Category Archives: personal growth

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Divine Mirroring: The Secret to Earning a Merciful Judgment on Rosh Hashanah

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The judgment on Rosh Hashanah is comprehensive: every single human has his or her moment of judgment before God. Even the dead are judged again each year. The judgment covers not only our behavior with respect to fulfilling our obligations to God, it also covers interpersonal matters. If we are meritorious, we will be forgiven for all our sins on Yom Kippur, but that atones only sins down between man and God. For interpersonal sins, we are not forgiven until we appease our friend and elicit their forgiveness. But these two domains are not entirely separate. In this short and sweet podcast sourced from the writings of my grandfather of blessed memory, we learn how important our interpersonal behavior is vis-a-vis our status before God. Now is the time to prepare.

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Elul Cheat Sheet

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Preparing for the High Holidays can be daunting. How can anyone adequately prepare for standing in judgment in front of the Heavenly tribunal? But prepare we must. The month of Elul is designated for preparing for the awesome days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Our Sages took these days very seriously and were completely immersed in preparation. But we are regular people, ordinary, common folk. Is there something that we can do to prepare? Is there a cheat sheet to simplify Elul? Is there a way to distill this month to its essence? In this wonderful podcast we share the three main pillars of this month and learn the ways how even us lay people can have an immensely productive and powerful Elul.

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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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Tisha Bav: Why We Mourn

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The ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. All manner of calamities and tragedies and disasters befell our people on this day. On this day the nation was condemned to wonder in the wilderness for 40 years. On this day both Temples were destroyed. On this day, the last stronghold of the Jewish rebellion in Betar was destroyed. Over the millennia, many more calamities occurred on this most inauspicious day. It is a day of fasting and mourning. What exactly are we mourning about? What is the purpose of mourning? What ought we to do on this day? In this special podcast we learn about the essence of the sadness of this day, and what we can do about it.

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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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Mechanisms of Free Will

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Is free will limited or unlimited? What is the scope of free will? How much of our decisions must filter through that system of choice? How much can we actually accomplish if we set our mind to it? What is the mechanisms of ascending a free will ladder? In part 2 of our study of free will, we continue our exploration of fundamental concepts in free will, and learn about the transformative insight of the point of free will conflict.

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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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Free Will: An Exploration of Fundamental Concepts

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Free Will is a fundamental concept in our philosophy. People are endowed by God with the ability to determine the direction that they take in life. People are allowed to choose a path of righteousness or wickedness. There is a certain modicum of self-determination that the Almighty provides us with. In this mini series, we study a fantastic chapter in my grandfather’s Alei Shur volume 2 which explores fundamental concepts in free will that will help clarify and demystify this important subject.

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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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How to Raise Good Children Part 2

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We all want to raise good children. We want our children to be healthy and balanced and good and righteous. The Torah is full of powerful lessons on how to raise good children. In part two of our series on parenting, we explore the unique relationship of Isaac and Esau, how Jacob admonished his children, and the fascinating perspective shift that God revealed to Moshe.

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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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The Dina Dilemma

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Not all twins are identical in every way. Jacob and Esau were as different from each other as two humans can possibly get. When Rebecca got wind of Esau’s plans to murder Jacob, she sent them away. After being apart from his twin for more than 30 years, Jacob and Esau had a fateful reunion. Jacob had a dilemma: what to do with his very desirable daughter Dina? He was worried that Esau would lay his eyes on her and take her for a wife. Jacob was not interested in being Esau’s father-in-law and having his daughter be taken by this monster, so he made a decision. This in this podcast we explore Jacob’s dilemma and his decision and the many cascading consequences thereof.

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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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Simple Reasons to Believe

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What is your elevator pitch for the existence of God? That is a question that was posed to dozens of successful and accomplished people. They were asked to write a short, concise, elevator-trip-length essays on why they believed. These essays were compiled into a wonderful book titled “Elevator pitches for God.” The creators of this project, Ron Kardos and Bruce Licht, are dear friends of mine and they asked me to write my elevator pitch too. Authors were asked to limit their essays to a single page of text or fewer than 500 words to be able to be conveyed in an elevator ride, but I was asked to write the elevator pitch for a malfunctioning elevator. If you are in the elevator that breaks down and you’re going to be there for a while and you want to strike up a conversation with your fellow travelers about God, you may have some more time than a typical elevator ride. In this podcast, I share my essay on this very crucial topic.

I would highly recommend that you got a copy of this book for yourself . Until the end of the year 2024, this book is 45% off on Amazon at this LINK with the promo code “torchdeal”. This is the deal of a lifetime that will provide you with a torch illuminating your path to Faith and to 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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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Thanksgiving in Jewish Philosophy and Ethics

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Gratitude is one of the most, if not the most, important values in our religion. In fact, our sources tell us that the reason why God created His creation was to enable us to express our gratitude. But what if what we receive is a mixed bag of good and bad? Must we also express gratitude in that case? In this special Thanksgiving edition of the podcast, we explore the important subject of gratitude.

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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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How To Actualize Potential (Abraham Shows the Way)

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Abraham’s storyline in the Torah is curiously: There are some parts of his life that are told in detail, while other seemingly important events are omitted entirely. What we discover is that the storyline of Abraham serves as a prototype for how to actualize our potential. In this very special podcast, we dissect Abraham’s story and discover a comprehensive system for how to unlock our vast potential.

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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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Your Vote Matters

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It’s election season in America. Your vote matters. Even if you don’t live in the swing state, it is recommended that you vote and exercise your civic right and duty. There is another area where you need to vote. The other area is much more consequential. The effects of how you vote in that area will reverberate the world over.

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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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