Category Archives: Podcasts

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Terumah – Cherub-Picking

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 57:42 — 26.4MB)

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The Tabernacle was a portable Temple in which the presence of God dwelled. Our Parsha begins with the fundraising effort to be conducted in the Wilderness where the nation was asked to donate the required materials for the construction of the Tabernacle, it’s vessels, and the vestments of the high priest. In this enjoyable Parsha podcast we go deep and deeper on three different parts of the Parsha: we discuss the unusual ordering of the materials needed for the tabernacle; we probe the apparently conflicting definitions of cherubs; and we take a fascinating look at the unusual creature – the tachash – whose skin was used to create the upper curtain of the Tabernacle.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leilui nishmas Michael Ben Shmuel and Yehudit whose yahrzeit is this week, the 6th of Adar (1). May his 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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#84: Rambam’s Epistle of Resurrection

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:10:19 — 32.2MB)

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The great medieval sage my Maimonides – Rambam – has been guiding us throughout our studies of the 13th principles of faith. This transcendental scholar, who’s magisterial writings are authoritatively accepted amongst the entirety of the Jewish people, was one of our people’s greatest personalities. His writings are enormously influential and authoritative in matters of philosophy and the foundations of our faith. In this episode we go through Rambam’s epistle on Resurrection. In his lifetime, there were many questions and doubts and uncertainties about Rambam’s position on several matters of resurrection. To dispel misconceptions misunderstandings, and misrepresentations, Rambam penned a lengthy epistle on the matter. This letter is sprawling and uncharacteristically wordy, but it is a very helpful source for us to gain a deeper and broader understanding of the subject of a resurrection.

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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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Terumah – The Mystery of the Menorah (5782)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 58:33 — 26.8MB)

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This week’s Parsha marks the beginning of the Torah’s detailing of the Tabernacle and its vessels and operations. This subject makes up the bulk of the remaining narrative of Exodus, and Leviticus contains much of the laws related to the Tabernacle. We have never witnessed the Tabernacle, nor it’s successor, the Temple in Jerusalem. The whole notion of a dwelling house for God is somewhat strange to us. What can we take out of these sections? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we discover that the answer is quite a lot. This episode orients around the Menorah, the candelabra that was lit in the Tabernacle each night. We discover what it represents, we ponder it’s various symbolisms, and we sketch out a new approach for implementing the lessons of the Menorah in our lives today.

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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 Terumah (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 52:28 — 24.0MB)

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One of the fundamental principles of Jewish philosophy is the idea of “Kedushah”, holiness. Holiness, according to the Jewish definition, is when the physical and spiritual worlds meet. In no location in the world is holiness more present than the Temple, and its predecessor, the “Mishkan”, the Tabernacle. In this week’s parsha we read about the instructions to raise the materials and to construct the Tabernacle and most of its vessels.

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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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Mishpatim – Blind Determination

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:01:01 — 27.9MB)

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Immediately after the Sinai Revelation, the Torah begins telling us many of the laws. In this Parsha podcast we focus on two of the laws: the famous verse of “an eye for an eye”, and the requirement to aid your enemy when his donkey is struggling under its load. As is our mandate in year 8 of the Parsha Podcast, we go deep and deeper beneath the surface, trying to find insights and secrets beyond the text.

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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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Processing Sacrifices Protocols (#138-141)

Podcast (mitzvah): Download (Duration: 47:09 — 21.6MB)

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There are many different types of sacrifices brought in the temple. Each sacrifice follows the prescribed protocol. There is zero tolerance for deviation from the protocol. In this podcast, we learn about the requirement for the priests to follow the protocol to a t, and we end with an important perspective that makes this entire subject more salient and meaningful to 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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Mishpatim – Hearing Sinai (5782)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 43:54 — 20.1MB)

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The Sinai Revelation was the most significant event in all of human history, certainly in all of Jewish history. Our nation experienced what no other people has experienced: we heard God speaking the Ten Commandments from amidst the fire and thick cloud on the mountain, and survived to tell the tale. This event – as told in last week’s Parsha – is the foundation of our religion. This week we begin with a very obscure and strange law: we read about a Jewish bondsman who voluntarily choses to extend his 6-year term and must have his ear pierced. Why is this the first thing that we must be told after Sinai? Upon deep analysis we discover that this unique law contains the secret to actualizing the lessons of Sinai.

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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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Sense of Mission (6.6.29)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 30:11 — 13.8MB)

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We love Torah. Torah study is our national pastime and obsession. It is enjoyable; it is fun; it is interesting — but to acquire it – we have to now that it is imperative: It is as indispensable as water, oxygen and bread.

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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 Mishpatim (Rebroadcast)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 59:05 — 27.0MB)

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Parshas Mishpatim marks a stark change in the rhythm and pace of the Torah narrative. The preceding 17 Parshas contained a total of 41 mitzvos; this week we begin learning the Torah laws en masse. In this single parsha alone we have 53 mitzvos (only three parshas have more mitzvos). Beyond the varied laws, this parsha contains a prophetic promise and guidance regarding the conquest of Canaan, and the completion of the Sinai narrative that began in last week’s parsha.

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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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Yisro – Splitting the Heaven

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 56:22 — 25.8MB)

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The arrival of Jethro, the preparation for Sinai, and the nature of the Sinai revelation – these are some of the subjects featured in our parsha. In this very special and atypically extemporaneous Parsha podcast, we offer four interesting ideas: one on the unique route that Jethro took to the truth; one on the particular form of pleasure that Torah bestows upon those who learn it; a supremely clever idea on the boundaries placed around Mount Sinai; and a fascinating observation on the splitting of the sea and the splitting of the heavens.

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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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Yisro – Deathrow and Jethro (5782)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 55:45 — 25.5MB)

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The eponymous protagonist of our Parsha – Moshe’s father-in-law, Jethro – makes three appearances in the Torah. His story, at first glance, seems wholly unremarkable. His greatest claim to fame was the fact that Moshe married his daughter. But the Torah revisits this interesting and compelling character again and again, and his narrative is positioned as an introduction to the Revelation at Sinai and the giving of the Torah. What is the secret of Jethro? This is the third year in a row that the Parsha Podcast on Parshas Yisro has tried to unlock the mystery of Jethro. I think we’ve finally deciphered the riddle.

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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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