Category Archives: Torah 101

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#85: The Point of Resurrection + TORCH Fundraising Campaign

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:09:28 — 31.8MB)

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What is the point of resurrection? This question has dual meanings: what is the goal of resurrection and what is the point from which resurrection begins? In this very important podcast we answer both questions. What we learn greatly enhances our understanding of resurrection and gives us the faint outlines of the road map that we must follow if we want to be meritorious to be included in the good type of resurrection.

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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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#84: Rambam’s Epistle of Resurrection

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:10:19 — 32.2MB)

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The great medieval sage my Maimonides – Rambam – has been guiding us throughout our studies of the 13th principles of faith. This transcendental scholar, who’s magisterial writings are authoritatively accepted amongst the entirety of the Jewish people, was one of our people’s greatest personalities. His writings are enormously influential and authoritative in matters of philosophy and the foundations of our faith. In this episode we go through Rambam’s epistle on Resurrection. In his lifetime, there were many questions and doubts and uncertainties about Rambam’s position on several matters of resurrection. To dispel misconceptions misunderstandings, and misrepresentations, Rambam penned a lengthy epistle on the matter. This letter is sprawling and uncharacteristically wordy, but it is a very helpful source for us to gain a deeper and broader understanding of the subject of a resurrection.

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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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#83: The Nature of the Preliminary Resurrection

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 55:35 — 25.4MB)

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In our pursuit of understanding of the subject of resurrection, many questions remain. In the previous episode we talked about the two types of resurrection, there is still a lack of clarity in the similarities and the differences between the two types of resurrection. Furthermore, the Talmud says that the righteous are alive even when they are dead. If they are alive when they are dead, how can they be resurrected? In addition, Rambam – our guide to studying the 13 principles – says some statements that seem to contradict each other and the Talmud. In this very interesting podcast episode, we suggest a new framing for how to understand the initial resurrection in the times of Messiah. The listener is forewarned that what you are about to hear is a bit more speculative than most episodes, and also one that requires active listening. The podcast is called Torah 101 in part because the Talmud teaches us that we must study our Torah 101 times. I don’t know if this episode requires 101 listens, but certainly more than one would be necessary to fully understand every part of the framework.

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#82: Messianic Resurrection

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 59:23 — 27.2MB)

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One of me hallmarks of the Messianic times is the resurrection of the righteous. With Messiah comes the reemergence of the righteous. Those buried in the land will precede those buried outside of it, but all the righteous will come back. This is well established in the Literature. In this podcast we discussed the two types of resurrection and the nature of each.

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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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#81: Supernatural Resurrection

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 52:16 — 23.9MB)

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The subject of resurrection was hotly debated in times of yore. The Talmud records a series of debates between great rabbis and their Roman contemporaries about the this subject. When we probe the matter more deeply, we discover that the Roman disbelievers of resurrection have a very good argument. Reasonable people can come to the conclusion that resurrection indeed violates the laws of physics; it violates the rules of nature. The sages accepted that. Their position is that resurrection is supernatural. It comes from the Torah – from a higher realm of existence than nature. In this special edition of the podcast, we explore the transcendental and supernatural nature of the resurrection of the dead.

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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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#80: Resurrection: An Introduction

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:02:45 — 28.7MB)

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We stridently disagree with the oft-repeated statement: “You only live once.” #YOLO is a sentiment that violates our beliefs. A central principle of our religion is the concept of resurrection. Death is not permanent. The dead will rise again. Life will be extended to the bodies of the deceased. Abraham will once again grace this world. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moshe, Aaron — all of them will come back, will be resurrected. But what exactly is the nature of resurrection? That is a bit more complicated to answer. We are at the end of a very long and exhilarating journey. We are at the 13th of the 13 principles of our faith. Hitherto, we have covered vast elements of our faith. The first five of the 13 principles talked about God, the subsequent four about Torah, and the final four are all about reward and punishment. The final element that we must cover is the reunification of body and soul. What does this mean? Our exploration begins.

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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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#79: Messiah Panoply: Messiah Ben Joseph, Gog and Magog, Elijah, Resurrection, etc.

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:08:47 — 31.5MB)

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We have studied the subject of Messiah in its length and breadth. In the 16th and final installment of our study of the 12th of Rambam’s Thirteen Principles of Faith, we briefly survey a potpourri of subjects that are tangential to the main subject of Messiah. We explore six different topics: Messiah Ben Joseph; the apocalyptic war of Gog and Magog; the role of Elijah the Prophet in Messiah; the Resurrection of the dead that occurs in Messiah; the restoration of the institutions of Semicha and the Sanhedrin; and the question of the how we view the State of Israel in the context of Messiah.

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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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#78: Preparing for Messiah

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 48:45 — 22.3MB)

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Messiah is something that we anticipate and yearn for and await, but it is also something that we must prepare for. The consequences of being unprepared for Messiah are grave. How can we prepare for Messiah? What, specifically, do the sources focus on when it comes to getting in shape for Messiah? In this podcast we learn about how to prepare for Messiah.

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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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#77: False and Unrealized Messiahs

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:11:33 — 32.8MB)

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Our Nation has been yearning for Messiah for a very long time. And for good cause: Messiah is associated with wonderful things. Messiah is the state of the world when the mission that Abraham began gets actualized. Messiah is when the knowledge that our nation personified for millennia finally becomes ubiquitous. Messiah is a time of peace and prosperity. But in our eagerness from Messiah, our nation has been susceptible to frauds. Over the course of our history, there have been a litany of a false and unrealized Messiahs. In our study of this critical element of Jewish philosophy, we must be very aware of the danger and devastation of false Messiahs.

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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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#76: Characteristics of King Messiah

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 38:08 — 17.5MB)

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King Messiah will spearhead the spiritual movement that will reverberate the world over. This King will bear a grand and lofty stature exceeding that of the greatest exemplars of our history. In this podcast we explore King Messiah further: what are the indicators of the real messiah? What are the means by which we can identify King Messiah? What are some other characteristics that we are told about Messiah that may give more shape and color to our understanding of this lofty individual? The answers will be illuminating and (perhaps) a bit surprising.

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This TORAH 101 Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Mansour Faridnia ben Aghajan. May his soul be elevated in Heaven.

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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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#75: Indications of the Messianic Era

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 46:10 — 21.1MB)

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The world will undergo immense changes in the times of Messiah. Those changes will be so transformative and so comprehensive that our current world and our current values are scarcely similar to those of the world of Messiah. When Messiah will come is a question that we cannot answer. Trying to do so is prohibited, dangerous, and futile. There is great peril laden in the quest Messianic prognostication. Nevertheless, our Sages did offer some indicators of the Messianic time. There are some characteristics that indicate that Messiah is imminent. What are those indicators? What are we told about the era of Messiah and the generation that precedes it? In this podcast we explore what our sages conveyed to us regarding the time, the era, the generation of Messiah.

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This TORAH 101 Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Shlomo Khanbaba ben David. May his soul be elevated in Heaven.

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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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