You Can’t Teach Today Without Doing Deep Personal Work: Rabbi YY on Podcast “Totally Unexpected”

Description

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. Rabbi YY Jacobson is one of the most sought-after speakers in the Jewish world today and a mentor to many thousands across the globe. He has traveled to hundreds of communities on six continents, educating and inspiring people of all backgrounds. Rabbi Jacobson was the first Rabbi ever to be invited by the Pentagon to deliver the religious keynote to the US Military Chief of Chaplains and the National Security Agency. To sponsor or dedicate an upcoming class click here: https://www.theyeshiva.net/donate To watch more classes & to read Rabbi YY's articles visit: https://www.theyeshiva.net Follow Rabbi YY Jacobson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RabbiYYJacobson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheYeshiva Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yyjacobson Twitter: https://twitter.com/YYJacobson Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yyjacobson/ Telegram: https://t.me/RabbiYY