8:00pm: Regrets Over Parenting Mistakes
Marking 100 episodes! This week’s edition of MyLife: Chassidus Applied with Rabbi Simon Jacobson, Episode 100, will air tonight, Sunday, here on CrownHeights.info, beginning at 8:00pm. This week Rabbi Jacobson will address the topics: Launching MyLife Essay Contest; Regrets Over Parenting Mistakes; Special Children; Middos and Personality; Tu B’Shvat
This 100th episode of MyLife: Chassidus Applied will be marked by the launch of the second MyLife essay contest 5776. Everyone is invited and encouraged to participate by submitting an original essay applying a concept or idea in Chassidus to solve a contemporary life issue or challenge. Go to the Essay Contest landing page, www.meaningfullife.com/contest, to read the contest rules and to submit your essay.
Additionally, some of the topics that will be addressed in this week’s episode of My Life: Chassidus Applied include: How can I help someone very close to me who just gave birth to a Down syndrome child?
Parenting is perhaps life’s most challenging task and children don’t come with a handbook. While hindsight is 20-20, what can be said to parents who look back with regrets at their shortcomings in raising their children? What can a parent do with the pain of seeing the damage that his or her mistakes may have caused one or more of their children?
Other questions that will be addressed: Is avoiding bittul Torah an impossible standard? Can we realistically expect people to not waste a moment of the day? How do middos and personality work together according to Chassidus? Is personality defined as a person’s “mix of middos” or is it a separate idea?
Rabbi Jacobson will also review the following essays submitted in last year’s MyLife: Chassidus Applied essay contest: Gratitude as a Tool for Healthy Living, by Chaim Dafna, Soul-Based Conflict Management, by Shimon Chyrek, Making G-dliness Relevant, by Menachem Cohen. These and other essays can be read online at meaningfullife.com/essays.
And finally, the Chassidus question of the week: I’m a Ben Noach that lives in a Chabad community here in Chicago. My Rabbi thought you might know the answer to this question: In Lessons in Tanya, Likutei Amarim Ch. 1, last paragraph, it says that Chassidei Umot HaOlam (righteous gentiles) emanate from klipat nogah. What exactly do the seven Noahide laws accomplish in relation to klipah when a righteous gentile accepts and performs them? In other words, how do the seven mitzvot interact with this person’s faculties and the sitra achra, being that they are negative mitzvot, and only seven, not the 365 negative mitzvot given to the Jew (which prevent that keeper of the 365 from giving to the sitra achra)?
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 Tu B’Shvat
- MyLife: Essay Contest announcement
- Is avoiding bittul Torah an impossible standard?
- Down Syndrome, special children
- Pain and regret over parenting mistakes
- Middos and personality
- Ayin Hora (follow-up)
- Chassidus Question: How do we understand and explain the end of chapter 1 in Tanya about non-Jews?
- MyLife Essays: Gratitude as a Tool for Healthy Living; Soul-Based Conflict Management; Making G-dliness Relevant
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 and great care has to be taken when speaking openly, 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 week after week. 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 chassidusapplied.com.
