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Torah · 3:23

Do You Know You're in a Race | Rabbi Elchonon Jacobovitz

1.1K views · Jan 18, 2026

Vayimaen

A Torah shiur on the spiritual race and the importance of self-awareness.

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The opening of this shiur, in Vayimaen’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

I was recently at a convention when a young Bochur comes over to me and he says, Rabbi Jacobovitz, I recognize you from Vayimaen and I got to tell you a story that just happened that you must say on your next Vayimaen video. I'm like: Great! What's the story? So he tells me: A few minutes ago, I was playing in the arcade room, and as I'm enjoying myself, some people walked in and they weren't dressed appropriately. I stopped mid-game, I walked right out and I ran right here, all the way back to the lobby. I said: Wow, that's amazing. And what happened next? And he's like: Next? Nothing. That's the story. And I'm thinking to myself: Huh? That's the story? What's the story here? What is this kid thinking? And then I think to myself, What's the kid thinking? What am I thinking? Isn't that half of our mistake? That we don't realize that we are the story? That every time we resist temptation, we are the headlines in heaven? I remember as a kid going to the Michigan State Fair, and they announced that the great Piglet Race is going to take place at 4:00. I'm all excited. It's my first time there. We go to the racetrack and there it is, a dirt circular track, bleachers on all sides,

Jump to a moment

  1. 0:04I was recently at a convention when a young Bochur comes over to me and he…
  2. 0:35That's the story? What's the story here? What is this kid thinking? And then I think…
  3. 1:05and five piglets in cages by the starting line, ready to race. We go into the…
  4. 1:36The piglets don't race. They come tumbling out of the cages. They stroll here, they wag…
  5. 2:07he just strolls down the track, rolling in the mud. Isn't that us? We stumble here,…
  6. 2:37So just imagine for a moment the heavenly sports cast on a regular day. Friedman wakes…
  7. 3:07Unbelievable! Remember, that's you. You stumble, you fumble. Be the play of the day and don't…

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