A Few Words
About Me
Life Story Talk
This is by far Rabbi Jacobs’ most popular topic. In it, Fishel Jacobs, then Flip, vividly describes the anti-Semitism he encountered growing up as the only Jewish kid in South Royalton, a 900-family village in central Vermont. That experience launched him into karate training, eventually fighting his way to the East Coast YMCA Black Belt heavyweight title and Olympic preparation. Then, it led Rabbi Jacobs into a life of martial arts training.
As an undergraduate at the University of Vermont, Flip met the Chabad rabbi and spent four years as his Friday night meal guest. In a dramatic heavyweight title fight in New Haven, Connecticut, Flip fought with a broken nose, crystalizing the need to move on in life. Fishel describes the subsequent trials and anguish of entering a rabbinic school: Aramaic, Hebrew, new concepts, lifestyle, and learning Tanya by heart. All this culminated in an epic personal audience with the Rebbe, at 25 years of age, which was tape recorded.
One reason for the huge demand for this talk is that Rabbi Jacobs allows the audience to hear this one-of-a-kind five minute conversation between him and the Rebbe. Rabbi Jacobs says, “My talk describes in detail how the two directives I got from the Rebbe therein came to fruition in the next twenty years of my life. First, by becoming the first American ordained by the head rabbis of Israel, and by finding my wife.” This talk generally takes an hour and a half or more. It fits communities, adults, college students, teens. In it, Rabbi Jacobs also performs some karate.
Israeli Prison Career
For 13 years, Fishel Jacobs worked as a full-time chaplain in the maximum-security Israeli Prison Service.
He was the highest-ranking American officer, a major. His prison held 500 criminals along with 200 terrorists from Hamas, Hizballah, and the Palestinian Liberation Order. His book, Coffee Melts Bars—My Israeli Prison Career, the first book on the subject (Kindle or iTunes), and has been critically acclaimed.
This discussion usually comes as a continuation of the above Life Story Talk, when people simply “don’t want to leave,” and want to hear more. Israeli Prison Career is also available as a standalone talk.
