Rabbi Adam Jacobs

Tal Ben Shahar's class in positive psychology was one of the most popular in the history of Harvard University. Yet despite his pedagogical success, four best-selling books, a consulting practice with Fortune 500 companies and sundry television appearances, he decided it was time to move home ... to Israel. How...

I recently saw the following sentiment expressed in my Facebook newsfeed:

"Can we all just agree to drop our masks for 60 seconds? For one minute just quit pretending to be a 'sweet girl,' 'holy man' or 'accomplished business guy?' We'll all be better off when you are who you...

"In the 600th year of the sixth millennium [5600 in the Jewish calendar corresponding to 1840 C.E.] the gates of wisdom above (Kabbalah) together will the wellsprings of wisdom below (science) will open up and the world will prepare to usher in the seventh millennium [the 7000th year corresponding to...

It is frequently pointed out to me (by non-spiritual types) that civilization needs to evolve and that religion -- with its unalterable principles and absolutist moral stance -- is gumming up the works. There tends to be an assumption that society, like the evolutionary process itself, is constantly getting better....

Though I am not entirely sure why, people seem just plain fascinated by the (supposedly) cloistered communities of black clad Jews who briskly swarm -- entourage and side curls in tow -- through the streets of Brooklyn, the Diamond District and Old Jerusalem. For sure, some of it is the...

Most spiritual traditions have a structured methodology through which they strive to make personal or collective contact with the Divine. This practice is commonly referred to as prayer or meditation, and while many might not agree with a particular practice or the enterprise in general, very large swaths of humanity...

A fascinating thing has transpired in the 63-year-old relationship between the Israeli Jewish population and their brethren in the American diaspora. The latter have just realized that their days are numbered -- not as a result of the encroaching existential dangers of the sort that Israel faces day in and...

Try as I might, I continue to be startled by the mindset of the non-believer. It's not so much that I can't grasp the notion that someone could believe that there is no Creator and that there is no grand design to the universe, but rather that so many of...

I spent five years ensconced in a yeshiva directly opposite the Western Wall in the late '90s. It was a high traffic area and it was not uncommon for tourists and visitors to pop in and take in the great view from our balcony. Periodically, this led to philosophical discourse...

It is not uncommon, in my experience, for a new student to declare "why were we not taught any of this!?" after doing some in depth study. Like many American Jews, and despite the sincere efforts of the educators, I was left with a confused, incomplete and vaguely lame feeling...

All sentient people possess the same intuitive awareness of their own existence. We refer to this cognizance as the "self," and though it is one of the most fundamental human experiences, it is also one of the most mysterious. I have asked people on very many occasions to answer the...

I had the pleasure this week of fulfilling my (first ever) civic obligation of jury duty and was one of the first people interviewed to sit on a case involving an auto accident. The pleasant, lightly bearded judge asked each of us 16 questions, each aimed at determining if we...

"A little light pushes away a lot of darkness." --The Talmud

Two thousand two hundred years ago, Ptolemy, King of Egypt, forced 70 rabbis (at knife point) to translate the text of the Torah into Greek, creating a document that would come to be known as the Septuagint. This work...

Next week is the holiday of Shavuot, which celebrates the national revelation of the Torah to the Jewish people 3,323 years ago. As such, it would seem an appropriate time to try and clarify some misconceptions regarding who exactly this Revealer is.

Over the years I have fielded a...

"Dance is the hidden language of the soul." --Martha Graham

Of the variety of physiological responsa that human beings exhibit when we receive certain types of information, I find dance to be the most intriguing. Like laughter, it's not intuitively obvious why motion should sate our desire for expression. It's...

It is widely supposed that Charles Darwin's theory of the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection is as correct and certified as the laws of gravity or thermodynamics. Millions of people the world over accept the veracity of the principle as an abundantly obvious fact and view those...

Though expecting to be rather irked by it, I was surprised to find myself almost enjoying (and agreeing) with a lot of what Sam Harris had to say in his TED Talk entitled "Science can Answer Moral Questions." His thinking regarding the balance that needs to be struck...

Friends,

In our recent dialogue I have noticed a consistent theme. It was frequently remarked that religious lines of argumentation lack reason. The contention seems to be that most, if not all, religious systems rely solely on wholly unsubstantiated faith to support their beliefs.

Is this contention in fact...

Dear Non-Theist friends,

I was surprised, and gratified, to receive so much feedback to my first attempt at dialogue. Though I wasn't able to respond to all of your comments, I found many illuminating. While most, as might have been expected, came in the context of the HuffPost...

My dear atheist friend,

I have been actively involved in the education of Jews of all stripes (especially those with a built-in apathy or antipathy to theology) for the last 11 years. I have had a lot of time to reflect on your position and I'd like to offer a...