Category Archives: Holidays

The Shabbat Gift

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The laws of Shabbat are vast and seemingly draconian. A study of its laws reveal a comprehensive governance of every aspect of our lives on Shabbat. The Talmud even declares that greetings one’s fellow on Shabbat is “barely permitted.” To an outsider looking in, the laws of Shabbat are crippling and limiting. The Talmud offers us a deeper insight. It teaches us that Shabbat is a gift from God’s most innermost treasure house, but it is a gift that initially seems to be a bad gift. How Shabbat amounts to a great gift is a deep secret. In this special podcast episode we reveal the secret to the Shabbat gift.

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

TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover

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This podcast episode is sponsored by Steve Goldberg in honor of his wife Melissa on the occasion of their second anniversary, and from all of us at TORCH and the entire podcast audience we wish them a hearty happy anniversary and many happy returns!

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!

The Essence of Tisha B’Av

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Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 31:30 — 14.4MB)

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Tisha B’Av (The Ninth of Av) is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. On this day, the Spies returned from scouting the Land and spooked the Nation with their evil report prompting the Nation to needlessly bewail their fate the entire night. As retribution, God pledged: “You cried on this night for no reason, I will give you a legitimate reason to cry on this night.” And indeed, over the millennia, scores of unfortunate events happened to our nation on this inauspicious day. Why is this day so totally designated for bad things, what is the significance of the Temples for us today living in modern times, and what are we supposed to feel during the time of Tisha Bav?

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

TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover

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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!

Bamidbar and Shavuos: The Indispensability of each Jew

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Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 56:24 — 25.8MB)

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Parshas Bamidbar is the Torah portion that we read immediately prior to Shavuos, the Festival of the Giving of the Torah, each year. In this special episode, we offer a mind-bending idea to ponder the connection between Shavuos and Parshas Bamidbar.

To aid with visualizing the contents of this unique episode, please download the accompanying slideshow and follow along.

600,000 to Sinai Download

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

TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover

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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!

The Essence of Pesach

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The Festival of Pesach is described as, “The time of our Freedom”, and “The Festival of Matzos.” What is the essence of these days? What is the distinct power that we can tap into over the course of this 8-day Festival? In this special pre-Pesach episode, we learn the central point of the Festival that marks the founding of our nation.

TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover

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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!

Contact Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe:
Websites: Personal: RabbiWolbe.com; TORCH: Torchweb.orgTwitter: Personal: @RabbiWolbe; TORCH: @TORCHWEB
Facebook: Personal: Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe; TORCH: TORCH Centre
Email: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com.

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher.
The Mitzvah Podcast – Surveying the 613 Mitzvos of the Torah with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts

Purim: Toasting your Troubles

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 25:46 — 11.8MB)

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Purim contains arguably Judaism’s strangest custom. On the day that we celebrate our nation’s triumph over Haman and his evil plot, we are required to drink and become so drunk that we forget about Haman’s treachery. What is the meaning behind this unusual custom?

TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover

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

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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!

Kindling the Jewish Soul: Understanding the Deeper Meaning of the Menorah: (Recorded Live in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada)

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Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 53:57 — 24.7MB)

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This unique podcast was recorded live at the Aish Thornhill Community Shul on the third day of Chanukah 5780. In the talk we suggest a cogent and unified explanation of the festival of Chanukah, and specifically, of the menorah candles. We begin by noting the many differences between the Chanukah candles and the other rabbinic mitzvah related to candles, the Shabbos candles. We then observe some interesting and surprising citations in the Torah literature relating to Chanukah and the menorah. And finally, we propose a novel explanation that reconciles all the questions and provides illumination to the festival in general.

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This podcast is sponsored by Michael and Galit Friedmann, in loving memory of George Friedmann, Shlomo Ben Aryeh

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!

Contact:
Websites: Personal: RabbiWolbe.com; TORCH: Torchweb.org
Twitter: Personal: @RabbiWolbe; TORCH: @TORCHWEB
Facebook: Personal: Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe; TORCH: TORCH Centre
Email: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com.

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher;
Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher.
The Mitzvah Podcast – Surveying the 613 Mitzvos of the Torah: Apple Podcasts

Chanukah: History, Laws, and Customs

Podcast: Download (Duration: 47:31 — 21.8MB)

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About 2,200 years ago, the Jewish Nation faced an existential threat: The Assyrian Greek Empire led by Antiochus and his Hellenist henchmen undertook a concerted campaign to systematically eradicate the Jewish religion. They sought to make the Jews forget the Torah and depart from the mitzvos; they defiled the Temple; they harassed the Jewish daughters; and they banned the observance of many mitzvos on pain of death. But the Almighty did not forsake His people. He stood up for them in their time of sorrow; He waged their wars; He judged the judgment; He avenged their vengeance, and aided the Jews to total victory over their Greek overlords. To remember that miracle, and the miracle of the oil that lasted 8x its intended length, the Sages established the 8-day holiday of Chanukah. In this podcast we survey the history, laws, and customs of Chanukah.

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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!

Book of Jonah: Studying the Yom Kippur Reading on a Deeper Level (Chapter 1)

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Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:10:35 — 32.3MB)

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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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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!

Insights from the Rosh Hashana Torah Reading (2nd day – Genesis Chapter 22: The Binding of Isaac)

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Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 55:01 — 25.2MB)

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On the second day of Rosh Hashana, we read the Torah section of Genesis chapter 22 that tells the very famous and quite troubling episode of the Binding of Isaac. Abraham – the same Abraham who railed against the ways of child sacrifice of the pagans – is instructed by God to take Isaac – the same Isaac who was declared as the one who will be Abraham’s true progeny – and offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. In this podcast we attempt to understand the many connections that this reading has with the themes and ideas of Rosh Hashana.

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This special Pre-Rosh Hashana episode is sponsored by Mike Fisher in loving memory of his father – Meier ben Feitl v’ Shayneh Yente, who passed away this past year on the 19th of Av. May his soul be elevated in Heaven.

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!

Insights from the Rosh Hashana Torah Reading (1st day – Genesis Chapter 21)

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Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:03:28 — 29.1MB)

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The Torah readings for the two days of Rosh Hashana were not arbitrarily chosen. There are very good reasons why on the first day of Rosh Hashana we read Genesis chapter 21, which tells of the conception and birth of Isaac, and the banishment of Ishmael, his brush with death, and his salvation. In this podcast we attempt to understand the many connections that this reading has with the themes and ideas of Rosh Hashana.

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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!

Elul: Making the Most out of these Favorable Days

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Elul is the name of the month that precedes Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe. The 40 days spanning from the first of Elul until Yom Kippur are the most spiritually auspicious days of the year; during this period we can re-imagine who we are and who we want to be — and transform into that idealized self.

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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!

The Three Weeks: A Primer (Rebroadcast)

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For the three weeks spanning from the fast of the 17th of Tammuz until the fast of Tisha B’av (9th of Av), the Jewish nation practices collective mourning. This mourning is the result of a collection of calamitous things that has happened to our ancestors during these inauspicious times. What is the background of these days and what can we learn today from commemorating events that happened thousands of years ago?

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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!