Category Archives: Q&A and Contemporary Issues

On Visiting Wartime Israel with Dr. Alan Kritz

Our nation is at war. Our brothers and sisters are in combat in Gaza, displaced from their homes in the north and the south of Israel, traumatized from the atrocities of October 7th, and of course there are 100 plus hostages still in Gaza. Our nation is experiencing pain and challenge the likes of which we have not seen for a very long time. Although we may be far away in the Diaspora, it is imperative that we not forget the plight of our brethren in Israel. We must each do what we can to help their righteous cause. And this very special podcast. I speak with my dear friend Dr. Alan Kritz. Dr. Kritz and I have had the great pleasure of studying together in an ongoing fashion for the past couple of years, and he undertook the sacred initiative to go to Israel and to lend a helping hand — to hear the stories, to see the sights, and to provide a modicum of empathy and comfort for a grieving nation. In this podcast, Dr. Kritz shares with us what he learned, what he observed, and where to go from here.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

On the Spiritual Awakening in Israel with Rabbi Eliezer and Malky Wolbe

When our nation experiences tragedy, we gravitate back to God. That is how we process pain and suffering. The Jewish people – especially our brothers and sisters in Israel – are exhibiting this response with resplendent nobility and strength of character. During the ongoing war, the Jewish spirit is being awakened. Jewish faith is being ignited and amplified. Are these rumblings of a Messianic time? That is a question that I am ill equipped to answer, but something is definitely happening. In this episode I have the great privilege of speaking with my eldest brother Rabbi Eliezer Wolbe and his amazing wife Malky about the spiritual transformations that are afoot in Israel.. They are tremendous people, and served as very valuable mentors for me in my formative years and the stories and insights that they share are inspirational and instructive.

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Support the Shabbos Initiative in Israel

Donate — https://donate.banquest.com/shabbos

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

On the Front Lines in Gaza with Yoshi Rosenbluth

My dear friend and long time podcast listener Yoshi Rosenbluth spent a month in Gaza as a fighter in the IDF. In this very special podcast, he tells us what things are like on the ground from a soldier’s perspective. If you want an insider’s look into the battlefront in Gaza, this podcast is for you.

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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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

On the Pulse of Wartime Israel with Blake Cohen

In the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the terror organization that has governed Gaza since 2007, there is a very big divide between Jews living in the land of Israel and those of us in the Diaspora. While Jews worldwide may empathize with their Israeli brethren and rally and pray for their cause, the ones in Israel are on the front lines. What is happening in the Land? What is the pulse of the people? In this very special podcast, I speak with Blake Cohen, dear friend of mine, who traveled to Israel to pitch in and to volunteer and to help. He shares with us the incredible people he met, the amazing stories he heard, and important lessons he learned during his week in Israel. If you want to sense of what is actually happening on the ground, this podcast is for you.

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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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

On Parenting in Difficult Times with the PodParents

Few sequels live up to the high standards set by the original. Podfather Part 2 is an exception to the rule. In this special episode covering a variety of parenting subjects, we hear from both PodParents. My father and my mother – Avi and Faige Wolbe – both joined me in the TORCH Centre to discuss how to address the ongoing Gaza war with our children, how to inform but not frighten children when talking about tragedies and atrocities such as the Holocaust, how to think about the proper balance of insularity and exposure to a variety of potentially harmful things, and how to guide and direct our children to achieve their best.

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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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

Discussing Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe on the Chinuch Today Podcast

The Hebrew word for education is “Chinuch”. Rabbi Yerachmiel Garfield is the Head of School of Yeshiva Torat Emet, the school in Houston, Texas that we send our children to, and is the host of the Chinuch Today podcast. In his podcasts, he interviews teachers and educators about Jewish education. He asked my brother and I if we would be willing to be interviewed to talk about our illustrious grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe and share some stories about his life, his educational philosophy, and what it was like to grow up with a famous last name. Rabbi Garfield was kind enough to allow me to post his podcast on mine. I hope you enjoy 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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

The Transcendent Power of a Unified Front

It is not exactly clear what the participants in the Tower of Babel wanted. We know they wanted to ascend to heaven and to make a name for themselves, but what precisely they wanted is more of a mystery. The Midrash talks about it, the Talmud does as well – and in this podcast we will offer some insight into this matter. The idea that we will be sharing will create several tectonic paradigm shifts in our understanding.

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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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

rabbiwolbe.com/newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

On Parenting with the Podfather, Avi Wolbe

Parents are sent home with newborn babies without an instruction manual. They are expected to raise their child(ren) to become productive, responsible, and successful adults. As Jews, we have an added responsibility to raise our children as good Jews. Parents face a monumental task. This was always nightmarishly difficult, but with the rapidly-changing world that we live in, this is becoming increasingly difficult. To help parents and educators navigate the minefield of parenting and pedagogy, I asked my dear father, Mr. Avi Wolbe (the “Podfather”), to join the podcast and share his insights and tips drawn from his vast experience raising nine children with great skill and success. It is my hope that this will become a recurring podcast. If you have a specific parenting and education question for the Podfather, please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com.

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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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

Conversion in Jewish Philosophy and Law

Our forefather Abraham forged a covenant with God: God shows him to be the forefather of the Jewish people, which includes all sorts of Rights and responsibilities. For one, Abraham’s descendants were condemned to be enslaved for 400 years. On the brighter side, the nation became recipients of the Almighty’s Torah and Mitzvos. The nation also received the Holy Land and a special degree of Divine Providence and oversight. The relationship between God and the Jewish people is eternal and immutable. But even people who are not biological descendants of Abraham via Isaac via Jacob can join the covenant with God. Through the process of conversion, and erstwhile Gentile can become a Jew. What is that process like? How does a non-Jew transform into a Jew with all that that entails? In this podcast we to offer a primer on conversion to Judaism from a philosophical and a law perspective.

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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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

Rabbi Nosson Dubin on the Recent Kosher Restaurant Scandal

Tastewise, kosher chicken and non-kosher chicken are indistinguishable. When it comes to the price tag, these two fowls are drastically different. The discrepancy in price creates an incentive for unscrupulous restaurateurs. If you can buy chicken at the non-kosher price, and sell it at the kosher price, you can juice your profits by a large amount. This potential for illicit arbitrage is one of the reasons why kosher restaurants must be certified by a kosher agency.

But what happens when things go wrong? What happens when an ostensibly kosher establishment is shown to have deceived its patrons and passed off non-kosher food as kosher?

In light of a recent kosher restaurant scandal in New Jersey, we talked to an expert to find out. Rabbi Nosson Dubin is the rabbinic administrator of HKA, the Houston Kashrus Association, and a renowned expert in all matters kosher. In this wide-ranging discussion, he takes us behind the scenes of a kosher restaurant and reveals to us how the sausage is made (and overseen). We learn about the various safety measures in place to prevent such debacles from happening, about the vulnerabilities and weak points in the system, and we offer some proposals for how to improve measures to lower the risk of another such scandal.

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

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

rabbiwolbe.com/newsletter

SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

Plagues, Epidemics, and Quarantines in Jewish Philosophy

We are living in extraordinary times and facing unprecedented challenges: The coronavirus is upending everyday life in a way that we have never seen in our lifetime. People are scared, people are quarantined, markets are plummeting, schools are off, shuls and yeshivos are shuttered, no one can get toilet paper or bottled water – our equilibrium is off-kilter. In this special episode, we offer a Torah perspective on plagues, epidemics, and quarantines that tries to drill down on the question of, “what does God want from us?”

TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover

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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 PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
The Parsha Podcast  – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.
The Mitzvah Podcast – Surveying the 613 Mitzvos of the Torah with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts

Age of the Universe: Can Torah and Science be Reconciled?

According to Jewish tradition, 2020 is the year 5780. Science estimates the age of the universe to be somewhere between 13.8-15.4 billion years. In this podcast, we will share a brilliant reconciliation sourced from centuries-old Kabbalistic books.

The Shema Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shema-podcast/id1498489422

Daf Yomi Breakneck Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daf-yomi-breakneck-with-rabbi-elchanan-shoff/id1494823922

TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover

Please visit our website torchweb.org to get your FREE TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover.

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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 PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
The Parsha Podcast  – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.
The Mitzvah Podcast – Surveying the 613 Mitzvos of the Torah with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple Podcasts