Love & Marriage Archives - The Meaningful Life Center

Shemini: Religious Selfishness

Stories •Weekly Op-Ed •April 15th, 2004• 0 Comments

Using personal anecdotes, Rabbi Jacobson explores of the side effects of practicing religion by rote, and the beauty of a true “religious” experience.

Matot-Masei: Tzugekumene

Weekly Op-Ed •July 15th, 2004• 0 Comments

Response to a provocative letter: ‘The feeling of “us” and “them” was an undercurrent in the interactions between FFB’s and BT’s or non-observant Jews’.

Noach: Raging Waters

Questions & Answers •Weekly Op-Ed •October 27th, 2006• 4 Comments

Not only are we never given a challenge we cannot overcome, but from Parshat Noach we learn that every challenge brings us to an even greater height.

Toldot: My Child

Weekly Op-Ed •November 9th, 2007• 0 Comments

Every generation is part of an unbroken cycle of ‘fruit.’ It is through children that we create an eternal legacy, one which we are part of ourselves.

Vayeitzei: Marriage: Destiny or Chance?

Weekly Op-Ed •November 16th, 2007• 4 Comments

Is marriage predestined or dependent on your efforts? There are many opinions but all agree that though G-d’s predestined it we have the power to change it.

Shoftim: A True Relationship

Weekly Op-Ed •August 17th, 2007• 0 Comments

The Jewish month of Elul teaches an important lesson in relationships; one must create total unity whilst retaining their individuality.

Shelach: Circles and Squares

Weekly Op-Ed •June 19th, 2009• 8 Comments

Whether you are more “square-like” or more “circle-like,” both personalities are necessary, and both complement each other.

Korach: Can A Circle Marry A Square?

Weekly Op-Ed •June 25th, 2009• 4 Comments

Go beyond yourself and you will find true and everlasting love. If you are a circle learn and appreciate the virtues of the square.

The 15th of Av: Full Moon Musings

Essays • 0 Comments

The full moon of the month of Av is associated with relationships. The moon teaches us three fundamental lessons about successful relationships. The full moon means being full with another. Your feeling of lack and incompleteness allows you to become the most complete.

Finding Your Transcendent Soulmate

Essays •Questions & Answers • 3 Comments

There are many other questions that need to be answered when searching for your soul mate. Here are some of the requirements necessary to achieve a transcendent relationship. It is always best to have a close trusting friend or mentor that can help you objectively assess your particular relationship.

Sexuality or Intimacy?

Transcripts/Sources • 0 Comments

Everyone has a sexual nature, everyone has a need for sexuality, everyone has a sexual personality, and everyone has been shaped, in one way or another, in their sexual preferences, in how they express and experience it, whether inside or out of marriage today. Everyone listening will have a very strong opinion in the matter. This discussion is coming from a perspective that is very defined, yet extremely flexible and surprisingly free-spirited.

How to Find Your Soulmate

Transcripts/Sources • 2 Comments

Simon Jacobson, author of the best-selling Toward a Meaningful Life, discusses ancient secrets of finding your soulmate, and staying together forever. How to find your soulmate!

The Battle of the Sexes: Round Two

Transcripts/Sources • 0 Comments

Learn about the differences between the spiritual energies of men and women. From a Kabbalistic, mystical, psychological perspective, the male psyche and the female psyche both overlap (everyone has both), is that one is more of an inward energy, the majestic element of humanity: majesty, inner dignity, an inner force, and one is more of an outer force, more expressive. One being inward and internal is the feminine and the other being a masculine energy, a more aggressive, expressive energy. Both are necessary for every human being to function in this world.

The Battle of the Sexes: Round One

Transcripts/Sources • 0 Comments

Can men and women live in harmony? Are men and women different? Are gender roles oppressive? A candid conversation with best-selling author Simon Jacobson.

The Cosmic Marriage: All About Unconditional Love

Essays • 4 Comments

The Torah tells us that marriage begins with unconditional love and acceptance of the entire person – first “accept Me” and the details will follow. Read about the ways that the idea of unconditional love relates to marriages between men and women, and the cosmic marriage between G-d and the Jewish people.

A Wedding In Two Movements: Kiddushin and Nisuin

Essays • 1 Comment

Kiddushin and nisuin are two distinct phases in the Jewish marriage process. This article explores the spiritual dimensions of kiddushin and nisuin.

What Do Nuclear Energy & Love Have in Common? A New Look at Intimate Relationships

List • 1 Comment

How powerful is intimacy and sexuality? In human experience it is as powerful as nuclear energy. Like nuclear power, it also has the potential of becoming the most devastating. When two people come together, they have the power to create a new life – or to behave so abusively that one or both people suffer a trauma of a lifetime.

A Marriage Made on Earth

Essays • 0 Comments

Man was created male and female initially—as a “single being with two faces.” In marriage, the divine analogue is made whole again. Essay by Rabbi Simon Jacobson based on a letter from the Rebbe.

Gender Differences: The Better Half?

Weekly Op-Ed • 2 Comments

The latest findings about the power of women confirm an age-old truth of the Torah that feminine energy is indeed more evolved than its masculine counterpart. Furthermore, the Kabbalah states that we are now on the verge of a new feminine revolution.

Why Get Married?

Shorts • 3 Comments

Two people may love and care for each other, but without a divine force, what is to bond temporal human beings eternally?

Is There Such a Thing as Forever?

Transcripts/Sources •February 25th, 2015• 0 Comments

Learn to be able to bring into our personal lives the ability to find eternity both in our marriages and our relationships and in everything that we do.

Ring, Round & Roof: Three Mysteries of Marriage

Essays • 0 Comments

A marriage consists of three circles: the feminine circle, the masculine circle and the divine circle.

Means of Marriage

Essays • 1 Comment

How do a man and woman become husband and wife according to Torah law?

Pre-Marital Marriage

Essays • 0 Comments

The following is a freely translated excerpt from a talk the Rebbe gave to women’s gathering on Iyar 25, 5744 (May 27, 1984) about the woman’s role in marriage.

The Rebbe On Why Moses Broke the Tablets

Essays • 0 Comments

In breaking the tablets, Moses was acting on his own, contrary to his divine mission to deliver G-d’s Torah to the world. In breaking the tablets, Moses, who could not presume that G-d was to replace the first tablets with a second pair, was eradicating his very being, his very raison d’etre, for the sake of his people.

Glue

Shorts •Transcripts/Sources • 0 Comments

The Rebbe writes about glue as a metaphor for marriage counseling.

Partner

Essays • 0 Comments

The half-shekel ring given to Rebecca for her marriage to Isaac was the forerunner of the half-shekel contributed by each Jew toward the building of the Sanctuary, the “marital home” in the marriage between G-d and man.

The Intimate Estrangement

Essays • 0 Comments

Linking G-d’s bond with the Jews as a marriage with the ten haftarot called “the Three of Rebuke and the Seven of Consolation” in explaining the galut/exile.

A Tailor’s Legacy

Stories • 0 Comments

A story of two Rabbis discussing a marriage proposal, revealing the secrets of tailoring and life.

Vaetchanan: Orthodoxy Vs. The World

Essays • 0 Comments

An interesting debate about how, in today’s day, we approach and respond to the reality of intermarriage in orthodoxy…

In an Earthen Vessel

Essays • 1 Comment

Deeper significance of the laws of the sotah (“wayward wife”) in Parshat Naso. Life is a marriage of body & soul – female & male perspectives on reality.

Ricochet Dance

Essays • 0 Comments

History is a dance. G-d & the “maiden of Israel” have been dancing these steps some 4000 years now, advancing & retreating, drawing apart & pulling together

The Value of Beauty

Questions & Answers • 0 Comments

A frank dialogue that offers a refreshing perspective on the deep value of human beauty.

Love Is Not Judgment

Shorts • 10 Comments

You can stop telling yourself that you’re only worthy of love if you are perfect and if you please other people.

Seven Ways to Overcome Fear of Commitment

List • 0 Comments

Commitment is majestic. Commitment is dignified. Commitment brings Heaven down to Earth.

The Four Types of Compatibility in Relationships

Shorts • 10 Comments

Here are four primary types of compatibility, and all of them are necessary for healthy love. However, the first three are subject to change, while the fourth type of compatibility is the one that truly cements relationships for the long haul — it is the eternal element that keeps couples together when their looks and interests change.

Are You Burned Out On Dating?

List • 0 Comments

Figure out who you are. Take dating slowly. Set your intentions. The feeling of being burned out on dating will pass.

Three Ideas for Revitalizing Your Relationship

List • 0 Comments

If you are feeling distant from your spouse and like you need to reconnect, the following three suggestions have been proven to work.

How To Vitalize Your Marriage

Shorts • 0 Comments

Building a foundation and feeding your relationship with a steady diet of positive experiences together nurtures and nourishes your connection, continuously intensifying your bond, like glue that attaches two distinct entities.

I Am to My Beloved and My Beloved Is to Me

Weekly Op-Ed • 3 Comments

G-d and daily life simply doesn’t get along. Is there a simpler way to define the grand Tzimtzum? Is there a more tangible expression of the Tzimtzum?

The Education Crisis

Weekly Op-Ed • 47 Comments

Undoubtedly education of the young is the key to preserving spiritual identity. Today, nothing less than a revolution is necessary in our education systems.

What Love Is and Is Not

Shorts • 0 Comments

If you’ve experienced heartbreak after heartbreak and you feel like you are a failure at love, now is the time to discover what love is and what love is not, since it bears little resemblance to the love we see in film and television, or hear about in songs.

Six Ways Love Makes Life Better

List • 2 Comments

As we continue to search for the secret formula to finding love and not losing it, here are several love words to help us unlock the heart to the mystery of love. Love makes life better!

Why Do We Fall in Love?

Essays • 0 Comments

Why do we fall in love? What lies behind the attraction between the sexes? In seeking to make sense of our sexuality we must look to its origins. The human race is in essence one entity, a male-female singularity. When man and woman come together and unite in a marital union, they recreate the divine image in which they were both formed as one.

Five Effective Ways to Show People You Love Them

List • 1 Comment

While you might feel love for someone — like your spouse or your child — that internal feeling of love does not always translate into an external expression of love. If you have love in your heart, let it out! Here’s how.

A True Relationship

Weekly Op-Ed • 4 Comments

In this month of Elul we have the opportunity to create, mend and renew relationships. May we use the month well, and may we all be blessed with experiencing “I am to my beloved and my beloved to me.”