Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Tetzaveh, 11 Adar I, 5784, February 20, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. The class explores the end of the Code of Jewish Law on the availability of constant bliss, the joy of the month of Adar, and the grief of the month of Av. We explore the enigmatic Talmudic story of Reb Akiva's visit to Rome and why he laughed, the explanation of the Alter Rebbe on bliss and pain, and the exchange between the Rebbe and Eli Wiesel on the question of the Holocaust, and why Jews have not lost their faith, even in the face of such adversity. We finally explain how pain and joy merge together in the profoundest experience of the soul's bliss.  

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Shemos, 21 Tevet, 5784, January 2, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. Why Moshe? Why was he chosen as the first and greatest Jewish leader, teacher, and prophet? The Torah does not provide an explicit reason. But it does give us a clue. Often people ask me why the Torah focuses so much on men. The question is strange, because in Genesis, almost every important history-changing decision is made by a woman. And in Shemos, it is six women who are responsible for the entire story of the Egyptian Exodus: Shifra, Puah, Yocheved, Miriam, Pharaoh’s daughter Batya, and Tziporah. These six extraordinary people refused to bow their heads to the inevitable; they are giants in the story of mankind and in the story of the Jewish people. They were also, it seems, the role models who molded, crafted, and mentored Moses; they taught him how to live, how to think, how to act. The three stories the Torah shares about Moses, which made him the man suitable to be the greatest leader ever, are essentially all stories inspired by these women who impacted his life, who—like our mothers, wives and daughters to this very day—helped him become the person who would change history forever. The class concludes with a life-changing message by Einav Efrat Danino, the mother of Ori, 24, who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7th 2023, may we see his redemption, and the redemption of all the hostages, very soon.

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Vayechi, 14 Tevet, 5784, December 26, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. On his deathbed Jacob speaks to Joseph: “A charming son is Joseph, a son charming to the eye; the women strode along to see him. They made his life bitter and they quarreled with him; archers despised him.” Rashi explains: “The women of Egypt strode out on the wall to gaze upon his beauty."  What is Jacob trying to bring out? Literally, that Joseph’s beauty was dazzling. Not only was he appealing to any eye that saw him, but even the Egyptian women were enthralled by his figure. They ascended the walls and fortresses of Egypt to be able to gaze at him. But why is this relevant on the deathbed of Jacob? For this we have to understand what was at the root of this conflict in the first family of Israel?  Could it be that a multicolored coat or a favorite son’s share of his father’s affections should generate such profound strife? Something deeper was at stake. Joseph and Judah embodied two divergent worldviews. They possessed different approaches on the meaning of Judaism, which was just beginning to bud, and how we achieve a state of transcendent oneness. There is a remarkable law in Talmud: While when the Temple existed in Jerusalem you can only eat the meat of the sacrifices within the Jerusalem walls, when the Tabernacle stood in Shilo, in Joseph’s territory, you can eat the meat of the offerings as far as the eye could behold the Tabernacle. This law captures the magic and revolution of Joseph which we must emulate today. We explore the unique role of women in gazing at Joseph, and the power of the woman to reveal Divine oneness within the material fragmented reality. The class explains how our daily lives must integrate the visions of Judah and Joseph, so that even as our thoughts can pull us in all directions, we remain anchored in the "solar core."

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Vayigash, 7 Tevet, 5784, December 19, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. Finally one of the most dramatic stories in the Torah reaches its climax. Yosef reveals himself to his brothers and ultimately reunites with his beloved father after 22 years of heart-break and suffering. The brothers are first shocked, embarrassed, and then finally relieved. But let us take a step back. Yosef had recognized his brothers immediately, yet chose to conceal this fact. Instead, he accused them, imprisoned them, and forced them to and from Egypt, ultimately tearing beloved Benjamin away from Yaakov, and causing his elderly father more unnecessary prolonged suffering. If he forgave them, then he should have revealed himself immediately, and reunited with his father?! And finally, only after this whole ordeal does he choose to do what he should have done initially, identify himself. Why did he do this? Was it revenge? Or to exact punishment on his brothers?  This class will show how Yosef’s actions show us the depth of true healing, and define the process of true repentance. Yosef was not manipulating his brothers; on the contrary, he was guiding them. It was only due to his superficial ‘heartlessness’ that sincere, heartfelt, reconciliation became possible. Healing, or Teshuvah has three irreplaceable components: remorse for the past, resolve for the future, and finally, a moment, a déjà vu, when that resolve is fully actualized and proven. Joseph wanted to ensure that his brothers experienced all three so that a new chapter in history can begin. The lessons today, as the Jewish people are at war, are powerful. This is a time for internal transformation.

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented by Rabbi YY Jacobson on Tuesday, 11 Tishrei, 5784, September 26, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. Sukkos is called the “Festival of Joy”, but what exactly is so joyful about it? The other major holidays are named after their very essences: Passover is the “Festival of Our Redemption,” and Shavuot is the “Festival of the Giving of Our Torah.” What’s the deep connection between joy and Sukkot? And how can we understand the mystery of the four plants we shake on Sukkos? If someone unfamiliar with our tradition were to stop you today walking down the street with your four species and say, what are you holding in your hand? You would say: “This is my ritual bouquet!” Then they ask: What do you do with it? “Well, we shake it.” Hu? What is more, the Torah states that when you take these four plants, “you shall rejoice before your G-d seven days.” Why? How does holding on and shaking these four plants generate happiness? Who was the first person to take a fruit from a beautiful tree? Of course, Eve and Adam. What fruit was it? The Midrash says: the Esrog. It would appear that on Sukkos we are repeating the same story: we are again taking the Esrog off the tree, but this time around, we take it, shake it, swing it, but don’t eat it. It is almost like G-d is telling us, I want you to do this over again. In the case of Adam and Eve, they were cursed with sadness. This time around we are blessed with joy. Also, after Adam and Eve eat the fruit they feel like they have to hide from G-d. On Sukkos, when we take the fruit, we “rejoice in the presence of G-d.” What is going on here?   The class (based on this wonderful class by Rabbi Ami Silver: https://www.alephbeta.org/playlist/arbaminim) provides us with a deep reflection on how Sukkos and the Four Species can help us calm our nervous system, reorients our brains, change our paradigms, and ease up the tension in our life, by going away from dissociation to connection. The Sukkah is the virtual “Garden of Eden,” and the four plants allow us to repair what happened millennia ago in the original Garden of Eden, once again reclaiming the joy and ecstasy of life. The story of the raffle that happened in the IDF captures the timeless unity of our people who were chosen to unite the entire world under the sovereignty of Hashem.

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Emor, 11 Iyar, 5783, May 2, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. In the fourth chapter of the Ethics of the Fathers, we read the following Mishna: Elisha the son of Avuya said: One who studies Torah as a child, to what is he compared? To ink written on fresh paper. And one who studies Torah as an old man, to what is he compared? To ink inscribed on erased paper. There are a few questions on this Mishnah. First, what’s the novelty? This is self-evident. Second, I can understand encouraging parents to teach Torah to their children when they are young and their minds are fertile. But what’s the point of the final clause in the Mishnah? If I am an elderly man or woman, and I never had the opportunity to study Torah, why would the Mishnah try to discourage me and make me give up before I even begin?! Finally, there is something else amiss here. Of the more than one thousand Rabbis cited in the Talmud, only one became a heretic. His name was Elisha ben Avuya.  Due to this tragedy, his ideas and teachings are never quoted in the Mishnah. Save in this Mishnah. What happened suddenly? Why did this Mishnah decide to quote him? And why was this particular idea the one chosen to be conveyed to all generations in his name? He was, by all accounts, one of the outstanding Jewish sages of the second century, a contemporary of Rabbi Akiva, and the teacher of Rabbi Meir, the leading scholar of his generation. Elisha moved so far from Jewish tradition that his colleagues stopped referring to him by his name but rather called him Acher, “the other”, the outcast, the renegade. Only his student Rabbi Meir remained loyal to the man who had once been his master, sought out his company, and still believed that he might one day repent. Against this backdrop, we find a deeply moving scene in the Talmud. It is Shabbat, and Elisha ben Abuya is publicly desecrating the holy day by riding on a horse. Walking alongside him is Rabbi Meir. Heretic teacher and faithful disciple travel together along the road arguing and debating Jewish law. Rabbi Meir, the pious Jew, has become so immersed in the conversation that he has not noticed they are nearing the limits beyond which one may not walk on Shabbat. “Acher”, the apostate, realizes this and says: “Meir, turn back. I have measured the distance we have walked by the paces of my horse, and we have reached the Shabbat limit. Beyond here, you are forbidden to walk. Meir replied: “You too turn back.” “I cannot turn back,” says Elisha. “One day I was riding on my horse. It was Yom Kippur, which in that particular year fell on Shabbat. I was roaming behind the Holy of Holies, when I heard a heavenly voice saying: ‘Turn back to me, O lost children, except for Acher... ’” What is the message of this story? That G-d indeed does not forgive all humans who want to repent? That some must truly be condemned forever? This would contradict a fundamental idea in Judaism that nothing stands in the way of repentance. Furthermore, if G-d did not want Elisha to repent, why did He communicate with him at all? Why did the heavenly voice begin with words of love and encouragement “Turn back to me, O lost children,” and end with the fearful decree “except for Acher”? This class will analyze the tragic story of Acher, the mysterious call to him on Yom Kippur, and his misinterpretation of it. We will explore the moments before his death, and why he had only one student who remained with him even after his betrayal of his faith. It will teach us about the pain and destiny of our own lives, how to view our own brokenness and wounds, and those of the people around us.

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Acharei-Kedoshim, 4 Iyar, 5783, April 25, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. We learn in the third chapter of Pirkei Avos: Rabbi Chaninah, deputy to the kohanim, would say: Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every man would swallow his neighbor alive. Rabbi Chaninah son of Tradyon would say: If two sit together and there are no words of Torah [spoken] between them, then this is a session of scorners  ... Two who sit and exchange words of Torah, the Divine Presence rests amongst them... The basic meaning of (the first) Rabbi Chaninah's words is that for a society to be civilized its members must submit to the rule of government and law. The need for "fear of authority" may seem an insult to our sophistication and intelligence, but the fact remains that without it there would be nothing to check the worst in man, and the anarchic rule of the jungle would prevail. The question, though, is how this passage made it into Pirkei Avos, the Ethics of the Fathers, which is a book of character-building, of going “beyond the letter of the law.” In these chapters you will not find a prohibition of murder, theft, deception, or adultery. For that we have the Torah and the other tractates of Mishnah. Yet here we have an astounding exception. Suddenly the Mishnah tells us that we must do what we can to avoid people eating each other alive! A second enigma is this. The Mishnah rarely if ever employs poetic language. It is not a book of poetry, but of law. Why does the Mishnah use this phrase, “every man would swallow his neighbor alive,” not the ordinary and straightforward term in Torah and Tanach, “every man would kill his neighbor.” There is a third enigma. Rabbi Chanina was not only addressing the non-Jewish world, but also the Jewish world. In the words of Maimonides in his commentary on this Mishnah: “If not for the fear of government we would swallow each other alive.” But this seems unfair and harsh. Jews, who are born and bred with the values and mitzvos of the Torah, have rarely been involved in murder. Till today, no Jewish school in the world where Torah is taught has a metal detector. Is it really true that if we had not fear of government, we would murder each other? Finally, what is the juxtaposition between this clause of the Mishnah and the following one: “Rabbi Chaninah son of Tradyon would say: ... Two who sit and exchange words of Torah, the Divine Presence rests amongst them.” They seems disjointed. Why were they put together in one Mishnah? It was at a farbrengen Shabbos Parshas Shlach 1975, when the Lubavitcher Rebbe offered a marvelous and extremely relevant explanation into this Mishnah which answers all the above questions—and teaches us how to live. We also tell the story of a horse by the water, two groceries in Crown Heights, the arrogant scholar, the dignity of a child, and Rabbi Lau’s Bar mitzvah. 

Weekly Women's Class: This women’s Pesach Class, explaining a few parts of the Haggadah, was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Tzav, 6 Nissan, 5783, March 28, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. Right after we enumerate the ten plagues that befell Egypt, pouring out a little wine for each plague, we read of a debate that took place between three of the foremost sages during the second century CE, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yoisi from the Galilee. Rabbi Yoisi HaGlili says: “The Egyptians were struck in Egypt by ten plagues… Rabbi Eliezer says: “... Every plague that G-d brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt was comprised of four plagues...Thus they were struck by forty plagues;” Rabbi Akiva says: “... Every plague that G-d brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt was comprised of five plagues... thus they were struck by fifty plagues.” What is this supposed to mean? The Torah states that Egypt was struck with ten plagues. Why would the Talmudic Sages debate this simple fact? Do we have to argue about everything? And what is the meaning of their views that each plague was comprised of four or five plagues? And what is the relevance to us? The sages were addressing a big question: How deep can abuse, trauma, corruption, and evil penetrate a society collectively and each person individually? How messed up can you and I become? How sick can we become? How deep can the dysfunction run? And what is the path of healing? Is healing even always possible? In Judaism, psychology and ethics are reflected in practical law. It is fascinating that the above dispute, finds expression in the world of Halacha: How do we treat our Chametz on Pesach? How did Reb Yoisi Haglili treat his ex-wife who made his life miserable? How did Reb Akiva understand that trauma can affect your formless core? What did he teach us about the path toward healing from profound abuse and dissociation? This class is based on the talks of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Pesach of 5711 (1951), 5714( 1954), and 5718 (1958). Published in Likkutei Sichos, vol. 16 pp. 87-93.

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Bo, 2 Shevat, 5783, January 24, 2023, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. It is a fascinating law in this week’s portion. If I am eating the Afikoman and I fall asleep, when wake up I can’t continue eating it. Because it is as though I am beginning a new, second meal, and the Passover offering meal, as well as the Afikoman, have to be eaten in one single uninterrupted meal. The above law applies if a person was conducting a seder alone. But what if he or she is eating the Passover offering or the afikomen with a group of other Jews, then even if he or she falls asleep, they can continue eating after they awake, as long as some members of the group remained awake.  The logic is clear. If I am eating in your company, then even if I fell asleep, my meal has not been interrupted, because you are awake. As long as you guys are awake, when I resume consciousness, I am right back in the game. The fact that I took a nap for an hour or two does not mean that my meal has ceased. At first glance, it seems like a technical law, even if quite fascinating and also a bit of a stretch. It was on the 20th of Teves, 5750, January 17, 1990, when I heard from the Lubavitcher Rebbe the deeper emotional and historical meaning of the above law.  I still recall how emotional and moving the Rebbe’s explanation was, including of how marvelous it was to see a seemingly technical law reflecting such a splendid insight into Jewish history. It also contains timeless lessons on how we view our brothers, sister, and children, who at some point feel detached from the story of Judaism and the Jewish people.  

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday Parshas Vayetzei, 5 Kislev, 5783, November 29, 2022, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. The Midrash relates that when Jacob discovered the switch between the two sisters, he told Leah, “You are a liar, the daughter of a liar,” his way of saying that the apple did not fall far from the tree. “Why did you deceive me?” Leah responded to Jacob’s accusation: Every craftsman creates students. Even a barber inspires students who learn from him the skill of cutting hair. My father and I, too, had a mentor who taught us how to deceive. Some time ago, Leah said, there was an old man, who wanted to bless his oldest son but was deceived by his younger son.. On a simple level, Leah was teaching Jacob the rule of “what goes around comes around.” He deceived his father, causing the blessing reserved for the older son to go instead to the younger son. What he did to his father and brother, was now done to him. Scathing indeed, but deeply disturbing. Let’s assume for a moment Jacob was wrong in taking the blessings—how does that exonerate Leah and Laban in deceiving him? Can I deceive you in a business deal, because you deceived your brother in a deal seven years earlier? Yet, a deeper reflection reveals a profounder reading of this narrative. The deeper dimension has been revealed by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), founder of Chabad, known as the Alter Rebbe, in a discourse of 1811, during the last year of his life; his colleague, Rabbi Yisroel Hopstein, known as the Kozhnitzer Maggid (1737-1814), in his work Avodas Yisroel; and by the third Rebbe of Ger, known as the Sefas Emes (1847-1905). It was all brought together in an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, on Shabbos Parshas Toldos 5741, and Shabbos Vayishlach 5747 (1987). The Avodas Yisroel and the Sefas Emes discuss the meaning of the actual Midrash. The Alter Rebbe and the Rebbe explore the inner soul of these ideas. Coupled together we have an outstanding tapestry woven together, with profound lessons for our lives today. The class explores why Yaakov wept when he met Rachel? Why Leah wept when people said she would marry Eisav? Why was Yaakov given a name for holding on to his brother’s heel? And why do we define Eisav as wicked when he was already struggling in his mother’s womb, completely beyond his choice? We discover how Judaism views the struggles and traumas we need to contend with.

Weekly Women's Class: This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Eikev, 19 Av, 5782, August 16, 2022, at 18 Forshay, Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY. Why do the Broken Tablets remain such a great source of inspiration to the point that we took them to war? Why did Moshe feel the need to break the tablets? Why do we compare the death of the Tzaddik to the breaking of the tablets? Why the restlessness so many of us possess? Come on a journey into the types of relationships that redefine you at your core, because they are engraved in your soul. Once I taste infinity, once I see truth, there is no going back. This class is based on an address presented by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on 20 Av, 5732, July 31, 1972.