The Shema Podcast for the Perplexed

The United States is more divided than ever, with each side believing they are on the side of what is right and good.   This is not a new dilemma for the world, as this problem originated in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, confusing the distinction between the two.   The Almighty’s remedy to our affliction was the Torah, which is the technology to rectify the world and separate the evil from the good.  In this episode Rabbi Cohen enlightens us to how we use the technology of the Torah and the study and application of halacha (Jewish Law) to fix the world and bring about Tikkun Olam.  This is the purpose and mission of the Jewish People.   This is why He made us.

As many of you know I recently moved with my family into a Jewish Community for the first time. I feel the way an immigrant from an impoverished country probably feels when they move to the USA where so much freedom and opportunity exists, that did not exist in their homeland. As someone who had no idea that this community existed prior to 6 years ago, I wanted to dedicate an episode to the topic, for those who have never been exposed to it either. In this episode I brought on my two spiritual brothers, Akiva and Yehoshua Wolbe to talk about living Jewish.

When I realized that Torah was directly from the Heavens, I encountered a new question, “What is Torah?” I had seen a Torah scroll and I knew about the 5 Books of Moses but when I began to study the text, many more questions surfaced. I would read the weekly Parsha baffled by a narrative that seem to leave out so much information, yet knowing that their was something deep behind the text that I was just not equipped to uncover on my own. As I researched it more, I realized that the narrative of the written Torah was an outer layer that concealed infinite information. In this episode I invited my new friend and teacher, Rabbi Daniel Cotlar, to help me understand further, the body and soul of Torah.

We entered Rosh Hashanah and declared that Hashem is our King and we are His subjects, allowing us to move into Yom Kippur so we could reflect on our previous year and discern when our thoughts, words and actions were not congruent with that truth. And now it is time to enter our Sukkahs, designed like His arm reaching around us and holding us close. It’s time to recalibrate back to the truth that the only power is the Almighty and that what is central to our lives is not our careers, politics and other material pursuits, but simply to serve the King by fulfilling his Torah. In this episode Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe explains why Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hoshana Raba, Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are all connected and much, much more.

The Almighty desires for us to continually strengthen ourselves spiritually so that we can grow closer to Him. Just like a weightlifter intentionally exhausts their muscles under the weights they are lifting so that their muscles will tear and then be rebuilt to be stronger, the Almighty created a framework for us to do the same spiritually. He orchestrates events which create tests for us. Tests to challenge and strengthen ourselves. Even through sin, followed by teshuva, we rebuild ourselves by returning to our source, creating ourselves anew and as a better version than we were prior. In this episode, Rabbi Buscko goes deep into how we can use the gift of Yom Kippur to successfully accomplish this task.

G-d blew a soul into Adam. On Rosh Hashanah we blow into the Shofar, tapping into the core of our soul to awaken us from our slumber. We are reminding ourselves of our mission. G-d is the King and we are His subjects. Our tasks at hand is the loftiest of all tasks, to be His co-creators and bring Godliness to every corner of the world. This is a must listen episode, as Rabbi Wohlgelernter teaches us how to be successful this Rosh Hashanah by setting ourselves on a trajectory to accomplish our goal.

We received Torah Law from the Almighty to instruct us on maintaining a utopian society, however Torah Law in totality is intended for when the Jewish people return to Israel, the temple is rebuilt and the Sanhedrin Court reestablished. So, if that is the case, what are our responsibilities in our host nations? How involved should we be in politics? Should a Jew hold public office? Should Torah influence our voting in our host nation? These questions and many more are answered in this episode’s platform discussion with the dynamic duo; Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe and Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe.

A fundamental mitzvah of a Jew is to love their fellow as themselves. But what about Jewish heretics that lead Jews astray? The Jewish people collectively are guilty of the Sin of the Golden Calf, because while it was only the Egyptians converts that committed the sin, the rest of Jewish people were held culpable as they did nothing to stop it. So, how do we reconcile the mitzvah of loving our fellow Jew as ourselves when among a heretic? I find myself once again perplexed, so I thought this would be a great question to have the brilliant Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe come on the show and answer it for me.

We are taught that we are a heavenly soul residing in a physical body. However, our morning prayer states that we are thankful to G-d for restoring our souls to us, which implies that we are a body. So, which is it? Are we a body or a soul? I was having a middle age identity crisis, so I asked my dear friend, Rabbi Chaim Bucsko, to come on to the program and give me some clarity on who is “me.”

The Hebrew word for man is “Ish” which is spelled “Aleph-Yud-Shin” and the Hebrew word for woman is “Ishah” which is spelled “Aleph-Shin-Hey.” The two letters not in common are the “Yud” and the “Hey” which is a name of G-d. In this episode Rabbi Cohen discusses in depth the rationale for the importance of proper thoughts during marital intimacy so that we can be holy and properly unite the Name of G-d and bring the Divine Presence closer.