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Can I Trust Myself? Can I Discover G-d Inside of Me? The Collasol Error of Nadav & Avihu - Class Shmini/Maasei Mar 27, 2016

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How Should I View the "Annoying" Details of Life? The Debate in Kabbalah, Philosophy, & Halacha

One word-change in Shemini offers a new depth into understanding the error of the two sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, which led to their sudden demise.

The Rogatchover Gaon, Rabbi Yosef Rozen (1858-1936) offers a novel and brilliant approach into their “sin.” They embraced the notion of “transcendental providence,” vs. “individual, detailed providence.” The two approaches find their expression in philosophy, Kabbalah, Halacha, and daily life.

This class was presented on Sunday, Parshas Shmini, 17 Adar II, 5776, March 27, 2016.

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Three Conditions to Become Impure - Likkutei Sichos Shmini Mar 27, 2016

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Are You Human? Are You a Giver? Are You Disconnected?

This is a text-based class on a talk delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in the year 5745 (1984), published in Likkutei Sichos vol. 27, Parshas Shemini. Rambam outlines three conditions under which food might become impure. 1. It must be edible for human consumption. 2. The food must come in contact with one of the seven liquids, water, dew, oil, wine, milk, blood, or honey. 3. The food must be disconnected from its source in the ground.

Every law in Judaism is to be understood physically, but also spiritually, charting the emotional and spiritual path of the Jew. The class explores the spiritual significance of these three conditions as it reflects man's service of G-d.

This class answers, among other ideas, these questions: Who is most prone to addiction, contamination and emotional and spiritual ruin? The more brute people or the more sensitive souls? Who are more vulnerable to fall prey? Dry people, or “moist” people, those who take or those who love giving? How do we protect ourselves in a complicated and overwhelming world?

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Murder At a Purim Feast?! - Purim Class/Shmini/Acharei Mar 13, 2016

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In One of the Strangest Talmudic Stories, One Sage Slaughters His Colleague During Their Purim Drinking

In one of the most bizarre Talmudic stories (Megilah 7b), two of the greatest Talmudic sages feast on Purim together. They are inebriated and one of them slaughters his friend. The next day he brings him back to life. The following year he invites his colleague for another Purim meal.

This fascinating class, based on an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, re-invents the meaning of the story and applies it to our daily struggle to link heaven and earth. As the wine of Torah flowed like water, the soul left Its container.

This class is based on Likkutei Sichos vol. 31 Purim.

View Source Sheets: https://portal.theyeshiva.net/api/source-sheets/2732

Yiddish/English Address: No Child Left Behind - Keynote Yaldei Dinner Montreal Mar 07, 2016

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How to View Children with Special Needs

This Yiddish/English address was presented, Sunday, March 6, 2016, 26 Adar I 5776, at the dinner for Yaldei in Montreal.

Purim & Yom Kippur: Does G-d Really Care If I Wait Only 5 Hours 59 Seconds? Mar 03, 2016

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Purim Teaches How Us How to View the Insignificant Moments of Life

In a book famous for its conciseness, the story of Esther stands apart as one of the most detailed and intriguing in the entire Torah. It reads like a novel, filled with suspense, mystery and drama, where events in the opening of the narrative are understood only at its conclusion.

The story opens with an unexplained, outrageous and over extravagant affair, thrown by a party-animal of a king, and slowly develops into a breathtaking rollercoaster of sinister plots, unlikely heroes, hilarious ironies, and ultimately, inspiring salvation. The book of Esther, in so many ways, charts the cycle of Jewish history in Diaspora, and provides direction and answers to many contemporary questions.

This class will analyze why this is the only biblical book without G-d mentioned even once. It will also analyze a Talmudic debate regarding how much of the story we must read on Purim in order to fulfill the mitzvah of hearing Megillah, and the verdict, that we must read the entire book. Why would there be a religious obligation to listen on Purim to the story of a Persian King’s feast? Of how he executed his queen? These are interesting historical stories, but why the obligation to listen to them on Purim? Why is it that we fulfill the mitzvah of hearing the Megillah only if we learn of the detailed designs at the King’s 187-day party?

The class explains how the Megillah teaches us to view world-events. The story of Purim is not that G-d saves the Jews from annihilation. It is a much deeper story: that the lavish feast of a mighty King is part of a vast plan that leads to the objective of existence. The Megilah teaches us how to understand history and how to appreciate the apparent randomness of daily existence.

The class explores the significance of the name Purim, and the teaching in Kabbalah that it is even greater than Yom Kippur. We also go on a journey through a fascinating Mishnah about the six days of creation and we discover the unique contribution of Purim and the Megilah to the understanding of existence and destiny.

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You Can't Welcome G-d by Breaking His Rules - Likkutei Sichos Vayakhel Feb 29, 2016

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Why Shabbos Is Introduced Before the Building of the Mishkan

This text based class, on Likkutei Sichos vol. 11 Parshas Vayakhel, was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Parshas Vayakhel 5772 (2012). It explains why Rashi does not answer a few difficult items in the opening of Vayakhel, where Moshe speaks to the Jewish people about Shabbos and the construction of the Mishkan. It goes on to show how all of these difficulties are self-understood from a thorough reading of the text.

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The Debate Between Mordechai and His Colleagues - Purim Class Feb 28, 2016

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Why Did Mordechai Remain in Politics? Why Did the Rogatchover Refuse to Become an Activist?

When studying the Tanach we must be sensitive to nuance. The obvious question is why does the verse state that Mordechai was “accepted by most of his brethren" rather than just saying that he was “accepted by his brethren.” The Torah is obviously trying to make a point. Not everyone liked Mordechai. But why? After all, he was the man who together with Esther was responsible for the rescue of the entire nation.

The Talmud presents a fascinating interpretation. Mordechai was the preeminent Torah scholar of his generation—he was the leader of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court. With the dramatic unfolding events of Purim, this brilliant scholar became entangled in politics. After Haman’s plot was foiled, he was appointed Prime Minister of the Persian Empire. Most Jews adored Mordechai—but not all of them. But why not?

The class explores a fascinating story about the Rogatchover Gaon, Rabbi Yosef Rozen (1858-1936), who refused to become a member in a committee on behalf of Russian Jewry, based on an argument between the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud. It turns out, that Mordechai was a “Jerusalem Talmud” Jew.

The class is based on Likkutei Sichos vol. 16 Purim.

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For Whom the Bell Tolls - Class Parshas Tetzaveh Feb 14, 2016

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The Meaning of Aaron’s Noisy Robe

The commentators are perplexed. What was the point of the 72 bells handing from the hem of the High Priest’s coat, generating racket and rumpus commotion? Elijah perceived G-d in “the subtle, still voice;” why, then, did the Kohen Gadol constantly generate the loud rattling, clattering voice of seventy-two jingling bells hanging on the hem of his coat?

This class offers four divergent perspectives, and then offers a fifth perspective, which gets to the core of the human struggle to make peace with itself and with G-d. Do we experience truth in the silence of sound, or in the sound of silence?

View Source Sheets: https://portal.theyeshiva.net/api/source-sheets/2700

Does G-d Love Me Unconditionally? - Women's Terumah Class Feb 07, 2016

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A Debate On the Image of the Keruvim Mirrors Two Forms of Love

This class, presented to women on Parshas Terumah 5768 (2008), explores a majopr debate about the Cherubs hver the Holy Ark.

Foremost among the commentaries compiled by our sages on the Torah are those by Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) and Nachmanides (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270). Rashi defines his goal by stating: “I come only to explain the simple meaning of the verse.” On the other hand, Nachmanides, a noted mystic and kabbalist, often uncovers a “deeper” stratum of significance in the Torah’s words, exposing its students, as he puts it in his introduction to his commentary on Torah, to “delightful things, for those who know and understand the hidden wisdom.”

Rashi and Nachmanides often differ in their interpretation of a particular word or verse. One example of this is their different conceptions of the kapporet and the keruvim. Rashi sees the ark and the kapporet as two different objects. The Sanctuary contained various “vessels,” each with a designated function (e.g., the menorah, the altars); according to Rashi the ark and the kapporet are two different vessels—it is only that the designated place of the kapporet is atop the ark. Nachmanides, on the other hand, sees the kapporet as the cover of the ark (indeed, the word kapporet means “cover”)—as a component of the ark itself, rather than another of the Sanctuary’s vessels.

Another difference between the interpretations of Rashi and Nachmanides concerns the form of the keruvim. According to Rashi, these were two winged figures, each with the face of a child (a boy and a girl). Nachmanides is of the opinion that they were a representation of the celestial figures seen by the prophet Ezekiel in his vision of the divine “chariot.”

This class explores the underlying argument behind them, and their dramatic relevance to our lives today.

View Source Sheets: https://portal.theyeshiva.net/api/source-sheets/2695

Love in the Flames - Class The Three Weeks/9 Av/Terumah/Vayakhel Feb 07, 2016

Show notes

As Jews Faced the End, Their Lover Impregnated Them with the Seed of Moshiach

The Talmud relates a profoundly strange incident that occurred moments before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple: “When the pagans entered the Holy Temple, they saw the cherubs (the two golden winged figures, one male and one female located in the "Holy of Holies") cleaving to each other. They took them out to the streets and said: ‘These Jews ... is this what they occupy themselves with?’ With this, they debased [the Jewish people], as it is written: ‘All who had honored her have despised her, for they have seen her nakedness.’”

This seems strange. The Talmud also teaches that when the relationship between G-d and Israel was sour, the two faces of the cherubs turned away from each other, as when spouses are angry with each other. When the relationship was healthy, the two faces of the cherubs would face each other.

Yet when the enemies of Israel invaded the Temple to destroy it, and the relationship between G-d and His people was at its lowest possible point, precisely at that moment the cherubs were intertwined, symbolizing the most profound relationship between G-d and Israel. How are we to understand this?

This class explores six different perspectives.

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