Category Archives: personal growth

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Shema: Achieving Supremacy Over the Angels + TORCH 2026 Campaign Appeal

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Angels are way loftier than us, right? They’re totally spiritual, they cannot possibly sin, they are messengers of God. We, on the other hand, are mortal, fallible, pitiful humans. That’s not necessarily the case. Our Sages tell us that the human soul is much loftier than the Angels. Our inborn holiness dwarfs that of our winged counterparts. Our supremacy over the Angels is demonstrated with the Shema declaration. Angels must do much more to connect with God than we do. In this very interesting and provocative podcast, we highlight the Shema’s role in elevating us, and share a powerful and profound perspective on the three different ways to achieve spiritual ascent. The first paragraph of the highlights one way to achieve greatness, the second highlights a second path, and the third paragraph contains is yet another way to do it. The end goal is absolute closeness with God. The end goal is merging heaven and Earth, body and soul. They end goal is to be holy to Hashem our God. But there are three ways to do 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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How to Conquer the Anger Impulse + TORCH Fundraiser 2026

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Please support TORCH and the Parsha Podcast with a generous contribution right now at giveTORCH.org.

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None of us admire the people who lose it in a fit of rage. We like we look up to the people who are calm, cool and collected. The people who comport themselves with dignity and nobility and are always in control of themselves. Rage is not a productive attribute. People don’t accomplish things when they lose themselves. From a spiritual vantage point, with the worst of the worst: it’s adjacent to heresy, and many types of purgatory control those who are always angry. But what’s the solution? How does someone control their anger? Is it possible to control completely? Is it possible to eliminate it entirely? The answer, surprisingly, is yes. In this podcast, you will learn the secret of fishing impulses of anger. Are you ready for the challenge?

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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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Laver of Love + 2026 TORCH Fundraiser

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The Laver was one of the vessels in the Tabernacle. It was a copper basin that housed water that was emitted from spouts. The priests would wash their hands and feet before entering the Tabernacle and before doing any service in the Tabernacle. Our sages reveal some very interesting things about the origin of this copper, the use of this vessel, and a very interesting disagreement that Moshe had with God about the Laver. What we discover can materially transform and improve our life.

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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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Three Levels of Eradicating Evil (Purim is the Highest)

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Everyone loves the festival of Purim. What’s not to love about it? You get dressed up. You make noise when they say Haman. You give gifts to the poor and foodstuffs to your friends. It’s the one time a year you can drink guiltlessly. But what is the essence of the Festival? What are we trying to achieve on Purim? Our Sages tell us something quite inexplicable: The holiness and purity of Purim exceeds that of Yom Kippur. What can they possibly mean by that? In this very sharp and interesting podcast, we share an idea that will completely reshape how you understand this festival and will train you in how to make the most out of this highly auspicious 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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Moshe’s Surprising Successor

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Mistakes are endemic to the human condition. All humans make mistakes. Even the titans of our history like Moshe, Aaron, and Joshua made mistakes. Only God is error-free. In this interesting – and maybe a tad controversial – podcast, we take a look at the unusual path of ascent of Moshe’s successor, Joshua. Joshua was not a flawless wunderkind who could do no wrong. In fact, in each one of the narratives surrounding Joshua in the Torah, we can find some sort of misstep that Joshua did. Evidently, Joshua’s path to ascent relied on those missteps, and his story shows us a different way to achieve transcendental greatness.

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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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NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:

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The Three-Day-Exodus: How a Productive Long Weekend Leads to a Lifetime of Freedom

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The Exodus was for keeps. Although Pharaoh regretted his decision to allow the Israelites to leave and chased them down, setting up a stand-off at the Sea of Reeds, once the sea split for the Israelites and crashed down upon the Egyptians, the Israelites were forever freed from the clutches of Egyptian bondage. Following that day, the Israelites will never see the Egyptians again. Our people are thrice warned to never return back to Egypt. There’s nothing left for us there. The split was permanent. We’re gone forever.

But this wasn’t always the plan. When Moshe initially pitched Pharaoh to release the Israelites, he sought a temporary reprieve. “Let us travel three days into the wilderness and have a festival of sacrifices for God. Moshe implied that the nation would return following the festival. This is repeated multiple times in the narrative, as the Plague escalated and Pharaoh was pliable to negotiate: First, he offered to host the festival in Egypt. That was untenable because the Israelites intended to sacrifice sheep, the deities of Egypt. Then, Pharaoh agreed to allow the adults to go, provided that the children of the animals stay behind as collateral. Finally, Pharaoh relented to allow the adults and the children to participate in this festival, if the nation agreed to leave the animals behind.

When the nation left and three days elapsed and the nation failed to signal a return back to Egypt, Pharaoh pursued them. What is the nature of this counterfactual three-day festival? Was it a legitimate proposal or a deceptive ruse? In this very fascinating podcast, we share three different approaches. What you will learn can provide a very useful tactic in your path of ascent.

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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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NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:

TORCH
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Faith Fundamentals

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The Exodus was not one-and-done. It remains an ever-present, indispensable part of our religion. We are commanded to recall the Exodus every single day. There are many festivals and days of note dedicated to remembering and reliving the Exodus. There are many mitzvos that orient around the exodus. The prominent centrality of the Exodus needs an explanation. Why would the event of our nation’s freedom from bondage more than 3330 years ago play such a prominent role for all time? In a seminal essay that addresses many foundational elements of our religion, Ramban (Nachmanides) addresses this question. This essay is his most famous comment in his entire magisterial commentary on the Torah. My grandfather, blessed memory, used to say that every single Jew must study this comment in Ramban until they can recite it by heart. In this very interesting podcast, we read this essay and discover and ponder its gems.

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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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NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:

TORCH
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A Lifetime A Day

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We all aspire to accomplish great things. The Almighty surely did not create us to be mediocre. We’re here to make something of ourselves; to achieve grand ambitions. What is the most effective way to accomplish that? In this very unique podcast, you will learn a very interesting, provocative, delightful, and a bit startling insight that will radically reshape your life for the better. You will never look at the path to success the same.

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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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NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:

TORCH
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Joseph’s Unconventional (and Counterintuitive) Path

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The saga of Joseph dominates the end of Genesis. Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son, but is hated by his brothers. They don’t view Joseph as someone worthy of keeping around, so they conspire to kill him and ultimately settle for selling him as a slave. In the end, Joseph achieves greatness that surpasses that of all of his brothers. The brothers thought he was a good-for-nothing, but ultimately he supersedes them. Why was there such a difference between what the brothers thought of Joseph and what he became? How did the brothers fail to see Joseph’s titanic potential? The brothers were incapable of seeing Joseph’s greatness because Joseph’s path was unconventional and counterintuitive.

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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 Rocky Path of Ascent

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We all want to ascend to great heights. We all hope that we can accomplish our potential and unlock our opportunities. We all yearn for self-actualization and development. But it seems that the path of ascent is invariably bumpy. It seems that an ascent to great heights must entail numerous falls along the way. The righteous must fall seven times before ceasing to fall. Why must we fall in order to ascend? Why can’t things be more straightforward? This question was posed on a rabbis panel that I participated in. In this podcast, I will share a powerful and provocative idea on the necessity of stumbles along a path of ascent. Plus, this podcast will also feature an interesting perspective on the delicate balancing act of social pressure and individuality.

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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 Three Types of Disciples

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Nothing is as critical to one’s spiritual development as to finding our a good teacher.A good teacher can educate, can inform, can direct, can inspire, can place a student on the right path for them. But how does a student integrate the teachings and the guidance of their teacher within themselves? What are the different ways in which a person in which a pupil can process and digest the teachings of their master? Abraham had three primary students: Lot, Eliezer, and Isaac. When we examine how each of these proteges exhibited the teachings of Abraham, we learn of the three different types of students.

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