Judaism Decoded: Rabbi Grant Leboff - Torah Inspiration And Jewish Wisdom Uncovered

A flight that left Dubai on its way to Israel came terrifyingly close to disaster.

But what happened in that cockpit raises a much bigger question. How much control do we really have, and what happens when human beings forget where their power ends?

This Torah wisdom is a question that takes us from Adam HaRishon in Gan Eden at the very beginning of the Torah, all the way to Moshe Rabbeinu standing on Har Nevo in its final verses.
In this Torah Study, as we finish the Torah and immediately begin again, we will uncover what Chazal and some of our greatest Mefarshim reveal about these two towering figures, and a powerful Jewish idea about Judaism, Jewish values, Jewish faith, ambition, disappointment and human greatness.

Two extraordinary moments. One profound connection. And a powerful message about the lives we each hope to lead.
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If you could become a better Jew tomorrow, what would that actually look like? What does Judaism say? What is the Torah wisdom?

More learned? More Torah? More giving? More spiritual? More observant?
We spend much of our lives trying to become better. More Torah. More mitzvot. More chesed. More growth. But better at becoming what? What do Jewish Values and Jewish faith tell us?
In this Torah Study we see that Sukkot presents a radically different picture of spiritual growth, one that raises a much deeper question: what does HaShem actually want from you?
We instinctively assume we know the answer. But one of the central mitzvot of Sukkot suggests that we may be asking the wrong question altogether.

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The Torah gives us Yom Kippur. For twenty-five hours Judaism asks us to live an almost impossible existence. We stop eating and drinking. We step away from physical pleasure. We spend the day in prayer, attempting to reach somewhere higher.

It may strengthen our Jewish faith; but then, suddenly, it is over.

We put our shoes back on. We eat. We return to work, money, relationships, frustrations and the ordinary demands of life. So what exactly was Yom Kippur trying to achieve? Where is the Torah wisdom?

The opening words of Ha’azinu contain an extraordinary clue. Moshe Rabbeinu calls upon Heaven and Earth, but listen carefully and he does not speak to them in the same way. 
That difference opens up a remarkable understanding of Jewish values and what our lives are supposed to look like. By examining this more closely this Torah study we will uncover a different way of thinking about Yom Kippur, and about teshuvah itself.
Perhaps Yom Kippur is not really about how high we can reach. Perhaps the bigger question is what we bring back with us.
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Torah Wisdom: What if the person you were last year is not the person you have to be this year?
We tend to think we know who we are. Our strengths. Our weaknesses. Our habits. Our failures. The things about ourselves that we really struggle to change against the Jewish Values and Jewish Faith that we are taught. 
Jewish Teachings tell us that Rosh Hashanah marks the renewal of Creation. But hidden within that idea is something far more personal, and perhaps far more radical.

These days are not only about what we have done, what we regret, or even what we need to change. At the moment HaShem renews His world, He gives us an extraordinary opportunity to reconsider ours.
Torah Study: What are these ten days actually asking of us? The answer may change the way you think about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and yourself.
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You didn't choose Avraham. You didn't choose Sinai. You didn't choose the covenant. You didn't even choose to be born Jewish. Yet Parsha Nitzavim tells us we are part of it all anyway.

And then the Torah tells you: Choose Life. So what is it? What are Jewish values? Do we get to choose or not?
Torah Study: As Rosh Hashanah approaches, parsha Nitzavim confronts us with a fascinating tension at the heart of Jewish life: between what we inherit and what we choose, between who we already are and who we might yet become.
Every Rosh Hashanah we tell ourselves that this year will be different.

But will it? We carry the same personality. The same weaknesses. The same habits. The same things we promised ourselves we would change last year.

Can a person really choose to become different? How much of who we are is fixed, and how much can still be changed? Parsha Nitzavim contains a surprising answer. 
And it begins with a covenant made thousands of years before we were born.
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