The Shema Podcast for the Perplexed

Every morning and every night we are commanded to say the Shema prayer in order to internalize that Hashem created the world and is intimately involved with everything in our lives and that everything He does is for our good. This is the idea that He is One.  But when tragedy hits, how does one continue to maintain and strengthen their Emunah and Bitachon?  In this episode we are joined by Rabbi Gershon Schusterman, author of the book “Why God Why? How to Believe in Heaven when It Hurts Like Hell.” Rabbi Schusterman not only knows this subject academically, as a Rabbi, but through personal experience, as he had to endure earlier in his life, tragically and suddenly, losing his wife.  There is tremendous wisdom in what he shares that is of tremendous benefit to all.

In this discussion we delve into the amazing opportunities that our business endeavors provide to us in developing our understanding of Torah, strengthening our Emunah, and then using our Torah to unleash endless creativity and fearlessness in the marketplace.

In this episode I take my cherished friend and teacher, Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe, to task through a barrage of questions challenging him on Torah beliefs and philosophy. With his titan intellect, that was forged through a life dedicated to Torah study, he swatted away my arguments with eloquence, wisdom and humor, leaving me and the listener with a deeper appreciation and understanding of our Torah and heritage.

As the President of the Board of TORCH, one of my core responsibilities is to be the representative of the TORCH shareholders, aka the donors.  This year instead of conducting my due diligence on my own I decided to go a different route.   I not only brought in a team of stock analyst from YDH Investment Management to conduct the due diligence meeting but I recorded the meeting for our listeners and donors.  Of course, any Q&A with Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe and Rabbi Chaim Bucsko always leads to learning Torah wisdom.https://torchweb.org/support.php

This important topic is for men only. Gentlemen, we have a sacred and eternal covenant with the Almighty, the Bris Milah. This contractual arrangement comes with ongoing responsibilities, that if violated will cause a breach of this Holy contract and make our Bris null and void. It is essential for us and the entire Jewish nation to keep our covenant. Tune in and learn from Rabbi Cohen as he discusses the Kabbalistic and Torah insights to the meaning of the Holy Bris.

Every Jew who was raised in the secular world can identify either grandparents, great grandparents or great-great grandparents that were Torah observant Jews.   Somewhere along the way one generation taught to their children how to live as a Jew but not why we live as a Jew and why we know evidentially the divinity of our Torah.   That generation then grows up and either in their lifetimes or their children's, they eventually leave Torah observant Judaism.  Sadly this phenomena of the Revolving Door of Torah observant Judaism exist today.  In this episode I asked Rabbi Nagel to join us and share his wisdom on how we can make the doorway to Torah Observant Judaism a one-way door in.

The Jewish people inherited the spiritual DNA of kindness from our forefather Avraham. It is in the moments when we are giving tzedakah, volunteering our time to help another or fulfilling the mitzvah of saving a life that we feel most aligned with our true selves. However with the subject of organ donations there are many halachic details that we need to be aware of in order to fulfill this mitzvah according to Hashem’s will. In this episode I have Rabbi Yossi Grossman, founder of the Jewish Ethics Institute to teach us what we need to know on this important topic.

As we transitioned from the two thousand years of Torah and into the two thousand years of Moshiach, prophecy for the Jewish people waned away. We as a people had to adapt to a world where we could no longer ask our Creator via His prophets for guidance in our daily lives. However, the Almighty did leave in a place a means for Him to convey to us messages when he needs too, in order to keep us all on the proper path towards a successful life. In this episode I have the great Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on to discuss how we can achieve prophecy.

This was an impromptu episode.  Rabbi Aryeh was in my office to record a podcast and before we began, I sought his council on a personal matter.  It is a concern I have been struggling with for quite some time.   I realized in that moment that the purpose of this podcast is to share my struggles and questions with you, so that we can all learn together.  I hit the record button before I asked my question and I’m grateful that I did.  I believe his words of wisdom can help all of us as we toil in Torah.

I had the great honor and privilege of participating in a roundtable discussion on Chanukah, at the TORCH Center with my Rabbis and fellow Torch Podcasters, Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe, Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Rabbi Yaakov Nagel and Rabbi Chaim Bucsko.  The upcoming holiday of Chanukah will be so much richer for me as a result of learning from my beloved Rabbis and I know you will feel the same.