Category Archives: History

Ep. 62: Joshua and the Conquest of Canaan

After the death of Moses, Joshua was tasked with the leadership of the people and with the invasion, conquest, and division of Canaan. Precisely 3 days after the 30-day mourning period of Moses, the invasion commenced with a rapid flurry of miracles, battles, and monumental events. This podcast covers the story of Joshua and the Conquest of Canaan as told in the Book of Joshua and in other classical Jewish sources.

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This Jewish History Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of anonymously in loving memory of Soraya Nassimian. May her soul have an ascendancy in Heaven.

This Jewish Histry Podcast is also sponsored by Joe Grob in the zechut of a refuah shelima to Tzivia Shoshana Chaya bat Miriam. May she merit a swift and complete recovery

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

Ep. 61: Joshua: Disciple Par Excellence of Moses

Joshua was the undisputed leader of the Jews after the passing of Moses. Even during Moses’ lifetime, Joshua played an important role as Moses’ aide and confidante and protegé. Among his many accomplishments: He led the war effort and vanquished the Amaleks immediately after the Exodus; He was Moses’ right hand man in his lifetime, and never departed from his side, in fact he remained at the foot of Mount Sinai for the duration of the 40 days that Moses had ascended to Heaven, and joined Moses as they returned to the camp to find the Jews celebrating the Golden Calf; Joshua was one of the twelve leaders of the nation tasked with the responsibility of scouting out the Land, and together with Caleb, was one of the two righteous spies who did not slander the Land; When Moses asked the Almighty to choose a successor, the Almighty instructed him to select Joshua, a man of spirit to designate and strengthen as his successor; After Moses passed, Joshua immediately leads the conquest of the Land of Canaan/Israel and the 7 mighty nations and 31 different kings which are united against them. Part One of our study of Joshua will orient around his role in the Torah as Moses’ trusted disciple.

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This Jewish History Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Danny Savitsky, Daniel Barnett Ben Yehuda and Amy. May his soul have an ascendancy 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:
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 PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;
Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.

Ep. 60: Moses: The Quintessential Jewish Leader

Moses was the greatest human of all time. His resume is replete with superlatives: He was the greatest prophet of all time, both qualitatively and quantitatively; He was the humblest man to grace the earth; He ascended to Heaven, negotiated successfully with angels and brought down the Torah and taught it to the Jewish people; He orchestrated the Exodus from Egypt with its concomitant miracles and signs; and according to the Talmud experienced time travel. There is plenty to talk about when analyzing this titanic persona of Jewish history. In this podcast we will zone in on one specific element of Moses’ greatness, his quality as a leader, and construct of model of the archetypal Jewish leader.

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This Jewish History Podcast is dedicated in honor of Carlos Weil and family. Thank you for your 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!

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

Ep. 59: The Blueprint of Jewish History

The oft-repeated refrain “history repeats itself” is especially true with respect to the stories of the forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as conveyed in the Book of Genesis. Our Sages have made the bold claim that everything that happened to our forefathers as individuals will be repeated to their children on the national stage. The stories of Genesis are thus a template, a blueprint, of Jewish history. In this podcast we survey some of the major conflicts and episodes of Genesis and see how those themes have played out in Jewish history and speculate how they can guide our approaches to modern day political, cultural, and religious dilemmas.

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This Jewish History Podcast is dedicated in honor of David Askin. Thank you for your friendship and continued support of TORCH throughout the years.

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

Ep. 58: Abraham: The Birth of Monotheism and the Origins of the Jewish Nation

The story of the Jewish people – and truthfully the story of all monotheists, Christians and Muslims too – begins with Abraham. Abraham is of course the progenitor of the Jewish nation via his son, Isaac and grandson, Jacob, and his other son, Ishmael, is viewed as the forbearer of the Arabs and by extension the Muslims, and his other grandson, Esau, is viewed in Jewish sources as the father of the kingdom of Edom which becomes Rome which eventually merges with Christianity and catapults it into a major world religion. Where does Abraham come from? What did he do to merit direct divine communication? How did he manage to have his theological ideas span the world over?

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

Ep. 57: A History of Kabbalah (Part Two: The Arizal and His Era)

In the 16th century, the city of Safed in Northern Israel became host to one of the greatest collections of Torah Sages ever assembled, none more transformative or influential as Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the Arizal. Though he lived a very short life of 38 years (1534-1572), he revolutionized the study, perception, and understanding of Kabbalah and his influence continues to permeate the Jewish world until today.

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

Ep. 56: A History of Kabbalah (Part One: Fom Sinai to Safed)

Kabbalah is part of the corpus of Oral Torah – like the Mishnah, the Talmud and Halacha – that was given to Moshe at Sinai and transmitted from generation to generation, but unlike the revealed Torah which was disseminated as widely as possible to the whole nation, the Kabbalah was arcane and esoteric – known to the very few scholars at the highest levels of knowledge and greatness, and transmitted from teacher to student in secrecy. In Part One of our retelling of its history we offer definitions of Kabbalah and explore the content and methods of distribution of this esoteric wisdom in antiquity. 

This Jewish History podcast is Sponsored by Barry Dubin – in loving memory of Andy Stern (Gershon Yaakov ben Moshe) Z”L. May his soul have a spiritual ascendancy in Heaven.

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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.

Please SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW all my podcasts on iTunes, Android, and Stitcher:

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.

Ep. 55: Techeiles: The History of the Mysterious Blue Dye and its Fringe Benefits

The word “Techeiles” is mentioned dozens of times in the Torah, and is a subject that appears in many places in the Talmud and associated literature. Techeiles is both a color and a material, namely wool dyed with this color, but to fulfill the Torah’s requirement for this particular color it can only be derived from the blood of a mysterious aquatic creature called a chilazon. The identity of the chilazon and the process of extracting and priming the dye for Techeiles was lost for about 1500 years. In the past 150 years, the subject of Techeiles had a resurgence and has aroused much interest and debate due to several claims of the rediscovery of the chilazon and the process of converting it into Techeiles. What is Techeiles, why is it relevant, and what do we know about its alleged rediscovery?

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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.

Please SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW all my podcasts on iTunes, Android, and Stitcher:

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.

Ep. 54: The Entebbe Raid

On the 6th of Tammuz, July 4th 1976,  a team of Israeli commandos flew 2500 miles undetected across hostile countries, raided the Entebbe airport in Uganda and rescued 100 Jews who were being held hostage after their commercial plane was hijacked. This stunning, daring, audacious, miraculous Hollywoodesque rescue wowed the world, and galvanized the Jewish nation. It also was the central catalyst for the political career of the current Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. This flawlessly executed, extraordinary operation was called by the New York Times: “An operation with no precedent in military history.”

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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.

Please SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW all my podcasts on iTunes, Android, and Stitcher:

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.

Ep. 53: The Ten Lost Tribes: History, Legends, and Folklore

The story of the Ten Lost Tribes is shrouded in mystery, replete with legends and folklore. At its core it is one of the greatest tragedies of Jewish history. It began with the worst schism and civil war in our history. The rift persisted for decades and was never resolved despite many concerted efforts of the great prophets of yore. Ultimately, war, conquest, and expulsion led to the rebels to be cast away, and a significant chunk, maybe even a plurality, of the nation were exiled to parts unknown and have seemingly disappeared from the face of history.

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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.

Please SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW all my podcasts on iTunes, Android, and Stitcher:

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.

Ep. 52: The History of the Sanhedrin (Part Two: From Yavneh Onward)

After the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed, the Sanhedrin at Yavneh became the epicenter of Jewish life. Though the pride of the nation – The Holy Temple in Jerusalem which was standing for 420 years – was destroyed, and tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of Jews were massacred, Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai’s negotiations with Vespasian succeeded in salvaging the beating heart of the nation, the great Sages of the Sanhedrin hiding out in the city of Yavneh. Over the next several decades they will orchestrate an unprecedented renaissance to stabilize the nation, comfort them, and galvanize them to rebuild and restore the prominence of yore, and they succeeded in breathing life back into the soul of a depressed nation

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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.

Please SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW all my podcasts on iTunes, Android, and Stitcher:

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.

Ep. 51: The History of the Sanhedrin (Part One: From Moshe until the Destruction of the Second Temple)

The Sanhedrin, the highest halachic authority in the Land comprised of the 71 greatest scholars in the Jewish world, was the Supreme Court of the Jewish Nation. It was founded by Moshe about a year after the Revelation at Sinai and continued almost uninterrupted for 1700 years. This body played an instrumental role in guiding and inspiring the nation, and ensuring the accurate perpetuation of Torah. In Part 1 of the History of the Sanhedrin, we tell the story of this vital institution from its founding until the destruction of the Second Temple in the First Century CE.

This podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Don Levit Z”L, a man of kindness and generosity, and patron of the Levit Family Library at the TORCH Center in Houston, TX.

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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.

Please SUBSCRIBE, RATE and REVIEW all my podcasts on iTunes, Android, and Stitcher:

Podcasts Links:

This Jewish Life – A Podcast About Jewish Philosophy: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Jewish History Podcast – The podcast telling the Remarkable story of the Jewish Peoples: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

The Parsha Podcast – A Weekly podcast of analyzing and Exploring the Parsha: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

TORAH 101 – A Podcast about the Divinity of Torah and the relationship between the Written and Oral Torah: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher;

Eternal Ethics – The Pirkei Avos Podcast by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe: Apple PodcastsAndroidStitcher.