Vayakhel – Ambition Impossible

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Avoiding Sin: The Authoritative Guide (3:1)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 26:44 — 12.2MB)

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It is not often that our Sages offer us any kind of fail-safe formula. In the first mishna of the third chapter, Akaviah Ben Mehalalel provides for us a guaranteed method to avoid sinning. It is a good idea to listen carefully to his words.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Oct 28, 2018

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#93: Ultimate Reward and Punishment: Rambam’s Magisterial Essay Part 1 + TORCH Fundraiser

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In his commentary to Mishnah, Rambam (Maimonides) offers a fascinating overview of the subjects of the Afterlife, Resurrection, Messiah, Paradise, and Olam Haba (the world to come). This is arguably the single greatest essay on these exotic, esoteric, and arcane subjects. In this podcast, we address the first section of this magisterial essay. We read about the many different and varied opinions as to what the ultimate reward for righteousness is. We read about the whole notion of seeking ulterior motives for mitzvos and whether that is good or not. The third part of this section of the essay addresses the three different ways to interpret the words of our sages. To gain a deeper understanding of this fundamental part of our philosophy, there is no better place to look than this magnificent essay.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Vayakhel Pekudei – Laver of Love (5783) + TORCH Campaign

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 46:30 — 21.3MB)

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Our double Parsha delineates the implementation phases of the building of the Tabernacle. All the materials are assembled, all the artisans are ready, and the building begins. In this podcast we focus on the construction of one of the vessels of the Tabernacle, the Laver, a copper basin that housed water. Our sages reveal some very interesting things about the origin of this copper, the use of this vessel, and a very interesting disagreement that Moshe had with God about the Laver. What we discover can materially transform and improve our life.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Ladders to Heaven + TORCH Campaign

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02:47 — 28.7MB)

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Is the objective of Torah to constrict us or to allow us to flower? Are we ultimately supposed to curb our uniqueness, our individuality, or are we supposed to find ways to have our uniqueness sprout forth and blossom? One may argue that the Torah is very regimented in its commandments. We are told how to dress and how to eat and much of our daily schedule is compelled upon us by the myriad commandments and plethora of Divine guidances. It seems that we are being told to restrain our uniqueness and instead adopt the way of God. In this fascinating podcast, we discover that, although that is true, that is only the beginning. In the beginning of a spiritual journey, we must firm our standing as a soldier of God. However, once we are secure as a soldier, we must find a ladder to heaven. What that ladder looks like and how to find it, and how to scale its many rungs – those are the questions that we ponder in podcast.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Do Your Job (2:20-21)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 25:26 — 14.4MB)

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There are many excuses to shirk our spiritual responsibilities. In the final two mishnayos of Chapter 2, Rabbi Tarfon rebuts them one by one.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Oct 21, 2018

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Parshas Vayakhel & Pekudei (Rebroadcast) + TORCH Fundraiser

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:12:03 — 33.0MB)

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After the Torah delineates the instructions to assemble the materials for the construction of the Tabernacle in Parshas Terumah and the creation of the vestments of the high priest in Parshas Tetzaveh, Parshas Vayakhel outlines the implementation those plans: The massive fundraising efforts, and the actual building of the Tabernacle and its vessels under the auspices of Bezalel, and Parshas Pekudei wraps up the account of the construction of the Tabernacle, and its vessels and vestments. Again and again we read the refrain that everything was done precisely how God commanded Moses.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Answering the Heretics (2:19)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 21:46 — 12.0MB)

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Rabbi Elazar Ben Arach was the prized student of Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai, but he chose to chart his own path in life and not to join the rest of his colleagues in Yavneh.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Oct 14, 2018

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Ki Sisa – Sedimentary, My Dear Watson

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 58:27 — 26.8MB)

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The most shocking, surprising, baffling, and unexpected event in the Torah – and perhaps in all of human history – happens in this week’s Parsha. A nation fresh off the greatest experience ever experienced by any Nation, a nation fed by manna and drinking water out of a rock, a nation purported to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a nation that was extracted one nation from another Nation, committed the most grievous, inexplicable, indefensible sin of all: the Jews make the Golden Calf. In this very special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we explore the rationale of this decision. Why did they make the golden calf? Why do they choose that their idol be a bovine? What was their calculus, and why was it flawed? The answer, we propose, relates to the very interesting difference between the sediment-free oil used to kindle the Menorah and the sediment-laden spices and herbs used to make the incense. There’s a way up the mountain blazed by Moshe, but if you try to take a shortcut you may fall on your face.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Relationship or Ritual? (2:18)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 18:42 — 10.7MB)

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What is the optimal relationship between man and God? How is man supposed to view himself? These questions and several others are addressed in Chapter 2, Mishna 18 of Pirkei Avos.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Oct 7, 2018

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Impurity and Unfathomable Mitzvos (#159) + TORCH 2025 Campaign

Podcast (mitzvah): Download (Duration: 39:28 — 18.1MB)

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Not all mitzvos made sense to us. When it comes to the sprawling laws of purity and impurity, we are basically clueless.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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Ki Sisa – Aaron’s Calculus (5783) + TORCH 2025 Campaign

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 56:02 — 25.7MB)

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The most calamitous, catastrophic, disastrous event in Jewish history – and arguably the most devastating event in all of human history – happens in our Parsha. A mere 40 days after the exultant, euphoric, transcendental Revelation at Sinai, the nation stoops to a very low nadir: they make a golden calf and begin to worship it. Most surprisingly, a central participant in this debacle was none other than Aaron the high priest. Why would Aaron, one of our nation’s greatest men, agree to participate in the deification of a golden calf? By pondering this mystery we will discover both an answer to this puzzling question and a wonderful insight into the nature of reality, and how our perception of reality and the truth may be very different.

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DONATE to TORCH: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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