Category Archives: Podcasts

Nocturnal Opportunities (3:5)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 17:15 — 7.9MB)

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Rabbi Chananya ben Chakhinai says: One who stays awake at night, and one who wanders on a road alone, and turns his heart to idleness, behold he is liable with his life.

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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:
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 by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts, Android, Stitcher.

Parshas Vayishlach

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:02:41 — 28.7MB)

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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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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in honor of my dear friend, and friend of TORCH, Howard Schreiber. Thank you for your kindness, generosity, and friendship.

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!

Paging the Divine Presence (3:3-4)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 24:08 — 11.1MB)

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In successive teachings, our Sages share with us a way to usher ourselves into the Presence of the Almighty. It really is that simple.

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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!

Ep. 59: The Blueprint of Jewish History

Podcast (history): Download (Duration: 54:23 — 24.9MB)

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The oft-repeated refrain “history repeats itself” is especially true with respect to the stories of the forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as conveyed in the Book of Genesis. Our Sages have made the bold claim that everything that happened to our forefathers as individuals will be repeated to their children on the national stage. The stories of Genesis are thus a template, a blueprint, of Jewish history. In this podcast we survey some of the major conflicts and episodes of Genesis and see how those themes have played out in Jewish history and speculate how they can guide our approaches to modern day political, cultural, and religious dilemmas.

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This Jewish History Podcast is dedicated in honor of David Askin. Thank you for your friendship and continued support of TORCH throughout the years.

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 Art of War with the Yetzer Hara

Podcast: Download (Duration: 48:08 — 22.0MB)

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The Yetzer Hara is the villain of our life. It’s other names are the “satan” and the “angel of death”. It seeks to undermine us and inhibit us from accomplishing our life’s mission. thankfully, the Sages of the Talmud offered us a multitude of strategies and tactics to combat and resist this deadly force. In this podcast we will try to suggest a general theorem that underpins all of their suggestions.

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This Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of my grandmother, Rebbetzin Rivka Wolbe, a true woman of valor; a princess; a woman of sterling and noble character and stoic resolve.

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!

Parshas Vayeitzei

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:04:11 — 44.1MB)

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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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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in honor of Alan and Phyllis Kritz. Thank you for your kindness, generosity, and friendship.

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!

Parshas Toldos

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:06:48 — 30.6MB)

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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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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!

Antidotes to Anarchy (3:2)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 16:01 — 7.3MB)

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What would happen without a police force to maintain law and order? Is there any other way to prevent society from crumbling without police power? These are the questions we explore in the somewhat unsettling second mishna of chapter 3.

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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!

Parshas Chayei Sarah

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 56:37 — 25.9MB)

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Some of the highlights of this week’s parsha: Immediately after the Binding of Isaac, Sarah passed away at the age of 127, and soon afterwards Abraham had to procure a burial spot for her. In addition, Abraham sent his trusted confidante, Eliezer, to his hometown to find a spouse for Isaac.

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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!

Avoiding Sin: The Authoritative Guide (3:1)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 26:44 — 12.2MB)

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It is not often that our Sages offer us any kind of fail-safe formula. In the first mishna of the third chapter, Akaviah Ben Mehalalel provides for us a guaranteed method to avoid sinning. It is a good idea to listen carefully to his words.

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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!

Ep. 58: Abraham: The Birth of Monotheism and the Origins of the Jewish Nation

Podcast (history): Download (Duration: 46:42 — 26.7MB)

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The story of the Jewish people – and truthfully the story of all monotheists, Christians and Muslims too – begins with Abraham. Abraham is of course the progenitor of the Jewish nation via his son, Isaac and grandson, Jacob, and his other son, Ishmael, is viewed as the forbearer of the Arabs and by extension the Muslims, and his other grandson, Esau, is viewed in Jewish sources as the father of the kingdom of Edom which becomes Rome which eventually merges with Christianity and catapults it into a major world religion. Where does Abraham come from? What did he do to merit direct divine communication? How did he manage to have his theological ideas span the world over?

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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!

Parshas Vayeira

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:08:11 — 31.2MB)

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This week’s parsha features several iconic episodes: Abraham was visited by God as he was recuperating from his circumcision, and concurrently engaged in superlative kindness with three angels masquerading as pagan travelers; Abraham was informed that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were about to be destroyed and was unsuccessful in interceding on their behalf; and we also read the two Torah sections that are read on the two days of Rosh Hashana: The episode of the birth of Isaac and the subsequent banishment of Ishmael, and the story of the Binding of Isaac.

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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!