You Can’t Teach Today Without Doing Deep Personal Work; Moving from the Frequency of Exile to Redemption Chavie Bruk interviewed Rabbi YY Jacobson on her podcast, “Totally Unexpected,” 3 Tamuz, 5785, June 29, 2025. Chavie begins the conversation by asking Rabbi YY how he manages his output of classes and public appearances while balancing personal responsibilities. Rabbi YY shares that although he has always maintained a heavy workload, he eventually realized that constantly jumping from one thing to the next can be a distraction. He shares a personal anecdote from when he was teaching a class to teenagers, and his own teenage children found it amusing that their father would have any relevant advice for teens. That was one of the catalysts for embarking on his own journey of self-discovery and reshaping his approach to teaching. Chavie and Rabbi YY discuss the importance of practicing an embodied Judaism and recognizing when ego or the self takes control of the task at hand. Rabbi YY describes what it was like to memorize six to seven hours of the Rebbe’s lectures every week as a young student, and how that continues to impact him more than thirty years later. Chavie brings up how the concept of Moshiach can sometimes feel elusive. Rabbi YY offers that today, we can taste what it feels like to live in a Messianic era by letting go of the things we cannot control—the frequencies of ego, fear, insecurity, feeling overwhelmed or disassociated—and recognizing that we have the ability to touch coherence and oneness, which is the frequency of trust, surrender, faith, and love. These are the higher frequencies of redemption, which are not pulled down by the gravity the earthiness, the frequency of guilt and shame.

How Much Longer Will I Hide? The Splitting of the Sea and the Death of the Ego. This class, exploring the deeper meaning of passing through the sea after leaving Egypt, was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, 6 Nissan, 5786, March 24, 2026, Parshas Tzav, at The Barn @ 84 Viola Rd. in Montebello, NY. Why do we say "Dayanu" if G-d would have split the sea but not taken us through it? How would that help anyone? A profound explanation of living in two states of consciousness simultaneously, in the state of infinite oneness, and in the state of a fragmented ego, represented by the sea vs. the dryland. We tell the story of Raba bar bar Chana, who went to BBQ on an island, which turned out to be a whale, and turned over on him. Living in times when G-d is expediting consciousness, many of us are falling apart. It is time to let go! Just let it all go.  As the sea splits in our lives, and we experience ego-death, some of us come to life; some of us perish. The death of the Egyptians by the sea came from the very experience that saved the Jews. When oneness is revealed, some parts of us live; others wither away. 

Keynote Lecture Kesher Nafshi: Rabbi YY Jacobson presented this keynote lecture at the Kesher Nafshi Shabbaton which was at the Raleigh hotel, in South Falsburg, NY, Friday27 Sivan, 5783,June 16, 2023. On June 9, 2023, four children were found in the Amazon jungle, after being stranded there for forty days following a plain crash. How did they survive the harrowing ordeal? Rabbi YY uses this story as a metaphor to explain how we need to help ourselves and our loved ones survive in our own jungles. We need parents who believe in us and will never give up the connection; we need to know what works and what is ineffective; we need to understand trauma and dissociation; and we must have support.