How To Comfort Families and Friends of Our Slain Holy Soldiers? - Rabbi YY Jacobson

the yeshiva.net joining us now is Rabbi YY Jacobson Rabbi Jacobson is a world-renowned educator and lecturer who travels the globe educating and inspiring numerous Jews including myself Rabbi Jacobson thank you so much for joining us my honor and my pleasure thank you for having me a pleasure to have you always Rabbi Jacobson let me start with this I was speaking with a friend recently and he said he was visiting from the United States of America New York and he said this sentiment is uh somewhat sad in AR Israel and that that was his take obviously correct and he said it's a little bit different where he is um in in New York he thought people are definitely a little bit depressed and and uh sad but they're worried about more things anti-Semitism the war and this and that wanted to get your take on what sentiment what are you seeing out there I know you were in London recently and uh what would you say people are feeling right now I think uh you know obviously I can't speak for everybody uh but I think what I'm hearing from a lot of people so it's maybe more of an anecdotal response just from conversations with people emails I'm getting uh various communities I've been lecturing in countries or cities I've visited is there is certainly a state of alertness that has uh awakened many many of our brother and sisters especially since October 7th 2023 um there's certainly depression there certainly Sadness by some people but I would say by many others I wouldn't call it depression but I would call it rather resilience and resolve and in a way empowerment and inspiration you know when you see some of the clips or you speak to some of the soldiers entering Gaza leaving Gaza facing such adversity such crisis such Bloodshed such violence such death and yet you see a a a strength and a faith and a sense of dedication and unwavering conviction I think in many ways it's triggering very very powerful and healthy cords in the Jewish people sure there's ambivalence there's there's concern there's deep grief and sadness I know many people who told me that they they can't sleep the night anymore they're waking up in the middle of the night uh with all types of various thoughts but I also think that there is a very deep sense of belonging and connection and resolve and empowerment and resilience that has been triggered uh in the Jewish psyche uh I have I've spoken to one of the audiences and I've quoted I said you know I grew up with the with the book of Tanya by the balat the AL the founder of and he has there two chapters chapters 18 and 19 and he says something fabulous but I I didn't relate to it so much growing up I guess at least not viscerally it was more intellectually and he speaks there about how we often don't understand what a Jew is at his or her core because he himself doesn't know who he or she is he says but there comes a moment in life says the Divine inside of you wakes up from its Slumber says a moment a life-changing moment aan a crisis that affects your very life and death and he says and suddenly the Jew realizes that he or she is made up of different fabric made up of different stuff there's a level of love and empowerment and connection that is more powerful than life itself and I feel in so many ways that that core in many Jews has been awakened on in the morning and I think therefore it's a very very precious time in history now with all the sadness with all the grief that is unfathomable and unbearable I think there's also a tremendous opportunity of for National and international Jewish unity and resolve and connectivity and focus and resilience and faith and understanding who we are what is our role what is our mission what is our identity what is our place in history suddenly we have figured out that 3,300 years later the truth about the Jewish people being God's ambassadors to change the world is as potent as relevant and as powerful as ever you know sometimes there is a numbness that takes over the Jewish people like we just you know just trying to fit in and live our daily lives but like recent events have really brought our identity back to the four like what look what Israel triggers in the world look what the Jewish people trigger in the rest of the world I mean look at the levels of unfathomable insane anti-semitism and hatred towards Israel and the Jewish people that it's not rational and it's not logical and in many ways it's sad but in many ways it's also almost like empowering like I believe that one of the greatest proofs of is looking at the response of the world to October 7th 2023 like just seeing the response of the world to the Jewish people to this nation struggling for its survival you know thousands of Jews mow down like a lawn children and elderly men women and children tortured only because Jewish blood flowing through their Senus and you see the response of the world to it I think more than anything else it shows us who we are like we are at the vortex of existence you know the interlacing link between Heaven and Earth so in that sense I find it also a very very empowering and historic time for for clol and our role in Israel and in the world right we definitely do see that mixture of sadness and resilience and those two what we could view as conflicting emotions definitely are coexisting together in us so that's that's a very interesting and important point you know there an expression in zo you know it's a beautiful expression in was teaching the secrets of T about the bik and the destruction of the bikes and his son Reb the son of buried near him in says the two ventricles of my heart have etched in them tears on one side of the heart and Joy on the other side of the heart he was so joyous from the revelations of his father his father's tah but he was also so sad because he understood what the destruction meant and I think it's so true of Jewish history you know we cry we go to funerals uh we go to Shiva houses we speak to people who have lost their loved ones and their lives have changed forever widows and children and parents and siblings and families and extended families and communities and the whole nation I mean how many thousands of families are now in mourning and we we we cry with we cry with every Jewish soldier that was killed and we cry with every hostage that was killed and we cry with the families of the slain whose lives will be changed and are Chang forever and precisely at those moments it's also there's a joy of what nation we belong to of who our people are of what we represent what we embody and and simply the love and the infinite light embedded in the Jewish soul and you say absolutely absolutely agree if we could put on our psychology hats for a little bit CU obviously there's a lot of trauma going on from the war from the related anti-Semitism and the anti-Semitism indeed pre-existed the war it just came to the four because of the war where do you think we go from here there's a phrase post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD and there's also another phrase less known post-traumatic growth so which direction do you think we go in and how can we get there obviously we want to focus on the growth not the trauma yeah I once saw a a powerful and beautiful interpretation from R RAB JB he he said it in in one of his dras and he said that the says about that R came up to and he saw that Hashem was drawing those little tagum those little zans those little thorns on the top of the letters of the SE and he said who is this for he said AK he's going to expound on this and the that tells is is going to take every one of these little Zs these little Thorns these little tiny lines on top of the letters which nobody really comprehends what is their significance and on each one is's going to expound and develop mountains and mountains of said something powerful he said the word here is really a metaphor for the little Zion on top of the letters we call it a tag it looks like a thorn that's what it says kit but kit really means a thorn he saysa lived through the destruction of the second bikes and we have to remember that till the Holocaust that was a watershed moment where it seemed that everything is done everything is over you know the Jewish promise the Jewish people the Jewish Nation certainly the Commonwealth in in in the Holy Land Jewish life became so cheap that a Jewish slave you can purchase for less than a dollar as Josephus describes it in his books so you're talking about a moment when everything seemed lost and RAB AA was the leader at the time and he experienced the pain firsthand he was murdered and executed by the Romans as the G says said was telling something about I'll for every Thorn every Thorn that the Romans perforated the Jewish soul with the Jewish psyche the Jewish body including himself what was his approach said from every Thorn we're going to use the thorn as a catalyst as a springboard for tillum to build mounds and mounds of meaning to use it as a springboard for rejuvenation for a new Renaissance for a resurrection of the Jewish Spirits for unprecedented growth and this was not because AA didn't know how painful it is and I think it's with this very very approach that we need to look at today's time because trauma obviously is overwhelming the PTSD is very very natural you know there's going to be there's a new generation of Orphans there's a new there's a new generation of you you know think about it right we hear about a soldier that was killed a wounded soldier that succumbed to his or her wounds and by the way we don't even hear about all the wounded you know we hear about those who were killed what about those who were wounded who lost thousands who lost arm right who who who now experience disability and the entire trajectory of their life and their family's life is changed it's changed it's changed forever you know how much pain how many people's lives were shattered or completely transformed to a point of not recognizing the their previous life from their new life post October 7th 2023 and nobody can even fathom how much grief there is how much sadness children who are either completely orphaned or growing up without one of the parents siblings spouses of course parents I mean it it's all it's all so so very obvious and I think if we try to you know make sense out of it and try to you know Define it and using logical constructs and mathemat mathematical equations we will completely completely fail I think this is a moment to open oursel up to the Paradox of Life To The Mystery of Life to the fact that and his is something that we cannot Define intellectually that we can comprehend that we can assimilate into our regular system of an intellectual and an emotional ego and this is really where the deepest reservoirs of the Jewish Soul come out where AA comes to us and says I'll that what's going to happen in the Jewish world is and we have seen this throughout Jewish history and it's one of the most incredible facts about our history and that is take any major crisis that almost destroyed Jewish life and you will see that right after that crisis there was an unprecedented Rejuvenation and explosion of spiritual intellectual emotional and social growth in CL after which we don't even understand today how profound that destruction was the whole institution of ter was created mik the whole concept of a you could find the in every home in every street but the concept of coined it from one that was destroyed was transplanted into millions of thousands of little after the explosion of terms of all the M both nigab take take a look at the Crusades one of the worst moments and you had the explosion of Y the whole house of rash a whole expansion of understanding T about after the Spanish Inquisition and the Spanish in was with a watershed moment in Jewish history and suddenly you had the whole explosion of Caba beginning in and many other parts of the world then you had 1648 and 49 devastating bug's massacres hundreds of thousands were murdered in Poland and Ukraine and then you had the shop crazy the Backle just a few decades later excuse me 17 T is what 166 6 and 1676 is conversion to Islam and then you had the whole explosion of the B and the whole you know world and after the Holocaust you look at the you look at after the Holocaust what happened on one hand we were decimated a third of the Jewish people was decimated and suddenly you saw millions of Jews today we have almost 7 million Jews living in our Holy Land ER was rebuilt Judaism was rebuilt all over the world how does this happen how does this happen I believe the secret goes back to that first first the the the the Our Father Yakov ainu faces an adversary who wants to kill him in middle of the night he doesn't kill him but he mimes him and finally at the end of the night Yakov turns to him and the man says let me go it's time for me to go and he says I will not let you go until you bless me one second a gangster attacks you a whole night tries to kill you call 911 call atalah call call call the police call the the soldiers fight run you asking him for a y was teaching the Jewish people when you will face an adversary when you will face adversity it's not enough to run away it's not enough to untangle yourself it's not enough to rescue whatever you can you have to be able to look him in the eyes and say I will not let you go until you don't bless me I need to come out from this experience more empowered more blessed more confident with more energy more stamina because if not why would I what was I I put into this darkness in the first place if the point is just to run away from the darkness I didn't have it I didn't have to have it the reason I'm facing this adversity is ultimately even if it's mind staggering and it's unfathomable and intellectually I have a billion and one questions but I know ultimately I need to emerge from this crisis more blessed more profound more real more authentic more Divine more courageous and More in touch with the truth and I think this message of Yakov has been The Guiding Light of the Jewish people for almost 4,000 years and it's the reason we are here more vibrant more strong More Alive than ever and it's not because we don't know how to cry it's because we know how to cry it's because we're present it's because nees One Soul that's lost is considered the whole world is lost and because of our love for life we also know that life is so holy the life of a Jew and the life of the Jewish people does not end even when it looks like it ends you see this Paradox of Judaism is at the core of our power we see life as so holy as so sacred as So Divine as so precious on one hand when it's lost pain is so deep and so visceral and because of that we also know that it's much larger than we imagine the power of the soul is much larger than an imagine so it's not only that the soul is eternal that is the core of Cl remains Eternal and even if we can't wrap our brains around the story we know that the story is much larger than us and if we open ourselves up to that largess to that Infinity to that mystery there is an inner inner called madaka a still inner voice where all of our brothers and sisters and especially those who were murdered almost tell us choose life choose life there is a inexplicable Secret that you are embodying in this world The Secret of is the secret of the secret of a of Love of light of truth of authenticity don't let go because you will be victorious you will emerge you're going to transform the darkness into light and transform Exile into Redemption and clearly resilience is in our DNA as he went through the historic overview of all the calamities that have occurred to kalal Isel and we have gotten up and transformation and transform beautiful resilience and transformation now I I do want to go a little bit deeper on that because we still have the parents the fathers the sons the wives yeah the friends of we can talk about those who are fighting at the risk of their lives and even more so those who have been killed in action and and what is something that we can say to the individuals as opposed to the cloud the individuals those parents those other relatives that have lost a loved one and obviously that is an un unbelievable contribution that they've given to CLA show but the personal pain is so deep how can we address them in particular I'm going to try to get through these words without crying too much let's see how that works I'm always touched by the first vision of M raenu with Hashem he sees a burning bush that's not being consumed and he wants to understand it what's the mechanism a tree on fire should be consumed why is this thorn bush not being consumed I want to understand you know the quential intellectual the ra calls andem says don't get close take your shoes off your feet because you're standing on sacred soil in Med r one of the metaphors in this Revelation is thatu was watching the pain and the fires that will consume the Jewish people when mha was looking at a burning bush he wasn't only looking at a physical Bush he was looking at his people who thousands of years will be burnt murdered tortured slain like the Jews in the kib who were burnt shot killed in barbaric ways their homes went up in Flames many families who died embracing each other in their security reinforcement rooms or wherever they were by the Flames ignited by the he saw he saw the Six Million gazed and he saw the pain of the Jewish people throughout history M wants to get close he wants to understand more about it Hashem says take your shoes off your feet you're standing on sacred soil what that means for me is when I am standing in the presence of a person of a family in pain a family that has faced the Flames of hatred and violence and death a family that has lost loved ones in the war in this war against Hamas in the atrocities of s or in any other capacity Al in any other form Al now or earlier I have to know I am standing on ades I am standing on sacred soil I am standing in the presence of absolute Holiness literally the people I am standing in front I'm talking to or I'm emailing or I'm addressing are in a different Plateau they're existing in a different reality life means something completely different for them death means different something different for them marriage love they don't take anything for granted they don't take for granted waking up in the morning and seeing your husband your wife near you your child near you having the ability to say goodbye to your child before they go to school they don't take anything for granted take your shoes off your feet I think when we Face these families when we talk to these families first and foremost our role is not to philosophize and not to rationalize and not to justify and not to find some brilliant philos opical equation that might make sense or make no sense but really just to know that this is a story beyond our minds my job is to be here to say we are brothers we are sisters we don't understand why we don't understand the the finite mind has no way of wrapping itself around pure Infinity my job our job is I'm I'm here for you today and forever give my I want to give my shoulder for you for you to cry I want to be able to be here on your terms not on my terms I want to be able to attend here to your needs and most important and equally important as an orphan once wrote to me she lost lost both of his parents and she said I don't need people to look at me in my eyes and think what a NE case what a case what a Pity neb doesn't have a life her whole life is destroyed I want you to feel my pain I want you to empathize with me but I want you to believe in me also I want you to believe in my power in the power of life I want you to believe in the power of my soul I want you to look at all of these children and all of these women and all of these families and completely empathize and be there experience them as much as you can be there on their terms be kind be gracious be attentive tune into who they are and what they need and equally important see their light see their power believe in them believe that don't detach them from their source of life don't look at them just as isolated detached victims who were in bad masle appreciate the fact that their journey is a sacred Journey an inexplicable journey and humbly we have the and opportunity to embrace them every moment then say we love you we love you now and forever we're here for you we will be here for you you are our brothers you are our sisters you are our children you are our parents you are our families we will never be able to thank you enough for the ultimate sacrifices that you have made to protect millions of Jews who the Kamas would love to murder like they did on remember we're dealing here with people who would love to give us a holocaust every single day until every single Jew in Israel is dead and it's your your family members who literally went and are going on I saw a clip of a commander who spoke about a debate an argument he had with one of his soldiers inun a few days ago he told this Soldier I'm going in first to the home and the soldier says no I'm going in first you have four children he says you have two and you're young you still have to build your family I'm going in I have experience in Gaza and the other person says no you let me go and he says I am going he says imagine two Jewish fathers in Gaza fighting who's going to go in first to make sure the other person is protected and their children will have a father where do you find such people where do you find such people I was watching this clip I started the just wanted to hug him and tell him wow I am in all of you we are in all of each and every one of you all of is is indebted to you is grateful to you every Jew from Mia not only is part of your fan club but we cheer you on We Salute every one of these soldiers We Salute every one of these kosim and we salute every one of their families who are surviving who are continuing their legacy and their life with such courage I don't want to be able to ask myself why because the question of why is mute is mute I don't have an answer for it I don't think any one of us had have answers for it but I think we need to go into a deeper Place questions and answers don't really touch the nerve of the issue this is this is a time where we go into a place what we call amuna means not passivity amuna means the courage to face adversity headon looking at reality not being naive without losing our power of love and connection and commitment and our will for life and I think when we can approach this from this perspective it doesn't give answer and it doesn't take away the pain but none of us can do that none of us can do that our role at this point is to take off our shoes and embrace each and every one of them knowing how things are going to work out in the long run you know how history works out this is not for me to know this is only one knows it the one who created the whole world the one who Divine Providence on every single person's life the one who is the source of all love and all life and all Bliss and is completely not defined by any that we make our job is at every moment to be an ambassador for God's love and light and empowerment and confidence I just want to be a channel I want to be a cond conduit it's not about ego self-consciousness rationalization it's every one of us being a conduit to say what is my role Now what is my mission now you know I had a a a zoom with a bunch of of teenagers and a big question that came up was fear fear you know there's so much fear now and somebody asked somebody asked what do I do with all my fear and I I I just something hit me I was I was talking to somebody who was in kib kib he's now in t he's recovering because he was wounded very badly and he killed maybe 50 or 100 terrorists until they blew off his hand and he went to protect his wife and children and they survived they were under a bed they went into the box under a bed the terrorists came into their bedroom and they didn't notice them and they were saved his wife and two children were saved and he was also saved and I asked him about the fear what he was surrounded by 100 or 200 terrorists in Bay I said what do you do with the fear and he told me a line you know he said he said at that moment you cannot afford to to live in fear at that moment the entire body and the entire psyche tunes into one thing and that is what is my role right now in order to save my life to save my wife's life to save my children's life to save other people's lives and to eliminate the murderers anything that distracts me from that space is going to literally endanger the life of my loved ones fear I can wait till later it was such a powerful defining moment CU I realized in our own lives obviously we're not living every moment in that moment but it teaches me so much you know every moment I can choose am I going to tune into to what is my mission right now or am I going to allow myself to get lured in and slept in into the abyss of fear and depression and uncertainty I have to respect and acknowledge all my emotions but I think ultimately we each have to make a choice what's the space we want to live in are we going to sublimate our pain into a driving force for more love and connection or are we going to sink into that abyss and ultimately I think that's the choice of every single Jew and every one of us is a leader every one of us can bring that sense of love and connection to others I guess that's getting back to the PTSD versus the growth uh question but I I want to get back to this amuna that you mentioned I have a a question that somebody sent me but before that that was an amazing story about those twoim the soldiers who's going to go in first and the Mysterious neish just to bring it a little bit more I guess common because none of us almost none of us are ever going to be in a situation like that but I remember when I was a little bit younger uh I had two friends that were counselors in Hask and they didn't have a mattress between the two of them they had to decide who's going to sleep on the mattress cuz there too many I guess maybe too many uh campers came or whatever so they were short of mattress and the two of them got in a mlus I'm going to sleep on the floor no I'm going to sleep on the floor it wasn't I'm sleeping on the mattress and you're going to sleep on the floor but it was the opposite and I think we can all internalize that mysterious Nish eats on our own levels it's it's hopefully we're not going to be in this situation of pish but we can be most neish on a very simple way giving to other people and we can use that as as an example but to get but I I would just say I would just say if you would ask those two soldiers and you say oh wow you reach such a Madre of they would probably both laugh and say oh you don't know what you're talking about and I think it's important to understand there are moments that the what the what the cabalists call the core of the Jewish Nama comes out and then you realize that you're operating on a level of Consciousness in which you're you are operating on a level of consciousness where everything that 10 minutes ago or a day ago we thought was so significant you're completely transcended not because you're crazy not because you became an angel because you actually tuned into the deepest deepest frequencies of your soul and when you're on that level it's like I'm not sacrificing anything I'm not going crazy just because I'm such a such a nice person I'm actually I'm actually connecting to the deepest level of myself that says you know what of course I want him to live and go back to his family and therefore there was a it wasn't with a depression or with a sadness it was done with such a sense of and it's hard for us to Fathom what's more precious than protecting your body what what else do we want to do all of life we're busy protecting ourselves why do we go why do we go to work why do why do we spend time going to a doctor why do we eat why do we sleep why do we take care of ourselves cuz we just want to protect our lives and at that moment you realize that you're part of something that's infinite you're part of and even physical life may not even capture that truth you know always say you know according to yish guy death is really you know the refrigerator is unplugged when the refrigerator is unplugged electricity doesn't die the electricity doesn't die the electricity returns back to the source of electricity it's just not channeled through the refrigerator and I believe at that moment he felt that at that moment he didn't feel my life is going to end but I'm a nice person I'm giving it to somebody else he felt that the of in and is absolutely Eternal the difference between death the tragedy of death is that we don't see it we don't feel it the electricity of the Nish is not being channeled through the gof it's not being channeled through the refrigerator the refrigerator can do its job because it's unplugged death is not death it's not this sensation of life it's unplugged the soul is not being channeled through the Goof and therefore on the level of the Soul there's an absolute Clarity and and certainty that this is not the end of it there's complete Oneness with Hashem for eternity that's why we know every is eternal yet we grieve because we want to see you we want to hear you we want we want to be able to touch you so they touched that deepest deepest frequency you know you're talking about you're talking about mfish in our own in our own our own life there was a moment I heard this from somebody his name is he works in sahal IDF in the terror unit anti-terror units and he went to one of the kib I think it wasar AO and uh he eliminated dozens of terrorists and then they went home to home searching for Jews who were hiding and he said this he went into one of the homes and there were Jews hiding in the Mad in the reinforcement security room and he knocked on the door and he said Z they didn't believe him they thought it wasnik camouflage this sahal speaking Hebrew so he started to quote SL you know words in Hebrew and they didn't believe him he said they thought maybe memorized but then he said enough and he gave enough Jewish references that they believed him and they opened the door and Y said he came into a room it was filled with Jews who were hiding from the terrorists and they survived and he said and you know what happened instinctively I just fell on each one of their shoulders and I just embraced them and C kissed them and we hugged and we cried and then yair said I walked out of that room and I'm going to quote him in Hebrew he said I walked out of that room with one feeling I want to kiss and hug every Jew I meet any Jew I me I just want to kiss you don't talk to me about fragmentation and separation it doesn't interest me I realized at that moment what do you saying in Israel right I had an epiphany again aimon aimon fell right an epiphany moment right a moment you know we we operate in Psychology and Neuroscience you can operate on different vibrations you know there's the vibration of guilt vibration of Shame of hate of jealousy of self-loathing of judgmentalism they're all vibrations they're all they're all very active I can operate on those levels of consciousness those frequency levels but they're very very low vibration levels it's a very narrow and diminished way of living and then you get to the higher Vibes you know and one of the highest ones is pure love and I think the Jew as Jews we can operate and live on different Vibes you know I could be in a place of judgmentalism jealousy hatred anger frustration resentment guilt self- guilt self-loathing embarrassment humiliation we all know these emotions we live with them what yir experienced at that moment was the highest frequency of the Jewish Soul it was living on the deepest vibration I see a Jew and if I'm in touch with myself you know what I want to do just want to kiss you I want to hug you why why why why do I want to hug you it's a ridiculous question this is not about a logical intellectual cerebral you know idea in science or mathematics or geometry or engineering this is the deepest frequency of the Jewish Soul we're all one soul I want to hug you says because he is she is Kam our souls are one and on that moment he felt it he experienced it I don't want to live on on Lower vibrations and I think this is what these soldiers can teach us all that even as God willing there'll be more peaceful days and we'll go back to normal let's not go back to normal in the sense of diminishing Who We Are of tuning in to our lower frequencies I want to go back to normal in the sense that I can remain always connected with the truths we discovered since October 7th and that's what it means having Clarity having Clarity having Clarity emotional Clarity even physical Clarity in our nervous system and certainly intellectual Clarity and not allowing other emotions and thoughts which always come in that's part of human struggle to control us to dictate us and it's very easy to happen listen we are a nation it's very easy for us to be fragmented let's face it you know judgmentalism is pretty comes natural to us argument debates and it's not a curse you look open up any page of gar it's filled of debates and filled of filled with arguments and filled with disputes the first mishna in bras already has a three-way argument but the last mishna says we have to learn how debates and arguments should never never undermine trust loyalty connection and living with m neish in a practical way means that every moment of life I want to choose to remain in the space of godliness space of kadus that means in a space of Light Of Love of connectivity and that doesn't eliminate pain the soul feels pain feels pain the soul feels pain feels pain but is always clar it this Clarity what do I do how do I relate to it I don't detach I attach I don't drift away I don't go into a place of ego and isolation and Detachment and self-righteousness and self-consciousness those are all blockages they block the soul I want to always tune into the Sacred Space where there's unbelievable amounts of love and trust and loyalty and connectivity and Clarity what is good and what is evil and keep that Focus absolutely I do want to go back to the amuna point because somebody sent me this question and I did not respond yet and I'd love to get your input on how I should respond I'm quoting I am just so sad that whatever it is we are trying to do right we cannot get to the point that Hashem says D let enough you've had enough sorrow is and puts an end to all of the suffering how should I respond to that this conversation is not such an easy conversation I have to say um you're bringing up you know but no one said it would be but listen not you know this is not the time to have easy conversations right it's the time to have real conversations not easy conversations but real conversations um I'll tell you I look at the Jewish people and I am in awe with all of our flaws and all of our deficiencies and all of our mistakes and all of our sins and all of our transgressions you know as and he lived before the Holocaust once told Hashem he said you know we weren't deceived by you you know you delivered you're God but I want to tell you something Hashem you were also not deceived by us when you chose us as your spouse ah we weren't deceived but you also weren't deceived just appreciate that after thousands of years in which we haven't heard hashem's voice clearly we have suffered so much turbulence and Trauma Exile and pums and persecutions and inquisitions genocide and holocausts and for 75 years Israel has been in an active state of War an active state of War what happened October 7th was not something new it was just finally Hamas achieved some level of success rlam in their you know satanic plans which would be there every single day and the Jewish people the Jewish people are alive there's so much Faith there's so much there's so much mitv and even Jews who are alienated from Judaism most of them they want to be Jewish they want to give charity they want to make the world a better place some of them are misguided some of them don't know how to do it some of them have been indoctrinated many of them are always say but there's such a collective goodness and Holiness in the Jewish people and if you don't believe me look who our enemies are when you're hated by Hitler when you're hated by Stalin when you're hated by Hamas by Iran byala by Syria when every despot who's ready to murder his own citizens hates the Jewish people we see who hates us it means why wow look how much K how much goodness there is and there people you know were hated today like we were hated 500 years ago a th000 years ago 2,000 years ago it means it's the same Jews it's the same Jews who left who stood at who were there by by it's the same CL says in an individual Jew can die CL doesn't die it's the same CL the same hate the same venom look at the of so I don't know that I would phrase it you know we can't get it together like why is Hashem so angry at us like we we we're always failing and losing it like what's this like we have this Ultimate Enemy in heaven the way I process it the way I process it and I think it's I think it's more authentic I think it's more real and I think it's also more compassionate is the length of galus is not something that we can understand already the G has an expression in already in the time of the gamar right there was cats after cats every Jew had a hero children Jews have been through so much so much so the question is why didn't mhia come why didn't the Gula come and I think the real answer is what I heard from the Reb many times we really don't know we really don't know this story is a story that's beyond our intellectual grasp I don't think the approach is you know we're so bad we're such a bad people we're such a evil people I don't think it motivates people I don't even think it's true I think God is in all of the Jewish people I think God is crazy about the Jewish people he's in love with the Jewish people if I can express myself so take it with a grain of salt he can't even believe how holy and sacred and awesome our people are that's I think the I think I think that's the real truth I once heard of gavala metaphor gal metaphor it touched me very deeply and now imagine a husband is leaving the house house right he's leaving the house and his wife is expecting him to come home and she uh she makes his favorite soup his favorite vegetable soup and she puts it out for him when he comes home he'll have dinner and he doesn't come home he doesn't come home for a day and a year and two years and a decade and a century and a millennium and most people are telling you you know throw out the soup and go find another husband and she says no no no he said he's coming home and then he comes home after 2,000 years he sits down and there's soup and he takes the spoon and he puts it into the bowl and he eats the soup and do you think he turns to his wife and says it's cold it's cold soup why you giving me cold soup or he says wow wow wow you have been waiting and you have soup waiting on the table 2,000 years the Jewish people did not abandon their identity as Jews the med says everybody says Shu let go come assimilate even the most secular Jews still if you tell them you're not Jewish it's the worst insult what's the insult what do you care CU a wants to be a Jew when mhia comes and Hashem is going to come and he's going to taste the soup he's not going to say it's cold he's going to say wow wow wow wow I think that needs to be our feeling that's that's the truth yes we need to do CH yes we need to increase in but not from a place of guilt from a place of knowing that ultimately as the r says look at the world as balanced and every can tip the scale knowing that at every moment I could be a conduit for G Energy I could be a conduit for more positivity more Holiness more goodness more blessing in the world and that's where I want to be I want to be a conduit for blessing exactly the what hasem is waiting for what's going to make it happen I don't know you don't know but I personally deeply deeply feel that when you look at the Jewish people the right response is to say ah when you speak to Jews that way they feel it and they get it and it's the greatest way to inspire people to become even better to become even more powerful to become even more loving to become even more Jewish that was very beautiful keep at it keep at the mitas I once heard an explanation of why you should have a Mak K when I think it was said in the name of the Aral that you can imagine if you're sieging a city and you're trying to bang through the wall with a catapult if you hit here and you hit there and you hit there you're not going to accomplish anything but if you keep banging at the same place over and over and over again that f is going to get through that catapult is going to get through and that's exactly what you're saying let's keep on at it with the Mitzvah with the every mitah we can do and we'll have tremendous success together exactly and I think it's very very important to remember that you know when we speak about messia we speak about G it's not just something that comes from above obviously there's that which comes from above you know and the building of the ETC but there's also living in that space individually and collectively you know every story about there was a great of of he made Al 1777 it was the first to the Holy Land 1777 and he moved toia he's buried in Taria and they say that one man he was you know mentally challenged and he went up up to the har and he blew a Scher so they started to say that Mia is here went to the mountain as blowing the Scher and rumor came to and they tolda that they say's blowing sht from so he went out he went to his window he opened the window he stretched out his head he sniffed the ear and he said unfortunately not yet so say why couldn't he smell the ear in his own home and they said because the atmosphere in his home was always an atmosphere of mesiah so he had to smell outside to see what's happening in the climate outside of his home and I think the message is we also create a consciousness of gula in our own homes in our own lives when I choose every day to make my Divine soul my best friend and to allow my body and my animal soul to become conduits for my Divine Soul when I choose every day and every moment to live in a space of connection of kindness of Love of light of faith and I don't want to step out of that I want to remain in a place of dis decisive Clarity in a place of kadus and that's how I connect to you that's how I connect to my loved ones that's how I connect to every person that's how I live what we're doing is we're creating that the the the the cosmos of msia in a microcosmic way we created in our heart in our space in our home don't underestimate that power the writes writes that every Jew has a little spark of mhia every Jew is a little mhia every Jewish child is a little mhia he says when everyone reveals their spark of Messiah our Sparks together create a flame and that's the collective Messiah it's a very powerful Insight it's not just we're waiting for some individual to show up on a donkey and redeem the world yeah mashiah is going to come and redeem the world but what does that really mean it means I have to redeem my own mashia the mhia inside of me I want to emancipate I want the mhi inside of me to Glow with intensity with atomic energy with all of its potency and I want the Gula Spark me to shine and what does that mean practically it means that my Divine Consciousness my consciousness of love and connection to the Almighty which is the connection to the whole world and the chestone is fully fully alive when I reveal my spark you reveal your spark she reveals her spark he reveals spk we create a flame and that's the flame called G so it's important also to go inside of ourselves and we each have responsibility accordingly to the cloud not just responsibility we are part of the cloud the gamor say right literally it means we are guarantors for each other so we could understand it as it's almost like I signed a contract that I'm taking responsibility for your loan you know a classic said has three meanings in Hebrew AR means guarantors comes from the word mixing right to mix also means sweet is a sweet food all the Jewish people are mixed we're integrated with each other we're really one cohesive entity it says in that the Jewish people are like limbs of one organism literally one body AR all parts of the body are one we're part of one organism and therefore one Jew makes another Jew sweet if you're in touch with your true self when you see another Jew you feel sweetness there's the sense of you feel another the god in you feels the god in him it's all one and therefore we're guarantors for each other so it doesn't begin we're just responsible for each other we're connected with each other on the deepest level we're one and I have to say that the visceral pain that Jews felt after October 7th and are still feeling with all of it the the depth of hurt and anguish it shows how our organism is working and it's a alive it's alive you know if I don't feel the pain in my finger it's not a good sign you know there's no nerves there if a limb is amputated it's amputated the fact that the Jewish people thousands of kilometers thousands of miles away from Bay from near from from most Jews never even heard the names of these K they don't know anybody who lives there they don't know any of the families that were slain there but everybody almost everybody was feeling so much pain why the is we are a living organism and it's functioning it's functioning so the visceral pain is really a demonstration of the visceral love and therefore I always tell my students and friends I say we're all having a lot of pain just look behind the pain and you'll see how much love there is so tune in the pain and tune into to the love very beautiful very beautiful turning the trauma into growth very beautiful Rabbi Jacobson I wanted to thank you so much for joining us always pleasure speaking with you thank you so much for the honor and the privilege may we see a complete Victory and may we see a complete G now thank you amen amen this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at w.the yeshiva.net donate