CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #168 Rabbi Simon Jacobson - Meaningful Life

life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans most of us are controlled by circumstances I have a job a family expectations you have no time so I think the first step is a person has to step back and say why am I here every morning we say mod mod basically means thank you for returning my soul to me which also means why is you so here these questions should be asked when you're young when you're a child when you're in school your formative years but wherever you are in life you have to stop and ask yourself why am I here what's my relationship with God how do I use my skills and my unique strengths and my unique tools and talents to brighten this world and make it what we would call a home for the Divine in your corner of the [Music] world today's episode is sponsored by Boris M Tax planning and advisory schedule your free tax strategy session online and get started now call us at 21 12 430 6881 to learn more welcome to Torah talk kazak program with special guest we have with us all the way from crown hats RAB Sim Jacobson welcome thank you for having me thank you for joining us Rabbi we're going to be speaking about meaningful life but before we do that forget a background about the rabbi and the great work you're involved with firstly thank you for having me of course and I wish you and your audience a very blessed year amen we've had many challenges this year to be even a better year much better should protected and everywhere especially at sahal and the hostages should be released I just feel it should be 100% you know especially now we're coming soon to the first anniversary of that sad day wow it's been a year wow yeah October 7th so by myself okay here we are my parents are both Russian born my grandfather was actually a Georgian Jew Georgian well Simon yakob was his name I'm his namesake Simon like Simon T they came to the United States my parents did after World War II I was the first of five children born to them and uh the rabbi being the oldest yes I'm the oldest and the youngest being our dear friend R Jacobson yes my youngest brother and in between we have boy girl boy girl boy right and I grew up in Crown Heights the kabat community uh my father as many would know gersan Jacobson was a journalist so on one hand I grew up with a very intense obviously Yesa education but I also grew up in a very I guess Cosmopolitan I would say broad-minded non-dogmatic home you know while read I met many types of people so I never was uh you know the never got trapped in a ghetto type of thinking not to criticize anyone just mentioning so it like it created like a bridge between two worlds many ways it's at the stage what I do today I'm able to bridge the Torah world and a very secular world so over the years I Rose in the ranks I became what was called AER and of which meant shabas and Y A Sabbath and the holidays when no notes are taken and no recordings I would remember memorize Wows must some serious uh memory yeah yeah have a good memory yes and then after shabas we would then documented it which was another job which was to get it published for did the rab did the rabbi give you the notes at least or it was all it was all from memory wow but I had the opportunity to write I have I have extensive thousands of pages of Correspondence I asked questions clarified points he edited so I had a close in person or it had to be in writing it was mostly in writing very professional in that sense um and uh and then after the rebba had a stroke in 1992 uh and passed away 1994 before I went on to write t a meaning for life was published by a major publisher William Maro you know today it's sold close to a million copies oh wow you know book I I wrote it in a language that's a universal language for all people but it's based on the Timeless teachings of Torah so but it's it's written very like a psychological spiritual take on life called the Torah the meaningful life and uh I literally ask people like what are the most important topics in your life and everybody has the same you know birth childhood education youth marriage love pain wealth you know and I did a chapter on each one of them book has the book has been translated by now into 14 languages wow so in a way that created a whole new demand that's when I founded the meaningful Life Center by the same name and that's the topic of uh discussion and essentially like I mentioned before I'm like a bridge sometimes like to call it a bridge between the spiritual and the secular between Torah authentic Torah not diluted but presented in a very uh personal and relevant I like to call emotionally psychologically and spiritually relevant to each individual so I have thank God been relatively successful in reaching very many audiences and I grew with the technology so today on YouTube I have like uh I'm not here to toot my horn but like you know maybe 300,000 subscribers serious following and my main strength is really I know how to God blessed me with an ability to take original Torah ideas and present them in a very personal way like you know how does it help your family life marriage how do you deal with depression how do you deal with children uh so it has that and and that's critical today because Torah can remain abstract and detached you know you can know and just to give example you know different intricate details but the relevance was the relevance so to me that's the key word making it personally meaningful Torah from the word Torah is a directive guidance in life a blueprint for life right so you bring it down and uh bsize simplify it for the Amon for the masses for the public yeah but also sometimes more more dense and more I also train trainers you know I deal with teachers therapists educators because uh these are tools it's a methodology it's how to think you know how to feel how to live amazing amazing so so our title is Meaningful life how does the rabbi Define meaningful life there's a definition absolutely meaningful life is defined by one thing mission that God sent every human being to this Earth on a particular Mission you're not here by accident you're here randomly every part of your life was sent for a purpose that means meaning a meaningless life means you just go dayto day and whatever comes your way ah there's a nice ice cream shop I'll stop there this this desire this temptation a meaningful life is a life of purpose that you have a a goal every company needs a mission statement so doesn't every human being needs a mission statement and it's understanding that you're you're not here by accident and your life is significant I would say further it's indispensable and what you have to accomplish no one but you can accomplish that's as simple as I can put it amazing so how what steps could one take to accomplish meaningful life well the first step is to get out of that uh roller coaster of your life that takes control you know what they say life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans you know most of us are controlled by circumstances say I have a job I have family this one has demands expectations and by the time you're thinking about it you know by the time you have no time right because you're so busy responding to others what we call a reactive life you want to be a proactive life so I think the first step is a person has to step back and say why am I here know every morning we say mod right a simple pray modani basically means thank you for returning my soul to me which also means why is your soul here ask yourself that question question I find the biggest problem is that many people are already so caught up you know these questions should be asked when you're young when you're a child when you're in school your formative years but wherever you are in life you have to stop yourself and be able to create that space and ask yourself you know why am I here what's my relationship with God why does he want me here what what how do I use my skills and my unique strengths and my unique tools and talents to brighten this world and make it what we would call a home for the Divine in your corner of the world um so that's the first thing is just in Practical steps it as we all know it comes down to just like if you exercise every day you have to have spiritual exercises every day I like to refer to a spiritual spa spa is an as an acronym study prayer action oh wow everyone who learns Torah knows the world stands three pillars so let's call it cognitive emotional and behavioral conditioning getting your mind in the right place which means every day a little study of Torah know something fits your schedule get your mind out of politics out of the nonsense of daily routines you know something Divine something Transcendent and same thing emotionally a is is prayer prayer is meant to be I like to call it the emotional exercise massaging your emotions you know emotional intelligence how to emote with Hashem with god with your soul with others and and find what some people call today poetry or you can call it music you can call it song these are all names for prayer you know prayer is a form of song zimra Shir that's what is yeah and then actions good good deeds simple acts of goodness and kindness every Mitzvah every good deed and this can come down to just sharing a kind word with someone it can be being charitable being uh gracious gratitude I mean the Torah has all all the whole Rabbi brought a new meaning for the word Spa okay there you go and a spa what does it do it reinvigorates it refreshes the soul also needs um to be refreshed study prayer actions there you go amazing three things the world stands on we have to learn we have to pray and we have to do good amazing very nice love it okay there you go very inspiring so as the rabbi mentioned you had a very close cature a cont contact connection to the LA BL memory uh and what would the rebba what from his teachings what comes out of with regards to meaningful life well a lot what I learned we all know Torah goes back to Har Mount Si where T Moses received the Torah but as we know the M the teacher to student teacher to students you know for me the rebba was my primary teacher Mentor you know rebba spiritual leader I mean there many different titles so the teachings go back all the way but um it was he that that taught me from rabbit to rabit toab yeah but everyone everyone was his father is for me it went through the rebba but everyone I'm sure you goes all the way up to the B yeah and the B goes all the way to at some you know we all go back to at some point so we're all M we're all found yeah and right Abraham s Abraham abob I'm so saying it to put things into context so the rebba was a fundamentally unbelievable Torah teacher but he taught methodology not just facts you know it's like this this teaching someone what to think and he's teaching how to think so I could say I can credit him as being the big force in my life he was firstly combined both the body of Torah and the soul of Torah what we call n of Torah so made it very relevant and come alive you know you can know the mechanics of Judaism but you have to know the spirit of Judaism so what he essentially taught that I you know that what I described before meaning for life mission in life was what I learned from him now it's not really his teachings this is what the Torah says you know that let's start right in the beginning he brought it out right away human being was created Divine image with a Divine Mission To Serve and Protect so what I learned from the rebba was not just the message but the compelling sense of urgency that you have to be active you have to take part in this you can't be a by Stander you can't be an observing Jew observing others you have to be someone that is proactive that takes initiative that takes responsibility it's really a mish that says why was a person created because every person is responsible to say that for me the world was created which means not an arrogance statement but one of responsibility so that I you know if I was to Able that sense of responsibility but now also in a passionate way not as a obligation and burden as a gift is essentially why the Jewish people are here to be a light to the world light onto Nations and a light of course to their own communities so that's overall more specifically the rebba was very INB was very into the relevance making sure then Tanya which is the foundation of text says that the whole book is based on a verse the verse says that this thing Torah is relevant to you it's accessible to you which is also like Spa you can say you know thought speech action or so the idea of making everything relevant and making it personal instead of you know people going to be going to synagogue and rasher and you know some people go out of obligation some people go tradition that that's what you do you know you're from Jew that's what you do secular Jew may go because you know once a year they make their deal with God but is it personally relevant does it come alive and that to me is the the key thing I learned you know like we say life and sustenance not just it's oxygen is a necessary in your life be robotic to be very blunt if I can be a little irreverent many people everyone talks about we talk about but is it really alive is it is it transformative or do it last for a day and then we go back to who we were you know last year did you really change after you know uh I actually wrote a book called 60 days there we go the rabbi gave me a copy I'm excited 60 days of spiritual Guide to the high holidays because I I wanted to show and demonstrate from Torah sources how you make uh the high holidays a personal Journey has beautiful uh yeah very very very very nice it's a story you know the really the story of let's be honest it's about love between God and the Jewish people and then it was breached betrayed by theel the golden calf the sin of the gold and then M mosu goes on the mountain to beg for forgiveness exactly so in a way this season is the best season that teaches you about you know no one has a perfect life how do you rebuild after something was broken 100% know we mentioned October 7th something was broken but you know we Jews we not we're indestructible something breaks you have to build something stronger and we see that all the time after the first bet mdash Holy Temple was destroyed we had the men of the great assembly then we had the second bash the second Holy Temple was destroyed then we had the Mish and the gamar which for Judaism that's bread and that's and and it's a verse in the Torah it says in the book of Exodus the more they were Holocaust the more they Afflicted the more they thrived and they after the Holocaust we have the land of Israel so I'll give you a a line that I I don't know I picked it up from somewhere that the Jewish people are like a teabag tea bag they don't know you don't know how strong they are until you put them into hot water oh wow okay you can use them I like it I mean Simone Jac is some beautiful gems uh meaningful life which is the organization the rabbi has plus the name of uh is the website and and the and the book t a meaningful life like the rabbi said which a million copies 14 languages 14 so we have have still eight billion people on this Earth that means we haven't done much we have to do more just the tip of the ice just the beginning exactly that's that's that's our attitude ofak amazing we have to do more so we have a we have a custom Rabbi Jacobson which is a final message for our broad audience final is a very strong word I don't want to be final cuz I'm sure I'll do many more things with on this understand well look being that we're coming to rashash and we a New Year yes and we want a real New Year not just a words I go back to what I said earlier I think rashan is the day when the human race was was born M so it's the collective birthday of each one of us happy birthday and we created in the Divine image so I think the best message is no I say this to you to me to every person on this Earth we should say to our children Hashem chose you God chose you created you in the Divine image you have a unique mission to fulfill that you and only you can do ask yourself are you doing it well are you living up to your calling and uh and I'm sure we could always improve 100% and every one of us has something the world today needs it more than ever a lot of upheaval a lot of uncertainty there's never been such a wakeup call especially by the je people with all that's going on around the world yeah exactly and wake up calls we have to respond to right these are moments these are historical moments and I you know children are asking that's not just enough don't kill us and don't murder us no we're here we're a people of destiny that were put in this world to bring right Justice and righteousness and Civility and virtue and the fact is is that that's what the Jewish people brought to this world to the non-jewish world as well so we have our yeah we have our work cut out for us y I want to wish you and everyone a beautiful year sh and it's always an honor amazing thank you very much Rabbi Jacobson for those words of inspiration meaningful life Vis we should all take it upon ourselves with God's help to live a meaningful life to learn about it to grow and to find out our mission and to bring out the best of every single one of us especially in this new year thank you Rabbi once again we want to thank all of our various different platforms that are hosting this amazing kazak Torah talks with a special emphasis to our friends at T time thank you very much also to daily giving a dollar a day goes a very far away we encourage everyone to check it out and towards uh towards this time of the year even though school year started already kazak is still very busy transferring kids from public school we have a family member a friend a neighbor anybody you know make sure you reach out to kazak we'd be more than happy to help regards to placement and or after school program Sunday school programs their teens Vision programs and uh continue with the feedback wow the feedback is unbelievable this is us a lot of amazing positive feedback suggestion future guest speakers always welcome we should be all Redemption thank you so much okay [Music]