Inspire and Uplift Your Community!
Rabbi Yonason Johnson

Rabbi Yonason Johnson is a talented thinker and skilled orator who has the ability of expressing deep concepts in simple language and imparting to his audiences a thought-provoking and uplifting message. His vast knowledge and engaging delivery come together to create a stimulating learning experience.
Rabbi Johnson serves as the dean of Kollel Menachem and the Director of Adult Education of the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne. Having studied in Yeshivos in Israel and Australia, Rabbi Johnson has been a Torah teacher and lecturer in Adult Education for over 20 years. His lectures attract large crowds from the spectrum of the Melbourne Jewish community and he has a large online following from around the world for his Shiurim and written content.
His presentations are suitable for learners of all ages and levels, from beginner Chabad House Mekuravim to Torah-observant communities. If you are interested in hosting Rabbi Johnson for a one-off lecture, a series of lectures, a Shabbaton or as a scholar-in-residence for your community or to contact Rabbi Johnson, please click here.
Rabbi Johnson serves as the dean of Kollel Menachem and the Director of Adult Education of the Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne. Having studied in Yeshivos in Israel and Australia, Rabbi Johnson has been a Torah teacher and lecturer in Adult Education for over 20 years. His lectures attract large crowds from the spectrum of the Melbourne Jewish community and he has a large online following from around the world for his Shiurim and written content.
His presentations are suitable for learners of all ages and levels, from beginner Chabad House Mekuravim to Torah-observant communities. If you are interested in hosting Rabbi Johnson for a one-off lecture, a series of lectures, a Shabbaton or as a scholar-in-residence for your community or to contact Rabbi Johnson, please click here.
Testimonials
Thank you sincerely for your visit to Perth as scholar in residence for the weekend. Your talks and farbrengen were extremely well received. People were particularly impressed by your breath of knowledge in both Chasidic and halachic fields and your ability to relate and engage across a wide variety of subjects for a wide variety of people and backgrounds.
Rabbi Marcus Solomon - Dianella Shule, Perth Australia
Rabbi Marcus Solomon - Dianella Shule, Perth Australia
Thank you for the wonderful and very uplifting chai Elul farbrengen. You engaged the audience and kept them captivated with the themes of Hakhel, Chai Elul, what Chassidus added to the service of Hashem and the importance of being joyous and infusing ones service of Hashem with true happiness. Thank you for coming to Sydney to inspire the community.
Rabbi Yehuda Spielman - Tzemach Tzedek Community, Sydney Australia
Rabbi Yehuda Spielman - Tzemach Tzedek Community, Sydney Australia
Recent Topics to Choose From
Choose from one of the topics below or suggest your own
Contemporary Issues and Halacha:
Historical-Halacha Controversies
Topical
Rebbe
Relationships and Character Development:
Festivals:
Chinuch:
Series:
- When Brothers Fight; Protests in the Holy Land, Judicial Reform and the Key to Peace
- Finding Moshiach in a World of Woke; How global social movements are searching for Redemption
- Aritificial Intelligence; the fragility of man and why we can never be replaced
- Women of the Wall and the truth of Jewish feminism
- Ethics of Ebola; Endangering your life to treat others, Is quarantine allowed? Burial and more Halachic considerations
- Divorce by Force - What can and can't the Beis Din do in the face of Gett refusal
- Quality of Life or Value of Life? - The Torah perspective on Euthansia and End-of-Life issues
Historical-Halacha Controversies
- The Heter Mechira - A journey into one of the greatest halachic controversies of the last century
- The Printer’s Feud – a historical/halachic journey into the 16th Century Printers feud and the Psak of the Ram”o that ended in catastrophe (slide show)
- The Year they (almost) Blew Shofar on Shabbos - a 19th Century Halachic controversy that raged from Jerusalem to Hungary and beyond
Topical
- The Kabbalah of Dreams – Understanding the Enigma, what they mean and where they come from
- Artificial Intelligence and the beauty of human imperfection – Why we will never become redundant
- Top down or bottom up? The Torah approach on parenting and how to transmit our values to the next generation
- The Paradox of Prayer – G-d-centric or self-centred? what we are really trying to achieve when we Daven
- Free-choice verses Determinism - a deeper perspective on the ag-old philosophers' question
Rebbe
- The Ultimate Quality of a Jewish Leader - learning from Moshe and the Rebbe on what makes a true leader
- People in Black Hats Shouldn’t throw stones - The Rebbe’s revolution in reaching out to the less observant
- Davening at Kivrei Tzaddikim – holy pilgrimage or pagan practice? (source based)
- The Special Seventh Generation – The Rebbe said that our generation will bring Moshiach. What is our secret strength?
Relationships and Character Development:
- From Chaos to Perfection - practical skills for achieving harmonious relationships based on Kaabalistic proncipals
- Achieving True Oneness - lessons on growing closer from the first marriage in history
- Deepening our relationships - a kabbalistic model from the world of thought and the world of speech
- Pathways to happiness – Torah strategies to being happy even when we don’t feel like it
- The purpose of Challenges – discovering the inner reason and purpose of challenge, knowing what we can change and what we can’t
- The Bitter Pill of Criticism – Why we hate receiving criticism and how to do it right
- Effective Communication - The mystical model for effective communication of ideas
- There's no I in We - Humility as the key to hamonious relationships
Festivals:
- The Kabbalah of Shabbos
- Apples - A simple Minhag which goes to the core (Rosh Hashona)
- The Power of 3, the Kabbalah of Shofar and the Rosh Hashona prayers (Rosh Hashona)
- All I Ask of You, What should be the focus of our High Holiday prayers?
- Hidden Code of the Azazel - The Kabbalistic significance of a most perplexing practise (Yom Kippur)
- Reaching Oneness (Yom Kippur)
- Why Oil Doesn't Mix and the secret of the survival of the Jewish people (Chanukah)
- Finding your Direction, The Menorah's guide to a spiritual existence (Chanukah)
- Dealing with Darkness - 2 approaches to battle negativity (Chanukah)
- The Tree, the Altar and the Nose - discovering the essence of Purim
- Kabbalah of the Plagues - Pesach
- The Fifth Element, Numerology and Kabbalah in the Haggadah - Pesach
- 10 Steps to Spiritual Freedom - A Kabbalistic look at the 10 Plagues
- Crossing Over - The Kabbalistic Significance of 33 (Lag Baomer)
- How do you hold your Challahs? The Kabbalah of Shabbos
- Dynamics of Destruction (Tisha B'Av)
- The Deepest Love (Tisha B'Av) - When the Keruvim embraced
Chinuch:
- Baa Baa - Shepherding the Black Sheep
- Chassidic guidance in Chinuch relationships
- 1,2,3 Magic - 3 building blocks in raising children for success
Series:
- Laws of the Beis Hamikdosh - PowerPoint guided study of the Rambam's laws of the Beis Habechira
- Living with the Beis Hamikdosh - Spiritual life lessons from the Holy Temple design and its sacred vessels
- Praying with Fire - Understanding the nature and power of prayer