How To Decline A Handshake

MyLife: Chassidus Applied Episode 89, with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

MyLife is now available as a podcast and can be streamed or downloaded from iTunes.

We daven and ask for Moshiach several times every day. It is one of the fundamental principle of Jewish faith. We are told that we at the threshold of the Geulah. We teach it to our children. But how are we to understand Moshiach’s coming in practical terms? What will the world look like then? How will it actually be different than life today? Can you please clarify and help us visualize, in a very practical and realistic way, what life will be like if Moshiach would actually come tomorrow? What will my daily material life and my mundane chores look like: Will I have a mortgage and bills to pay? At this point Moshiach seems like an esoteric and abstract concept. How can we understand Moshiach in ways that fit into our day-to-day grind and make it something we can relate to in this lifetime? I am certain that applying Moshiach to our personal lives will help people actually want it and mean it when they ask for it.

Torah mandates “rules” that govern our interactions with the opposite gender – such as the laws of yichud and shomer negiyah. When working in the secular world, as a shliach, a professional or in any capacity, we inevitably interact with the opposite gender. How do we find the proper balance between following halachic standards, as in not shaking hands, and not offending someone and creating a chilul Hashem? What suggestions can you offer as an appropriate and Chassidishe way to deal with these potentially awkward interactions?
Other topics to be reviewed include: What is Chabad’s stance on Israel and Zionism? Why is the Rebbe Rashab called the Rambam of Chassidus?

Rabbi Jacobson will also review the following essays submitted in the MyLife: Chassidus Applied contest: “The Science of Motivation” by Dovid Greenwald; “Making the Most of Our Differences” by Levi Potash; “You Are the Solution” by Menachem Mendel Cohen. These and other essays can be read online at meaningfullife.com/mylife/contest/.

And finally, the Chassidus question of the week: “I recently read a prominent mashpiah’s explanation that the Rebbe’s contribution to the previous six generations of Chabad Chassidus is to fully integrate Chassidus into human intelligence to the point where you can convince yourself that the ideas are pure intelligence, without sensing as much its being beyond us. In contrast to the previous Rebbeim where you sense primarily how the ideas are beyond us. Would you agree with this analysis? Personally, I don’t really see that element in the Rebbe’s maamorim. Rabbi Jacobson, how would you explain the Rebbe’s contribution to Chassidus in context to the previous six generations?”

This hour-long dose of insights is meant to inform, inspire and empower us by applying the teachings of Chassidus to help us face practical and emotional challenges and difficulties in our personal lives and relationships. To have your question addressed, please submit it at www.appliedchassidus.com.

The topics in this Sunday’s hour-long broadcast will include:
Chassidus Applied to Kislev and Toldos
Israel: Are we Zionists?
Applied Moshiach: What will practically change when Moshiach comes?
How to decline a handshake like a chossid
Why is the Rebbe Rashab called the Rambam of Chassidus?
Chassidus Question: Rebbe’s contribution to Chabad Chassidus
MyLife Essays: The science of motivation, Making the most of our differences, You are the solution
MyLife: Chassidus Applied addresses questions that many people are afraid to ask and others are afraid to answer. When asked about the sensitive topics he has been addressing, Rabbi Simon Jacobson commented, “I understand that the stakes are high, but the silence and lack of clarity on matters plaguing the community can no longer go unaddressed. The stakes of not providing answers are even higher.”

The on-going series has provoked a significant reaction from the community, with thousands of people viewing each live broadcast and hundreds of questions pouring in. At the root of every question and personal challenge tackled by the series is the overarching question: Does Judaism have the answers to my personal dilemmas?

In inimitable “Jacobson-fashion”, the broadcast answers people’s questions in simple, clear language while being heavily sourced. Each episode is jam-packed with eye-opening advice from the Rebbeim, gleaned from uncovering surprising gems in their letters, sichos, and maamorim that address our personal issues with disarming relevance. Simultaneously, Rabbi Jacobson is able to crystallize a concept quickly, succinctly, and poignantly for any level of listener.

All episodes are immediately available for viewing in the MLC’s archive and can be downloaded as MP3’s for listening on the go.

Questions may be submitted anonymously at www.appliedchassidus.com.

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