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Monetary Disputes (#57-60, 336)

Podcast (mitzvah): Download (Duration: 28:47 — 13.2MB)

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One of the pillars of a functioning society is a fair judiciary that respects private property and adjudicates monetary disputes fairly. The Torah delineates four types of custodians with differing laws governing each of them. In this podcast, we survey the various types of custodians and examine some of the different ways that a Jewish court navigates monetary disputes.

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This Mitzvah Podcast is sponsored by Shaya Gamzon and family in honor of my dear friend and Maggid shiur Shaya Samet who has kept the DAf YOMI shiur strong through the coronavirus, and in honor of the yarzheit of my grandfather Zaidy Chaim Hollander as his yarzheit was last week. May his Neshoma have an Aliya.

Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

Spiritual Opportunism: A Special Shiur for Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe’s Yahrtzeit

Podcast: Download (Duration: 26:14 — 12.0MB)

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Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 26:14 — 12.0MB)

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It has been 15 years since my illustrious grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, passed away, on the first day of Chol HaMoed Pesach 2005. In this special shiur to mark his yahrtzeit, we speculate the ways that he became great and take a very valuable lesson on how to become great ourselves during this coronavirus pandemic.

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

Contact Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe:
Websites: Personal: RabbiWolbe.com; TORCH: Torchweb.orgTwitter: Personal: @RabbiWolbe; TORCH: @TORCHWEB
Facebook: Personal: Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe; TORCH: TORCH Centre
Email: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com.

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher.
The Mitzvah Podcast – Surveying the 613 Mitzvos of the Torah with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts

Special Pesach Episode – The Seder Night: How to Maximize the Year’s Most Powerful Night

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 59:35 — 27.3MB)

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The first night of Pesach – the second night as well is the Diaspora – is arguably the most important nights of the year. On this night we were redeemed from Egypt, this is the night of the Exodus, this is the night of the death of the firstborn; tonight we became a nation. This night has a rich history as well: Tonight, Abraham defeated the four mighty kings; Isaac blessed Jacob; Jacob was saved from Laban. The Sages explain that on the Seder night there is unlimited potential for personal metamorphosis. Just as the Jewish nation was catapulted from the lowest spiritual nadir to the highest levels of human experience, tonight each one of us can merit a personal Exodus from our own personal Egyptian constrictions. In this special podcast, we discuss various ways to make this year’s Pesach Seder the most powerful one yet.

Tzav – Essential Oxygen

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 34:27 — 15.8MB)

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Among the many sacrifices discussed in the Book of Leviticus, the Korban Todah, the Thanksgiving Sacrifice stands out. The Midrash teaches us that in the future, all sacrifices will cease, with the exception of the Thanksgiving sacrifice. Similarly, all prayers will be discontinued, but the thanksgiving prayer will endure. What is so unique about giving thanks to God?

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

The Four Sons of the Seder: Strategies to Motivate all types of Children

Podcast: Download (Duration: 49:16 — 22.6MB)

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The Torah provides four verses that describe the appropriate conversations fathers should have with their sons on Pesach Eve. The Haggadah explains that each conversation refers to a different type of son. There is a distinct dialogue with the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son, and the son who does not know how to ask. In this podcast we attempt to glean valuable parenting lessons that will enhance our Pesach and our relationships with our children.

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

The Essence of Pesach

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:11:33 — 32.8MB)

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The Festival of Pesach is described as, “The time of our Freedom”, and “The Festival of Matzos.” What is the essence of these days? What is the distinct power that we can tap into over the course of this 8-day Festival? In this special pre-Pesach episode, we learn the central point of the Festival that marks the founding of our nation.

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

Vayikra – Infectious Spirituality

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 33:12 — 15.2MB)

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With the help of the Almighty, we begin a new Book, the Book of Leviticus, Sefer Vayikra. In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we read the Ramban’s introduction to the Book, and also analyze a very interesting subject contained within the Book that mirrors the events dominating the world today.

This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in the merit of the complete and total recovery, the refuah sheleimah of Fayga bat Rachel.

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

Plagues, Epidemics, and Quarantines in Jewish Philosophy

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:29:02 — 40.8MB)

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We are living in extraordinary times and facing unprecedented challenges: The coronavirus is upending everyday life in a way that we have never seen in our lifetime. People are scared, people are quarantined, markets are plummeting, schools are off, shuls and yeshivos are shuttered, no one can get toilet paper or bottled water – our equilibrium is off-kilter. In this special episode, we offer a Torah perspective on plagues, epidemics, and quarantines that tries to drill down on the question of, “what does God want from us?”

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Vayakhel & Pekudei – Sequestered with God

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 40:27 — 18.5MB)

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This week’s double-Parsha begins with a stern warning against desecrating the Shabbos in order to build the Tabernacle. Absent the verse, I would have thought that you must even work on Shabbos to erect the Tabernacle. Why would I think so? Also, why indeed does it not override the Shabbos? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we learn about the essence and redemptive powers of Shabbos.

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

Judicial Restraint (4:9-10)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 37:20 — 17.1MB)

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Justice is one of the three things that perpetuate the world. But should one strive to be a judge? In this very interesting Mishnah, the brainchild of a fascinating Sage, we discover that a person ought to be highly reticent in avoiding serving as a judge.

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Ki Sisa – Coronavirus: Three Lessons from the Torah

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 39:29 — 18.1MB)

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The deadly coronavirus (COVID- 19) is dominating the world’s attention. Our Sages teach us that when danger strikes, we must ponder our behavior and search for lessons. We believe that this virus is a message from God. What is the message? What is He telling us? Of course, only prophets can answer that question definitively, but in this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we offer three suggestions gleaned from our parsha regarding what lessons we should take away from this pandemic.

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

Purim: Toasting your Troubles

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 25:46 — 11.8MB)

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Purim contains arguably Judaism’s strangest custom. On the day that we celebrate our nation’s triumph over Haman and his evil plot, we are required to drink and become so drunk that we forget about Haman’s treachery. What is the meaning behind this unusual custom?

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!