Adam Jacobs

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Mar 5, 2019, 7:40 PM

The Moses Controversy

Most people sleep comfortably at night just knowing that the great majority of things they believe are right and true. And yet, the common faith in one’s own capacity for truly independent thought is, I believe, highly overrated. How many...

Nov 21, 2017, 3:19 PM

Love is a skeleton key

All relationships end in tragedy. We all know this of course but choose to ignore it since we so badly need our key relationships while we have them and focusing on the cold fact of their temporality is painful...

Feb 21, 2017, 8:25 PM

The Spiritual Roots of Anxiety

This New Year’s Day, my daughter suddenly developed an acute, debilitating fear of vomiting. Among other things, this made her terrified of attending school, woke her up in fear in the middle of the night and brought on seemingly...

Oct 12, 2015, 4:10 AM

The Living Dead Are Real

“No one cares if you die, Lisa, because you're dead already. Your heart is cold.” - Susana, Girl Interrupted For a while now I’ve wondered about our culture’s fascination with zombies - from the six acclaimed seasons of The Walking Dead...

Jul 23, 2015, 9:38 AM

When Nothing Makes Sense: A Jewish Reflection

In the Jewish calendar, the 9th of Av ("Tisha B'Av") serves as an opportunity to reflect on the many tragedies of Jewish history. It’s a 25-hour workshop for coming to terms with what we have collectively lost and endured,...

Apr 14, 2015, 3:28 AM

Jews Were Like ISIS? Not So Much.

Einstein was said to have said that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” That was my principal thought as I read through Adam Kirsch’s piece “When Jews Were Like ISIS” in Tablet Magazine a few weeks ago. Admirably, Kirsch...

Feb 17, 2015, 5:35 AM

The 9 Laws of Jewish Intimacy

I recently sat across from a well-mannered and intelligent woman who had questions about sexuality and (what she perceived as) sexism in the religious community. When asked what she believed the purpose of sexuality in Judaism was, she instinctively...

Jan 26, 2015, 1:04 AM

Shooting the Messenger: The Spiritual Roots of Jew Hatred

Without bothering to recount the thousands of years worth of pathological oppression the Jewish People have endured and the endless stream of sociological explanations (and justifications) for it, I wanted to briefly touch on what I believe to be...

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About Me

Rabbi Adam Jacobs is the Managing Director of the Aish Center in Manhattan. He was born and raised in New York and has lived in Boston and Jerusalem, where he received his rabbinic ordination. He completed his B.A. in music from Brandeis University and has a Masters of Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory. He is a blogger for the Huffington Post’s religion section and has a penchant for writing and teaching about the uplifting, beautiful and unexpected aspects of the Jewish tradition. He was recently featured in the documentary film "Kabbalah Me" and has published a collection of essays called The Forgotten Light. Rabbi Jacobs now lives in “the burbs” with his wife Penina and their five children.