Category Archives: Q&A and Contemporary Issues

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The Root Cause of Anti-Semitism and How to Solve it: The Torah’s Surprising View

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Jew hatred is not a new phenomenon. Ever since our people were founded — and truthfully even beforehand — we have been the recipients of unprecedented, enmity and hostility. Why are God’s chosen people uniquely targeted? What is the underlying reason for anti-Semitism? Why are we not more accepted into and tolerated by the general society? This is a question often pondered by scholars and pundits. With the global increase of anti-Semitism following the October 7th massacres and the war that ensued, this question is top of mind for many. In this podcast we share the Torah’s surprising and counterintuitive perspective.

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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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On Elevator Pitches for God with Bruce Licht and Ron Kardos

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Many (most?) people believe in God. Believers accept the reality that the world, the universe, finite existence is the handiwork of an infinite God. Why do people believe? What evidence do believers have? These are some of the questions that my dear friends, Ron Kardos and Bruce Licht, sought to have answered. They conceived of an incredibly powerful and novel concept: what if people were given the opportunity to hear an elevator pitch for God? What if we asked a large collection of talented, accomplished, and famous people to share their elevator pitch for God? What resulted was a masterpiece of a book: Elevator Pitches for God. In this podcast, Ron and Bruce share their story.

Buy the Book

Amazon Link

Support EP4G

Visit their website ep4g.com to see what else Ron and Bruce are doing

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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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On Visiting Wartime Israel with Dr. Alan Kritz

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Our nation is at war. Our brothers and sisters are in combat in Gaza, displaced from their homes in the north and the south of Israel, traumatized from the atrocities of October 7th, and of course there are 100 plus hostages still in Gaza. Our nation is experiencing pain and challenge the likes of which we have not seen for a very long time. Although we may be far away in the Diaspora, it is imperative that we not forget the plight of our brethren in Israel. We must each do what we can to help their righteous cause. And this very special podcast. I speak with my dear friend Dr. Alan Kritz. Dr. Kritz and I have had the great pleasure of studying together in an ongoing fashion for the past couple of years, and he undertook the sacred initiative to go to Israel and to lend a helping hand — to hear the stories, to see the sights, and to provide a modicum of empathy and comfort for a grieving nation. In this podcast, Dr. Kritz shares with us what he learned, what he observed, and where to go from here.

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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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On the Spiritual Awakening in Israel with Rabbi Eliezer and Malky Wolbe

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When our nation experiences tragedy, we gravitate back to God. That is how we process pain and suffering. The Jewish people – especially our brothers and sisters in Israel – are exhibiting this response with resplendent nobility and strength of character. During the ongoing war, the Jewish spirit is being awakened. Jewish faith is being ignited and amplified. Are these rumblings of a Messianic time? That is a question that I am ill equipped to answer, but something is definitely happening. In this episode I have the great privilege of speaking with my eldest brother Rabbi Eliezer Wolbe and his amazing wife Malky about the spiritual transformations that are afoot in Israel.. They are tremendous people, and served as very valuable mentors for me in my formative years and the stories and insights that they share are inspirational and instructive.

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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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On the Front Lines in Gaza with Yoshi Rosenbluth

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My dear friend and long time podcast listener Yoshi Rosenbluth spent a month in Gaza as a fighter in the IDF. In this very special podcast, he tells us what things are like on the ground from a soldier’s perspective. If you want an insider’s look into the battlefront in Gaza, this podcast is for you.

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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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On the Pulse of Wartime Israel with Blake Cohen

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In the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the terror organization that has governed Gaza since 2007, there is a very big divide between Jews living in the land of Israel and those of us in the Diaspora. While Jews worldwide may empathize with their Israeli brethren and rally and pray for their cause, the ones in Israel are on the front lines. What is happening in the Land? What is the pulse of the people? In this very special podcast, I speak with Blake Cohen, dear friend of mine, who traveled to Israel to pitch in and to volunteer and to help. He shares with us the incredible people he met, the amazing stories he heard, and important lessons he learned during his week in Israel. If you want to sense of what is actually happening on the ground, this podcast is for you.

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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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On Parenting in Difficult Times with the PodParents

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Few sequels live up to the high standards set by the original. Podfather Part 2 is an exception to the rule. In this special episode covering a variety of parenting subjects, we hear from both PodParents. My father and my mother – Avi and Faige Wolbe – both joined me in the TORCH Centre to discuss how to address the ongoing Gaza war with our children, how to inform but not frighten children when talking about tragedies and atrocities such as the Holocaust, how to think about the proper balance of insularity and exposure to a variety of potentially harmful things, and how to guide and direct our children to achieve their best.

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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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Discussing Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe on the Chinuch Today Podcast

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The Hebrew word for education is “Chinuch”. Rabbi Yerachmiel Garfield is the Head of School of Yeshiva Torat Emet, the school in Houston, Texas that we send our children to, and is the host of the Chinuch Today podcast. In his podcasts, he interviews teachers and educators about Jewish education. He asked my brother and I if we would be willing to be interviewed to talk about our illustrious grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe and share some stories about his life, his educational philosophy, and what it was like to grow up with a famous last name. Rabbi Garfield was kind enough to allow me to post his podcast on mine. I hope you enjoy it.

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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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The Transcendent Power of a Unified Front

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:23 — 29.0MB)

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It is not exactly clear what the participants in the Tower of Babel wanted. We know they wanted to ascend to heaven and to make a name for themselves, but what precisely they wanted is more of a mystery. The Midrash talks about it, the Talmud does as well – and in this podcast we will offer some insight into this matter. The idea that we will be sharing will create several tectonic paradigm shifts in our understanding.

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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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On Parenting with the Podfather, Avi Wolbe

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Parents are sent home with newborn babies without an instruction manual. They are expected to raise their child(ren) to become productive, responsible, and successful adults. As Jews, we have an added responsibility to raise our children as good Jews. Parents face a monumental task. This was always nightmarishly difficult, but with the rapidly-changing world that we live in, this is becoming increasingly difficult. To help parents and educators navigate the minefield of parenting and pedagogy, I asked my dear father, Mr. Avi Wolbe (the “Podfather”), to join the podcast and share his insights and tips drawn from his vast experience raising nine children with great skill and success. It is my hope that this will become a recurring podcast. If you have a specific parenting and education question for the Podfather, please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com.

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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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Conversion in Jewish Philosophy and Law

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Our forefather Abraham forged a covenant with God: God shows him to be the forefather of the Jewish people, which includes all sorts of Rights and responsibilities. For one, Abraham’s descendants were condemned to be enslaved for 400 years. On the brighter side, the nation became recipients of the Almighty’s Torah and Mitzvos. The nation also received the Holy Land and a special degree of Divine Providence and oversight. The relationship between God and the Jewish people is eternal and immutable. But even people who are not biological descendants of Abraham via Isaac via Jacob can join the covenant with God. Through the process of conversion, and erstwhile Gentile can become a Jew. What is that process like? How does a non-Jew transform into a Jew with all that that entails? In this podcast we to offer a primer on conversion to Judaism from a philosophical and a law perspective.

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts