Vayakhel – Heart Donor (5782)

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Parshas Vayakhel (Rebroadcast)

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After the Torah delineates the instructions to assemble the materials for the construction of the Tabernacle in Parshas Terumah and the creation of the vestments of the high priest in Parshas Tetzaveh, Parshas Vayakhel outlines the implementation those plans: The massive fundraising efforts, and the actual building of the Tabernacle and its vessels under the auspices of Bezalel.

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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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Ki Sisa – Augmenting Shabbos

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The final instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle are conveyed at the beginning of this week’s parsha. After Moshe is told to appoint Bezalel as the head overseer of this enormous project, the Torah cautions us against constructing the tabernacle on Shabbos. Although we are required to build the Tabernacle, and we are inclined to be expeditious in the performance of this great mitzvah, nevertheless, we may not do it on Shabbos. When the Torah conveys this to us, the verse seems to have a bit of a superfluous phrasing. These seemingly extra words are explained by the commentaries who open up our eyes to the fascinating and powerful world of augmenting Shabbos. We have the ability to increase the Sabbath. We can take a day that is not the Sabbath and transform it and elevate it and render it Shabbos. The consequences of this radical idea are vast and powerful.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leilui nishmas Sara bas Menachem, Mrs. Shirley Nagel, mother of our beloved Rabbi Yaakov Nagel who passed away this week. May her soul be elevated in Heaven.

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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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Piggul (#144)

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Our thoughts matter. This is especially true when it comes to sacrifices. The thoughts of those who are processing the sacrifices must be aligned with the protocols of the sacrifices. Or else, they are rejected – they are Piggul.

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This Mitzvah Podcast is dedicated towards the complete and speedy recovery of Tzvi Simcha ben Fruma. May he merit a complete Refuah Sheleimah.

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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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Ki Sisa – Counting and Duking the Nation (5782)

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The golden calf is one of the most inexplicable events in the Torah. What went wrong? Who is to blame? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we propose a novel idea that threads throughout the entire Parsha. We emerge from this episode with a greater appreciation of the indivisibility of our nation.

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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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Parshas Ki Sisa (Rebroadcast)

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This week’s parsha contains several instructions related to the Tabernacle, but the majority of the parsha is dedicated to arguably the most shocking and troubling episode in the whole Torah, the Golden Calf. Forty days after the nation reached the pinnacle of human accomplishment – a national revelation at Sinai – the same nation committed what seems on the surface to be idolatry.

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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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Tetzaveh – The Golden Bovine

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This week’s Parsha is dedicated to the priestly class: It begins with the oil that the High Priest kindles; it describes in great detail the special vestments that the priests wore; and it proceeds in outlining the process of inauguration of the priests. In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we go deep and deeper behind the scenes, beneath the veneer, under the substratum of the Parsha and see what secrets we uncover. In particular, we examine a peculiar and uncharacteristic statement in Rashi’s commentary; we suggest a novel understanding in the essence of priesthood; and we share powerful and penetrating perspective in the nature of the sin of the Golden Calf.

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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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Sacrifice Leftovers (#142-3, 382, 486)

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There is not an indefinite amount of time to consume a sacrifice. Each sacrifice has its specific protocol and time frame in which it must be eaten. What happens with the leftovers?

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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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Tetzaveh – What’s In A Name (5782)

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Our Sages tell us that each one of us is unique and has a unique mission to fulfill. Humans are not fungible, moist, robots that can be swapped for each other. Each one of us is our own world. We must each say: “the world was created for me.” But how do we discover our life mission? How do we know what the Almighty expects of us specifically? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we suggest a new approach to determining what it is that you were placed on this Earth to accomplish.

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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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On Visiting Wartime Israel with Dr. Alan Kritz

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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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Parshas Tetzaveh (Rebroadcast)

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In a natural continuation to Parshas Terumah, in Parshas Tetzaveh we learn about the instructions to build the Tabernacle. Whereas last week the focus was on the edifice itself and its vessels, this week we will orient primarily on the special garments that the priests wore in the Tabernacle, and of course subsequently in the Temple.

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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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Terumah – Cherub-Picking

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The Tabernacle was a portable Temple in which the presence of God dwelled. Our Parsha begins with the fundraising effort to be conducted in the Wilderness where the nation was asked to donate the required materials for the construction of the Tabernacle, it’s vessels, and the vestments of the high priest. In this enjoyable Parsha podcast we go deep and deeper on three different parts of the Parsha: we discuss the unusual ordering of the materials needed for the tabernacle; we probe the apparently conflicting definitions of cherubs; and we take a fascinating look at the unusual creature – the tachash – whose skin was used to create the upper curtain of the Tabernacle.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leilui nishmas Michael Ben Shmuel and Yehudit whose yahrzeit is this week, the 6th of Adar (1). May his soul be elevated in Heaven

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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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