Growing up to be a Leader in Am Yisrael

[Music] hello everybody here we are again with the unite to heal program of amudim amudim as we all know is one of the Premier providers of help mental health and otherwise to our Jewish community so welcome to the amudam unite to heal I very rarely get the opportunity actually no no I never ever get the opportunity to interview such incredible Aries as I'm interviewing today I'm deeply appreciative to Amud for giving me the opportunity I have been a talid who has been Z to learn both from the Tor of Rabbi Simmon as well as Rabbi YY Jacobson and I believe that I'm not alone in that at this point pretty much the Jewish World whether you're a Yeshiva Baker in man whether you're a secular Jew in California you've probably been learning and listening to the Torah of one of these two great brothers and we have an incredible opportunity today to talk to them on behalf of a so we're going to start with a very simple question and it's more a little bit about what your upbringing The Jacobson household must have been an incredible place to bring up people who are so dedicated to spreading Torah andas to the whole world what do you think your parents got right what inspired you to do what you are do today and if you can try to break it down to something that your parents did but we can all do on a more a lower level as a air on pin a a miniature bitable do able thing that we can all do like your parents did first of all it's my honor to be here with you with am with our dear host and with my dear brother we are blood flesh and blood and yes we grew up in a very unique and special home I uh it's always um humbling to hear such accolades but I will say in the spirit of my father Alam and my mother may she be well many healthy years one of the things that jumps out at me this is completely a knee-jerk reaction to your question was my father particularly as well as my mother which I'll speak about in a moment was absolutely comfortable in his own skin he was extremely he didn't have that self-consciousness and extremely know why he's here in this world and what is his purpose and even though it was not stated in words but it was stated in actions and that was what exuded that was the spirit that was the environment that exuded from him I remember him sitting shabas at the table he could speak quiet for hours even though he was a conversationalist and a very charismatic figure but he had that inner piece and I think when you have that it just uh translates into bringing up children that are also comfortable in their own skin and are focused not on trying to necessarily impress or entertain but really living up to what their mission is now I want to say it very clearly a big disclaimer I am not saying I'm on that level but I definitely was exposed to it and my mother as well completely committed to the cause you know you know everybody has their egos everybody has their stuff they have their phobia is their neurosis and uh by no means is anyone perfect but I think when you have as a parent a mission Centric life that your life is not driven by ego and by conquests and by money and by control and by power and influence that you know you're here for a reason and that is uh not just taught but actually fed and nourishes children from the youngest of age to me that is one of the most critical elements all of us can learn for Success because then your children grow up having that same type of attitude I'm here to serve I'm here to bring something to the world in our case we grew up in a I speak we grew up in a obviously very observant Jewish Home aab home and of course emphasizes this idea of serving Illuminating to be flames that illuminate and warm everyone around us so so it all fitted in in that context that's one of the ingredients at least by no means is it the only one but that's what comes to mind and and based on that what you're describing what would be like an avoda like something people would want to work on to be able to achieve that sort of sense of mission and sense of inner peace and comfortability with their own skin what types of things could people do if they want to be able to get to that level so they could experience that and of course give that over to their children as well what is like something that a person could work on themselves on a regular basis do something measurable like a real avod I think it really comes down to how you look at the standards you know a business cannot function without a mission statement every business no matter what for-profit not profit organizations schools every entity must have a mission statement the first question you have to ask yourself is what is your personal mission statement and it can't just be a platitude like I want to be happy I want to have uh make a lot of money I want to bring up a healthy Jewish Family those are gener generic and general they're beautiful things but a mission statement means to put it specifically how are you going to use your life and the unique skills and tools that you were given your unique opportunities to somewhat improve better and beautify the corner of your world so that's the first question you have to ask if you're not asking that question which means that you're basically just running your life either as a product or victim of circumstances then you're never going to get to that place so obviously as children if you can pick that up from a young age great but wherever you are in your life that has to be a pause that we all have to take if not on a daily basis at least on a weekly basis a monthly basis or an annual basis and we actually have you say what are we saying think about the words thank you God for returning oh you don't say in the word god thank you for returning my soul to me for making me indispensable for giving me a mission for renewing my contract and my mandate and that I absolutely need to fulfill that mission that you have given me and renewed every morning so that would be my opinion one of the first things that you begin the journey in that sense right and it's true because so many people are living life without having a sense of mission statement right life happens to them as opposed to to them creating the life they want so just even setting for yourself a mission statement is Step number one to it's getting there okay beautiful rather why why in addition to the beautiful eloquent words of my dear brother I would add very briefly maybe three things that I uh felt in my home uh I don't know always consciously but now looking back I think they're all really part of our the reality of our family uh number one my father was an extrem extremely colorful human being very Universal he had like this Universal Consciousness first of all nobody knew geography like him right Simon I mean he knew I don't know he knew every river in Russia yeah every river in Russia exactly and he really knew it he knew how long it was he knew how wide it was and he had a real interest I once saw him reading my father used to read approximately he was a subscriber to around 30 magazines and newspapers and he would read about the economy in Japan and I asked him does this interest you because I don't have an interest about the economy in Japan it's just doesn't fit into my brain and he says yeah it's the world it's part of God's world you have to know what's happening in Japan it was very interesting so it was really there was no tunnel vision there was no narrowness there was no judging people based on the community they come from based on their lifestyle he actually allowed himself and he taught us to celebrate the world for what it is because if you have tunnel vision you reduce God's reality into your own stereotypes and preconceived notions you know into your own issues instead of really breathing the world the way it is and enjoying the full variety of God's creation you know that was one thing I think very powerful until today you know I meet Jews from all backgrounds Jews and non-jews just a certain freshness like really be open to to tune into where people are not where you want them to be or what you think about them the second thing was uh the bzra writes that M Renu had to grow up among non-jews in a palace why didn't the first Jewish leader grow up in a Jewish environment and he says dezar writes this it's incredible that if mosha would have grown up among Jews he would have developed a slave mentality he could have never staged the revolution he had to grow up in an Ambiance of aristocracy of royalty that's how he can overthrow Egypt and and Liberate the Jewish slaves my father grew up in stalinism stalinist Russia his father was tortured and almost killed he had a very very difficult life very as a youth like like so many of that generation but he had a vision of royalty he was uh and he taught this to us he was broad he had a fearlessness to him he was a warrior he was a fighter he wouldn't allow himself to become a victim in circumstances so that was very very refreshing and empowering the last thing I would say something I once heard from him we were walking to Shan shabas and he told me that he once asked why he's getting involved in a very controversial issue that was just controversial and it's basically taking away supporters from him people who would support him was something to do about the future of Israel and he said what do you need it for just stay focused on humanitarian good things you know spreading Mitzvah and what do you need this for so he told me that the Reb told him that it says by when he saw the Egyptian beating the Jew looked everywhere he saw there's no man and he killed the Egyptian and he saved the Jew and everybody asks there was somebody there because the next day the informers informed on M said there was somebody there so said one interpretation is not that there was nobody physically present he saw that there's nobody who's gonna stand up to the Tyranny there's no man there's nobody who's gonna who's gonna make this cause everybody was just looking around and sighing the Reb says he had to make a choice will he join everybody else and say there's nothing to do we're in Egypt we're in Exile or he's going to take a stand that's what turned him into the Eternal Jewish leader and then my father told me the RE continued he says and this is what my father-in-law embodied he attributed it to his father-in-law this is how he he's explaining his involvement what I learned from my father at that moment was that in life you know you have to be able to make that choice constantly whether you're just GNA be a bystander maybe write a check you know give a sigh give a c or to say no God put me here and he gave me my unique purpose as my brother just said and it's my opportunity to make the difference that I was chosen to make beautiful it's interesting that the first thing that you said basically you're describing your father as a Calis he was like an aggregator of information all around the world and there's that gumar that talks about some of the the early tan and how they they recognized they knew the language of foxes and the language of trees and the language of birds and you're like what does that make a difference they're T they're sitting and learning you know hillo and and and shamai but the answer is when you have that that breathness and and that ability to just take it all in you also have the ability to put out something that's just so much more comprehensive than when you're living with tunnel vision so that's a definitely beautiful and uh very special household that we get a little bit of a feel where the the Jacobs and brothers come from so my next question is you know amudim deals with with mental health dysfunctional elements in our home that's going to be that's going to be the bonus material at the end I think you got to donate a little couple extra100 and you get all the dysfun from the Jacobs at home too so um amudim really is known for their work with with mental health and the Jewish people and you guys are both such incredible eloquent speakers you you command such large audiences wherever you go and you go and people sit and raptured when you speak and there's sometimes you know when when people are in the crowd and they're looking at a speaker Just Nails it and they really understand and they get everything just right and there's almost like a halo effect you know so there's but the reality is we're all people you are all people as well and obviously you too have your own struggles at times and there's the the mental stresses that we all go through and what weighs heavily on all of us sometimes it's helpful for the audience to be able to recognize that the speakers are humans and they go through their own Str stresses so my question to you would be what grinds you down what really wears you down and how do you find like where you need to like save your own mental health sanity and keep yourself on the straight and narrow what grinds you down and how do you respond to it how do you deal with it to keep yourself above of it okay so we're already entering into the dysfunctional zone now which is uh the things that get to us and cause as you said grind us down or stress and so on it's a it's a great question excellent question I appreciate it because I'm usually not asked this question either because of the halo effect or uh I don't know I respect but I think it's a very powerful question um I will just again speak what comes to me I mean I have been blessed and I say this with all humility I have been blessed not through work not through aoid Hashem and not through Yia and effort I guess by part of genetic makeup and DNA as well as that we discussed the environment of my father to have a certain inner calm even among a storm so even when there's a tornado there's the eye of the tornado but there's an inner Comm I actually to be honest I'm speaking openly here I become I'm at my best when there's stress because for some reason I'm able to enter into that zone that just gives you a certain I guess like almost like an oasis you're like you're like buffered I gotta tell you the Halo is getting brighter right now I'm sorry I said the Halo is getting brighter right now no no God forbid no no no no that's Halos are are are actually quite dangerous um so there's that inner sense of Peace which really arises when there's a lot of tension around me and that is what I do I'm starting from the second half of the question but as far as the things that grind you down I'll be honest sometimes for me um even though I think I'm a royal Optimist I always like to look at and see the positive in things the light at the end of the tunnel and um but at the same time sometimes you feel that as much as you do are you really making an impact yes you can make a momentary impact and there's a certain uh uh apathy and even mediocrity that surrounds when you see people who get cynical or Petty you sometimes see people fighting over nonsense but they fight like it's World War I and that can get to you you know um and sometimes feel am I really making a difference it's I wouldn't say I get depressed by it but I definitely am impacted by it another thing is and this is a a very personal note when you see a lot of pain and people share with you you know things that have broken them tragedies mental health issues suicide you know the this goes on unfortunately and you're with a person of empathy there's no way you can just immunize yourself and be indifferent I remember when I was younger it was very difficult because I always felt as my brother earlier said that you have to rise to the occasion you have to do something I always felt like a certain they coming to me I must do something it took me a long time to discover I can't solve every problem and there's some things that maybe has to lead someone elsewhere but I would really I remember the first time I heard about abuse you know real abuse serious abuse I couldn't even believe it I thought it was the I thought the person was making it up because I never experienced it in my life you know a father beating a child with a with a a baseball back me even want to repeat some of these things and it gets worse I Mish it it like overwhelm me I I I remember I was saying to myself why am I being told this like what and I'll tell you the truth the only way to go is to dig deeper I had to dig deeper and I said to myself if hasm cre this world and he gave us and he gave us he also he gave us the healing before the illness there has to be an answer even for the most horrendous and horrible things in this world and it was years ago I remember would read and try to understand you know it's very hard to go into the kishkas of a person who's suffering something I never suffered and I have to say it it it took a real toll on me I mean emotionally it took a serious toll and then you start saying it's so unfair children innocent defenseless people who did nothing and they're being hurt and you have to you have also an EXT existential crisis crisis of Faith you know what does God want we all know we don't understand God's ways these things have always taken a very strong effect on me even till this day and ultimately it comes back to the eye of the tornado that you have to say light at the end of the day is stronger than darkness and that hope is stronger than any type of Despair and as a as a person in my position I cannot afford to become part of the problem so I have to rise to the occasion to do the best that doesn't mean you have answers you know like one rebba once said I don't have answers for you he told someone who suffered a tragedy but I can cry with you I could hold your hand I can walk with you and that's a strength that gives strength that consoles that Comforts a soul so that is uh The Human Condition can be quite beautiful but also quite painful you see things that are you know I've I've fortunately unfortunately witnessed and experienced and heard things I never wanted to hear and it takes a allll but you know what at the end of the day you have to become stronger it says as the as the as the Jews were oppressed it says they that in direct proportion to that they thrived and they flourished I like to believe that there are challenges my own and the ones that I've heard and the ones that I've absorbed have only caused us to be a to to be a cat catapult us and be a springboard for me personally to become a greater person and to realize how more important it is that we need God more than ever as Holocaust Survivors say they're asked where where was God in the Holocaust so the the how do you believe in God after the Holocaust and they'll say who else do I have to believe in after the Holocaust not humans look what humans did how they betrayed their own Humanity so we have nothing but God and that becomes our greatest strength of all that when you're bound above you don't fall below that's the eye of the Storm at the end of the day they're Bon yeah okay Rabbi why why it's interesting I was just thinking as my brother was talking you know Jews suffer from guilt they say that if you a Jew if a Jew doesn't feel guilty he blames himself and correct me Simon if I'm wrong I never felt that my father had any guilt is that true I agree I never saw I you know what our mother didn't didn't always like that my father it's interesting all Jews that I have ever met have deep guilt in them sometimes stronger sometimes weaker my father I never saw guilt and I was surprised how that happened you know especially are stressed out and how about you how about you and actually I think my brother Simmon also doesn't have guilt I don't know you'll have to correct me never seemed that way but I was not blessed with that I have I also have anxiety from my young age and I also have I struggle with self-consciousness so when I speak or lecture these are some of the struggles that I have to work through in the past and also in the present and um there is uh I started to speak very very young age so in a way it's always a struggle for me like who am I you know not to make sure that the eye is not the eye that gets projected but there's a deeper eye there's a beautiful teaching from the mag of Mag of Mich that I think is for me it's very relevant personally he says that it's Alisha Elisha wanted to prophesize but he felt he's not in the mood of Prophecy he said bring me a a singer a composer a musician as the nag started to be when he started to sing so he felt the spirit of God and he asks what does it mean KAG H it's a strange uh sequence and he says when the menag became the nigan when the when the singer becomes one with the song with the melody that's when the Divine energy can flow through him like a violin doesn't have an ego violin doesn't have insecurity a violin is just a channel for the music he says when the man becomes the we become one with the music for me that's always a challenge you know when I speak when I lecture when I communicate to people either individually or collectively in larger groups for the menagin to be able to transcend my own fear my own insecurity my own traumas my own wounds and become a channel for the nigan and when that happens the Miracles occur around me and inside of me beautiful okay so we're going to switch it up now we're going to actually give every y why opportunity to answer first um both of you speak a lot and engage with a very broad audience however your audiences are a little bit different at times obviously there's there's like the ven diagram there's some crossover over there but for the most part RAB y why is speaking to a Yeshiva World crowd uh across the board kidish lfish yeshivish modern but more within the folds of a Torah confin so to speak who already already involved in Torah learning and Torah lifestyle and Rabbi Simon is a little bit more engaged with the broader it's a beautiful beautiful expression of it's a very big thing in the just be able to get it out there and put it out there to everyone who can hear and everyone who can listen um there's there's obviously things that and and both of you are deeply involved in the kabar community as well so the kabar communities an En an enigma to to a certain degree to everybody outside of it it's such a powerful Community you know you have the Ken of with thousands and thousands of people sitting in one ballroom and everyone obviously looks at it with an incredible amount of admiration wherever I travel in the world the first thing I always do go anywhere as look up the kabad house and engage with them so my question is going to be is like where can there be some cultural diffusion and where should there be so we'll start with with r why why uh what is the most important thing that the aiva world needs to learn from kabad and what should kabad be learning from the Yeshiva World so you know it's it's it's it sounds like a great question and to make for an exciting answer but the truth is I think that today we live in a generation where uh Jews are so much exposed to each other that to put it frankly somebody who may be called a Yesa a Yeshiva type of guy is often saturated with a lot of the energy and the wisdom of kabad and sometimes somebody who grew up and calls themselves kabad may actually still have to learn what the essence of kabad is so you know I don't see it as color where there's two teams they stand for this they stand for this and I'll let them learn for each other from each other I think when you're dealing with deep psychological spiritual and emotional truths when you're dealing with Aus Hashem things are very very intimate and very very personal and as Hashem told don't look at external appearances you know there's the guy who's maybe a litvak for I don't know 30 Generations but uh his entire Persona and behavior dayto day is a living embodiment of some of the great ideas of the bov and sometimes conversely so I really would not address one Community versus another Community I think in any community and in every individual and Collective there are great virtues and there are great flaws I would rather talk more about ideas and I think some of the ideas ofab that uh are really ideas that I think deserve to become the passion of every single Jew in order to really help us become the nation and the people that we need to become and and bring a Gula Consciousness to the world is I would say two of the foundational teachings of the balv and of the balat number one this was on the deathbed of the B's father he was five years old and he told his son he said EIC don't fear anybody or anything but Hashem and number two love every Jew with every fiber of your being and it became the two fundamental teachings of the number one meaning there's no division no real division in the world no real division between people if the doors of perception are cleansed everything appears as is a flow of divine Divine Infinity to be able to transcend fragmentation and dichotomy to be able to realize that all the wisdoms of the world is all part of Oneness part of integrated Divinity and infinity and that includes science and physics and psychology and Mathematics and biology and Medicine the Reb would always say the T the Z says the med say is a blueprint for the world the whole universe is a manifestation of T spiritual Oneness is everywhere and therefore you don't have to be afraid of anybody or anything because within every reality you could find the Divine and number two is that ability to really see the souls and people to really be able to love every single Jew and by extension it means loving Humanity it's never using God as a crutch for our own religious insecurities and turning God into an excuse for judgmentalism dismissiveness OCD Ang religious sense of superiority sometimes my religion could become the greatest obstacle to experience God because in the name of religion I can become judgmental I become full of hate and anger and Vengeance and it's all blamed on God and I think the B the AL the Reb were real embodiments of showing people that it's not about you know how religious or not religious you are it's really when you live with Hashem in the deepest way so then then whoever you meet you know you have one mission to help them find the godliness and Holiness within them and I think this these are two very powerful ideals that when we live with them all of us those who call themselves kabad Niks those who don't call themselves kabik I think when we live with them we change ourselves and we create so much light in our environment among our children among our students and uh you know I think today we live in a world of cross-pollination and what does the world of gula look like it's a world where you don't look at this Jew and say oh you're a you're a vis you're a lak you're aich you're a breast you're a modern Orthodox you're this and right away I'm stereotype you and that's not the real world that's not the real world of of of yka the real world of yish is a world in which of our souls shine and when our souls shine we realize that we are all one Collective Soul a manifestation of divine Infinity whether I wear stral I wear a baseball cap I wear a barcelino Chicago hat or I wear a different type of yamuk and uh you know there may be some differences of and distinctions in this emphasis or that emphasis but in that ultimate Oneness of hm if we're all part of hasm you know stop chopping up God into so many different groups and pieces all right okay Tru is U there are obviously I think I'll give you an example of something for example where I believe like the sha so to speak could learn from kabad kad's ability to really just share whatever is valuable in terms of teaching other people like if if you open up a kabad house in in any any City I'm not sure what cities there are not yet a kabad house so let's just call if you open up one on the moon you could have immediately like all your educational components and you have like all the beautiful Graphics there's an enormous amount of sharing of that information that's the kind of things I was referring to more or certain um things but obviously you're you're going way deeper than that you're going to the the levels of like the the level where we all come back to my brother and I my brother even more than I because he's older have heard this following statement by the and I heard it maybe 200 times you probably heard it 900 times he quoted his great great grandfather the Alba the balatan would always say these words is which means never allow to become Party politics don't turn it into a political party color War we're the red team they're the green team we're gonna win we won color war look at the oh but look at this event but look at that event you lost the plot you now went into a color War ego insecurity place which we all have we're human we're human we all have it whether you call yourself this type of Drew or that type of Drew his point was if you're really tuning in to the to the godliness of to every person you see every Jew you meet when you could cleanse yourself from external perceptions you realize that there is a deeper spiritual truth that really really unites us and that we are all part of okay so I'm going to I'm gonna take that answer and that answer is basically saying we're not we're not going to go into the divisions we're just going to go into the elus to the root level I really appreciate that I'm going to ask Simmon one one question then we'll conclude with a final sort of a last remark from both of you so uh I want to talk to you a little bit more we're going to delve into the mental health area mental health challenges are on the rise prior to covid the CDC reported that in 2019 about 20% of Americans were receiving mental health treatment and at least 16% of them were using medications to help with their challenges obviously after a year of being isolated people literally having almost no outside human contact uh having the media on all sides trying to Hype up the fear and the sense that large powerful groups are trying to harm you the Mental Health crisis today is far greater than it was before and while the numbers are better in The Firm world and indeed my friend Dr David rossarin who's a psychiatrist and a professor at Harvard Medical School has published many articles showing that living a religious life having a belief in a Bor and a Creator and living a more Community Based Life as we do brings down the incidence of mental health crises in significantly but we don't get a free pass and as amudim can well describe we have a lot of real challenges to mental health in our community the rates of anxiety clinical depression OCD even suicidal ideations that would shock most viewers who are are tuning in so on behalf of all those who are suffering how does the person rect with debilitating depression to the point that it's a massive struggle to get out of bed how does the person with such great social anxiety that they can never eat in public and can L muster the courage to utter a word at a Sim how does the Yeshiva boy battling OCD who's washing his hands 40 times a day to the point where his hands are raw when he and he goes back from seder to check that he didn't leave his jacket on his heater in his room 12 times a Sader how does that person connect to Hashem who obviously gave them these challenges challenges that they can't speak about to almost anybody because of all the stigma challenges they're afraid to talk about because of the of the ruining their own or with their families how does this person relate to Theon creator of OCD and creator of generalized anxiety disorder I I can't control myself from asking how how much time do I have for this answer I would say about asking you're asking you're asking me or you're asking us to answer a question that really would resolve every possible problem on Earth I mean we have 8 billion people and some people say 8 billion neurotics or or other forms of uh dealing with whether you're describing some of the conditions there are many others that you could include into the lot so to avoid getting into uh the generalities and really try to focus on a few key points I let me pose the question a bit differently now you say God is the creator of OCD is the creator of uh I guess schizophrenia of bipolar of of depression all other types of disorders let's pose the question this way since God did create the human race and every human being and that's a a CLW that's a y what does he expect of us he created us imperfect with the possibility of having different illnesses both physical emotional and mental so what does God expect of us you know to put it back go back to the idea that the t is the blueprint for life it's not just a blueprint whether the chicken is kosher or not Kosher or what time shabas begins or this is or notet it's a blueprint for every aspect of our lives and and perhaps more relevant than anything is our personal well-being so how does a Jew look at this if you ask a secular person they say okay that's why we have therapy and we have medication and you know what the world isn't perfect and then that's it people are not well and God bless them whatever but says we have answers we have healing that the world before was a healthy world and Mia comes and the g comes will be a completely healthy world so how do we integrate that I can tell you I've always as asked this question to myself if the has answers it shouldn't just have answers like I said in what are the L or other technicalities in the answers to the biggest issues that plague us I just talking to a parents who just had a Down syndrome child and they can't get up what should we do this is a lifetime sentence so we're dealing with something that affects us all some in some ways more severe than others so the answer briefly is that the same abish that created the human being with all these challenges also created answers and solutions this doesn't mean that we can heal everything there are illnesses you can't physically he heal but there doesn't mean we can't do anything about it we're not victims so the T provides us with elaborate instructions let's just start with just eliminate one element says the teaches us the gor says maybe we can't heal if God causes someone to be sick who are we to intervene there is a there is a hav like that so says no but up I've God says I've given permission which means I've given strength I've given medical wisdom my wisdom God is the Healer I'm the Healer but I've given the ability to human beings to figure out some medicine to figure out Solutions whether it's Physical Medicine whether it's psychological medicine so that's one thing if a person in a situation you don't go and say if God forbid a person is suffering from very severe anxiety you don't just say go learn t or do a mitzah yes in addition to that you have to go to a doctor the ABA said so so that's critical to remember that going to a doctor is part of God's mandate it's not like saying the T doesn't have an answer that's the taya's answer the Taya is saying that abish gave power just like he gave strengths to a person you go to a in any given area that's a medicine on the other hand let's be honest like the r says there are things that are indeed spiritual maladies that medic Med medicine alone and doctors alone and surgery and therapy is not enough you do need an element of godliness because remember the most important principle is that that when a person's aligned with their physical lives are aligned with their spiritual lives that's how you draw down energy what is health health is seamlessness a flow and a come is come from the word a means removed it moves away Mitzvah means connection when a person does a Mitzvah you're aligning your very physical life when a person is loving when a person is kind it's not just you're doing another person a favor you're doing s a favor because you're feeding the and the within your aligning it to the way the ab created you you become a healthier person when a person has sin in their heart it's not just an AA they're removing they're misaligning themselves so and the whole Jewish approach is also about healing it says so coupled with any any of the medical interventions that are necessary we cannot ignore them we also look to create healthier children and healthier adults by being spiritually healthy my brother mentions some of the elements I'll mention a few more the idea of is not just a nice concept of monotheism that there's one God it means there's one reality that when you align yourself with that Oneness within you you what do you do you counter fragmentation you counter all the different voices that drag you in many different ways so though that alone may not be the total solution a mental health issue but it's definitely a big part of it so if you if you combine when necessary medical intervention psychological intervention with Tera intervention it's really a holistic picture that creates a a healthier person you know I'm taken by the name am what does Amud mean pillars so of course we talk about the three pillars three things that the world stands on what are the three pillars so most people say okay nice the whole is the basis holds up the world it's a lot deeper than that and I'll translate it now into simple English which often is necessary to appreciate it think of it as cognitive emotional and behavioral conditioning the T aligns your mind to think healthy you think trans you think about things that are beyond the material what's what's prayer it's emotional conditioning work in getting emotional intelligence becoming more empathetic to God and to others and what's in Behavior actions it's not enough just the mind and the heart you have to act in a healthier way I have an expression I use is you have to immerse yourself in a spiritual Spa just like a body gets comforted and so through a physical Spa what's what's a spiritual Spa study prayer action spba so we have all that we need to address the issues now let's be honest I wanted to say this and a final note we that pass the bottom line is we can't always say we have the answer to all problems we are given the tools to try our best but we learn how to na naate and we learn how to grow and frankly if we did what we had to do many problems would disappear and many would definitely be alleviated with the abish decides to do even after our efforts is up to God but the fact is there's no question in my mind and this is what I find valuable about Amud and about all our efforts is we can bring a lot more healing to this world than we can imagine and definitely that we shouldn't be part of the problem but be part of the solution wow that was that was beautiful especially the the way you broke that down cognitive emotional behavioral and how we really we have the whole picture here we have the whole picture here quite beautiful okay so we are now down to our final question it's going to be a quick one uh so the the total answer time for this one is 60 seconds so in peros often it says who who which of course means he used to say but also in the they say his his Essence would tell you this when you watched him who if you watched the way he lived it would scream out to you this message so we're now uh in our final question and we want to ask if there's a who that you would want to be to be known for God willing like you know what what is the who not not what should be on someone's Tombstone someone asked me yesterday what do you want they should say about you in your funeral I said rather they just say up the guy wouldn't quit Wouldn't Die wouldn't give up somehow Breaking All the medical Miracles but I'm what is the H of Rabbi Simmon what is the H of Rabbi YY Jacobson in 60 seconds or less because we do have to fit it somewhere no I'm kidding Shimon paris's son said at his funeral president of Israel Paris that he asked his son what do you want me to run on your Tombstone and he said here's the man who died prematurely he was 94 years old uh is very very intense description but I'll tell you one message that I find when I communicated to myself and to audiences and to people both individually and in groups it has I find a very very transformative impact and that is really you know as my brother just said every single one of us has challenges many people who call AUD suffer very severe challenges whether it's mental illness mental anguish whether it's serious abuse or not serious abuse but sometimes you know benign abuse can have the same horrible impacts and I can't always go back and you know replay the scenes of my life certain things are just facts but I think one of the profoundest ideas that yish kite teaches in such an incredible fashion is how I frame my experiences it's all about framing you know you can have the same piece of art but if you use a different frame it looks very different we call it reframing and the first one who taught us to do that was my original name sake YF YF endured one of the most difficult lives in history on so many levels and through people who were supposed to love him and yet instead of falling into Des spear he became one of the most charming and enjoyable and beloved figures in the tanak he saved the world from famine and he told his brothers how he did it he said you did not sell me God sent me and what he was telling all of us is that any circumstances any mental pain mental illness challenges from within or from without that I'm confronting I could look at them in two ways one is I was sold I'm just a victim of other people's horrible choices a victim of my nature or my nurture my genes my epigenetics trauma of 2,000 years or trauma from childhood or I could say I was sent God sent me into this place I am an ambassador of the Divine I'm ambassador of infinity charged to bring light into places that nobody else can but only me by the power of my infinite Soul which is a manifestation of Hashem in this world it doesn't take away the pain but the reframing of it transforms everything wow beautiful okay and Rabbi Simmon for the final word it's hard to Define your own H but I'll say this the Abisha created God created each one of us with unique song within you that you and only you can sing another way of putting it I put it in my book toward a meaning for Life birth is God saying you matter absolutely uncondition you are indispensable so if I were to say one message that I would want to be remembered for and it's not my message it's a message which is ingrained in the very essence of T is you were born an original don't become a copy you have songs inside you don't die with your song Still inside you discover your unique mission and discover the courage to express it and you're fully capable of doing that we too many of us are conformists and we choose the easy path of just following the her mentality you have a song you have many songs inside you I mean I'll quote Michelangelo even though he wasn't Jewish but he studied by Tosh Scholars when he was asked how do you carve those beautiful angels how do you sculpt them in the marble and his response which I'm sure he heard from the cabalists in Venice and in Florence in Italy in his time was this I see the Angels trapped in the marble and I carved and carved and set them free we don't need to find beauty out there it's not in a book it's not in a shelf it's not in a product and it's not in Botox it's right here inside you your song your angel your flower but it gets trapped in marble and concrete and other substances Discover it let it soar spread its wings and live up to the unique calling that only you you and only you can accomplish in this world wow okay this has been an incredible incredible discussion first of all to to talk with both of you people who clearly are here on a mission like RAB why and clearly are not copies of anybody uh and are really bringing out your own unique songs in the world so thank you so much for giving your time to amudim thank you for everything that you do for krol and as we wrap we just want to say thank you so much to amudim for their incredible and NeverEnding 247 support of CLA asrol in every way shape and form give you continued success and and and when should you should be able to thrive until we no longer need you with the coming of the M Rabbi Ley yes say something yeah can I say something absolutely I just think it's important I wanted to say it before but it slipped my mind and that is you know I think it's so so important for everybody hearing this this session this program or any of the other sessions and may pass it on to others whether you're listening or watching live or replay whatever it is just to realize that we as a community and as individuals we have to eliminate the stigma of not allowing young men and women to feel comfortable to speak about their anguish and suffering and pain if you're suffering from depression if you're suffering from other forms of internal psychological and emotional suffering trust me you can ask my brother he will certainly agree with me all of us in every single family there is dysfunction the only families I know that are perfect are the families I don't know the only people I know are perfect are the people don't know each one of us is dealing with a lot a lot of stuff this this myth of the perfect from family is non-existent it never existed it never will exist until Messiah comes there are people you can trust not everybody but there are people you can trust open up because there's a lot of help out there b am me beautifully SP spoken and I think we still have to go back to with MH that's how we have to always wrap so thank you so much again and we look forward to continued success and and continued learning the wisdom of the Jacobson family yes thank you thank you thank you