Meaningful Life Skills with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

• Redefining Success. When the Physical Becomes a Channel for the Spiritual

  Is who you are defined by what you do? Is your self-worth measured by your net worth? These questions strike at the very heartbeat of life — at what truly drives us.Are we physical beings who occasionally embark on a spiritual journey, or spiritual beings navigating a physical world?Much of our lives is consumed with survival; eating, sleeping, working, shopping, socializing. Yet what of our higher needs? Our dreams, our aspirations, the search for meaning, the purpose of our existence? It is all too easy to get lost in the means and forget the end.From our earliest years, society, education, and even our families train us to perform, to achieve, to excel but rarely to reflect on why. Why do we strive? Why do we labor? What is the purpose behind our efforts?Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson for this vital conversation and together, we will explore how our everyday actions — our work, ambitions, and relationships — can be transformed into vessels of transcendence and higher purpose. We will uncover how to align the material and the spiritual, so that everything we do resonates with the eternal within us. This is a conversation about reclaiming meaning, living not merely for achievement or comfort, but for a life that reflects the deepest truths of our being, and awakening to the profound potential of every moment.

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• When Family Hurts. The Hidden Emotions Around the Family Table

  How much do our family dynamics shape our lives?Today we recognize more than ever that from our earliest, most impressionable years, the attitudes and environment of our homes—whether positive or negative—leave a deep imprint on our psyches. Picture a warm ball of wax: every experience, every word, every gesture becomes etched into it as it cools and hardens, accompanying us into adulthood.Our childhood traumas…Our moments of beauty…The nurturing we received, and the nurturing we didn’t…The functionality—and the dysfunctionality—of our homes…All of these weave themselves into the fabric of our lives in profound ways.As we approach Thanksgiving—a time when many gather with family—it’s worth pausing to reflect. Family can be a source of immense warmth, connection, and joy. But it can also stir discomfort, tension, and old wounds.So let’s explore this together. Let’s dig deeper into what family really means, how these dynamics shape us, and what we can do to navigate them with greater awareness and healing.Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson for this important conversation: When Family Hurts: The Hidden Emotions Around the Family Table.

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• Who Cares? Responsibility in an Age of Indifference

  We’ve all witnessed it — those chilling moments when a crime unfolds in broad daylight and people simply walk by. A car slams into a bicyclist. The rider lays motionless on the pavement, and tens of passersby keep moving as if nothing happened. Another time, someone is being mugged in full public view — and no one lifts a finger.But what’s even more disturbing is the follow-up reaction. Some people don't even see this insensitivity as a problem. I once spoke about this in a public lecture, and a man raised his hand: “Why should I care? It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Survival of the fittest. I have my own problems. Most people wouldn’t help me — so why should I help them?”A painful question. Yet beneath it lies a truth we don’t want to face: injustice is happening around us constantly. Children are being bullied right now. People are being hurt, even killed — and countless others stand by, complicit in their silence, numb in their indifference.So why should we care?What responsibility do we bear for one another?And what does our reaction — or lack of reaction — reveal about the state of our souls and the condition of our society?Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson for this urgent and deeply personal exploration. This conversation is not a critique; it is a wake-up call. A call to reawaken our conscience, to pierce the shell of apathy, to recognize the integral connection and responsibility we have for each other, and to rediscover the power each of us holds to bring light into a darkened world.

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• From Mortality to Immortality: The Soul’s Ongoing Story

  What happens after we die? Does life simply end, or does it continue in a dimension beyond our comprehension—one our senses can barely fathom? Sight, sound, taste, touch, smell—these tools we rely on every day are too limited to perceive the true reality that lies beyond.This question has confronted humanity since the beginning of time: Is there life after death? This is not merely an abstract curiosity—it shapes the way we live today. How we spend our time, the values we cherish, the relationships we nurture, the ambitions we pursue—all are profoundly influenced by our understanding of life’s ultimate trajectory.To live with meaning, we must ask: Where did we come from? And where are we going, beyond the narrow confines of our daily existence? What is the purpose of this life if it is not connected to the eternity of the soul?Please join Rabbi Simon Jacobson for a conversation that goes beyond the surface of mortality, exploring the journey of the soul from this life into the next. Together, we will contemplate what it means to live in the light of eternity and how that awareness can transform the way we experience every moment of our lives.

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• Who’s Really in Charge — Us, G-d, or Both

  Do you ever feel your life is spinning beyond your control — that things just happen, and you’re merely a bystander?Or, perhaps on the other extreme, you feel fully in control — that you alone determine your fate.These two poles have defined human thought for millennia. On one end, a religious fatalism that says: “God runs the show; we’re just living out the script.” On the other, Ayn Rand’s Objectivism — the creed of radical individualism: “No one controls me but me.”So who’s really in charge — us, God, or both? Do we truly have free will, or is our path already written? And if both play a role, how do we find the harmony between divine destiny and human choice?Join Rabbi Simon Jacobson for a penetrating exploration into individuality and God — and discover how, far from being at odds, they actually complement one another.

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