Shemini – Eighth Time’s The Charm

Assembling and disassembling the Tabernacle was a difficult task that Moshe repeated for seven days. Each morning he placed the vertical beams into their silver sockets, and affixed the golden rings on the top of the beams. He placed the horizontal bars that went on each side of the vertical beams, including the snaking bar that went through turned corners. He covered the Tabernacle with the four different covers, and arranged the whole courtyard. It was lots of work and Moshe did it himself seven days in a row, assembling the Tabernacle each morning, and then disassembling it once the day’s work was finished. Wouldn’t it be easier to simply assemble it once for good? In this very special Parsha podcast, we explore the curious week of inauguration of the Tabernacle.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in honor of a new baby: Yosef Simcha Borowsky, the new son of our dear friends David and Chana Borowsky. On behalf of the entire Parsha Podcast family and the extended TORCH family we wish them a hearty Mazal Tov on Yosef Simcha. May Yosef Simcha indeed add joy to his family and to the entire Jewish nation and become a beacon of light who brings honor and glory to his family and to his people, and of course to his Creator.

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Bulletproof Fences (3:17)

Rabbi Akiva is one of the titanic figures of the Mishnaic Era. He served as the vital link transmitting the Torah that he studied from his predecessors to his students amid ceaseless oppression under the Romans. In the first of three consecutive Mishnas authored by Rabbi Akiva, we learn the keys to avoiding catastrophic promiscuity, getting and staying rich, achieving wisdom, preserving Torah, and more.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on May 19, 2019

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Shemini – Fires, Foreign and Domestic (5783)

Nadav and Avihu were the crown princes of the Jewish nation. These two sons were slated to succeed Moshe and Aaron. Moshe declared, without hyperbole, that his two nephews, Nadav and Avihu, were greater than he and Aaron. These two sons of Aaron were without peer. Yet they acted in an inexplicable manner: On the eighth day of the inauguration of the Tabernacle, Nadav and Avihu brought an unauthorized offering and died in shocking fashion. What possessed these two exemplars to behave in the way that they did? What do we make of the multiplicity of reasons offered by our Sages for their errant behavior? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we offer a novel explanation of what motivated Nadav and Avihu that neatly explains what we know about this shocking and tragic episode.

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Parshas Shemini (Rebroadcast)

After months of preparation and building, and a week of inauguration, the nation was anticipating the climax of the Tabernacle experience: When God finally rested His Presence upon the people’s handiwork. On the eighth day the Tabernacle was erected for good, and a Heavenly fire consumed the various sacrifices offered upon the Altar and the nation experienced the euphoria and intense trepidation of having God in their midst. But a second divine fire marred the joy when Aaron’s two sons were consumed for bringing a foreign and improper offering.

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Greeting Everyone with Joy (3:16)

Rabbi Yishmael was the scion of one of the most prestigious families of our nation and a titanic Sage of the Mishnaic Era. In this podcast we share several of the fascinating stories about his fruitful and sometimes tragic life and explore the connection between those episodes and his teaching in Pirkei Avos.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Apr 28, 2019

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Stairway to Heaven (3:15)

Rabbi Elazar from Modi’in shares a list of five very different things that disqualify its doer from Olam Haba. What is the connection between these five things and why would one who does them be locked out of eternity?

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Apr 3, 2019

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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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Guard The Matzos: A Yahrzeit Tribute to Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe

Matzah is a tricky food. It is made with the same ingredients as bread ; the only difference is the speed of how they are processed. The Torah tells us that we must guard the matzos to prevent them from turning into chametz. Our sages tell us that this applies not only to matzos, but also to The thing that is spelled the same way in Hebrew, Mitzvos. Mitzvah opportunities come as dough that needs to be baked. If you stick around and wait for too long, the dough will leaven and the opportunity will sour. When a Mitzvah opportunity strikes, you mustn’t tarry even for a moment. In this special Yartzeit podcast, I share a remarkable story about my grandfather Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe’s fulfillment of this idea.

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Alcohol in Moderation (3:14)

What are we living for? How ought we allocate our time? In this striking teaching we learn the difference between the facilitatory and things which are end goals.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Feb 24, 2019

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Tzav – Conceal the Deal

A top of the altar were fires that were never extinguished for hundreds of years. What was the nature of these fires? What were they made up of? How are they different than other fires? When we examine the sources, we discovered that there were multiple types of fires, including a special, Divine fire that descended from heaven. When we probe the subject we discover some fascinating, powerful insights.

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Hens, Goats, and Bears, Oh My! (3:11-13)

Rabbi Chanina Ben Dosa was a legendary Sage who lived towards the end of the Second Temple, and the Talmud relates many miraculous and inspirational stories about him. In this podcast we share some of those amazing stories, and connect them to his crucial life-instructional teaching.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Feb 3, 2019

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Tzav – Pure-Bread (5783)

On the first day of a Kohein’s tenure doing service in the Temple, they bring a once-in-a-lifetime offering: a meal-offering that is almost identical to the daily meal-offering offered by the High Priest. This offering is classified by the Torah as the offering of Aaron and his sons. When we analyze this unique meal offering, we discover some very interesting and surprising things that pave the way for a very fascinating analysis and study. Some people think that the Book of Leviticus is not so practical for us; this podcast dispels that notion.

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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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Torah To-Go (3:10)

We put much focus on Torah study and Torah acquisition, and in this mishnah we learn about the other half of Torah greatness: Torah retention, which can only be accomplished by rigorous disciplined review.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Jan 27, 2019

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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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