Category Archives: Parsha

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Balak – A Single Point (5782)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 52:12 — 23.9MB)

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Our nation has no shortage of enemies. This is not new. Even in antiquity, our nation was always a target. Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law, try to smothered the Jewish Nation in its infancy. I’m this week’s Parsha, to fearsome, shadowy figures try to do the same. Balak, king of Moab, commissions Bilaam, master sorcerer and prophet, to curse and decimate the nation. Although their diabolical scheme fails, the lessons that we learn from this parsha are transformative.

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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 Balak (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:00:57 — 27.9MB)

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After the Jewish nation trounced the mighty kingdoms of Sichon and Og in last week’s parsha, 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.

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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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Chukas – Mourning Clouds

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 54:27 — 24.9MB)

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Two giants passed away in this week’s Parsha: Moshe two elder siblings, his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron – two of the great leaders and benefactors of the nation – both die in Parshas Chukas. In this special Parsha podcast we share two profound insights relating to the death, mourning, and aftermath of these two deaths. We discuss the extraction of water from a rock and how it differs from the another instance where water was desired and a rock played a very different role. We conclude with a sharp analysis of the difference between the nation’s mourning of Aaron and how the people mourned Moshe. All in all, I highly recommend that you listen to this podcast. It will bring you joy and maybe even some insight.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leilui nishmas Mrs. Ruth Salomon, Yenta Bas Moshe, who passed away yesterday. 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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Chukas – Between a Rock and a Wet Place (5782)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 48:46 — 22.3MB)

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Parshas Chukas contains some of the most interesting and iconic sections of the Torah. It begins with the mysterious red cow, a blush bovine whose burnt ashes are part of the cleansing cocktail needed to purify the impure. Afterwards, we read about the death of Miriam and its aftermath, including the cessation of the well of Miriam, an event that precipitated the striking of the Rock by Moshe and Aaron. In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we discuss the death of Miriam and Aaron and its associated lessons.

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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 Chukas (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:00:57 — 27.9MB)

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In this week’s parsha, 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.

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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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Korach – The Jewish Kryptonite

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 50:05 — 22.9MB)

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We all have weaknesses. Nations, as well, have witnesses. When the Almighty sought to give the Torah to the Jewish people at Sinai, He first offered it to all the nations. When they asked what was included in it, God revealed to them how the Torah disallowed that particular weakness that that particular Nation had. What is the Jewish weakness? What is our kryptonite? When we study the story of Korach we find the answer. Korach launched a rebellion against Moshe and Aaron by specifically trying to exploit the innate Jewish weakness.

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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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Korach – Debating Back to Sinai (5782)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 45:54 — 21.0MB)

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Debate and disagreement are part of the human condition. We are all unique and we all see the world differently. It should come as no shock, therefore, that disagreements exist between different people. Our nation has made debate into a favorite pastime – just visit any Yeshiva and you will see what I mean. But why must we debate? And what are the pillars of a productive debate? In this week’s podcast, we learn the art of argumentation.

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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 Korach (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 58:24 — 26.7MB)

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In this week’s parsha, Moshe and Aaron’s first cousin, a man named Korach, launches a rebellion claiming that Moshe is guilty of nepotism in appointing his brother as High Priest. What ensued should give one serious pause before engaging in any similar sort of divisive activities.

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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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Shelach – Prophylactic Phylacteries

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:01:36 — 28.2MB)

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Prior to initiating the war of conquest of the land of Canaan, the nation did the prudent thing: they undertook a reconnaissance mission to scout out the enemy defenses. Moshe selected 12 righteous men, one from each tribe, to traverse the land and inspect it from the inside. The result was a catastrophic disaster: the scouts brought a devastating report about the land, prompting the people to lose faith in God and in the prospect of entering Canaan. In this Parsha podcast, we explore three elements of the Parsha: the first segment orients around one of the descriptions of the land offered by the scouts. The second and third segments relate to the end of the Parsha: The execution of a person who was gathering twigs on Shabbos, and the commandment to tie fringes to corners of our garments.

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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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Shelach – Enter Via the Window (5782)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:00:50 — 27.8MB)

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One of the most unfortunate events in our history is chronicled in this week’s Parsha. The nation was on the doorstep of entering the Land of Canaan and actualizing the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In an effort to not to rely on Divine miracles, Moshe commissioned 12 righteous men to reconnoiter the Land. The report that they returned with was devastating, eventually leading to the nation being condemned to spend 40 years in the wilderness. That storyline is told in our Parsha’s beginning. It then transitions to talk about something very different: libations in sacrifices, the challah gift given to the Kohein, sacrifices for egregious sins, an episode of a person who gathered twigs on Shabbos resulting in his execution, and finally we read the third paragraph of the Shema, which talks about the Mitzvah of Tzitzis. Is there a central theme in our Parsha? On the surface it seems that the answer is no. In this podcast, we swim deep beneath the surface and discover some gems.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leilui Nishmas Yosef Binyamin ben Avraham Chaim, George Topas, whose fourth Yartzeit falls out on 19th of Sivan, the day that this podcast is being released.

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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 Shelach (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 57:32 — 26.3MB)

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The Jewish people were on the cusp of entering the Land of Canaan, and made a prudent, but ultimately tragic, decision: To send a contingent of scouts to reconnoiter the Land, to examine its vulnerabilities and weaknesses in order to best plan the conquest. Unfortunately, the report of the scouts sent the nation into a tailspin and caused them to remain in the Wilderness for 40 years.

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

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