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The Second Temple was destroyed 1,946 years ago by Titius and the Romans. Yet the Temple never left our collective consciousness. We invoke it in our prayers, mourn its destruction and hope and yearn for its return. Why do we need a Temple and what is the meaning behind sacrifices?
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A fundamental principle of our religion is that the Torah that we have today is the same as the Torah given by God to Moses. Is this a dogmatic belief a leap of faith? How can we be assured that there was no corruption of the Oral Torah over the 1500 years that it was studied and transmitted without being formally written down? Is there a possibility that errors and deviations happened along the way? How is the transmission of the Oral Torah different than the game of broken telephone where the message gets progressively distorted the more people it has to filter through? In this lecture we outline rational approaches that make the necessary acceptance of the accurate transmission of the Oral Torah reasonable and logical.
Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 21
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3300 years ago, over a period of 40 years, Moses gave the Jewish nation the Torah that he received from God. It consisted of a Written Torah and an Oral Torah together. For 1500 years the Oral Torah was maintained as such; faithfully and accurately transmitted exclusively orally from generation to generation. Beginning with the publication of the mishna in the end of the Second Century, the Sages began applying it to writing. Ultimately, most areas of Oral Torah were written down and formalized in canon. Why was the Torah given in this dual format and not simply written down entirely? In this lecture we present nine answers to that question.
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Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 20
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In this first of a series on Oral Torah we begin with asking the very basic questions: What is the Oral Torah comprised of? How does the Oral Torah relate to the Written Torah? How can we be certain of its veracity?
Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 19
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In this 7th and final episode of our examination of the evidence to try and determine if the Torah is indeed the unadulterated word of God, we explore the interrelationship of the Written and Oral Torah and ask if such cohesion and precision can be the product of a human.
PART 2: http://rabbiwolbe.com/a-traditional-jewish-response-to-higher-bible-criticism-part-2/
PART 4: http://rabbiwolbe.com/why-shavuos-is-the-holiday-of-the-giving-of-the-torah/
PART 5: http://rabbiwolbe.com/overwhelming-evidence-to-the-divinity-of-the-torah-and-its-ramifications/
Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 18
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This part 6 of the Proofs of Torah series, and Part 17 of the Torah Series overall. In this podcast we analyze and investigate select Torah verses and ponder the feasibility of human authorship.
Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 17
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The reality of the Torah being divine and immutable can be agitating and frankly a bit terrifying. As the word of God, every word of the Torah is true and obligatory, and that may trigger cognitive dissonance if we do not behave in a way that reflects that reality. It is vital to recognize that only two possibilities exist: the Torah as a divine document or the product of humans. While the Torah being true can be frightening, the alternative is implausible, even more terrifying and, in a sense, exceedingly cruel. In this podcast we continue our exploration of the subject by looking at the Torah’s Revelation narrative and several select predictions.
Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 16
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Torah, in its Oral and Written formats, has and always will be the national pastime of the Jewish nation. Traditionally, it has been the yearnings of young Jews and chief determinant of greatness of Jewish Leaders. Over the course of Jewish history there have been several movements that challenged that belief and attempted to alter the traditional view of Torah; or to supplant its primacy in favor of other ideals; or to emphasize certain elements of Jewish living. Some were wild successes that continue to define Jewish life until today and others were disasters that caused needless sectarianism and strife. In this lecture we examine some of the schisms/innovations throughout Jewish history including the Sadducees, Essenes, Karaites, the Shabtai Tzvi debacle, Chassidim and it’s great dynasties, Reform, Chabadism and its Messianic ambitions, disappointments and disillusionments.
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The binary question of the authorship of the Torah is the most critical question that every Jew must encounter in their lives. The answer to that question governs every action and decision that we will be making afterwards. Unfortunately, most people do not ever investigate and ponder that question properly. In Part 3 of our deep dive into this topic we examine and explore some of the classic and incontrovertible evidence that the Torah is indeed what it purports to be – the word of the Living God.
Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 14
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We continue in our efforts to expose the fallacies of the claims of the Bible Critics. It indeed is preposterous to be intellectually honest and well informed on the issues and believe that their conclusions hold water.
Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 13