Rabbi Simon Jacobson: It's The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

The author I'm going to have on for this hour is— writes about fear, actually, in his book. The book is Toward a Meaningful Life. As you know, I have often cited the book that influenced me the most outside of the Bible, and that is Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning, that we humans need meaning. More than anything except food and air. It's actually a deeper drive even than sex, as powerful as that drive is. Toward a Meaningful Life, and the author is Simon Jacobson, who is a rabbi, specifically of the Chabad movement within Judaism. Many of you have heard of the Chabad house that perhaps exists in your— probably does exist in your city. And for 14 years, he was responsible for publishing the talks of the leader of that movement, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe. And he has taken those ideas of that remarkable man and written this book for everybody of any faith, and indeed for secular people, Toward a Meaningful Life. Simon Jacobson, welcome to The Dennis Prager Show.

Thank you so much for having me, Dennis. Beautifully stated. Thank you.

Good. Thank you. So, uh, the crisis as I have delineated it for so long to my audience is a meaning crisis induced by the death of religion. I want to tell you at the outset what I tell every guest. You are 100% welcome to disagree with me. But if you don't, or you do, please react to that, that the great crisis is the one of meaning.

I totally agree. I don't know if I would use the word religion per se, because religion has also been maligned and stereotyped, but definitely godlessness and the sense of accountability to a higher purpose and a higher destiny. So I believe that's what you're referring to. So we totally agree.

So what would you advise people? You have a wonderful part about fear. People are walking around now because of COVID in fear. What do you have to say to them?

Well, I'll just use a good analogy and a good anecdote, actually, of a time much worse than ours, though we don't compare tragedies, but 1927. The previous Chabad Rebbe, his name was Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson. So he was under the iron rule of the former Soviet Union, which as we know wanted to eradicate every semblance of Judaism in that country. And he stood up, was arrested by them, which of course there was no due process. They were, they could kill him in a moment. And he refused to cooperate. So someone pointed a gun to his head and said, Rabbi, This gun has made many people cooperate. And the Rebbe responded, he said, this toy, that's what he called it, in Yiddish they call it a tatske, this toy can frighten someone that has one world and many gods, but not someone who has one God and many worlds. I think that lies the essence of fear. Fear at the end of the day, some say it's all connected to the fear of death, The fear of the unknown. But when you have, as you said at the outset, purpose and meaning in life, which means you have something to hold on to that's greater than the moment. So yes, it may be a frightening moment, it may be a setback, it may be an unknown, as we see now during the pandemic, it's uncertain times, but you have something to hold on to. You're not just holding on to your job or money or other impertinent things, which of course don't provide security. So essentially, the counterforce to fear is security, and security needs to be bound with some eternal value, something you stand for. It could be love, it could be kindness, it could be generosity, it could be religion, a deeper purpose, but it has to be something more than just the world that we know that is so subject to the decisitudes is a good word to use, to the changes that are constantly sweeping around our lives. And it's having that anchor that is ultimately the counterforce. How to implement that is a greater challenge, but that's the principle. And every system, whether it's coming from the Bible or other systems, all end up emphasizing you need to hold on to something greater than you to counter the fear and insecurities and anxiety that results from the changing world we are in.

You go around lecturing, and so I'm curious, and you may not have an answer to this, it's fine. Do you see a change in many people, many people? If, if it's just a few, then it's irrelevant. But if— do you see a change in many people from, let's say, I don't know how old you are, but whether you experienced it or not, from let's say 50 years ago? Do you think there has been a serious change?

It's an excellent question. I would respond yes, but I think change happens more incrementally, like a process rather than a one cataclysmic event. What I see is the following. I'm 63, just for the record, okay? So 50, yeah, 50 is a good, I was growing as a teen into my teen years and then adult years. The changes I see are both in the positive and the negative. I've seen, and now it's coming to roost actually. We see, I've seen that complacency has grown out of prosperity and comforts. You know, since World War II, frankly, we have not had to fight for anything we stand for. So you have the average young man or woman today, or the '60s or the '70s, what do you fight for? I mean, the '60s was, I guess, a certain watershed moment in social, the social civil rights of this country. But later in the '80s and '90s, most people would tell you, my fight for, make more money, maybe relationships, sexuality, I love baseball or sports, my video games, or some other luxurious item. And what happened is that certain complacency sets in when you're comfortable and you take life for granted. Everything we're talking about, finding meaning, usually happens when there's unfortunately trauma, loss, death, some setback. When things are riding, and that's one thing I've seen, get more and more apathetic. But on the other end, Dennis, I would add, I also see an upturn because people at some point get sick of being miserable. Someone just told me a few weeks ago, how many Netflix movies can I watch? You know, there's a certain point where you've got— how much junk food can you eat? And I think that there is, and again, not a few people, as you said, I think it's a trend that there is also a certain, what do you call it, spiritual opening and awakening. And the pandemic has, of course, changed things dramatically because that's really upended and disrupted everybody's schedules. So my answer is, it's like, I don't wanna plagiarize Dickens, "The Best of Times and the Worst of Times," but it is the best of times in many ways of our comforts and our standard of living and the ease. You press a button, you have whatever you want at your door, but it creates that type of almost spiritual vacuousness and emptiness because you don't have to fight for it. And I think that there is an upturn going on as well. So I think there's a paradox, you have to think. What do you think about that? Yes, sir, observing this as well as I am, your own church.

Well, I'm a bit more pessimistic than you are, but that's, I have enough time to describe my views when you're not on, so I'll just briefly, I am very worried about a generation that does not, to use the biblical citation, "And a generation arose that did not know America." just as, you know, a pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph, that they've taken— they don't appreciate freedom, they don't appreciate the family. I think that there's a— it's a real crisis. That's why his book is important, Toward a Meaningful Life. Simon Jacobson. We'll be back. The Dennis Prager Show, live from the Relief Factor Pain-Free Studio.