Author Archives: admin

Parshas Reeh (Rebroadcast)

This week’s parsha marks a transition in the Book of Deuteronomy: it is no longer primarily about admonishment and rebuke and warnings, instead we read a bevy of mitzvos – some repetitions and some new ones that have hitherto not been mentioned.

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TORCH Podcasts Survey

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Eikev – Longevity Pill

A ubiquitous feature in Jewish homes, the Mezuzah contains a scroll with two paragraphs from the Torah, one from this week’s Parsha and one from last week’s. This mitzvah bears a distinction that it shares with no other mitzvah. In this interesting and useful podcast, we explore the secrets represented by the Mezuzah, and learn how it can serve as a panacea – a pill of longevity.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in honor of my dear friends and longtime supporters of TORCH Dov and Rikki Eisner on the occasion of the birth of a grandson, Mordechai Noam, they are calling him Noah. On behalf of the entire Parsha Podcast family, we wish them a hearty Mazal Tov as well as to the parents Avi and Alana Glazer. May Noah grow up to be someone who makes his parents and grandparents and the entire Jewish people – and of course the Almighty – proud!

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TORCH Podcasts Survey

To participate in the TORCH Podcasts Survey, please click here or visit TORCHsurvey.com 

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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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Eikev – Cheat Code for Life (5781)

The Torah contains a lot of details regarding what the Almighty expects of us. A verse in our parsha purports to get to the bottom line of what – in one sentence – does God actually want of us. But after reading the verse we emerge with more questions than answers. While ostensibly touting simplicity and ease, the requirements seem anything but that. In this important Parsha Podcast we plumb the depths of this fascinating verse. The lessons and implications of what we discover are profound and very valuable.

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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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Fire On the Altar (#132-3)

Steady fires were always present atop the Altar. At all times, even when sacrifices were not being processed in the Tabernacle and the Temple, a steady fire was maintained on the Altar.

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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 Eikev (Rebroadcast)

We pick up where we left off last week amid Moshe’s speech to the nation before his passing, and as in the previous few weeks, Parshas Eikev is jam packed with insights and timeless lessons. Moshe pivots between looking back on the conduct of the nation in the preceding 40 years and admonishing them for their misdeeds, and gazing forward to the conquest of Canaan and the secrets to making their settlement peaceful, prosperous, and secure.

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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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Vaeschanan – Jordan Rules

As a result of Moshe’s sin of striking the rock, he was barred from crossing over the Jordan River and entering the Land of Canaan. In Moshe’s speech to the nation, he recounts how he petitioned God to have this decree rescinded. When studying Moshe’s prayer to enter the Land, we discover several incredible insights about the nature of prayer, the efficacy of prayer, and what it takes to accomplish world-changing things.

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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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The Kabbalistic Backstory of Tisha B’av with Rabbi Shmuly Botnick

The Ninth Day of the month of Av is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. On this day, the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. On this same day the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. The Bar Kochba rebellion was stamped out with violent finality on this day. This is a day that is designated for tragedy and misfortune. What are the roots of this day? What can we do to help rectify and remedy it? In this exquisite podcast, the great Rabbi Shmuly Botnick weaves a complex, Kabbalistic tapestry on the roots of this sad day.

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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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Va’eschanan – Entry Denied (5781)

Moshe was very desirous of entering the Land. The Midrash reveals that he prayed 515 separate prayers to petition God to revoke His ban on Moshe entering the Land. But God said no. You may not enter the Land, though He allowed Moshe to visualize the Land from atop a mountain. The dialogue between Moshe and God is featured at the beginning of our Parsha. When did this happen? Why was Moshe so insistent on entering the Land? Why did God deny his request? Taking an important place on the Jewish bookshelf is a magisterial 17th Century Kabbalistic work called Megaleh Amukos. This monumental book – which is considered one of the great Kabbalistic work – contains 252 different answers to these questions. In this podcast we share one of this magnificent approaches.

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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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Good Heart (6.6.23)

Although the study of Torah is ostensibly a cognitive pursuit, there are many qualities that are not cognitive nature that facilitate and enable the study of Torah. In this way to acquire wisdom, way #23, we learn about what it means to have a good heart , and how that serves as a means to acquire wisdom.

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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 Va’eschanan (Rebroadcast)

This week’s parsha continues Moshe’s monologue to the nation in the weeks preceding his passing. He begins by recounting his repeated efforts in trying to convince God to rescind His decree that Moshe not enter the Land; Moshe then begins the retelling of the Torah; and we read many warnings and predictions about proper behavior and the consequences of abandoning Torah and mitzvos. This is a parsha replete with iconic verses and big themes!

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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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Devarim – Middling East

In his speech to the Nation, Moshe revisits the episode of the Spies that occurred 39 years prior. When the nation was on the verge of entering the Land, Moshe commissioned 12 distinguished men to reconnoiter the Land and to share their findings with the nation. It was a debacle and a fiasco. As a result of the report, the nation abandoned hopes to enter the land. They became defeatist and lapsed in their faith. As a result, the nation was condemned to remain in the wilderness for 40 years. Now, when the nation is on the verge of entering the land once again, Moshe revisits this story. In his retelling, he reveals some startling details that completely upend our understanding of this pivotal event. In this Parsha Podcast we study and probe the shocking accusation that the nation made as a consequence of the Spies’ report.

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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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Devarim – Man of Words (5781)

At the end of Moshe’s life, he gathers the entire nation for his parting message to the nation. The Midrash makes a remarkable contrast between Moshe’s beginning and end of his tenure: When God initially commanded Moshe to save his brethren from enslavement in Egypt, Moshe protested by saying that he is not a man of words. That was 40 years before our Parsha. Our Parsha begins, “these are the words that Moshe said….” The man who was not a man of words has become one. What does it mean to be a man of words? What is the nature of Moshe’s transformation and what can it teach us about leadership and influence?

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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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