Category Archives: Parsha

Rosh Hashana Reading (1st day – Genesis Chapter 21)

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.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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Nitzavim – Spiritual Interdependence

The Jewish nation is unlike every other nation. We are the “Chosen People”. We are “The Nation of God”. What does it mean to be the nation of God? In this podcast we discover that the Jewish people are bound together in the deepest fashion. Each one of us has a portion of our Soul that is entrusted within every other Jew, and within us there is a small piece of every other Jew. The implications of this unique spiritual physiology are vast!

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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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!

SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

Ki Savo – Tiers of Paradise

Perhaps the most intriguing question of all is” What actually happens after we die? Everyone is curious to know the answer to that question. In this unique Parsha Podcast we venture a peek into a Kabbalistic take on that question. The format is also quite interesting. The Torah is multidimensional, meaning that each verse and section can be understood on many different dimensions. In the first mitzvah of our parsha, the Ohr HaChaim takes us on an exhilarating kabbalistic ride, interpreting the section on a kabbalistic and allegorical level as the Soul’s post-mortem journey to Paradise.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in honor of Pesach Yehoshua Yunger

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!

SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

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This Jewish Life

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TORAH 101

Ki Seitzei – Roadmap to Victory

The Yetzer Hara is described in Jewish Literature as a skillful and dangerous enemy that we must make war with. And unless we devise a comprehensive strategy, our enemy will triumph. How does a winning battle plan look like? In this unique Parsha Podcast we lay out the three distinct steps needed to achieve total victory.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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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!

Shoftim – Kosher Bribery

A judge must remain impartial to be able to judge correctly. If he receives a bribe, even if it is non-monetary or intangible, he is disqualified from overseeing that case. The Talmud elaborates on this concept and explains the psychology behind how bribes manipulate. In this episode we show how this powerful force can be commandeered for positive, useful ends. How to bribe in a helpful, kosher, and even transformative way.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in the merit of the speedy and total recovery of Baruch ben Shoshana.

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!

Re’eh – Influencing People

A wise woman once said: “Judaism is terrible at marketing.” It seems like we are doing a terrible job at influencing others to adopt Torah. It is not only Gentiles that we are not a great job of attracting – and perhaps that is by design –  it is also our fellow Jews, our brethren, that we are often not reaching. Is there any way to persuade our Jewish brothers and sisters to reexamine Torah on a deep and fundamental level? What is the most persuasive arguments for the power of Torah? Guided by a powerful teaching in the Talmud regarding Onkelus the convert, we discover the answer in the first verses of our parsha.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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This podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Robert Joseph Weinburger, the father in law of a dear friend of mine and of TORCH. May his Soul be elevated 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!

Pinchas – Consistency is Key

When the Temple was extant, first thing each morning a Tamid sacrifice was offered, and an afternoon Tamid offering was the last sacrifice of the day. The Midrash reveals to us quite surprisingly that the essence of Torah is encapsulated in the Tamid sacrifices. What is so special about this sacrifice that makes it worthy of that distinction?

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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!

Chukas & Balak – Second Chances

Over the course of the Nation’s 40 year sojourn in the Wilderness they tested God 10 times. But God believes in second chances, and gave them an opportunity to rectify their misdeeds. This principle applies on a national and individual level. We are all given second chances, but we must listen to those messages and seize those opportunities. Seeing them is not enough.

This Parsha podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leiluei nishmas Yisrael Ezra Ben Peretz HaLevi.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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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!

Parshas Chukas & Balak (Rebroadcast)

In Parshas Chukas, we read about a highly unusual mitzvah: The Red Heifer, when an entirely red cow is burned together with a motley concoction of ingredients, and the resultant ashes are used to sprinkle on people that came into contact with dead people in order to purify them from their spiritual contamination. We also learn about the passing of Miriam and Aaron, and the multiple battles that the nation participated in on the Eastern bank of the Jordan, and we puzzle over the sin that condemned Moses and Aaron to die before entering the Land. Parshas Balak begins after the Jewish nation trounced the mighty kingdoms of Sichon and Og, the comparatively smaller and weaker kingdom of Moab resorted to unconventional warfare to attack the nation by hiring the prophet of the nations, a wily and devious character named Bilaam, to curse the Jews. It did not work out as planned.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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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!

Korach – The Legendary Malcontents

Dathan and Abiram appear in Scripture for the first time in this week’s parsha as conspirators in Korach’s insurrection, but according to the  Midrash this is not nearly their first rebellion against Moshe and Aaron. In fact, since Moshe was a young lad, Dathan and Abiram were thorns at his side, resisting him at every juncture. Why were these malcontents kept around for so long and what can we learn from them?

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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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!

Shelach – Benefiting from Blunders

Mistakes are endemic to the human condition. We all make mistakes. Even the titans of our history like Moshe, Aaron, and Joshua made mistakes. In this hastily prepared podcast we speculate that mistakes are not incidental to greatness but are absolutely pivotal. Without mistakes there can be no greatness.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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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!

Behaaloscha – The Eyes of the People

Our parsha contains an unusual sequence: The nation is about to leave Sinai, and Moshe makes a prolonged, and unsuccessful, appeal to his father in law, Jethro, to remain with him. Then there is the strange episode of the backwards-facing NUNs. Then the nation commits two grievous sin back to back. Moshe then tells God that he can bear the nation no longer he needs lieutenants, And finally, God tells him to appoint 70 elders to help him lead the people. In this podcast, we ask a series of questions on this sequence, and share a powerful insight into how people change and the threats they will face.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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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!