Category Archives: Holidays

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The Unparalleled Day of Yom Kippur

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The holiest day of the year is upon us. The day of Yom Kippur is unmatched and unrivaled by any other. It is a day of elevation. It is a day of purification. It is a day to be cleansed of all of our sins. It is a day to move past all of our trauma. On this day God pledges to forgive us from for all of our sins. But some of us have a hard time connecting with this awesome day. Some of us wish that we can leapfrog this day and move on to the festival of Sukkos. Why do we have such a hard time with this day, and what is there to do about it? In this really superb podcast, we learn about the secrets of this awesome day, and what is actually we need to do so that we merit to partake in its vast, awesome power.

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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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Asking Forgiveness Before Yom Kippur

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Yom Kippur is a day of atonement and expiation. On this auspicious day, the Almighty forgives us for all our transgressions and we become purified before God. But the purification of Yom Kippur is limited to sins between man and God. For interpersonal transgressions, there is no atonement unless the aggressor appeases and secures forgiveness from the aggrieved. In this sweeping episode we discuss the nature of interpersonal transgressions and the tremendous sensitivity and delicateness required to not cause another person pain or loss; we scour the process of how to gain atonement for interpersonal transgressions; and we talk about the importance and the challenge of forgiving others who have wronged us.

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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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The Ten Wonders of Repentance

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God showered humanity with endless gifts: the ability to see, to hear, to walk, to taste, to think, to make choices, to become closer to Him. The list is very long. One of the greatest gifts that God gave humanity is the ability to repent. When we err, when we make blunders, when we go awry, we don’t need to forever be in the wrong. We can rectify. We can make amends. The gift of repentance is truly wondrous. Repentance had to have been created before the world was created because it would be impossible to create something so wondrous once the structures of the world were set in place. In this very special pre-Rosh Hashanah, pre-10 Days of Repentance podcast, we identify ten different ways in which repentance is truly wondrous. What an opportunity afforded to us by God!

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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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The Binding of Isaac (Second Day of Rosh Hashana Torah Reading)

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On the second day of Rosh Hashana, we read the Torah section of Genesis chapter 22 that tells the very famous and quite troubling episode of the Binding of Isaac. Abraham – the same Abraham who railed against the ways of child sacrifice of the pagans – is instructed by God to take Isaac – the same Isaac who was declared as the one who will be Abraham’s true progeny – and offer him as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. In this podcast we attempt to understand the many connections that this reading has with the themes and ideas of Rosh Hashana.

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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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The Nuanced Judgment of Rosh Hashana

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Rush Hashanah is a day of judgment. On this day, God sits, as it were, on His Throne of Judgment. The intensity and scrutiny of divine judgment is unfathomable. Even the angels quake and quiver with trepidation. For some, the results of the judgment are instantaneous: the completely righteous are immediately inscribed and sealed into the Book of Life, and the completely wicked are immediately inscribed and sealed into the Book of Death. For the in-betweeners however, their fate is determined by their conduct during the Ten Days of Repentance. In this very sharp and interesting podcast, we offer three approaches to the age-old question of why we don’t see a massive uptick in all-cause mortality on Rosh Hashanah. If all the wicked perish instantly, why aren’t the morgues jam-packed with dead sinners on the day following Rosh Hashanah?

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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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The Origin of Isaac (First Day of Rosh Hashana Torah Reading)

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The Torah readings for the two days of Rosh Hashana were not arbitrarily chosen. There are very good reasons why on the first day of Rosh Hashana we read Genesis chapter 21, which tells of the conception and birth of Isaac, and the banishment of Ishmael, his brush with death, and his salvation. In this podcast we attempt to understand the many connections that this reading has with the themes and ideas of Rosh Hashana.

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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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The First Elul

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We have a begun hallowed days of Elul. In one month, we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah. We will all be judged. We will blow the shofar. We will pray for a good year. Ten days later, the holy day of Yom Kippur. We will fast for 25 hours: no food, no drink. On that day,we are like angels. On that day – The gates of mercy are open, like no other day. On that day – The gates of repentance, the gates of forgiveness, the gates of atonement, are wide open. On that day – God is ensconced, as it were, on the throne of mercy. Elul is when we prepare. But how exactly do we prepare? In this interesting podcast, we draw back to the beginning, to the first Elul. It contains the secret and the propitious power of these days.

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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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How to Build the Third Temple

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The Temple is a central component of our religion. Ever since it was destroyed by the Romans, our nation has been operating in a suboptimal fashion. Certainly, we have prayers to match the sacrifices of God, and our Torah Academy halls, the four cubits of halacha, is a place where the divine presence rests; we have the Almighty’s precious mitzvos, and we have the opportunity to pray to Him and to repent and return to Him, but something vital is missing. Absent a Temple, the world is blanketed in darkness. Absent the Temple, it is as if there is a thick metal blockade separating us from our Father in heaven. It doesn’t need to be like this. The Temple can be rebuilt, and we can and must play a part. What can we do to build the Third Temple? Our sages laid out a roadmap.

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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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NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:

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Shavuos Special Ruth, Sinai, and the Heart of Shavuos

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The Sinai Revelation is the most significant event in all of human history: God revealed Himself to the entire Jewish people, He spoke to them, He gave them the Torah, and they lived. This day is revisited every single year on the festival of Shavuos. Our objective on this day is to renew our vows with God and to re-accept His holy Torah. But how do you accept the Torah? What are the prerequisites and necessary criteria for accepting the Torah? To answer those questions we have to study the Sinai Revelation and the events that preceded and succeeded it. In this very special podcast we explore many different dimensions and elements of the festival and the days that it commemorates and discover the essential quality that was needed to accept the Torah initially and the primary way for us to tap into the vast, awesome, spiritual power of Shavuos.

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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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NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:

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

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Ruth, Sinai, and the Heart of Shavuos (Rebroadcast)

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:35 — 29.1MB)

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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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NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:

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

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Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochi and the Lesson of Lag Ba’Omer

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Lag Ba’Omer is a unique day in the Jewish calendar. It’s a minor festival celebrated in surprising ways for surprising reasons: on this day, the plague that was ravaging the the students of Rabbi Akiva ceased. On this day as well, Rabbi Akiva’s prize student, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochi, died. The death of a great sage is more of a transition to the heavenly academy. Rabbi Shimon, the great cognoscente and promulgator of the Kabbalistic Torah, ascended to heaven on this auspicious day, and therefore, the power of his life, lessons, and teachings is particularly strong on this day. But why is Rabbi Shimon singled out as the day, as the person whose day of transition to the heavenly academy is particularly celebrated? In this interesting podcast, we identify a unique theme strong throughout the life and teachings of Rabbi Shimon that makes his influence and message ever so relevant.

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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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NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:

TORCH
PO BOX 310246
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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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