Category Archives: Podcasts

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Korach – Korach’s Insatiability

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:05:38 — 30.0MB)

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Korach was immensely talented. He was enormously rich, he was clever, and he was devilishly persuasive. His rebellion, however, was doomed from the start. What are the roots of Korach’s rebellion? Why was Jacob dead-set on not having his name associated with Korach? In this Parsha Podcast we engage in a profound study of the episode of Korach and discover where he went wrong. The lessons are powerful.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated by Tova Florans in honor of Coby and Chynna Bracha Fliegelman on the occasion of the birth of their young son Azriel Asher.

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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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Levity (6.6.21)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 29:43 — 13.6MB)

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Life is serious. Pursuit of wisdom is the pursuit of truth. Pursuit of wisdom is the pursuit of understanding the Divine (to the best of our abilities). To access wisdom, we have to be very serious. But a little bit of levity – when done properly and in the right context – can be helpful. In this Ethics Podcast we explore the Torah’s perspective on levity and seriousness.

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This Ethics Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Miriam bat Rahim. May her soul be elevated in Heaven.

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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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Korach – Demoted For Good (5781)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 55:04 — 25.2MB)

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Korach was a very talented man with a sterling pedigree. He was wise and clever and even had a degree of prophetic clairvoyance. Yet he blundered egregiously by launching a revolt on Moshe and Aaron. When we study what triggered this rebellion we find that Korach has a seemingly legitimate grievance. He believed – and honest assessors of the situation would agree – that he was mistreated by not being promoted to a post that he deserved. Why indeed was Korach passed over for this promotion? How should Korach have processed this insult? What is the proper way to respond to such slights? In this exceptional podcast episode, we share a potentially life-changing approach to this subject.

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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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Uncertain Guilt Offerings (#128)

Podcast (mitzvah): Download (Duration: 25:01 — 11.5MB)

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This sacrifice is offered when someone is uncertain if they violated a sin or not.

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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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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: 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 – Despising Limitations

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 53:30 — 24.5MB)

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The nation was on the cusp of entering the Land. After about a year at Sinai, the nation was ready to conquer Canaan. The invasion and war of conquest was imminent. Then catastrophe struck. Moshe sent 12 spies to reconnoiter the Land and report the back with their findings. Their report completely deflated the spirit of the nation. The ultimate result: the nation was condemned to spend 40 years in the wilderness, one year for every day that the spies spent in the Land. In this insightful podcast episode we explore the story of the spies in depth: we examine the fundamental disagreement between 10 of the spies and Joshua and Caleb, and we discover what it takes to do the impossible, to conquer the unconquerable.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Asher ben Youseff. May his soul be elevated in Heaven.

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

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Shelach – Daydreams, Nightmares, and Reveries (5781)

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 42:35 — 19.5MB)

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The final five verses of our Parsha contain the third paragraph of the Shema. In it, we are instructed to place tzitzis strings wrapped with a string of blue techeiles wool on the corner of our garments. Why? “And you shall see them and remember all the mitzvos of Hashem and you shall do them, and you will not deviate after your hearts and eyes.” By gazing at the tzitzis we will do al the mitzvos and avoid sinning. That is a very bold claim. How does looking at the tzitzis remind us of all the mitzvos of God and inspire us to do them? How does it save us from sinning? Why is this particular mitzvah featured as a the culmination of the parsha that deals primarily with the ill-fated reconnaissance mission of the 12 spies sent by Moshe to reconnoiter the Land? In this sweeping and creative podcast we share some secrets that will radically rearrange your worldview. This is not the easiest podcast to follow, absorb, and digest, but it may be the most beneficial one that you’ve listened to yet.

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

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#74: Messianic Prognostication

Podcast (torah101): Download (Duration: 1:03:39 — 29.1MB)

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When will Messiah come? We are all curious to know the answer. What if we can find evidence or proof in Scripture to know when the redemption will happen? Isn’t that a tantalizing notion? In this podcast we survey the prohibition, futility, and peril of Messianic prognostication.

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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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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: 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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Behaaloscha – Bad Old Days

Podcast (parsha): Download (Duration: 1:12:05 — 33.0MB)

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After a year at Sinai, the nation is finally on the move. Following the precise protocol of disassembly and decampment, the nation marches off from Sinai. Destination: Land of Canaan. At least that was the plan. More about that next week. In this week’s podcast we explore the events surrounding the Nation’s journey from Sinai. We examine Moshe’s unsuccessful attempt at cajoling Jethro to remain with the nation, the strange feature of the backwards facing nuns, and the inexplicable nostalgia that the nation exhibited for Egypt. Assembled together, we learn about a fantastic superpower of the evil inclination that’s stymies and stifles our ability to easily overcome difficult challenges.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated by my dear friend and longtime friend of the podcasts David Borowsky in honor of Shaun Hiller – also a dear friend – on the occasion of his recent engagement to Shira Berman. May they build a beautiful life together and establish a Jewish home that brings joy and delight to their family, community, and to the entire nation.

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

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Conversation (6:6:20)

Podcast (pirkeiavos): Download (Duration: 41:05 — 18.8MB)

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We are speaking beings. In fact, the central differentiation between humanity and animals is the capacity of verbal communication. The judgment that we face in Heaven is largely about how we deployed our superpower, our speech. The greatest mitzvos are performed with speech and some of the most grievous transgressions are also a product of the spoken word. What about idle chit chat? What about ordinary conversation? Small talk? There is a lot of gray area of speech that doesn’t immediately appear to be neither a mitzvah nor a sin. How are we to relate to this form of speech? In this Ethics Podcast we study the subject of speech and the Torah’s guidance for how to properly balance it.

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

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

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