Category Archives: Podcasts

Va’eschanan – Entry Denied (5781)

Moshe was very desirous of entering the Land. The Midrash reveals that he prayed 515 separate prayers to petition God to revoke His ban on Moshe entering the Land. But God said no. You may not enter the Land, though He allowed Moshe to visualize the Land from atop a mountain. The dialogue between Moshe and God is featured at the beginning of our Parsha. When did this happen? Why was Moshe so insistent on entering the Land? Why did God deny his request? Taking an important place on the Jewish bookshelf is a magisterial 17th Century Kabbalistic work called Megaleh Amukos. This monumental book – which is considered one of the great Kabbalistic work – contains 252 different answers to these questions. In this podcast we share one of this magnificent approaches.

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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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Good Heart (6.6.23)

Although the study of Torah is ostensibly a cognitive pursuit, there are many qualities that are not cognitive nature that facilitate and enable the study of Torah. In this way to acquire wisdom, way #23, we learn about what it means to have a good heart , and how that serves as a means to acquire wisdom.

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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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Parshas Va’eschanan (Rebroadcast)

This week’s parsha continues Moshe’s monologue to the nation in the weeks preceding his passing. He begins by recounting his repeated efforts in trying to convince God to rescind His decree that Moshe not enter the Land; Moshe then begins the retelling of the Torah; and we read many warnings and predictions about proper behavior and the consequences of abandoning Torah and mitzvos. This is a parsha replete with iconic verses and big themes!

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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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Devarim – Middling East

In his speech to the Nation, Moshe revisits the episode of the Spies that occurred 39 years prior. When the nation was on the verge of entering the Land, Moshe commissioned 12 distinguished men to reconnoiter the Land and to share their findings with the nation. It was a debacle and a fiasco. As a result of the report, the nation abandoned hopes to enter the land. They became defeatist and lapsed in their faith. As a result, the nation was condemned to remain in the wilderness for 40 years. Now, when the nation is on the verge of entering the land once again, Moshe revisits this story. In his retelling, he reveals some startling details that completely upend our understanding of this pivotal event. In this Parsha Podcast we study and probe the shocking accusation that the nation made as a consequence of the Spies’ report.

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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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Devarim – Man of Words (5781)

At the end of Moshe’s life, he gathers the entire nation for his parting message to the nation. The Midrash makes a remarkable contrast between Moshe’s beginning and end of his tenure: When God initially commanded Moshe to save his brethren from enslavement in Egypt, Moshe protested by saying that he is not a man of words. That was 40 years before our Parsha. Our Parsha begins, “these are the words that Moshe said….” The man who was not a man of words has become one. What does it mean to be a man of words? What is the nature of Moshe’s transformation and what can it teach us about leadership and influence?

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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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Ashes of the Altar (#131)

The first activity performed in the Temple each day was the removal of the ashes from the previous day’s sacrifices. Before today’s sacrificial schedule can commence, the Altar must be cleared from the ashes of yesterday’s sacrifices.

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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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Parshas Devarim (Rebroadcast)

5 weeks before his passing, Moses gives a three-parsha-long speech to the nation, which constitutes his last will and testament. He begins with a retrospective of the history of the nation over the past 40 years since the Exodus – subtly rebuking the nation, guiding them, admonishing them, ensuring that they don’t repeat their mistakes of yore.

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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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Mattos & Masei – 49-Step Program

What did the nation do over the course of the 40 years in the wilderness? What was their objective? In our parsha we read that the nation stopped in 42 locations over the course of their 40-year sojourn. The Torah delineates the names of the 42 different venues where the nation encamped. What is the salience of such a detailed recounting of the nation’s sojourns? In this podcast, we explored this fascinating question. What we discover can serve as an illuminating light in our own journey in 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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Anger Suppression (6.6.22)

Anger is part of the human experience. When things agitate us, we get frustrated and have a tendency to lash out, to berate, to say things that we may regret. In this ethics podcast, we learn about the virtue of being slow to anger and how it can help supercharge our pursuit of wisdom.

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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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Mattos & Masei – Talent Incubator (5781)

Our parsha contains the laws regarding a person who murders someone accidentally. We are told that the accidental murderer must flee to the city of refuge and remain there until the passing of the High Priest. Although we have neither a High Priest nor a Jewish court of laws that adjudicates as per the laws of the Torah, in this special Canada-recorded edition of the Parsha Podcast, we offer a novel and homiletic explanation of the entire subject of the city of refuge. It turns out that we all can benefit from this kind of experience.

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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

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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Parshas Mattos & Masei (Rebroadcast)

This year, the Book of Numbers ends with a double parsha – Mattos and Masei. We learn about the laws of vows and oaths; the miraculous war with Midian; the unusual request of the tribes of Gad and Reuben; the Torah delineates the 42 different places that the Nation encamped for their 40 year sojourn; and we gain closure to the saga of the daughters of Tzelaphchad.

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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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TORAH 101