The Shema Podcast for the Perplexed

Everyone who begins the journey towards Torah Observance share a similar experience with one another.   We all begin to encounter new challenges in life that we did not have before.   It seems so counterintuitive that it can lead to frustration.  The reality is that the new challenges in front of us are being orchestrated by G-d as a means to remove what is blocking us from becoming closer to Him.  In this episode I bring on my dear friend and spiritual athlete, Scott Kammerman so he can share his wisdom and advice, acquired through years of training, on how to turn these challenges into what they were intended to be.  A custom learning curriculum developed by the Almighty to aid us both in our mutual desire.

Our claim as the Jewish people is that our origin began at Mt. Sinai when we received the Torah.   Many of us, when beginning our pursuit of Torah wisdom, often overlook an important question and that is, what is Torah?   The answer at first seems obvious until we contemplate it further.  Understanding the answer to this fundamental question, is something we need to thoroughly comprehend if we want to unlock the power of Torah to transform us into who we truly are.

Our claim as the Jewish people is that our origin began at Mt. Sinai when we received the Torah.   Many of us, when beginning our pursuit of Torah wisdom, often overlook an important question and that is, what is Torah?   The answer at first seems obvious until we contemplate it further.  Understanding the answer to this fundamental question, is something we need to thoroughly comprehend if we want to unlock the power of Torah to transform us into who we truly are.

Fulfilling the Torah is Simple but not Easy.In summary Torah is telling us the following:Our purpose in this world is to pursue ultimate pleasure.The ultimate pleasure we are pursuing is closeness to Hashem.The way we ascend closer to Hashem is through aligning our thoughts, words, and actions with Him.The way we learn how to align ourselves with Him is through His Torah.His ways are ways of giving.While we all have unique challenges, tailored to our unique curriculum for growth, they all have something in common and that is our Yetzer Hara is continually trying to convince us that the source of pleasure is taking, not giving.In this episode I bring on Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe and his 7-year-old son, Yitzi, to inspire us, by sharing stories of Tzadikim who have excelled in this lofty and simple, but not easy task.

The Almighty has orchestrated throughout history periods when the non-Jewish world opens up to the Jewish people.  His objective is to see whether we are now capable to go out into the world and be a light unto the other nations or whether we choose to take the path of assimilation.   While Chanukah is our example in time of how to succeed at this task, for the majority of history we have sadly failed, causing G-d to orchestrate world events so that the other nations will remind us that we are Jews through the escalation of Anti-Semitism.   And once again, we are seeing this play out.   So how do we equip ourselves to interact with the other nations without assimilating into the other nations?  The answer is our lifelines of Tzitzit, Yarmulke and Tefillin.   They are what harness us to the Almighty wherever we go in the world so that we stay true to our mission.   In this invocative episode Rabbi Abrahams explores the deep meaning of these important mitzvos.

The Almighty has orchestrated throughout history periods when the non-Jewish world opens up to the Jewish people.  His objective is to see whether we are now capable to go out into the world and be a light unto the other nations or whether we choose to take the path of assimilation.   While Chanukah is our example in time of how to succeed at this task, for the majority of history we have sadly failed, causing G-d to orchestrate world events so that the other nations will remind us that we are Jews through the escalation of Anti-Semitism.   And once again, we are seeing this play out.   So how do we equip ourselves to interact with the other nations without assimilating into the other nations?  The answer is our lifelines of Tzitzit, Yarmulke and Tefillin.   They are what harness us to the Almighty wherever we go in the world so that we stay true to our mission.   In this invocative episode Rabbi Abrahams explores the deep meaning of these important mitzvos.

What does String Theory and the Observer Effect in quantum mechanics have to do with a Jew saying a Bracha?  Tune into this episode as Rabbi Yaghobian reconciles the two and goes deep into the meaning and purpose to saying a Bracha before deriving pleasure from this world.Warning:  Potential side effects of listening to this episode may result in your mind being blown away, becoming more mindful of your speech, and desiring to learn our Brachas and say with perfect enunciation.

Mt. Sinai was our wedding canopy where the Almighty, as our groom and we the Jewish people, as His bride, made an eternal commitment that we would be forever bound to one another.   Shavous is arriving soon.   It is our anniversary with the Almighty, where we renew our mutual commitment.   Hashem has just one request from us and that is that we leave our work behind and focus simply on one another.  Listen in and learn from Rabbi Yaakov Wohlgelernter on how to make the most of this very sacred time.

The Almighty did not design us to compartmentalize our minds, where we apply facts and reason to draw conclusions with our secular life and then just rely on blind faith and the culture we grew up in, to draw conclusions on our Jewish life.   The purpose of the opportunity of our lifetime, is to avoid navigating the world on autopilot and instead live with congruency between our intellect and emotions.   This is how we unleash our potential in serving the Almighty and fulfilling our purpose in this world.  In this episode, Ahron Wohlgelernter, the host of the Think Torah Podcast and the IntentionalJew.com website, an aggregation platform for Jewish learning, joins us to talk about living with intention.

It is now the Counting of the Omer.    These 49 days between Pesach and Shavous create a bridge that allows one to leave their mental restrictions and move towards a more expanded consciousness.   In this episode, Rabbi Chaim Buscko breaks down for us how to tap into the spiritual energies now present.   By doing so, we will forge ourselves into vessels that will allow us to absorb the wisdom of Torah and catapult us to a higher level of closeness to our Creator.