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Hotel Incidentals (3:20)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 30:04 — 13.8MB)

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In his fourth and final teaching, Rabbi Akiva shares a powerful and serious parable that is designed to shake us up and take life seriously but also contains the undertones of a very inspirational and comforting message.

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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:
Websites: Personal: RabbiWolbe.com; TORCH: Torchweb.org
Twitter: 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: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher.
The Mitzvah Podcast – Surveying the 613 Mitzvos of the Torah: Apple Podcasts

Parshas Nasso

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 59:51 — 27.4MB)

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In the longest parsha in the Torah by verses, we continue to read about the Levite families and their responsibilities, we learn about the three tiers of the Nation’s encampment, the laws of a suspected adulteress, the laws of the Nazir, the Priestly blessings, and we read a very wordy account of the gifts of the tribal leaders during the weeks following the Tabernacle’s inauguration.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in the merit of the complete and speedy recovery of Baruch Ben Moshe, a dear friend and longtime student of TORCH. May our Torah study serve as a merit for his complete and total and swift recovery

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!

Parshas Bamidbar

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 57:32 — 26.3MB)

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We kickstart the Book of Numbers with a census of the twelve tribes of Israel – not including the tribe of Levi who is counted independently – conducted by Moses, Aaron, and the most distinguished leaders of said tribes. Subsequently, we read about the banners of the tribes and their assigned encampments, the transference of the sanctity of the firstborn to the Levites, and the designated role of each of the Levite families.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of אלחנן נחום בן יצחק ז”ל. May his soul merit an ascendancy in Heaven

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!

Ep. 67: The Yom Kippur War (Part Two: Israel on the Brink)

Podcast (history): Download (Duration: 1:01:16 — 28.0MB)

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The first few days of the Yom Kippur War were among the most disastrous and devastating days in Israel’s history. Thanks to unprecedented intelligence failures that we detailed in the previous episode, they were ill-prepared for the simultaneous surprise attacks from the Syrians in the Golan Heights in the North, and the Egyptians in the Sinai in the South. The Israeli losses in terms of manpower and territory and positions were staggering. In the North, the Syrians breached Israeli defenses and captured much of the Golan Heights. In the South, the Egyptians crossed the Suez Canal by the tens of thousands, smothered and bypassed the fortifications along the Bar Lev Line and established very large – and continually expanding – beachheads on Israeli soil. The Israeli response was often confused, uncoordinated, insufficient and lackluster. If there was ever a time in Israel’s history where it was on the brink of destruction, it was the first few days of the Yom Kippur War.

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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!

#17: Why Bad Things Happen to Good People: An Introduction to Jewish Theodicy

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:00:57 — 27.9MB)

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Our nation is no stranger to suffering. Jewish history is a litany of pogroms, holocausts, expulsions, blood libels, and all manners of persecution and oppression. We believe that the Almighty is in full control of everything that transpires in the world. Nothing can happen against His Will. We also believe that the Almighty is good, and consequently what He does or what He allows to be done must also be good. Yet we see and experience suffering on a national and individual scale. How do we grapple with the very grave questions of theodicy?

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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!

Divine Foreknowledge and Free Will (3:19)

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In this pithy teaching, Rabbi Akiva addresses some of the knottiest questions of Jewish philosophy: If God knows what we do ahead of time, do we have free will? If God is control of everything, is the world judged fairly? Why are the righteous and the wicked treated inequitably?

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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!

Shavuot: A Primer

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Shavuot is described as “The time of the giving of our Torah” in the Festival liturgy; in the Torah and the Talmud, four other names are attributed to the holiday that falls out on the 6th of Sivan. What are the five names of the Festival and what do they connote? Why do we read the Book of Ruth specifically on Shavuot? What is the origin of the custom to eat dairy meals on this Festival? To find answers to these and other related questions, please listen to this primer on the anniversary of the Sinai Revelation.

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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!

Parshas Bechukosai

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 52:08 — 23.9MB)

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In two chapters in the Torah (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28) we read about the positive consequences of obeying the Torah and heeding its laws; and the terrible, painful consequences of disobeying the Law. Though reading this week’s Torah portion is scary and a tad depressing, the truth is that this framework is the secret to our nation enduring such long and painful exiles.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in honor of the new TORCH rabbi, Rabbi Chaim Bucsko. We wish his tremendous success in helping TORCH achieve our mission of Connecting Jews and Judaism

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!

Truthful Testimony (#37, 122, 589)

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The bedrock of any flourishing society is a functioning judicial system, and a judicial system can only operate when witnesses come forth and offer impartial, truthful testimony. The Torah contains 8 mitzvos that relate to testimony, and in this episode, we discuss the commandment to come forth and testify; the prohibition against lying on the witness stand; and the consequences of being proven as a false witness.

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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!

World Building (3:18)

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In an astonishingly profound teaching, Rabbi Akiva informs us of the special role that humans have in completing the objective of the Almighty’s creation; and the amplified role that our nation has in effectuating that; and the tools that we were given to achieve that goal.

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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!

Lag BaOmer: A Primer

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Lag BaOmer refers to the 33rd day of the Omer, the period connecting the Festivals of Pesach and Shavuot in which we are commanded to count 7 days for 7 weeks in ascending order until the anniversary day of the Sinai experience. What is the significance of the Omer period and why is the 33rd day so special?

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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!

Parshas Behar

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 59:44 — 27.3MB)

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At Mount Sinai, the Almighty instructed Moshe to convey a series of laws to the Jewish people. The first is the mitzvah of Shemittah, the prohibition of engaging in any agricultural work every seven years. What is the lesson inherent in this mitzvah and what are the consequences of transgressing it?

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Grace Hidary, Geraz Bat Rachel Z”L. May her soul merit an ascendancy in Heaven

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!