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Divine Mirroring: The Secret to Earning a Merciful Judgment on Rosh Hashanah

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The judgment on Rosh Hashanah is comprehensive: every single human has his or her moment of judgment before God. Even the dead are judged again each year. The judgment covers not only our behavior with respect to fulfilling our obligations to God, it also covers interpersonal matters. If we are meritorious, we will be forgiven for all our sins on Yom Kippur, but that atones only sins down between man and God. For interpersonal sins, we are not forgiven until we appease our friend and elicit their forgiveness. But these two domains are not entirely separate. In this short and sweet podcast sourced from the writings of my grandfather of blessed memory, we learn how important our interpersonal behavior is vis-a-vis our status before God. Now is the time to prepare.

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Pain and Gain (5:27)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 34:47 — 15.9MB)

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We believe in reward and punishment. We believe that the Almighty will dispense reward for those who do good and punishment for those whose actions thus warrant. How does the dispensement of reward and punishment work? That, of course, is something that only God knows precisely, and only God can make those evaluations. That said, in this short Mishnah, we are given an insight into the methodology of reward. What we learn will forever change our perspectives.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Jan 24, 2022

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DONATE: 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 Ki Savo (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 55:33 — 25.4MB)

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As the Book of Deuteronomy draws to its conclusion, the narrative makes a transition: Moshe finishes conveying the mitzvos to the nation, and sets up his final parting message to the people. First, he commands the nation to perform several elaborate ceremonies on the very first day that they cross the Jordan River; then he conveys a scathing, terrifying list of curses that will befall the people in the event that we deviate from the Torah.

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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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The Comprehensive Wisdom (5:26)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 38:49 — 17.8MB)

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The Torah is the Almighty’s wisdom. Just as the Almighty is infinite, His Torah is likewise infinite. In this remarkable Mishnah, we are trained to view Torah in its proper light. We learn about the multidimensional nature of Torah, how to find answers to all of our questions in the Torah, the secrets and the wisdom inherent in it, and how to relate to Torah study over the course of our lives.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Dec 27, 2021

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DONATE: 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 Seitzei – Yibbum Or Bust

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 54:57 — 25.2MB)

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The death of one’s spouse is always a tragedy, but there’s something particularly sad about someone who dies without children. Leaving no living progeny behind leaves a person without continuity, without a legacy in this world. When a man dies childless, the Torah instructs his wife to seek to marry her deceased husband’s brother in fulfillment of a law called Yibbum, known as levirate marriage. When this couple bears their firstborn child — the Baby Yi-Boomer — he will be named after the deceased husband/brother, and thereby provide a continuity to his soul. But if the brother refuses to marry his sister-in-law, if he eschews taking responsibility for his brother’s soul, then a process called Chalitzah is done: the widow removes her brother-in-law’s shoe, spits on the ground next to him, and derisively proclaims, “So shall be done to the man who refuses to build his brother’s house.” What could possibly be the meaning of these very strange laws? In this wonderful Parsha podcast, we discover the answers that illuminate this law, but also provide us with a newfound understanding of messiah and the imperative for selfless dedication on behalf of us.

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DONATE: 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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Designing The Ideal Life (5:25)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 1:10:50 — 32.4MB)

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What does it take to live a great life? How would such a life be structured? This Mishnah is a masterclass in unpacking the subject. What you are about to enjoy is an exquisite array of insights and ideas on human development, pedagogy and education, how to utilize your brain, and how to design an exceptional life.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Dec 20, 2021

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DONATE: 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 Seitzei – The Upside of Laziness (5783)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 51:24 — 23.5MB)

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Our parsha begins with the unusual law of the marriage of a Jewish warrior and an enemy captive woman. When a Jewish warrior spots a prisoner of war that he desires to marry, there is a process and a protocol for how he may marry her. The Talmud (also featured by Rashi) offers a very unusual classification of why the Torah permits this union. On its surface, this reason compounds the difficulties of this law. In this very special edition of the parsha podcast, we share a novel and instructive approach to this very unusual law.

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DONATE: 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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High and Mighty (5:23-4)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 38:46 — 17.7MB)

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What forces must we use to try to bring about our life mission? Our mandate is to fulfill the will of the Almighty. He expects great things of us and created us for that purpose. In this thrilling Mishnah, we learned about the various different forces and powers that we must marshal to accomplish our life mission.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Dec 13, 2021

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DONATE: 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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#101: Third Order of Mishnah (Women)

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:00:06 — 27.5MB)

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A great corpus of Torah law governs the relationships between men and women. The Second Order of Mishnah contains books on the initiation of marriage, on marital responsibilities, on the annulment of marriage via divorce, on the suspected adulteress, and on levirate marriages. The Order also contains two seemingly unrelated books: a book on vows and oaths and a book on the laws of a Nazir. In this podcast we explore the nature of these books, and earn some basic literacy in this massive portion of Oral Torah.

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DONATE: 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 Ki Seitzei (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:01:03 — 27.9MB)

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In the parsha that contains the most mitzvos of any of the 54 Torah sections (a staggering 74 mitzvos), we read about the wayward and rebellious son, the requirement to build a fence around your roof to prevent tragedy, two episodes that we are mandated to remember, and many, many more interesting and insightful mitzvos.

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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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Abraham’s Academy (5:22)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 28:58 — 13.3MB)

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The founder of our nation was Abraham our patriarch. He was a paragon of faith and kindness, and also exhibited every positive character trait. By contrast, Bilaam the sorcerer was the anti-Abraham. He harbored every negative trait. In this mission we are told that both of these people are teachers. We must choose if we want to be students of Abraham or students of Bilaam.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Dec 6, 2021

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DONATE: 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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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