The first month sets the tone of your relationship with the rest of the year.
Notable Days: Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur. Sukkot. Shemini Atzeret. Simchat Torah.

More than the beginnings of a story, Genesis is the story of beginnings.

We are the people of the Book and these are its words. Let us review them.

Experience the holiday like never before! Insights, information and more.

In the beginning… The key to life is to ensure that it is always beginning, never ending.

These are the trailblazers, the precedence of state, the first who teach us how to always be the first.

When you miss the boat, gather the materials at hand and build a new boat.

A soul can come down into this world for seventy-eighty years just to do a favor for another.

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Toward a Meaningful Life Book Club: Putting current events and personal challenges into a historical and psychological context, presenting a path forward for our society.

Taking a census of the people leads to a unified consensus.

The creation of the world has a Rosh Hashanah. So does Chassidism.

Shavuot is a Jewish agricultural festival (the wheat harvest) as well as a holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. The mystical dimensions of Shavuot involve harnessing the deep powers of the human soul to reach one's true potential.

Read an English translation of Chapter One of Ethics of Our Fathers, and then explore commentary to deepen your experience and understanding.

For 25 years, Rabbi Simon Jacobson has advised people of all backgrounds on how to find purpose. The free resources on this page will help you to write your own personal mission statement.

MyOmer is more than a counter, it’s a story, an illumination – a journey through the human genome. This app is timeless and timely – it offers for the very first time a proven 3300 year system applied to contemporary life. A 49-step journey that is as exhilarating as it is challenging, as it opens up your emotions and provides you with new life skills and tools.

Media Coverage and Press Releases About Rabbi
Simon Jacobson and The Meaningful Life Center

Sometimes the sun sets. Once in a while it doesn’t. What does this teach us about shining?

The Torah is formatted into 53 portions. The numerical value of 53 spells Gan, garden. The Torah is a garden yielding the most Divine fruit.

When you feel trapped it is time to question your trappings.

We can offer our objects. Or we can offer our selves.

When Rabbis Transgress: A delicate discussion on what happens when rabbis are hypocritical, how do we hold our spiritual guides accountable when they act in contradiction to Jewish values and rules?

You are a tree. You are fruitful. Plant this seed into your earth.

One lights candles, while the other tries to snuff them out.

Deploying spiritual "weapons" to help us find strength, hope and clarity

When a temple is destroyed we have to ask ourselves who built the bulldozers.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson offers spiritual "weapons" and tools to help us find clarity, strength and hope in face of the horrific events in Israel.

Some masks disguise us. Others disguise our guises. Joy happens when you come face-to-face with your true self.

The ultimate reward and fulfillment of creation is in fusing the material and the spiritual.

When your soul is free, your body does not remain enslaved for long.

Partake in a Transformative 60 DAY JOURNEY Toward a Better Life

The birthday of a leader reminds us of the reasons for our own birth: to bring life and light to the world.

Kabbalah is the soul of Torah. Kabbalah is the study of the soul: The human soul, and the soul of Torah, and the soul of everything in the material world.

Explore sections of best-seller "Toward a Meaningful Life".

GROW INTO THE PERSON YOU WANT TO BE

One can pray to change oneself, or one can pray to change the world.

The holiest day on the Hebrew calendar is also the most misunderstood. Yom Kippur is a day of profound connection and transcendence. Discover the real Yom Kippur.

When life gets overwhelming, a flood of emotions and a storm of possibilities, construct an ark.

The encyclopedic collection of Oral Torah, the saints and sages of this era define and redefine, wit, wisdom, and soul.

Partake in a transformative 49 Day Journey through the human emotions and character traits

Discover the mystical meaning of the holiday of Lag B'Omer, the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, an important mystic of the Jewish religion.

Have you ever burst into tears for no apparent reason? That is your soul calling out to you, saying hello.

Leadership is about being a head, while encouraging others to head in the right direction.

The cocooned festival season has concluded. It is time to enter the raging floods of life.

The deepest flames are those that burn when the nights get dark and the hearts cold.

Rebbi would say: Which is the right path for man to choose for himself?

Rabbi Simon Jacobson and Yael Trusch talk about the Jewish perspective on money and wealth. Tune in for practical and profound insights on earning a living, choosing a means of livelihood, managing your wealth, and eliminating financial squabbles with your spouse.

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How should we respond?

Rabbi Jacobson takes on this critical issue with passion, and presents a radically new and innovative approach to dealing with antisemitism.

Exile can break a body or make a soul stronger. The choice is yours.

More than a set of dates, the Jewish calendar reflects the rhythms of reality, tuning us into the different frequencies of the world.

A priest performs the temple service. We are the priests of our souls, our micro-temples.

It is having confidence in your purpose more that a crutch upon which to lean.

Many people are flooded by life’s unceasing storm. A select few inspire us to build arks.

As Covid-19 continues to disrupt our lives, Rabbi Simon Jacobson presents a New Daily Webcast to boost your emotional and psychological immunity.

When romance is in the air you better start flying. Or at least inhaling.

The Book of Names, of Exodus: freedom is never forgetting your own name and always remembering The Name of the world.

The month of Elul is characterized, spiritually, as the month in which the Jewish people renews its "marriage" vows with our Creator.

Spiritual Commentary on the Latest News Events

Constantly updated with ongoing commentary with Rabbi Simon Jacobson on the War in Israel

Freedom may be defined as the right to ask questions.

Do you plague the world or does the world plague you?

The Maggid of Mezeritch, Rabbi DovBer, was a a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov and the teacher of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi.

Experience 49 Days of Personal Transformation: The 7 week period between Passover and Shavuot, called Counting the Omer, is a powerful span of time, which empowers us to refine our lives and elevate our souls. The spectrum of human emotions divide into 49 different attributes, each one corresponding to one day in this 49-day period.

Leaving Egypt happened. But it is also happening.

In retrospect, so much could have been done differently to preempt today’s horrors. Clarity is essential.

No one has a right to violate in any way the body or soul of another human being.

People across the globe have experienced the transformative wisdom of "Toward a Meaningful Life". Read their stories here.

The smallest thing often makes the biggest difference.

Rabbi Jacobson shares wisdom on how to get unstuck, tips on communicating better with one another, how to identify our self-imposed limitations, staying strong through good times and bad, plus a few memory tricks that we can use to better absorb and retain new information.

The joyful days of Sukkot are also a profound time of spiritual power. Sukkot is observed by living in temporary shelters -- booths -- and waving the four kinds. You've arrived at a supreme source of information about the spiritual journey of Sukkot. Enjoy!

Sometimes, in order to arrive, one must first depart.

These are the bridges between the origins of where we come from and to where can go.

A journey through the human psyche to explore our most base instincts and how to tap into the loftier version of ourselves.

When nights get longer and days colder, it is time to light the world, illuminating darkness and defrosting life.
Notable Days: 19 Kislev. Chanukah.

G-d is not an Orthodox Jew, nor is G-d Conservative or Reform. What about you?

Your raise the lights. But even more: the lights raise you.

Akavia the son of Mahalalel would say: Reflect upon three things and you will not come to the hands of transgression...

The father of a multitude of nations, he brought the One to the many and inspired the many to become one.

It's called Leviticus and it's a Book of Calling. We may answer the call by offering our selves and servicing our temples.

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Prison walls are meant to be broken. Holy city walls are meant to be reinforced.

Belief, itself, is a concept; and concepts require a certain amount of belief.

Nature moves in increments of seven. But what moves nature?

They are the things we cannot understand at all but which allow us to understand it all.

We have to live with the times. Every moment is energized by a moment of eternal truth.

Do a Mitzvah for Israel and add light to the world!

From finding love to succeeding at a meaningful job, a spiritual approach is the foundation of lasting change.

Reading these moral chapters of truth helps us write our own moral chapters in life.

The biggest splits may sometimes create the deepest unities.

Constantly the eyes of God are upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

New Hafotzas HaMayanot Chutza Initiative Launched by The Meaningful Life Center to Address the Personal and Emotional Needs of Our Community and Answer the Most Pressing Questions of Our Lives

Some people see what the world shows them. The blessed ones see what the world conceals.

Dancing! Singing! Epic Torah readings! Simchat Torah is time of mystical, transcendent fun. Uncover the deepest meanings of Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret.

True Reality appears when all else disappears.

In the Book of Numbers we travel through the wilderness, learning how to turn it into an oasis. This is how we journey through life.

Answer 7 quick questions to reveal your Midlife Satisfaction Score and discover what you can do to add more optimism, joy, and peace to your crazy, stressed out, hectic life.

True love and marriage is the process of two halves of one soul reuniting again for all eternity. This is why everyone is looking for it.

With unprecedented freedoms come unprecedented challenges. These teach us how to find the eternal in the modern.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson Featured On "People We Know & Stories We Don't"

If our souls are embers, smoldering within, then a Great Mystic is the bellow, fanning that ember until it burns with Divinity.

Even as snows fall, you have the power to make worlds rise. Even as hearts turn to ice, you thaw the spirit.
Notable Days: 10 Tevet.

We scout the land not to see if we can conquer it. We scan the land to see how we can conquer it.

When the holy words flow from on high, sometimes the ink doesn’t have time to dry.

Ben Zoma would say: Who is wise? One who learns from every man.

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Spiritual Antidotes to the Coronavirus

The biography of a spiritual person is more than a simple sketch; it is a template from which we may learn.

Birth is a pure soul descending into an impure earth to purify the world.

How? Why? When? What? How do we make sense of the current war in Israel?

Choices are free; it is the consequences that we pay for dearly. Or, more dearly, that pay us.

What deeper significance does the coronavirus have, and what spiritual antidotes can counter its impact on us?

Sarah Hagar

Discover a Six-Step Method to tap into the awesome strength of your birthday. Start your year off right with timeless insights that can dramatically transform every aspect of your life.

A wild man, whose hand will be on all and all hands will be on him.

Rabbi Simon in conversation, discussing the ongoing war in Israel.

We are all socialites. That is, we are all social lights.

Where heaven kisses earth – and earth kisses back.

‘Nine’ and ‘eleven,’ two numbers that have changed the present and future of the world.

Humble righteousness is the difference between being a judge and being judgmental.

Life continues, even – or especially – when it seems to pass away.

How to Repair Our Rifts: The Relevance of Tisha B’Av to our Lives Today w/ Rabbi Simon Jacobson

After many hours of looking for food, a bird returns to its nest, taking comfort in its warmth and safety. Your home and family are your nest.

The natural world reflects a Divine reality. From weather events to breathtaking sunsets, there is much more to nature than meets the eye.

Equality is more about being different than it is about being the same.

The “Righteous Scion” taught: Think good and it will be good.

It is time to explore our deep roots, branch out into new markets, and produce the sweetest, juiciest fruit.
Notable Days: Tu b'Shvat.

The world was created with ten utterances. What does this come to teach us?

The Spiritual Guide to Counting the Omer by Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Just as each person is composed of two elements, the body and soul, which we must learn to fully integrate, man and woman are the two elements of humankind.

This is the original collection of one-liners, aphorisms, and just veritable wisdom. Read it and look smart.

With coronavirus gripping the world, what deeper lessons can we learn from this global epidemic?

As physical ailments require physical cures, spiritual ailments require spiritual cures.

We learn in Deuteronomy that it isn’t enough to read life as third-person narrative. We also must live life as a first-person experience.

Exile is not a noun but a verb.

The arduous journey of life leads toward a light brightened by our travel. This destination keeps us going.

When a person never waivers from the purity of the land, the purity of the land never waivers from the person.

How Judaism Impacted July 4th: Discussing the influence of Judaism on the Founding Fathers and the birth of American democracy.

Spirit is to matter what engine is to car.

Are laws meant be broken – or to fix the broken?

Moments of inspiration. Moments of strength. Moments of hope. Moments of unity.

Going out to war is not always a bad thing – so long as it is going “out” to war and not going “in” to war.

The physics of the family tree: the deeper the roots, the sweeter the fruit.

Birth marks the beginning of our mission on earth, to transform the material into the spiritual. Therefore, for a person whose life consists of spiritual gains, life never truly ends.

Truths aren’t written unto your soul. Truths are engraved into your soul.

The sages expounded in the language of the Mishnah (blessed is He who chose them and their learning)...

As this month enters our lives, joy enters our souls. There is a time to cry. This isn’t it.
Notable Days: Purim.

When someone dreams of instilling terror into the human heart, it is time to uproot the source of such dreams.

Why is sexuality so powerful? Intimacy is a celebration of vulnerability; it touches the softest part in each person, the most private and fragile part of a human being.

Initiative Launched by The Meaningful Life Center to Address the Personal and Emotional Needs of Our Community and Answer the Most Pressing Questions of Our Lives

Know that the Holy of Holies is the core. Don’t touch it, only feel it’s energy.

What is the secret to love? Learn 6 Key elements that will help you develop, enhance and experience the relationship you deeply desire.

The Divine is holy. We are created in the Divine image. Holy we shall be.

To pray is not to beg. To pray is to interweave with the Creator in high frequency conversations.

What can we do in the face of tragedy? How should we react? Insights and inspiration during these challenging times.

Every manmade structure has a blueprint. So does every God-made structure. The Torah is the blueprint of existence.

It isn’t enough to go to temple. One must also become a temple.

Enter the 5778/2018 Contest

Arriving to your destination – especially when it is a profound destination – is a journey in itself.

Sometimes tricks are really treats. And sometimes treats are really tricks.

The Maimonides of Chassidut, codified, organized, and systemized esoteric profundity in a scientific way.

When you equate your self-worth with your bank account, the result is anxiety. But when you equate money with divine gifts, the result is an invaluable blessing.

It matters less where you grow up than how you grow up.

When one attempts to curse a blessed entity, the blessed remains blessed and the cursed remains cursed.

Why Knowing Your Life Purpose Makes You a More Effective Leader
with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

As winter comes to a close spring begins to bloom. It is called spring because it is time to spring free.
Notable Days: Passover.

Let us help you honor your yahrzeits/memorials with a reminder and a guide on how to honor and immortalize your loved ones.

The role of government is to strike a balance between individual rights and the greater good of the community. Yet no political system has been able to perfect this balance.

Technology taps the Divine forces present in nature from the moment of creation.

Explore the root of the conflict in the Middle East. Is peace even possible?

To say something is more an art than an articulation.

Every day of this month has a unique Mitzvah. In this month, we make every day count.
Notable Days: Pesach Sheini. Lag b'Omer.

A man of the field, a warrior, this twin fathered the western world.

America is not different. These words weren’t merely uttered. They were implemented.

Some flames turn matter into ash. The flames of eternity turn matter into spirit.

What we stand for is predicated upon whom we stand before.

To reach someone else, usually you have to reach out of yourself.

When you awake in the morning, while you are still lying in bed, think for a moment: What does it mean to be awake and alive?

Be a fundamentalist. Fundamentally good. Fundamentally holy. Fundamentally divine.

What is faith? Is it a mystical, wispy thing that we can put on things? Or is it just designed to make us feel good like rose-colored glasses? We answer all of these questions and more in this episode of Disrupt Reality with host Tonya Dawn Recla and Rabbi Simon Jacobson.

Join the Soul Gym to Unlock Your Trapped Potential
Get free exercises to your inbox for self-mastery and growth.

"Toward A Meaningful Life" is the book that started it all. It is a roadmap for living that presents a fresh perspective on every aspect of life. Elie Wiesel said, “Anyone wishing to understand and to appreciate the unique wisdom and greatness of the Lubavitcher Rebbe must read this faithful disciple’s adaptation and interpretation of his teaching.”

Covid-19 Class Schedule

Using “religion” to justify one’s bigotry might be the greatest and saddest distortion of a Divine ideal.

In order to reap in a healthy manner, there are times when one must stop sowing.

The third month as a free people hosts the profoundest event in the history – and future – of the universe.
Notable Days: Shavuot.

A whole can become broken, but a half can become a whole.

Perhaps when a leader goes away it is so that we may go on.

Being settled is not ceasing to move. Being settled allows you to move.

Hear, O Israel, our father, we dedicate our lives to revealing the One in all things.

The real question we must ask is not just why we sometimes feel such acute pain, but what we are meant to learn from it.

Discover the essential elements of prayer and follow a quick start guide designed to ease you into the prayer experience. Learn how to have your prayers heard!

Join Rabbi Simon Jacobson and the ArchiveOwl as they tackle questions surrounding Kabbalah, Judaic mystic traditions, the Hebrew language and Judaism

Tribes are like branches of the same tree. When they are together they are unbreakable.

“All sevens are precious.” The seventh generation is the culmination of a royal dream.

Education is not just learning the skills to make a living; it is learning to understand life itself.

TREE OF LIFE original artwork reflecting the personal and cosmic x-ray of your body and soul — designed exclusively by the MLC.

We may walk down the beaten path or we may walk up the never-beaten path. The choice is ours.

The sun shines and the summer begins. In the brightest times we have to standout by shining brighter.
Notable Days: 3 Tammuz. 12-13 Tammuz. 17 Tammuz.

In order to build a House that will represent unity, it is essential to assemble the people in unity.

Life is a song. Creations are its notes. We are its musicians. And the Creator is the Maestro.

Just because a soul is in prison doesn’t mean it cannot dream.

Dreamers do not cease to dream in prison. Nor when they lead the world economy.

How can we find life in meaning? In this episode of Disrupt Reality, host Tonya Dawn Recla shares her time with guest Rabbi Simon Jacobson as they talk about the idea of why we would be in pursuit of our evolution.

Latkes on Chanukah… Cheesecake on Shavuot… Matzah on Pesach... Apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah… What are you really hungry for?

The journey of life is perpetual. Every stop is a start in the right direction.

FREE Digital Guides, Workshops and Email Series with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

A gift from G-d, your body is a vehicle for your soul. Thus, while one must exercise the body, one should never worship it.

Various are the paths of divine service. But to only one destination do they all lead.

Accounts aren’t balanced. Accounts are what do the balancing.

The Story of Rabbi Simon Jacobson on Meaningful People Podcast

Blessings are not printed. Blessings are drawn.

We mourn the destruction that has come. Then we commit to rebuilding it like never before.
Notable Days: 9 Av. 15 Av.

When humility embraces extravagance, the world is forever changed.

8 Insights for 8 Nights:
If the candles could talk, what would they tell us? What message is being shared in their reflection? Illuminate and internalize every night of Chanukah.

What champagne is to celebration; what flowers are to romance; what music is to joy – a story is to life.

The artist’s genius lies in the ability to bypass the externals and perceive the essence. This too is the goal of a mitzvah.

This is what happens when an insecure leader meets a secure nation.

Kim Forrester and Rabbi Jacobson explore the concept of a meaningful life, and why nourishment of the soul is vital if we want a flourishing life and a thriving society.

There are those who can live without really breathing. Just as there are those who can breathe without really living.

Discover 15 Steps to Personal Freedom
A practical handout for all your Seder-mates that will guide you along an unforgettable evening and will leave everyone dramatically transformed from the experience!

There is no better way to end one year and start another than falling in love all over again. Notable Days: 18 Elul.

PASSOVER IN THE AGE OF CORONA
A 15 Step Journey through the Seder
With Rabbi Simon Jacobson and Shlomo Simcha

A Conversation With Rabbi Simon Jacobson and Rivka Malka Perlman

Good leaders enter the Promised Land. Great leaders teach people how to find the Promised Land on their own.

Some events are current with eternal consequences. Other events are eternal with current consequences.

Toward a Meaningful Life with Rabbi Simon Jacobson & Sister Jenna

The minister of a foreign service has the ability to administer the most profound change.

Join Rabbi Simon Jacobson for a fascinating discussion on how we can help our children during these trying times.

Being born into a bitter exile does not mean you cannot learn to dance in the redemption.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson discusses the issue of our contested election irrespective of your faith or political party, and tackles the question “What Next?” from a spiritual perspective.

The antithesis to the purpose of existence, they do everything to put out the fire. Even if it burns them.

Join Dennis Prager and Rabbi Simon Jacobson, as they discuss the changing landscape in the face of the pandemic, the American future, grappling with God and faith, death and afterlife.

No barrier can remain closed to a mother’s tears.

2020 Vision: How the Pandemic Will Change Us w/ Rabbi Simon Jacobson & Sr. Jenna

Join Rabbi Simon Jacobson for an inspiring discussion on the trying times we're going through and strategies for dealing with disagreements.

We All Can Get Along: Rabbi Simon Jacobson gives us important tools that we can use to find common ground even with those who don’t agree with us in these contentious times.

Civil Dialogue: Rabbi Simon Jacobson shares advice on returning civility to our lives and discussions.

Simon Jacobson, Avremi Zaks, et al: Rosh Hashona amid COVID-19.

Toward A Meaningful Life with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Embrace your vulnerability and learn to let go of all that you can’t control, a message that’s all the more relevant in pandemic times.

What are the signs of Mashiach’s arrival? Are we seeing them now?

Toward a Meaningful Life w/ Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Living a Meaningful Life w/ Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Rabbi Simon Jacobson on "Let's get real with Coach Menachem" Show.

A Spiritual Antidote for the Coronavirus with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

A conversation about comfort and healing during quarantine w/ Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Answering The Wake Up Call with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Rabbi Simcha schmoozes with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Addresses the personal and emotional needs of our community

Boost your emotional and psychological immunities

60 Day Journey toward hope, renewal and joy