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Vayishlach – Forefathers and Fouruncles (5783)

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The story of the Forefathers is well known. The Fouruncles, less so. Intertwined in the story of our nation’s progenitors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis, is the story of our nation’s uncles, namely Lot, Ishmael, Laban, and Esau. These Fouruncles capture a large share of the narrative of Genesis. Why does the Torah expend so much attention to the Fouruncles? What is the avuncular message that we can draw from the repeated run-ins that the Forefathers have with the Fouruncles? In this interesting episode, we both invent a new word (Fouruncles) and discover a pattern that accompanied our Forefathers’ ascent to greatness, one that can be hugely beneficial for us too in our pursuit of greatness.

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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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Simple Reasons to Believe

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What is your elevator pitch for the existence of God? That is a question that was posed to dozens of successful and accomplished people. They were asked to write a short, concise, elevator-trip-length essays on why they believed. These essays were compiled into a wonderful book titled “Elevator pitches for God.” The creators of this project, Ron Kardos and Bruce Licht, are dear friends of mine and they asked me to write my elevator pitch too. Authors were asked to limit their essays to a single page of text or fewer than 500 words to be able to be conveyed in an elevator ride, but I was asked to write the elevator pitch for a malfunctioning elevator. If you are in the elevator that breaks down and you’re going to be there for a while and you want to strike up a conversation with your fellow travelers about God, you may have some more time than a typical elevator ride. In this podcast, I share my essay on this very crucial topic.

I would highly recommend that you got a copy of this book for yourself . Until the end of the year 2024, this book is 45% off on Amazon at this LINK with the promo code “torchdeal”. This is the deal of a lifetime that will provide you with a torch illuminating your path to Faith and to God.

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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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Parshas Vayishlach (Rebroadcast)

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

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After successfully escaping the clutches of his deceptive father in law, Laban, Jacob heads back west to the Land of Canaan, and back to his family. The journey back home was a lot more tumultuous and chaotic than anticipated.

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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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Vayeitzei – Ladders To/From Heaven

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:12:52 — 33.4MB)

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On the way to Charan Jacob stopped at Mount Moriah. He spent the night there and the Torah documents his very fateful dream: he saw a ladder suspended between heaven and Earth, upon which Angels of God were ascending and descending. The commentaries offer multitudes of interpretations as to the symbolism and meaning behind this ladder. In this very special and unique Parsha podcast we briefly survey some of the interpretations, and then delve deeply into two most interesting and arcane interpretations of this ladder. We discover how on one dimension, this ladder descends from Heaven to Earth, and on another dimension it is our means of ascent from Earth to Heaven on high. This is not a podcast you will easily forget!

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Marvin Bentley, the brother of our friend Barb Pudlo, who passed away today. May his soul be elevated in heaven.

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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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Vayeitzei – Holy Sheeple (5783)

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A large section of our Parsha contains intricate descriptions of Jacob as a shepherd. Initially, he worked for Laban as a shepherd for 7 years for the rights to marry Laban’s younger daughter Rachel. When the 7 years concluded, Laban swindled him, giving Leah instead, only ceding Rachel after Jacob agreed to work as a shepherd for an additional 7 years. After 14 years, Jacob’s tenure as a shepherd continued: for six more years, Jacob served as Laban shepherd in exchange for pay, with all spotted and speckled sheep born to the flock being acquired by Jacob, and all monochromatic sheep remaining Laban’s.

What is the salience of the Torah’s protracted descriptions of Jacob as a shepherd? Why did Jacob seek the speckled and spotted sheep specifically and not the monochromatic sheep? Why does the Torah spend so much time discussing Jacob the shepherd? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we dive deep into the meaning and mystery of the sheep of Laban.

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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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Midrash: An Introduction

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Students of the Almighty’s holy Torah are familiar with the term midrash. It refers to a series of books that serve as commentaries on the Torah and on other holy writings. But where does the Midrash come from? What authority does it have? What about the comments in the Midrash that seem outlandish and totally unreasonable. Are we supposed to understand them as being true? Are we supposed to understand them as being literal? What about conflicting citations in the Midrash? In this sweeping podcast, we explore the origin and the the standing of Midrashic literature.

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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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Parshas Vayeitzei (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:03:08 — 28.9MB)

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Parshas Vayeitzei follows Jacob as he is fleeing from his murderous brother Esau and travels to Charan to the house of Laban, his wily and deceptive uncle, and marries multiple wives and fathers 12 children.

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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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Toldos – Jacob’s Heist

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:04:38 — 29.6MB)

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We are told to respect the will of our parents. Certainly, if your parent is righteous, it is severely inappropriate to violate their will. All the more so if your parent is one of the greatest men who have ever lived. But Jacob violates the will of Isaac. Isaac wants to give a prophetic blessing to Esau, and Jacob and Rebecca conspire to usurp the blessing. Jacob impersonates his older brother and under false pretenses presents himself as Esau and steals the blessings. What is the justification of this usurpation? Why are Rebecca and Jacob interfering with the will of Isaac? Why does Isaac favor Esau, the wicked of the twins, to begin with? Why do these indispensable blessings arrive to Jacob – and by extension to us – in this most convoluted, surprising, and circuitous of ways? In this wonderful Parsha podcast, we dive deep into Jacob and his grand heist of the blessing intended for Esau.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated by my dear friend Gilaad Levy in the merit of a complete Refuah Sheleimah for Yonatan ben Marla. May he merit a complete and total recovery from his medical situation with no lingering effects.

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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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Toldos – Twin Powers (5783)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 59:42 — 27.3MB)

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Our Parsha features two very different twins. After decades of infertility, Isaac and Rebecca are blessed with twins, identical twins the Sages emphasize, who could not be more different: Jacob dwelled in the tents of Torah, eventually becoming the third and final Patriarch of our nation, and Esav was a man of the field, a trapper, a hunter, a blood shedder who stands in the way of Jacob, impeding him at every turn. Why did Esav go awry? Why did the son of Isaac and Rebecca end up as he did? In this episode of the Parsha Podcast we explore some threads and angles to this question and emerge with a foundational principle that can help us design a life to perfection.

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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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Thanksgiving in Jewish Philosophy and Ethics

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Gratitude is one of the most, if not the most, important values in our religion. In fact, our sources tell us that the reason why God created His creation was to enable us to express our gratitude. But what if what we receive is a mixed bag of good and bad? Must we also express gratitude in that case? In this special Thanksgiving edition of the podcast, we explore the important subject of gratitude.

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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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Parshas Toldos (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:06:32 — 30.5MB)

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In Parshas Toldos we meet twin boys that are polar opposites: Esau, beloved by his father Isaac, is a man of the fields; while Jacob is loved by his mother Rebecca and prefers to dwell in the tents of scholarship. These two children will spawn nations and ideals that diverged from each other even before they were born.

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

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