Could You Imagine Working as a Chaplain
Inside an Israeli Prison Right Now?
No? This man did. He lived it...
As an army combat-engineering brigade Lieutenant, Rabbi Fishel Jacobs spent 13 years as the only American officer, A Major, ever to minister to the men in the Israeli Prison System.
Teeming with terrorists, murderers, rioters, revolutionaries, madmen and psychopaths, maximum-security prisons like Rabbi Jacobs witnessed would be the last place you'd expect to find ANY ray of HOPE in the human heart.
And yet, hope lives. In there.
In the Israeli Prison System.
And Rabbi Jacobs now tells all the best stories - firsthand, as only he can - about the triumph of the human spirit over the darkest manifestations of man's depravity.
As the one who had to sew together the pieces of men's souls, he takes us into the filthy cells where life hangs on by necessity -- every moment of every day being a struggle for survival.
Men shared their darkest moments with Rabbi Jacobs. And now you get to "listen in" as you see how the light of hope still shone through even the smallest cracks in the prison walls.
"Hopes and Dreams" is a recurring theme found in the lives of men who have seemingly lost all.
But you'd be surprised.
And it shows that we, who by the grace of G-d have not made tragic mistakes, still fail ourselves tragically whenever we abandon the human virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
The stories - and the lessons - you'll read and glean from this book will help you heal any wound that may be bothering you now. You'll see through the eyes of the prisoners who to appreciate the good things... let go of the nonsense... and avoid all the bad things in life that can quickly bring you down even to a point of a self-imposed prison.
Free your mind. Free your soul.
Coffee Melts Bars is more than a jailhouse metaphor. It's a message for all of us.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yes, indeed, Rabbi Fishel Jacobs certainly fits the idyllic persona of a Jewish Rabbi. Yet there is so much more to this explosive public figure. His acclaim as a prolific author and public speaker only graze his unique accomplishments--which also include karate champion (yes, capable of breaking 15" of solid brick with his fist,) Talmudic scholar, prison chaplain, lieutenant in an Israel Army combat engineering unit on active duty during the Gulf War, and Tel Aviv University campus chaplain for nearly 20 years. You can imagine that this man is truly... blessed.
He grew up as scrawny kid, Flip (Philip) Jacobs in South Royalton, Vermont, who learned the art of karate for self-defense before becoming a master, then finding Judaism at the University of Vermont, enrolling in yeshivah in Israel and getting ordination, smichah, from the Chief Rabbinate.
He then became a spiritual mentor for the Ramle, Israel Prison Complex, offering an understanding and compassionate--albeit firm--hand to some of society's worst repeat offenders and serial criminals.
He is now the author of nine acclaimed best-selling non-fiction books, while Hollywood is also courting the karate champ-turned-prison rabbi cum public speaker and acclaimed author. An international collaboration of leading film companies are now producing a screenplay of his life.
