Category Archives: Podcasts

Pinchas – Consistency is Key

When the Temple was extant, first thing each morning a Tamid sacrifice was offered, and an afternoon Tamid offering was the last sacrifice of the day. The Midrash reveals to us quite surprisingly that the essence of Torah is encapsulated in the Tamid sacrifices. What is so special about this sacrifice that makes it worthy of that distinction?

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Lion’s Tail (4:20)

The author of this Mishnah served as the rabbi of Rome. While all his colleagues were coalesced together in the great Torah centers of Israel, Rabbi Masya Ben Charash led the small community and academy in the epicenter of impurity. How he got there is certainly a tantalizing question. In this teaching he guides us in making career choices, ensuring relationship harmony, and how to be a pleasant amiable person.

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Chukas & Balak – Second Chances

Over the course of the Nation’s 40 year sojourn in the Wilderness they tested God 10 times. But God believes in second chances, and gave them an opportunity to rectify their misdeeds. This principle applies on a national and individual level. We are all given second chances, but we must listen to those messages and seize those opportunities. Seeing them is not enough.

This Parsha podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leiluei nishmas Yisrael Ezra Ben Peretz HaLevi.

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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!

Theodicy Today (4:19)

The blissful existence of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous raise difficult questions for the believer: If God is in total control of all that transpires, why would He cause pain to those who obey His words and reward those who neglect them? In this pithy mishnah we learn that the classical reconciliation of this problem may leave us wanting.

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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!

Sorcery (#62, 511)

The Torah commands us to not keep sorcerers alive. Sorcery is prohibited on pain of death. What exactly is sorcery and why is it banned?

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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 Chukas & Balak (Rebroadcast)

In Parshas Chukas, we read about a highly unusual mitzvah: The Red Heifer, when an entirely red cow is burned together with a motley concoction of ingredients, and the resultant ashes are used to sprinkle on people that came into contact with dead people in order to purify them from their spiritual contamination. We also learn about the passing of Miriam and Aaron, and the multiple battles that the nation participated in on the Eastern bank of the Jordan, and we puzzle over the sin that condemned Moses and Aaron to die before entering the Land. Parshas Balak begins after the Jewish nation trounced the mighty kingdoms of Sichon and Og, the comparatively smaller and weaker kingdom of Moab resorted to unconventional warfare to attack the nation by hiring the prophet of the nations, a wily and devious character named Bilaam, to curse the Jews. It did not work out as planned.

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

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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!

Korach – The Legendary Malcontents

Dathan and Abiram appear in Scripture for the first time in this week’s parsha as conspirators in Korach’s insurrection, but according to the  Midrash this is not nearly their first rebellion against Moshe and Aaron. In fact, since Moshe was a young lad, Dathan and Abiram were thorns at his side, resisting him at every juncture. Why were these malcontents kept around for so long and what can we learn from them?

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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!

Environment Makes the Man (4:18)

Rabbi Elazar Ben Aruch was the most promising student of Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai. Unfortunately, his potential was not actualized, and in fact he forgot his Torah. In this autobiographical Mishnah, he shares with us the reason why his greatness did not pan out.

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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!

Shelach – Benefiting from Blunders

Mistakes are endemic to the human condition. We all make mistakes. Even the titans of our history like Moshe, Aaron, and Joshua made mistakes. In this hastily prepared podcast we speculate that mistakes are not incidental to greatness but are absolutely pivotal. Without mistakes there can be no greatness.

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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!

Crowning Achievements (4:17)

In our most ideal state, the Jewish Nation is described as “A Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.” We are all Kings! The Talmud teaches that in Olam Haba, all the righteous who merit an invitation will be adorned with a resplendent crown atop their heads, and be basking in the pleasure of God. In this Mishnah we discover the nature of those crowns.

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

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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!

Behaaloscha – The Eyes of the People

Our parsha contains an unusual sequence: The nation is about to leave Sinai, and Moshe makes a prolonged, and unsuccessful, appeal to his father in law, Jethro, to remain with him. Then there is the strange episode of the backwards-facing NUNs. Then the nation commits two grievous sin back to back. Moshe then tells God that he can bear the nation no longer he needs lieutenants, And finally, God tells him to appoint 70 elders to help him lead the people. In this podcast, we ask a series of questions on this sequence, and share a powerful insight into how people change and the threats they will face.

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

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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!

Precise Teaching (4:16)

Accidents happen. Generally speaking, the Torah overlooks things that happen unintentionally. If someone accidentally sins, the Almighty forgives him. Yet the Mishnah teaches that an accident in Torah study is tantamount to a willful, negligent blunder. Why are matters of Torah treated so harshly?

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

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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!