Lech Lecha – Who was Abraham?

Abraham was the most consequential person of all time. In our classic literature, Abraham is graced with superlatives given to no one else: Abraham was the “beloved one of God.” Abraham was “chosen by God.” Abraham was a “partner with God in Genesis.” Abraham “discovered faith without a teacher, and without a guide.” Abraham became “the father of many nations.” After generations of humanity pushing God’s presence further and further away, Abraham reversed that trend and began to draw the presence of God back to this world. Before the advent of Abraham, God could only be described as the “God of the heavens.” Here in this world, God was unknown to his creations. Abraham, together with his wife Sarah, single-handedly reversed the trajectory of humanity and put humanity on a path to fulfill the objective of Genesis. Following Abraham, God can aptly be described as the “God of the heavens and of the earth.” In this very special Parsha podcast, we learn the story of our forefather, the first of the patriarchs, Abraham.

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This Parsha podcast is dedicated in honor of a brand-new couple, Gilaad and Esther Levy, Who got married on Sunday in Florida. May they build a beautiful Jewish home together, a home that brings joy and pride to their family, to the Jewish nation, and to our Father in Heaven.

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Answering the Heretics (2:19)

Rabbi Elazar Ben Arach was the prized student of Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai, but he chose to chart his own path in life and not to join the rest of his colleagues in Yavneh.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Oct 14, 2018

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Lech Lecha – Abraham’s Fellow Travelers (5785)

Abraham seems to always be journeying. In last week’s Parsha he traveled from his birthplace of Ur to Charan. This week the Parsha begins with Abraham’s journey to Canaan. He traveled there with his family, he traversed the land in every direction; and when famine strikes, he went down to Egypt and returns. Abraham’s journey is more than being about sightseeing. This is the saga of the transformation of Abraham and the building of the Jewish Nation. What can we learn from Abraham’s journey? What Abrahamic qualities shine forth in his narrative? In this very special edition of the Parsha podcast, we explore Abraham dramatic transformation and when he departed from his sidekicks and fellow travelers. We also take a very careful look at a remarkable interaction between Abraham’s concubine Hagar and the angel.

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Relationship or Ritual? (2:18)

What is the optimal relationship between man and God? How is man supposed to view himself?  These questions and several others are addressed in Chapter 2, Mishna 18 of Pirkei Avos.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Oct 7, 2018

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Parshas Lech Lecha (Rebroadcast)

In this week’s parsha, Abraham is instructed to move to Israel, is given divine promises that he will be the father of many nations; his children will be as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars of the heaven, a son Ishmael is born, and he is commanded to circumcise his foreskin and those of all males in his household.

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The Ultimate Meritocracy (2:17)

In a short, succinct Mishna, Rabbi Yose shares timeless lessons regarding the proper way to treat other people’s money, how Torah greatness is a meritocracy, and perhaps the most central insight of Jewish spirituality.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Sep 17, 2018

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Noach – Who was Noah?

Noah was perfectly righteous. He was pristine. He was flawless. In fact, Noach is the only person labeled as a tzaddik in the Torah, and he receives that honorific twice. He lived a very long life (950 years) and had the great distinction of being perfectly righteous when the entire rest of the world seeped into corruption, robbery, thievery, and selfishness. Noach was a truly remarkable person, yet it was not enough. Our sages find all sorts of ways to poke holes in the personage of Noach. He was righteous, all right, but he wasn’t Abraham. He wasn’t Moshe. He was personally righteous, but that did not extend to his children nor to any of his contemporaries. In this very interesting podcast, we answer the question: Who was the great personage of Noach? 

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Choose Your World (2:16)

This mishna marks the first of three times in Pirkei Avos where the phrase “is removed from the world” is assigned to people who exhibit certain attitudes or behaviors. In this podcast we suggest a novel approach to explain that term.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Aug 27, 2018

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Noach – Cured Ham (5785)

After spending a year in the ark, Noah and his family exited it to find an empty and desolate world. The sinners who dominated the world before the flood were gone as were basically everything else. The animals, not including token representatives of each species, were gone. The trees, the grass, the plants – everything was gone. Noah and his family began to rebuild the world a new world. In this Parsha podcast we study several events that happened in the aftermath of the flood: We learn about the symbolism and essence of the covenant of the rainbow; we study in detail the lessons of the tragic event that happened when Noah got drunk and was violated by his son, Ham, and we probe the legacy of Ham and his descendants.

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Tempering Temper (2:15)

In this Mishna, one of the most fascinating characters of the Mishnaic era teaches eternal lessons on how to deploy anger properly and how to ensure that our spiritual affairs are in order before we meet our Creator.

This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics Podcast on Aug 20, 2018

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Celebrating a Wolbe Bar Mitzvah

This past weekend, we celebrated my son Shlomo’s bar mitzvah, together with much of our family. It was a delightful and memorable affair! In this special podcast, I share some of the exciting events of the weekend, and of course some of the speeches that I gave in honor of the bar mitzvah boy. We discover that many of the messages that a young man coming of age needs to hear can also be instructive for adults!

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Parshas Noach (Rebroadcast)

In this week’s parsha: Noah and his family build an Ark as a refuge from an extinction-level Flood brought by God to destroy the world’s sinners.

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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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