeled and bowed before Haman, for so had the king commanded concerning him. But Mordechai would not kneel or bow.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a>
“The king's servants at the king's gate said to Mordechai, ‘Why do you transgress the King's command?’ Finally, when they had said this to him day after day and he did not listen to them, they informed Haman to see if Mordechai's words would endure, for he had told them that he [would never bow because he] was a Jew.
“When Haman saw that Mordechai would not kneel or bow before him, Haman was filled with wrath. He thought it contemptible to kill only Mordechai, for they had informed him of Mordechai's nation. Haman sought to annihilate all the Jews, the nation of Mordechai, throughout Achashveirosh's entire kingdom.”
Yet the logic seems flawed: Why did Haman want to murder Moredechai’s&nbsp;entire&nbsp;nation? If Mordechai was not bowing down to Haman, he should have plotted to kill Mordechai himself, or at most his colleagues, the spiritual leaders of the Jews. But why did Haman feel the urge to murder every single Jew in the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire just because one person, Mordechai, did not bow to him?
What is more: Many Jews who passed by Haman did indeed bow down to him. Thousands of Persian Jews were assimilated and did not second guess the King’s instruction to kneel to Haman.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a> Mordechai was the exception. Why, then, did Haman crave revenge from every single Jew?
The Story of a Nation
The answer to this lay in the words of the Megilah: “But he [Haman] thought it contemptible to kill only Mordechai, for they had informed him of Mordechai's nation. Haman sought to annihilate all the Jews, the nation of Mordechai.”
What do these words—“they had informed him of Mordechai's nation”—mean? What exactly did they inform him about Mordechai’s nation? The issue here was that Mordechai himself was not bowing down to Haman; this outraged Haman. What does it have to do with Mordechai’s nation, some of them who were actually kneeling to Haman?
Yet it is these words which capture the core of the story. Haman felt that Mordechai’s opposition to him was not personal. It was not that Mordechai was too arrogant, too religious, or too intelligent to bow down to Haman. It is not that Mordechai’s towering personality or profound spirituality was causing him to shun Haman’s pompousness. If that would have been the case, Haman would have had Mordechai executed and life would move on. Rather, Haman sensed that Mordechai’s obstinacy was the result of him being part of a certain people, a specific, peculiar nation. Mordechai was a product of an entire nation, “the nation of Mordechai.” There was something about the entire Jewish nation which would not allow them to bow down to Haman.
And even when Haman saw that some Jews were bowing down to him, he felt that their prostration to him was disingenuous; these Jews were double-faced. The Jew, in Haman’s eyes, was “hopeless;” there was nothing to be done with the Jew. No amount of education or enlightenment could solve the “Jewish problem.” No amount of integration and assimilation could eliminate the stubborn quality of the Jew. Mordechai was not a lonely idealist; he was merely expressing publically the true innate nature of every single Jew, man, woman and child, who will never bow down to Haman for real.
Why, then, did some Jews bow down to him? To Haman that was a question or a revelation of their dishonesty. But it would not make him change his position on what a Jew is. Haman believed that the Jew, in his or her most inner being, could never truly accept Haman the Barbarian as his master and god.
Why? Because since Sinai, every Jewish soul, at its deepest core, experienced the presence of a living, moral G-d. And if G-d exists, moral law exists and there are limits to power and barbarism. (“I hate the Jews,” Hitler said, “because they invented the conscience.”) Haman, the ultimate arrogant barbarian power freak, knew that the presence of even a single Jew would paralyze his objectives.
Assimilation Does not Matter
This also explains why Mordechai kept on provoking Haman by refusing to bow down to him.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref4')">[4]</a> Why couldn’t Mordechai simply “disappear” when Haman was passing by? Why the need to continuously drive Haman mad and evoke his ire?
But Mordechai understood that for Haman, just as for all the Haman’s of history, it makes absolutely no difference if you bow down or you don’t. They will despise you regardless. Their hate to you stems from your very essence, not from your behavior. You may stand on your head all day in front of Haman, it will mean nothing. The problem is not what you are doing, but who you are.
Haman will look for the convenient excuse by accusing Mordechai of treason; but this is only a front to the true motive of his hatred—Haman sees in every Jew the ultimate enemy to his unbridled power and arrogance. To hide one’s identity in the hope of assuaging Haman’s hatred is futile. For even in the face of the tiny Jewish infant Haman saw the face of a living moral G-d. Destroying that face would equal, in Haman’s eyes, the destruction of G-d.
Gassing the Infant
We have seen in our own times how true this is. The most sophisticated, assimilated German Jew, who was more German than the Germans, who had Goethe and Schiller flowing from his lips, who was married to a blond blue-eyed Aryan woman, who knew every symphony of Mozart and Wagner, who was an avid student of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer—this Jew was sent to the Treblinka and Dachau gas chambers with the same glee as the OustJude—the ultra religious Chassidic Jew of the East, immersed day and night in the study of the our sacred texts and complete Jewish observance.
How can we understand this? The smallest, cutest, most adorable Jewish baby, incapable of harming a soul, incapable of harboring any political, territorial, religious or scientific positions, was clubbed to death with the same passion and brutality as the most productive, accomplished, learned, and respected Rebbe?
It is because Hitler saw every single Jew as part of “Am Mordechai,” the people of Mordechai. You may be bowing down to the founding fathers of German culture and philosophy, you may be kneeling to superstars of German’s heroes, but you are all of the “nation of Mordechai,” who would never bow down to Haman! The Haman of our own times saw in the visage of every Jewish child nothing less than the visage of G-d. Clubbing that little girl to death would finally kill G-d too.
Love Like They Hate
Sometimes we must learn from the Haman’s of history, how to view a Jew in the proper light.
We often hear that some Jews are hopelessly assimilated and lost to our people; any outreach work toward them would be futile, they just don’t care. We give up on them. Sometimes we feel that a small number of Jews, a small community, does not justify the investment of money and outreach work.
But for Haman and Hitler— every single Jew, even the most secular and alienated Jew, was a living embodiment of G-d Himself, hence they would not spare any money or effort to seize that Jew and murder him. If Hitler would learn that there was a single Jewish child left behind in a Polish village, he would spare no toil to send the Gestapo and fetch that Jewish baby. Because, for him, even the presence of a single Jew, obstructed his path to happiness and fulfillment; even a single Jewish child was a living witness to G-d.
Can we, then, do any less? Can we come and say, “Some Jews are&nbsp;just too far out there,” or “why should I work so hard to help a single person?” If a Jew is never too insignificant to be hunted down in hate, he is never too insignificant to be embraced with love.
The Solution for Anti-Semitism
Mordechai thus understood very well that assimilation is not the real answer to Anti-Semitism. The Anti-Semite sees something in the Jew which would not disappear with assimilation. The solution to Anti-Semitism is to fight back with every possible means, with tall heads, dignified spirits, and erect souls.
And to remember that our salivation will come ultimately from one source and one source only. As long as we remain connected with that source, we will never die. For just as G-d can’t be murdered, so will His people never be destroyed.
Finally, we must recall that the world looks at the Jew and sees G-d. Humanity looks to the Jew for moral courage, leadership and inspiration. The world is disappointed with Jews who try so hard to fit in and lose their unique contribution to civilization. They want to see in us the living presence of G-d.
(This essay is based on an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe delivered on Purim 1966.)
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<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Esther chapter 3.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> See Rashi Esther 3:2, 4, that Haman turned himself into a deity and as a Jew Mordechai was forbidden to bow down to him. Other Midrashim explain that Haman donned an idol.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref3" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> See Talmud Megilah 12b, Midrash Rabah Esther and Targum Shani about the state of the Jews at the time.
<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref4" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn4')">[4]</a> The Megillah later relates (ch. 5) how Esther invited Haman to a special feast with the king. But “when Haman saw Mordechai at the king's gate and [Mordechai] neither rose nor trembled before him, Haman was filled with wrath against Mordechai. Haman restrained himself and went to his house and sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh. Haman told them of his glorious wealth and his many sons, and all about how the king had promoted and raised him above all the king's ministers and servants. Then Haman said: "In addition, along with the king, Queen Esther invited only me to the feast that she prepared. Tomorrow, too, I am invited to her [feast] along with the king. Yet all this is worthless to me whenever I see Mordechai the Jew sitting at the king's gate!"
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Why the Glee in Murdering a Jewish Child? - What Anti-Semitism Teaches Us about Jews

What Anti-Semitism Teaches Us about Jews

Why the Glee in Murdering a Jewish Child?

Chana Weisberg from <a href="https://www.chabad.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chabad.org</a> in conversation with Rabbi YY Jacobson about Anti-Semitism in the world today. This interview was on Thursday 22 Shevat, 5785, February 20, 2025

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