Category Archives: Inspiration

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The Transcendent Power of a Unified Front

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It is not exactly clear what the participants in the Tower of Babel wanted. We know they wanted to ascend to heaven and to make a name for themselves, but what precisely they wanted is more of a mystery. The Midrash talks about it, the Talmud does as well – and in this podcast we will offer some insight into this matter. The idea that we will be sharing will create several tectonic paradigm shifts in our understanding.

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Jonah: The Yom Kippur Reading on a Deeper Level (Rebroadcast)

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Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 2:05:32 — 57.5MB)

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On Yom Kippur afternoon, we read the 48-verse Book of Jonah, which tells of a renegade prophet, Jonah, who defies the directive of God and refuses to castigate the people of Nineveh and instead escapes from God to Tarshish – with mixed results. A simple reading of the story reveals a tale of repentance, both of the protagonist, Jonah, and of the people of Nineveh. But our Sages let us in on a secret that the Book of Jonah contains a hidden, kabbalistic story embedded beneath the story – which also teaches us powerful, topical messages for the Day of Atonement.

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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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Repentance Conundrums

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The days spanning from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur are known as the Ten Days of Repentance. Over the course of these days, we have extra prayers and supplications, and make an extra effort to improve and correct our ways, culminating of course, with the greatest day of them all, Yom Kippur. But repentance is a tricky subject. In this special podcast, we explore some of the confounding conundrums of repentance. Listening to this episode will surely enhance your experience of repentance.

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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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Elul for the Unprepared and the Undeserving

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The month of Elul is upon us. Over the course of the next few weeks, Jewish communities worldwide will prepare for the high holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur with special prayers and with a daily blast of the shofar. We are preparing. We are getting ready for the awesome days upcoming. But what about those who are not preparing? What about those who are undeserving? Is there a shortcut to Elul? Is there a cheat sheet for someone who wants to tap into the awesome powers of this auspicious time? In this podcast, we learn how to connect with these propitious days – even if we’re not prepared, even if we’re not deserving.

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TORCH Podcasts Survey

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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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Ends Justifying Means: An Exploration of the Path of Pleasantness of the Torah

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The Jewish people were trapped. Only a week after they left Egypt, Pharaoh had chased them in hot pursuit, and now they had no place to go: with their backs up against the sea, and a heavily armed Egyptian army encircling them, the nation complained to Moshe, “are there insufficient graves in Egypt?”. For his part, Moshe was praying. God showed the way forward: into the water. There was one thing that no one proposed: waging war. The nation was armed, but did not turn their weapons against their Egyptian foes. This idea serves as a springboard for a wonderful concept of an elevated life that we find in several places in the Torah. This podcast will help you appreciate the beauty and the greatness of Torah and the type of righteous people that the Torah is trying to mold us into becoming.

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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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Chanukah Roundtable with the TORCH Podcasters

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In preparation for the upcoming festival of Chanukah, the TORCH Podcasters gathered together in the TORCH Centre to discuss the upcoming days of light. Each of us shared an idea about Chanukah and how to make the most of these days. If you want to experience a convivial, collegial, conversation about Chanukah with the Podcasters of TORCH, now is your chance.

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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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Make Your Case: The Imperative for Divine Entreatment

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In this podcast you will learn something that is simultaneously exhilaratingly exciting and angst-inducingly terrifying. You will learn how someone can have a winning lottery ticket and fail to cash it. You will learn about the small trigger that is needed to actualize our blessings and potential. This is a very important lesson that we need to learn, absorb, and integrate into our behavior.

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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 Meaning and Mystery of the Rosh Hashana Foods and Fruits

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On the night of Rosh Hashana in Jewish homes the world over, a strange set of customs are observed. We take an apple, dip it into honey, and declare that we should have a sweet new year. We take a pomegranate, disgorge it’s seeds, consume them and pray that we be filled with merits like a pomegranate is replete with seeds. This ceremony continues with cabbage, squash, carrots, a head of fish for those who are brave enough, and many more ceremonial foods. What is the secret behind this very unusual custom? What is the meaning behind this strange ritual? What are some of the lessons that we can learn from the auspicious omens associated with foods? In this special pre-Rosh Hashana podcast we explored the meaning and the mystery of the ceremonial foods and fruits that we eat on the nights of Rosh Hashana., emerging armed with a keener understanding of the day and with tools to make the most of it.

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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 Power and Opportunity of Elul

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These 40 days from the beginning of the month of Elul, the final month in the Jewish calendar, and Yom Kippur are the most powerful days of the year. These 40 days coincide with the 40 days that Moshe was in Heaven for the third 40 day stint when he received the second set of Tablets inscribed by the “finger of God.” Our Sages tell us that this month is “Days of Ratzon“, days of goodwill, days of desire. In this special podcast, we identify the central element of these days and discover the ways to unlock the unlimited power of Elul.

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Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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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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Mezuzah: A Deep Dive

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The mezuzah that graces the doorposts of every Jewish home is perhaps our most recognizable mitzvah. But what exactly is a mezuzah? What is its power? How does it change the Jewish home and the Jewish experience? In This very special podcast episode, we take a deep and profound look at the Mezuzah to discover its transformational powers and mysteries. When we next encounter this tightly rolled-up scroll affixed on the right side of our door posts, the experience will forever be altered.

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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!

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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Lag BaOmer and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai

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Lag BaOmer is the day that marks the Yahrtzeit/Hillula of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, one of the great Sages of the Mishnaic Era. In celebration and recognition of Rabbi Shimon’s accomplishments and stature, the custom is to make it a mini-holiday. But of course, Rabbi Shimon was not the only transcendental Sage of that time. His teacher was the great Rabbi Akiva, his contemporaries included the great Rabbi Meir, that era was also graced with luminaries such as Hillel, and Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai, and Rabbi Judah the Prince. Why is Rabbi Shimon singled out above and beyond all the other scholars? In this podcast, we suggest an approach to that question that will hopefully make Lag BaOmer even more meaningful.

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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!

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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Click on this link to access the TORCH Coinbase donation site

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TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover

Please visit our website torchweb.org to get your FREE TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover.

or CLICK this LINK to access the form directly

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6A90DO9YIzUXxlHH3EEy5dz_H5mlch-N3GZdqtG9saMlYsA/viewform

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