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Broaden Your Mind, Empower Your Soul with the podcasts from The Yeshiva @ TheYeshiva.net

Latest Episodes:

Why Moshe Asked to Die - Behaaloscha Class May 31, 2015

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Giving Feedback to Those Who Changed Our Lives

This class was presented on Sunday Parshas Behaaloscha, May 31, 2015, in Ohr Chaim, Monsey, NY

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What To Do with the 'Evil Beasts,' Chametz, & the Ego -- Two Opinions - Likkutei Sichos Bechokosei May 10, 2015

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The Rogatchover Gaon and the Lubavitcher Rebbe Reveal the Underlying Perspectives of Reb Yehuda and Reb Shimon

This advanced text-based class, a Sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos vol. 7 Parshas Bechukosai) dissects the underlying perspectives of Reb Yehuda and Reb Shimon concerning three areas where the term "Shabbos" is used. The question is what are we to do with "evil beasts' & the ego: Do we seek obliteration or transformation?

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Discovering Feminine Judaism - Women's Lecture in Melbourne, Asutralia May 05, 2015

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Why Rabbi Shimon bar Yochaei Asked a Couple to Throw a Party Before Divorcing

This class, by Rabbi YY Jacobson, was presented to Jewish women in Melbourne, Australia, on 25 Iyar 5771, May 29, 2011. It explores the methods of marriage in Judaism, and the two paths of passion vs. commitment in building a relationship. It explains the story and reincarnations of Ruth, and the story of an infertile couple who came to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. It explains the difference between masculine and feminine Judaism and the need for both.

Seeing Through the Husk: Reb Meir & the Heretic - Pesach Sheni/Behaaloscha May 03, 2015

Show notes

Pesach Sheni and the Power of Teshuvah

Reb Meir, the second-century Talmudic sage, was seen as one of the greatest scholars of his day. Yet, unlike his friends, he chose to remain loyal to his teacher, Elisha ben Avuya, who became a heretic. Why?

There are three schools of thought. We are a victim of our past; we are the fathers of our futures. The unique position of Judaism extends man’s reach not only forwards, but even backward in time. We can retroactively redefine or recast our previous bad deeds into good ones, by peering through the “husk” of the negative and seeing it from the vantage point of the Divine. This was the secret of Reb Meir.

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Should Jews Forgive the Germans? - Radio Broadcast May 02, 2015

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Do You Know How To Forgive? When Do You Refuse to Forgive?

This radio show, broadcast on May 2, 2015, explored the theme of forgiveness. Drawing on the stories of Simon Wiesenthal in Sunflower, Nelson Mandela, and German Jewish Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau, it asks when to embrace forgiveness and when to deny it to your enemy.

The Sadducees and Pharisees Debate How to Make Judaism Appealing - Class Acharei Mos Apr 23, 2015

Show notes

How Bare May One Be When Approaching G-d?

The laws of burning Ketores (incense) on Yom Kippur, stirred a major debate between the Sadducees (Tzedukim,a group of Jews active in Judea during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. They ultimately died out) and the Pharisees (Prushim – the Rabbinic Sages, the representatives of the Oral Tradition of Judaism). The Sadducees believed that the smoke should be created outside of the Holy of Holies; the Pharisees maintained that only once the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) entered the inner sanctum should he place the incense on the coal.
What was at stake in this argument? What is the path to generate a "refined aroma", a pleasant human experience? The Sadducees held we look for inspiration on the "outside," and then take that "inside," into the Torah. We acclimate Judaism to the outside trends. The Pharisees held that inspiration for a Jew is found by and in Torah. This class explores other ways of understanding this debate both historically and spiritually.

Two Men Kissed G-d and Gave Judaism Its Soul - Likuttei Sichos Acharei Mos/Shmini Apr 21, 2015

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How Nadav and Avihu Elevated Judaism from a Contractual Agreement to an Intimate Relationship
This text-based class, a Sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos vol. 32 Acharei Mos), explains why the death of the sons of Ahron is the prelude to the laws of Yom Kippur. Most commentaries view their death as a punishment for sin. The Ohr HaChaim, however, views the story in a different light. As it turns out, it was their act that gave Judaism its passion and depth. Is Judaism only about a contractual relationship, or does it embody the intimate oneness between a soul and its maker?
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The Blind Kohen: When Seeing Too Much Disqualifies Your Judgment - Likkutei Sichos Tazria Apr 20, 2015

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Dissecting the Halachik Argument about A Cohen with Poor Eyesight

This text-based class, a Sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos vol. 32 Tazria), dissects, in great detail and depth, the disqualification of a Kohen with poor eyesight to examine tzaraas (leprosy).

The Sicha introduces two ways in which we can understand the definition of this law, explaining an argument between Toras Koahnim and Mishnah, and the practical ramifications. It concludes with a mystical and Chassidic insight on how the blind Kohen who peers into deeper places of the soul is incapable of declaring the leper as impure.

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Me or We? The Individual vs. the Collective in Halacha & Kabbalah - Class Sefirah/Lag Baomer/Emor Apr 20, 2015

Show notes

How to Like the People You Love: The Mistake of Rabbi Akiva’s Students

Rabbi Akiva taught his students to love. But they could still not learn to respect their colleagues. Why?

How does Jewish law and Jewish mysticism view the reality of the collective vs. the individual? An analysis by the Rogatchover Gaon on the view of Rabbi Akiva in various Talmudic laws reveals a pattern of thought: The collective is not only a sum of many individuals joined together; but there is a transcendent reality in which all of the individual details melt away in a single integrated oneness.

There are two charged terms in the Hebrew language: Love and respect. The first comes from a sense of oneness; the latter is born from a sense of distinctiveness. Can it be that the students of Rabbi Akiva knew how to love but not how to respect?

There are people you like but you don't love; there are people you love but you may not like. There are people that you love and you like, and there are people, well, that you don't love and you don't like either. You love your parents. You love your brothers. You love your sisters. But you don't necessarily like them… Sometimes you love your husband, but you have a hard time liking him. What is the difference between "liking" and "loving"? What is the difference between anti-Semites who hate Jews and Jews who dislike Jews? Why do we count both "day" and the "week" in the counting of the Omer? Why are there so many couples who “fall in love,” but after some time, they find themselves so far apart? What happened to the love? Most of us love our children. But do we respect them?

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Can Man and Woman Really Become One? - Class Parshas Tazria Apr 19, 2015

Show notes

Discovering the Feminine in the Masculine & the Masculine in the Feminine

This class, present to women (in 5773, 2013), explains the Talmudic dictum that when a women generates a flow first, a boy is born; when a man generates the flow first, a girl is born.

This class, based on a discourse by the Alter Rebbe, Likkutei Torah Tazria, dissects the secret to intimacy between woman and man, by each of them discovering the opposite gender within themselves.

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