This Jewish Life - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
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This Jewish Life - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
This Jewish Life is Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s flagship podcast. Since its founding in January of 2013, This Jewish Life has featured a delightful potpourri of podcast episodes on a myriad of Jewish subjects. In its current incarnation, the podcast focuses on exploring the deeper elements of Jewish life a...
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516 episodi
The Singular Day of Yom Kippur
The holiest day of the year is upon us. The day of Yom Kippur is unmatched and unrivaled by any other. It is a day of elevation. It is a day of purifi...
Jonah: The Yom Kippur Reading on an Allegorical Level
On Yom Kippur afternoon, we read the 48-verse Book of Jonah, which tells of a renegade prophet, Jonah, who defies the directive of God and refuses to...
Kingdom of Heaven in Exile: A Novel Rosh Hashanah Framework
Rosh Hashanah marks the day of the creation of Adam on Day Six of Genesis. The creation of Adam facilitated the coronation of God as King. Because Ada...
The Alchemy of Repentance
Repentance is one of God’s great gifts to humanity. The ability to move past our mistakes, to cleanse ourselves from our previous trauma, to expunge s...
Divine Mirroring: The Secret to Earning a Merciful Judgment on Rosh Hashanah
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 y...
Elul Cheat Sheet
Preparing for the High Holidays can be daunting. How can anyone adequately prepare for standing in judgment in front of the Heavenly tribunal? But pre...
Elul: Month of Personal Reinvention
We are on the doorstep of the month of mercy, the month that precedes the high holidays, the month of Elul. The high holidays are very significant and...
Biblical Longevity
We all want to live long. But how long is a long life? Centenarians are still rare. Global life expectancy is around 70 years old. In healthier, riche...
Tisha Bav: Why We Mourn
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 peo...
Assault on Dina: A Deep Exploration of a Third Rail Topic
Some subjects are way too dicey address publicly – electrified third rail subjects which zap anyone who approaches it. But Blake Cohen is not afraid o...
Demystifying Chareidi Opposition to IDF Enlistment
Perhaps the most controversial and divisive subject that dominates Israeli society today is the question of the blanket army exemption given to Yeshiv...
A Rigorous and Comprehensive Torah Study Regimen
What would a comprehensive and rigorous regimen of Torah study look like? Suppose someone wants to really become a Torah maestro. What would be a fitt...
Modern Day Heresy
Heresies and idolatries come and go. The idolatry that titillated the ancients no longer excites modern men. The heresies that revolutionized the worl...
Mechanisms of Free Will
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 w...
Free Will: An Exploration of Fundamental Concepts
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. Pe...
From Beast to Man
Starting from the second day of Passover, we count the Omer. For 7 weeks of 7 days a piece — 49 days — we count. Once the count is completed, the fest...
Guard The Matzos: A Yahrzeit Tribute to Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe
Matzah is a tricky food. It is made with the same ingredients as bread ; the only difference is the speed of how they are processed. The Torah tells u...
Five Questions for Pesach
Pesach (Passover) marks the founding event of our nation. We had been enslaved in Egypt for centuries, and in one night the Almighty extracted a natio...
Ladders to Heaven
Is the objective of Torah to constrict us or to allow us to flower? Are we ultimately supposed to curb our uniqueness, our individuality, or are we su...
Unmasking the Purim Story
Please support the TORCH Podcasts by donating to our annual fundraiser at giveTORCH.org This is our only annual fundraiser. Every donation is DOUBLED!...
The Fiercest Obstacle to Greatness
Ambitious people want to accomplish ambitious goals. They want to undertake bold challenges, they want to make an indelible impact upon the world. Eve...
More Secrets of the Month of Shevat with Rabbi Shmuel Botnick
The month of Shevat is associated with a tribe of Asher and corresponds to the letter Tzadik (צ) and its zodiac sign is a bucket. So much is told to u...
How to Raise Good Children Part 2
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 h...
How to Raise Good Children
It is incumbent upon parents to raise their children well, but how exactly do you do that? Babies are not born clutching parenting manuals. This is es...
Chanukah Capstone with Rabbi Shmuel Botnick
There is no superficiality in Judaism. Everything is multi-layered, multifaceted, multidimensional. That seems to be particularly true with respect to...
The Light of Chanukah
Everyone loves the festival of Chanukah. There’s something so wonderful and enchanting about this festival and its iconic mitzvah, the lighting of the...
The Dina Dilemma
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 Es...
Simple Reasons to Believe
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 ask...
Midrash: An Introduction
Students of the Almighty’s holy Torah are familiar with the term midrash. It refers to a series of books that serve as commentaries on the Torah and o...
Thanksgiving in Jewish Philosophy and Ethics
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 crea...
Ask the Rabbi: Modest Prayer; Teenage Girl Advice; Youthful Skills; and Religious Difficulties
Today’s podcast is a wild card. This past Shabbos I was invited to join a panel of rabbis to answer a series of interesting questions submitted by hi...
How To Actualize Potential (Abraham Shows the Way)
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 om...
Your Vote Matters
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...
Glimpsing Into Adam’s Book
Serious people face a serious problem: once you understand that the Almighty created you for a purpose, and that purpose is completely unique to you –...
Tablets and Tabernacle: The Revelation of Sukkos
The Jewish holidays are not evenly spaced out. They appear in bunches. A mere five days after Yom Kippur comes the seven-day (truthfully nine when you...
The Six Impetuses for Repentance
Repentance draws a person out of darkness into eternal light. It transforms the penitent into a completely new person. But how exactly does repentance...
The Gates of Repentance
The Ten Days of Repentance are upon us. In just a few days is the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah. These powerful high holidays culminate with the clim...
The Root Cause of Anti-Semitism and How to Solve it: The Torah’s Surprising View
Jew hatred is not a new phenomenon. Ever since our people were founded — and truthfully even beforehand — we have been the recipients of unprecedented...
The Name of Messiah
Seven things were created before the world was created. That much we are told in the Talmud. What is the significance of this collection of things tha...
Mysteries of the Torah Scroll
The festival of Shavuos marks the anniversary of the most momentous and consequential event in all of human history: the Sinai Revelation. A mere 50 d...