Category Archives: Podcasts

Yisro – Spiritual Metamorphosis

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 27:41 — 12.7MB)

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Moshe’s father in law Yisro is arguably the most unusual character in the Torah. His arrival comes at a very crucial time – sandwiched between the major founding events of our nation – and his contribution is somewhat marginal, yet he is given prime real estate in the Torah: In the run-up to the most significant episode of the Torah, the Revelation at Sinai, we read about Yisro, his sacrifices, his festive banquet, his goosebumps, his declarations, his theological backstory; we discover that he has 7 names. The Torah focuses on his story at length. Why does Yisro matter? What eternal lesson does he impart?

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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

Ep. 71: Chazon Ish: The Founding Father of the Modern Yeshiva World (Part Two: Making the Spiritual Desert Bloom)

Podcast (history): Download (Duration: 58:23 — 26.7MB)

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In 1933, Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz – the Chazon Ish – moved to British Mandate Palestine. Prior to his departure, the recognized leader of the Torah world, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky of Vilna had sent a letter to the leaders of the Yishuv informing them that a Torah giant was coming. Employing classic Talmudic phraseology, he wrote that “a lion is arising from Babylon”, and a respectable delegation of rabbis and community leaders arrived at the shores to greet him. It is hard to overstate the impact that this lion from Babylon will have over the Yishuv in the Land would have over the next 20 years. From his hometown of Bnei Brak, the Chazon Ish spearheaded the opening of dozens of Torah institutions, rooted in a vision of the Land of Israel, revived and blossoming, with Torah dominating every aspect of the lives and culture of the people.

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This Jewish History Podcast is sponsored in loving memory of Zelda Chaya Nechama Bat Sarah by her loving family who wish to remain anonymous. May her soul merit an elevation 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!

Contact Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe:
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 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

#28: The Divine Torah: An Expanded Definition

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 55:06 — 25.2MB)

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The Eighth Principle, that the Torah is Divine, is the central principle upon which all the Thirteen Principles lean. Our entire religion hinges upon the fact that the Almighty gave us His Torah. But what exactly does that mean? In this podcast we discover that the Eighth Principle is much deeper than a question of authorship; the divinity of the Torah means a great deal more.

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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!

Life-Extending Teaching (4:6)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 29:15 — 13.4MB)

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What does it take to teach Torah effectively? What are the immense benefits of studying Torah with great diligence? What are the different modes of Torah study and what are the different benefits? In this deceptively simple Mishnah we learn about the power of commitment to Torah study, Torah teaching, and allowing Torah to influence you completely.

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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!

Bo – 11 Dimensions of Exile

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 39:29 — 18.1MB)

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After centuries of subjugation and servitude, our nation was redeemed from Egypt and taken out by God on the wings of eagles. How long, exactly, were we in Egypt? That is actually quite a tricky question to answer. In this parsha we read how the Egyptian enslavement lasted for 430 years but in Genesis, God promises Abraham that the enslavement will only last 400 years. To make matters more confounding, Rashi gives us three different durations of the enslavement: 210, 193, and 117 years respectively. How long were we there and what is the lesson of all these contradicting figures?

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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. 70: Chazon Ish: The Founding Father of the Modern Yeshiva World (Part One: Torah Renaissance Man)

Podcast (history): Download (Duration: 57:26 — 26.3MB)

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The destruction of European Jewry during the Holocaust decimated more than the thousands of Jewish communities of Europe. Europe had been the epicenter of Ashkenazic Jewish life for 1,000 years, and with the destruction of the 6 million Jews, came everything that generations of Jewish communities had built over the millennium. A world of Jewish infrastructure – shuls, Jewish schools, mikvaos, yeshivos, giant Torah sages and their students – ceased to exist.

If we were around to assess the state of the nation after WW2, it would be very hard to construct an optimistic outlook. But look at where we are now: The Jewish communities reestablished themselves in the USA and in the newly founded State of Israel, and in some ways, certain parts of Jewish life – and particularly Torah life – are stronger than they were before the Holocaust. Prior to the Holocaust, there were maybe a couple of thousand Torah scholars in the yeshiva world of Europe; today, in the largest yeshiva in the world – the Mir yeshiva – a yeshiva that I am a proud graduate of, there are nearly 10,000 full-time Torah scholar students, and that’s only one of hundreds – maybe thousands – of such institutions in the world. Prior to the war, the Torah-centric world within Jewry was in decline, and now it is an ascendant juggernaut. Where did all this come from? Who founded this world? Perhaps there are several answers to that question. But certainly in Israel we can point to one man and declare that he spawned this revolution, and that is Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, universally known as the Chazon Ish after the eponymous title of his works – and he is going to be the subject of this Jewish History podcast and the one that follows

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This Jewish History Podcast is sponsored by my dear friend, Yigal Rifkind, in honor of Caileigh Weiss on the occasion of her birthday. Happy Birthday, Caileigh, and thank you Yigal for your support 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!

Theft (#54, 130, 224, 228-9, 522)

Podcast (mitzvah): Download (Duration: 38:36 — 17.7MB)

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The Torah has different laws governing surreptitious theft of money, done in a stealth fashion that the owner is unaware of and brazen, flagrant robbery. What are the differences and why is there that distinction?
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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!

Vaeira – The Object of Exile

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 35:55 — 16.4MB)

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In our parsha we read about the first seven of the eventual ten plagues that precipitated the Exodus. But a fundamental question needs to be asked: Why were we enslaved to begin with?
What’s the purpose of enslavement and what’s the purpose of the redemption? Why did our people need to undergo this period of torment, suffering, and enslavement before we could be formed as a nation?

Our nation was founded at the Exodus – why couldn’t there be another way?

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This Parsha Podcast is sponsored by Joseph Hiller in loving memory of his grandparents, Rella bas Tovi and Eliezer ben Avraham. May their souls merit an elevation and an ascension 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!

#27: Mosaic Prophecy

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 44:08 — 20.2MB)

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The prophecy of Moses differs from all other prophecies. In fact, Rambam tells us that they are only nominally similar – in truth, they are two totally different experiences. When we break down the subject we find that the differences fall into several categories: Mosaic prophecy contains a different level of understanding than all other prophecies; the content of Mosaic prophecy is of a different nature; and Moses was subject to a completely different level of vetting than all other prophets, and consequently our faith in him is on a different level than our faith in all other prophets, both those who preceded him and those who came subsequently.

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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!

Shemos – True Kinship

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 31:58 — 14.6MB)

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In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we read through Ramban’s introduction to the Book of Exodus, and we examine the special fraternal relationship of Moses and Aaron by contrasting it with the relationships of siblings in Genesis and by demonstrating how their close could have imperiled the Exodus from Egypt.

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This parsha podcast is dedicated in honor of our cousins, Jason and Reesa Friedman. Thank you for your support, friendship, and encouragement!

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!

Damages (#49, 51-53, 55, 56)

Podcast (mitzvah): Download (Duration: 35:25 — 16.2MB)

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Every functioning society must have property rights and justice. People cannot be allowed to damage and injure each other with impunity. In this podcasts we share an overview of the various Torah mitzvos relating to damages, both personal and property.

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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!

Vayechi – The Unexpected Hero

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 31:56 — 14.6MB)

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In this special edition of the Parsha podcast, we share several observations and insights on the parsha relating to pedagogical theory and the lengths to which the righteous conceal the misdeeds of others, we ask an interesting question on the episode of Jacob crossing over his hands when blessing his grandsons, and discuss a theme with valuable lessons that appears twice in the Parsha.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated In honor of Yehuda Savitsky’s 90th birthday. Yehuda is a dear personal friend and a longtime friend of TORCH, and we all wish him 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!

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