The Jacobson Brothers Discuss It All: Rabbi Simon & Rabbi YY Jacobson

the yeshiva dotnet [Music] good morning Simon Jacobsen my dear and beloved brother yet why why Jacobson it's official Jacobson I'm the oldest in the family he's the youngest and we have three siblings sandwiched in between boy girl boy their own boy and it's a pleasure to be here together we spoke a briefly a little about the structure and format here and we'll get straight to it so no need for long introductions you've already heard us independently and now we'll be here together so we'd like to do to really maximize the time in the fullest way instead of talking about one thing at length rather talk about many things and as much as possible and also engage with you the audience so we're gonna do is we're gonna begin with a few questions that we'll ask each other and try to stick to not try the absolutely stick to short answers and short doesn't mean 45 minutes which is short by the way in relatively speaking but rather maybe two minutes and and then be happy to take questions from all of you and hopefully this will be a very meaningful and reaching session for all of us I'll start with a question to my esteemed brother if if you were given the opportunity to change one thing in the system of all Jewish schools and education from grade one from free one day what would it be you stumped me it's an excellent question one thing would be a complete radical shift on the focus that instead of focusing on data knowledge and information talk about Jewish information to focus on soul on the Shama why are we here God sent us for a purpose that your entire life whatever you'll do is going to be driven by that purpose you have something unique to contribute that you and no one else could contribute and we as parents and educators are here to help you do that I'll just explain why I think this is the single most important because if children from youngest of age know that and it's inculcated it's like integrated part of their wiring and they really sense it it creates confidence and security and really all the Foundation's necessary to be successful in Excel and anything you do in addition to of course instead of fighting all the demons and the negative stuff in life being able to focus on what light you're bringing to this world because if you really measure most people I don't know the exact numbers are really more busy with fighting evil or fighting demons I should say than really spreading light and this would be a big preemptive element to that obviously there's no guarantees but that would be a soul based education not just education as in schooling but 24/7 constantly reinforcing and encouraging and helping us build the courage to be you who you are express your voice sing your song there's my brother smart or what you see why I married into the family okay that was a minute answer give all the case history for Jacobson yeah let's see if I can emulate him so my question to you my dear brother my beloved brother I have to just say one thing when he was a little child when he was born it's 1972 it was the cutest human being ever saw no and what does that change there we go when I lost my innocence now I never changed but you know a newborn's a newborn and for me it was like I was 15 years old it was like a soul that came and I first for the first time appreciated a life and I have to just say it's never changed to be honest but he doesn't let me embrace him as I did that okay the dimples have been eclipsed by the beard huh yeah if you look at his kids you could see a little taste so my question to you is since so much has been talked about Hasidic thought and the citizen we both grew up in that community the Reber and it was the seventh and the line of rebus all starting back from the baal shem tov what would you think would be the contribution that's pursue this in general and maybe specifically in our generation is contributed to judaism and to the human race Wow okay one minute I would say offhand I would say three major points or three major themes number one the absolute and radical faith in the oneness in the oneness of the universe God is one and Hasidic teachings means not God is one but that everything is part of the divine that means we're all connected it means we're all children of God that means we all can be here for each other it means we're responsible for the world it means that physics science biology cosmology mathematics psychology spirituality Jewish law and Judaism are all one because it's all part of divinity I think that is one major theme another major theme is that the relationship between God and the Jewish people and God generally and humanity is one that is rooted in deep love and unconditional love sometimes Judaism becomes a focus on contracts it's like we have a contract with God and we lose the essential and deep powerful love and I think a third component is the universal and big picture that our mission is really to transform the whole world like we say in LA no Lusaka in alum and those visions that the baal shem tov and the students articulated i think are the most powerful and relevant to this very day and urgent today more than ever excellent my dear brother what was the most memorable and moving experience in your life or one of the most memorable and moving experiences in your life besides Marion Shandy or besides me being born of course there we go - it's a great question from in any situation like what that word one that we're related I think to the audience how many of you were here Wednesday night when we had this session I spoke about the mission the rubbish contribution will you hear Wednesday night but not most of you right okay I'm not gonna repeat it I just want to know for context as a young man like all of us as young people when we begin to search and seek and try to understand ourselves and our role in this world and why we here and I was no different struggling with that so though there are many memorable moments that I could identify but I believe probably that crossroad where you move from adolescence to maturity to being at least in your mind somewhat of an adult and really making a decision that will affect the rest of your life so to me it was those definitive moments that I would say most memorable I'm only saying that because as I said in context I could share many different experiences so let me just share what that was for me I was internally you know 14 15 years old like most kids it was not necessarily a very good student I was bored in school I saw a lot of mediocrity and a lot of complacency there are many good people in my life and just for full disclosure I was not abused nor hurt so it wasn't like I was angry or bitter on the contrary like I used to always tell my friends when we used to talk I said I was never disappointed because I never expected anything you know so others expected and they got hurt that might get my situation was the exact opposite I was looking for something and I didn't have the words for it at that time you know I think I mentioned the expression rebel without a cause in retrospect so that epiphany which happened and I can give you the dates even it was on the 10th of swats in 1974 and was on the second day of Schwarz 1975 that had a traumatic impact on me because I came to recognize certain truth that would never leave me and I must say wasn't a true that was not inside it was resonating and it was in the presence of the lubavitcher rebbe who was that type of compelling personality who spoke straight to the soul at til that point I must say he was a presence but I didn't appreciate it but it was in the right time the right place and I can tell you I'll talk about the second the tenth day of sharad that was a very I'm sorry the second day of Schwarz and the rebel was talking about the contribution and the the revelation at Sinai which happens as force what what happened what why was it so dramatic I mean God gave us the Ten Commandments the mandate called the Torah what was so dramatic was because a window a door opened up between heaven and earth that for the first time ever the human race the mortal flawed limited human being can transform matter into spirit matter into energy and I have to tell you this is my own personal experience was at the right time as I said the right place I felt in my heart and my soul my entire being I could almost see it had the rebel was describing like you look at a table it just looks like a table but it's really pulsating with energy waiting to be released so if you use the table for a good thing to study to spend time with family the same thing with an apple that you put into your mouth and you use it for proper productive and constructive ends you have transformed that matter forever and I saw it with my own eyes I felt it and it was like such a powerful experience because I never looked at the world in the same way again to be honest I started seeing people on events and expert and encounters and places I went to in that light that it's all potential energy waiting to be released not never sits never what you see is never what you get I could elaborate more but trying to keep it limited that was in a moment that really changed my perspective now of course it was accumulative and till this day this is how I see everything I would ask you the same question it's a good question memorable and I'll talk about what memorable experience that I had with with therapy as well which left I think a very deep impact on me and I think it was a guide for life it was 1985 some historic 1986 some historic that night the Mets won I think the first time in 26 years or something I mean those who know this will correct me but it was approximately then and it was similar story at night the news arrived around 10 o'clock to 770 that the Mets won and there were a lot of fans the lubavitcher rebbe would have a fab ring in a gathering before the hakka fought on some historic for the dancing this was 1986 and I still remember while he was talking somebody in the back I even know remember who it was he's a big Slayer today and he gave a scream the Mets won he was so excited it meant like life was like the Messiah has arrived for him because the Mets won the Rebbe however was in a different world and he spoke about one thing that I'll never forget he analyzed the last Rashi the last commentary of Rashi on the whole homage on the whole Torah the end of the Torah speaks about the death of Moses the Torah eulogizes Moses and says there was never a prophet like him there was never a man like him who knew God face to face and goes through everything he accomplished in his life the exodus of Egypt is splitting of the sea the ten plagues the giving of the Torah the miracles in the desert what's the last eulogy what's the last comment the Torah makes about Moses the last words let a call you sir all Rashi says that Moses broke the tablets and the rebus said I don't understand that was the most catastrophic tragedy in his life that's like the pinnacle of all the eulogies it's like you talk about a surge in 50 years he saved 20,000 lives but the greatest thing is that he killed one of his patients I mean we managed to amputate both of his arms and legs it may have happened but it's not like very pinnacle the Rebbe then saw he broke down sobbing you remember like I never saw before after he was sobbing literally like a baby when he gave his answer it took maybe a half an hour a little longer but to summarize it in 30 40 seconds Moses broke the tablets he said for one reason to save the Jews because the tablets were the marriage contract between God and the Jewish people and the Jews so to speak betrayed the marriage so Moses broke the marriage contract basically saying that the Jews are not really you know they're still not married to you there's no contract there's no silver to prove it so there's still you know bachelors running around looking for some happiness until they figure out who they have to commit and their ever said the greatest quality of Moshe of Moses was that he took the most priceless item in the world what's the most priceless item in the world the tablets that were carved out by God and Moses deepest commitment was to Torah Tashia and yet when he had to choose between God the Torah and the Jewish people what did he do he broke the most precious divine item to save the Jewish people he said that's what a shepherd is the Rebbe is sobbed uncontrollably and anybody who was there including myself it was such a transformative moment how to learn Torah how to understand what Jewish leadership is how to understand who Moses was how to understand who there ever was and most importantly to understand that if Torah and God does not lead you to the love of the Jewish people and the love of humanity then you're barking up the wrong tree and you got the wrong Torah [Applause] so we're going to take the audience questions from the audience we'll just choose and and if you want to direct it to either one of us or one of us or either either way you like we'll go with that so go ahead the question was a double question that once you begin to teach and write Torah cities and it becomes your job your profession how do you not get jaded by that and secondly what was the second half of that Yeah right deal with your own personal okay excellent so briefly others would all say if you know how much we get paid you realize it's not such an issue don't guess it's not that difficult not to get jaded you get humbled as well even though I know we all love each other and we have very good audiences and good reactions so thank you for that but when it comes down to the bottom line and my case I have to raise money and raising money God made it very intentionally so that it's difficult like the joke they tell the guy the rabbi that gets into a synagogue and says to the congregation we have a hole in the roof and we need a hundred thousand dollars and there's good news and bad news the good news we have the money the bad news it's in your pockets so so please don't see this as an appeal but the fact is that so but but I still want to answer in a more serious note I'll say the following that it is a challenge but I'll be honest we've been I speak for myself but I'm sure my brother feels similarly when you were around the rubber who money was an absolute none factor I think he got $80 a week or something like that don't even know what he got but money was not an issue it's suddenly it rubs off on you so though obviously we need to pay our bills and we have families and not knowing that responsible but then the end of the day it's not what drives me at least what drives me is the mission of my life and knowing the fact that God wants us to have to raise money to pay the bills and to do good things so and I ask anybody for money I always say to them it's really about being able to achieve great things it's not about enriching anybody you know I've written books and there are royalties and people ask how much you get from royalties you have to sell millions of books to begin to even talk about it just for the records as far as the second half of the question maybe I'll defer to my brother since I don't want to completely monopolize this a question so don't take it away from here yeah I do know that the one dear ever visited the Habad camp in the Catskill Mountains camp GaN Israel there was a sign on the canteen money is the root of all evil leave your evil here and the red basalt and what did he say he said something right he said it's not the root of all evil so you should change the sign yeah which was very consistent with the rapper that no physical reality even if it could be corrupted is essentially corrupt the question is how you look at it how you use it you build the base on Victor's with money right and I think the National Jewish retreat also cost a couple of thousand steal a cell by mints at least they raise money as though it cost a couple of dollars the second question was how do you replenish yourself I mean again I think I could speak for myself there's two to two very important things number one is you always have to keep learning and growing yourself what happens sometimes two speakers and teachers is they repeat what they learned 20 years ago and basically they're bored of themselves so the people may not know it in the beginning but ultimately you've heard it and you heard it all if a teacher is not consistently challenging himself to greater heights the material is not fresh he or she will become jaded which is why in my personal life I try very hard to learn and to teach constantly including things that are not usable for lectures and speeches I give a daily Talmud class and the laws of ritual purity and impurity if I would get up and give a sermon Friday night about it within 30 seconds everybody would be snoring it's complex it's intricate but I know for me personally it challenges me and it stimulates me and it allows me to go to places and learning of Torah that is not always for speeches and sermons but it just keeps my soul and my brain alive and I think that's extremely important if you stop doing that then you become a mouthpiece like a lifeless mouthpiece [Applause] you both said that Torres iturra for all of humanity correct correct included in that Torah the seven Noahide laws that are for everybody it's obvious to everybody watching any kind of news that the world is desperately needing the voice of Torah the me to movement all these Jewish guys that are doing all these things where is that voice why don't I hear that voice in social media everywhere like this is the time now is the time for that voice to come forward I have the same question I find it actually tragic and sad that 3301 years ago there was a great event called Mountain Martin Torah at Sinai that offered us divine blueprint by none other than the creator of life so it's like having the operator's manual that tells us how to be the healthiest human beings to build healthiest communities and Nations and so on addresses every issue sometimes you have to dig deeper and look into it and it's not seen necessarily as that blueprint today however the good news is and I'm sure we've been touched upon in many different lectures throughout this weekend that much of the United States is fundamental principles and many of the worlds including charity and other humanitarian values and so on our Torah based so a lot of progress has been made if you compare the world today to the world a few hundred years ago and definitely a few thousand years ago but there's a lot more to be done and sometimes to be honest I when I present and sometimes someone says so what's your mission in the broadest universal sense I would say is to reclaim Sinai as being the first source for direction to all matters in life as it was back then and it has become in many different ways so I think it's our job all of us here not just myself and my brother and other teachers it's our job wherever we go in our communities in our families and wherever we are our workplace is to demonstrate there's a dilemma you mentioned me too you mention other issues do we have something to say and if you don't say anything then of course the conclusion will be we have nothing to say it's one of the reasons I wrote toward a meaningful life because if people said to me where's the where the books it's all in Hebrew so I think we are obligated to have something to say and if you don't have something to say call someone up that can help you or direct people to someone that can help today online you can find a lot of stuff there's a lot more work to be done but I can't see it happening without all of us together as partners it has to be grassroots where just as I spoke yesterday about Trump from a Torah perspective we can talk about me too we could talk about his scandals we could talk about sexual stuff we could talk about sports for that matter and the Torres something to say on everything believe it or not it's our job to do that and the more we do it more all of us commit to it it can have a ripple effect and what do you think mushiya is a world filled with divine knowledge as the waters cover the sea divine knowledge that store of knowledge spiritual knowledge yes keeping the relationship with your child first and foremost when the child doesn't want to be religious or spiritual and I just need to understand though because I have that situation and I naturally kept the relationship but where do you draw the line like sometimes I would not go to shul on Shabbat to spend some time with her but now as she's getting older she's 14 I feel like well that may not be the right thing to do like I have to model for her what where I want to be and I just need to understand a little bit more about how to try to guide her since she's 14 in the right direction you ask a very sensitive and important question I don't know that there are black-and-white guidelines when it comes to this issue but I think the general rule and the general principle that I would say is don't look at it as either or either I go to shul to spend time with God or I waste my time trying to hang out with my daughter who says that you'll be closer to God and shrew then if you're gonna spend the time with your daughter I would say sometimes it's the other way around if you were thinking of giving that same answer to college-age students where would you focus where would you begin in other words of a city's best educators the cities based program for the rahim to offer to college students directed to me or to my brother and Wednesday night the opening session that I was at I shared a story about the Rebbe with a young man who was planning to go to college about a circle and a center some of you remember that that was where they were there actually every year is an annual international Habad on-campus conference where you have over a thousand students come to Crown Heights and they hosted by different families and they have events and so on and my house has become one of the stops at quite a few students and I always talk to them about that analogy so frankly what I said about young children I would sit to call students as well except in a different language and that is you're now at a crossroad in your life you don't yet have a job you're finishing or you're middle of your education and your making gonna make big decisions in the next few years what you're gonna do with your life who you marry where you're gonna live and so on so the most single most important thing you should be focusing on is not your knowledge what everybody's taking medicine or law or accounting or computer science or political science but rather why what will you do with all these tools called knowledge to make this world a better place to actualize yourself and fulfill your purpose in life because you can't have a circle without a center and just like a business can't function without a mission statement the human being cannot be effective without a true mission statement which cannot just be a generic I want I'll be a happy person I'll make money that's not a mission statement every company is supposed to be doing that how will you uniquely with your particular skill set and your experience and your opportunities how will you use that to give and serve the human race and they're always so intrigued the college students by this I'm telling you they like gravitate to it as I see that's what exactly what to be the message I would offer to that age thank you thank you both I wanted to pick up on something another woman said because I had expressed this to my rabbi in traveling in California one year we traveled all over and listened to the radio and it occurred to me that that Habad should be on the radio there are so many truckers there are so many people who are listen to the radio as they make their living and I used to listen years ago to Car Talk on NPR with click and clack the brothers you two are a team I mean you could easily be picked up by NPR so I don't know if you've ever thought of it but I think there's a whole world out there that has a hungry soul and there are so many people who know so little about Judaism because we are such a small part of the you know percentage of the population and this would be a wonderful outreach tool thank you for the vote of confidence do you work in the media I'd say this I'll just say this I'm sure remember maybe brother wants to add something by all means I mean I frankly feel sometimes spread very thin and some and maybe needs more focus but there's no question not saying it's humbly but with all humility that if there was a proper tunity I'm sure there are to be able to reach much larger audiences and today with technology and internet and so on both of us do podcasts and we do classes and programs but if anyone has any real practical ideas I'm sure we both be receptive theoretically you're 100% right the leadership of every Jewish organization should get together with the leadership of every other Jewish organization and make a national international Jewish retreat with a lot of food for four days and realized the urgency and make resolutions and change the world okay you're right you're 100% right if you and I wait til that happens it's gonna happen 20 years after mashiac arrives so so the real question is there's a Jew's child who lives on my block why don't I inspire his parents to send them to a Jewish school that's what you can do and that's what I can do will change the world we'll do it one Jew at a time non-stop if I wait till everybody comes together I'll wait forever I just want to add to that that something I've thought about a lot over the years you know what's the most effective way to get your bang for the buck so to speak to put in an amount of energy and get the biggest results and we all begin when were younger or more idealistic thinking you know let's just go to the institutions and organizations that are already doing it educational institutions or outreach institutions or social programs and so on and then you know like everybody goes through three stages like there's at one point when you're in high school or you're in college and you say to yourself hey you know what I'm gonna change these educational systems then you realize that happening so fast okay then comes stage 2 I'm gonna build my own you know then you realize that's not happening either it's a lot of money and basically resignation and say okay too bad you know that's it I had good ideas so I've thought about this a lot a lot and I realized it's very difficult to go from the top down for some of the reasons my brother didn't say the reasons but I agree with him it's very difficult because institutions are locked in a certain way not flexible and I'm not even criticizing maybe they're just stuck or whatever it is they have their budgets so grass roots is what I thought is maybe the easiest way because today with technology you could create a groundswell and a revolution from the bottom up and then today all the institutions need individuals like us because we're the ones that paid tuition and we're the ones that support them so I thought that maybe even though it may be more difficult to approach but it's more realistic grassroots and that will create a transformation that will affect even the institutions and organizations that we have in 67 when the Temple Mount was in our hands once again if you had been an advisor to the Prime Minister what would you have advised - on how to handle that by 1967 yeah I mean I have one minute and I'm gonna be very blunt and Frank the sensitive ones won't mind I hope you'll forgive me I believe that Israel made a tragic historic mistake in 1967 the detrimental results that we are seeing until this very day the you for the Utopia the utopian euphoric feeling of the great miracles of Israel being tripled almost quadrupled in six days of seven armies trying to wipe out the people and creating a second Holocaust defeated in six days not in five years by Churchill and Roosevelt and Stalin in six days by a tiny army the Jewish world was transformed for the first time in close to 2,000 years Jews felt the presence of God the presence of Israel what it means for them the whole ball shuva it was created at that moment the but there was one group that sadly and I'm not judging them they were not ready for it and that was a major part of the leadership in Israel who so entrenched in a very secular socialist veldt and shaolong not only did not seize the moment but went to the opposite Moshe Dayan after six hours commanded the army to remove the Israeli flag from the Temple Mount what message did that give to Nasser what message did that give to King Hussein what message did that give Tyra father what message did that give to the whole Arab world at the end of the day the Jews are weak they don't mean it and they're not confident in their mission and their position and the rest are catastrophic results finally finally a relevant question from the mouths of babes on the mouths of babes exactly no offense okay no offense he said no offense why why I want you as my therapist we're exactly 15 and a half years apart you got to figure out as I said at the outset who's old something I've been wondering is you know what I've learned from this retreat and just from being around Habad is that you serve God through the minut details of your life and we're serving this force that is so much more powerful and so outside of the realm of what we're even able to understand and what I'm confused by is why is God so jealous about somebody like us that's so insignificant wouldn't that be like us obsessing over the behaviors of ants and if if God you know can do anything and create new universes why would he care about the meet that we're not eating with milk like it just it seems disproportionate and it almost brings us to this level of we're so important that we are of concern to the all-powerful and I and I struggle with that so I wanted to hear your answer yes good would you be surprised if I told you that probably thousands of pages have been written by Jewish scholars and mystics precisely on this theme would you know that did you know that well it's the fact so whatever will be said here is gonna be brief but I would encourage you and everybody this is exactly what Torah especially for this is about how do we bridge the infinite and the finite and I'll just make the question even stronger not just how God cares but how what about us how high can we reach can we touch heaven can we touch the infinite can be touched the eternal or are we bound to our mortal parameters with so many people keep on trying to tell us that you who do you think you are what can you accomplish your one speck accident among seven half billion people so the answer in one unequivocal sentence is this this God is beyond infinite and therefore beyond Infinite and Beyond finite and when you study the matter of fascinating insight into ideas and to transcendence levels that's hard to imagine even and this God infused us with something godly I wanted a partner there's no jealousy going on here this is a partnership a partnership between something that's beyond anything that you can even define with the defined human being and that one sentence in the Torah that God said I want to create an entity in my image in the divine image thousands and thousands of pages what does that mean does the divine even have an image and how do we connect with it so I said it's impossible to sum it up but suffice it to say that each one of us has infinity beating hearts and it's about us to access it and that's what Jews always new and always believed and that's why we were able to transcend all the nonsense well sometimes it was much worse than nonsense and all the pain and all the suffering because we always felt that connection with the eternal and that when we commit to something that's eternal in some way we become internal everybody's looking for that Fountain of Youth no it's not in Cyril genic freezing and it's not in the Pharaohs of old and it's not in Botox and it's not all the other type of gimmicks it's in allowing your soul to dominate your life and the soul is eternal this holds a piece of God in its own way and can allow us to touch the highest of the high and allow God the highest of the high to touch us in one fusion one marriage of heaven and earth so we'll just say concluding line each of us can be do that yeah I want to say this this will be one of the last sessions I think I have one more panel after this I want to thank you all personally it's uh to me I was always training I always grew up knowing that the most dignified thing of all is the intersecting of souls of kindred spirits and even if we may or have different opinions or come from different backgrounds the beauty the harmony within diversity is the ultimate goal just talking about touching the infinite we touch the infinite when we love each other when we transcend our own self-interest and our own boundaries and we connect and I want to thank you all for the happening this making this connection some of us actually met each other and I hopefully we could all say hello before we each go back to our journeys wherever we are and hopefully we can bring a taste of this infinity to the finite worlds wherever we will go so thank you so much I second that and share with you this final remark there was a little girl standing at the beach as the tide was retreating the ocean spit out scores and scores of starfish the little girl felt belt bad for the starfish if she kept on picking up Beach starfish and throwing it back into the water to give it back its life and one old cynic goes over ten says you foolish little girl this modest Beach stretches for miles and miles even if you stand all day you are accomplishing nothing you're not making a difference there are millions and millions of lives of starfish being stranded here on the shores you're doing nothing you're making no difference little girl picks up one starfish and she throws it into the water she looks at this old sinner country says for this one I made all the difference my dear friends there is one human being for whom you can make all the difference use your influence thank you [Applause] [Music] this class is brought to you by the achieve Annette please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at triple w dot they you Shiva net slash donate