Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcast Collection

Freedom of speech is enshrined in the First Amendment. Our society allows people to say whatever they want so long as they're not perjuring themselves or making explicit calls to violence. In our society, words don't carry weight. A verbal agreement without a signed contract carried no legal muster. The Torah has a very different perspective: your power to communicate verbally is your most essenti...

The Book of Bamidbar ends on a bit of a surprising note. The final chapter of our book revisits the somewhat technical narrative relating to the inheritance of the ancestral lands of a man named Tzelafchad. This man from the tribe of Menashe died without sons, and in chapter 27 of the book of numbers we learned that his lands will be apportioned to his daughters in lieu of male heirs. One may have...

This year, the Book of Numbers ends with a double parsha – Mattos and Masei. We learn about the laws of vows and oaths; the miraculous war with Midian; the unusual request of the tribes of Gad and Reuben; the Torah delineates the 42 different places that the Nation encamped for their 40 year sojourn; and we gain closure to the saga of the daughters of Tzelaphchad. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –...

Certain legends are irreplaceable. There was never a man like Moshe who spoke to God face to face. Aaron, the first high priest, set an incredibly high bar for all high priests who followed. In this week's Parsha, successors are designated for both Moshe and Aaron. Aaron's grandson Pinchas was elevated to the priesthood which would eventually become the high priest. Moshe's trusty attendant Joshua...

Pinchas, Aaron's grandson, did a valorous and zealous act of bravery when he skewered the prince of the tribe of Shimon and stopped the plague from wiping out the entire nation. What motivated Pinchas' behavior? What attributes were at play during his act of zealotry? This question is answered in a comment in Rashi in our Parsha. We learn how qualities and attributes that are present in antecedent...

The sorcerer/prophet of the nations, Balaam, sought to curse the Israelites, but his attempts were thwarted. The Talmud reveals some very interesting elements of his botched effort. Had he succeeded in cursing the nation, there would have been nothing left. He would have achieved total devastation. In this very interesting and informative podcast, we study the methodology of Balaam's deadly curse...

Pinchas was a man of action, a zealot who avenged God’s vengeance and was handsomely rewarded for it. In this parsha we read about his reward, Moses’ succession plan, the methods through which the Land will be divided, and another census is done. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and edu...

This week's double Parsha is chock-full of fascinating narratives, story lines, and mitzvos. We begin with the great mystery of the red heifer. We then read about the passing of Miriam, sister of Moshe and Aaron, and its repercussions. There are wars against foes, water coming out of rocks, talking donkeys, and two plagues, including one from venomous serpents. It is a story rich with drama and in...

In every generation there are malevolent forces seeking to destroy the Jewish people. They have never been successful, nor will they ever be. The Almighty always protects our people and ensures our continuity. Most of the time we are completely unaware of the mortal dangers that the Almighty thwarted on our behalf. The canonical example of this phenomenon is the story of our Parsha , when the grea...

Two giants passed away in this week's Parsha: Moshe two elder siblings, his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron - two of the great leaders and benefactors of the nation - both die in Parshas Chukas. In this special Parsha podcast we share two profound insights relating to the death, mourning, and aftermath of these two deaths. We discuss the extraction of water from a rock and how it differs from...

It takes years to develop a taste for prayer. Prayer is described in our sources as "service of the heart." Service of any sort is difficult for us, and most of us are not attuned enough to our hearts to even understand what service of the heart means. Prayer is a foundational pillar of our religious life. When our sages identified the three things upon which the world stands, one of them is praye...

In Parshas Chukas, we read about a highly unusual mitzvah: The Red Heifer, when an entirely red cow is burned together with a motley concoction of ingredients, and the resultant ashes are used to sprinkle on people that came into contact with dead people in order to purify them from their spiritual contamination. We also learn about the passing of Miriam and Aaron, and the multiple battles that th...

Cousins don't always agree on everything. Korach and Moshe had a disagreement, a debate. Moshe was instructed by God that the nation is limited to one high priest, Aaron. Korach argued that the entire nation is entirely holy, and why can't everyone be a high priest? Korach has some apparent legitimacy to his perspective. Prior to the Sinai Revelation, Moshe told the nation that if they accept the...

We all have weaknesses. Nations, as well, have witnesses. When the Almighty sought to give the Torah to the Jewish people at Sinai, He first offered it to all the nations. When they asked what was included in it, God revealed to them how the Torah disallowed that particular weakness that that particular Nation had. What is the Jewish weakness? What is our kryptonite? When we study the story of Kor...

There are two wives – two women whose names we don't even know – who caused seismic, tectonic shifts in the fates and the fortunes of their husbands, their families, their tribes, and the nation at large. 254 men were part of the Korach rebellion against Moshe and Aaron. 253 of them perished. On(e) survived thanks to his wife. The ringleader of this rebellion was incited to undertake this insurrec...

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. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to he...

The twelve men who Moshe sent to scout the Land were all righteous leaders of the tribes. There were not lightweights. In fact, Joshua, who would succeed Moshe as the leader of the people, was only the 5th greatest of this cadre. Yet ten of these men conspired to provide a deflating and slanderous report about the Land. What was their rationale? What did Joshua and Caleb understand that these ten...

Prior to initiating the war of conquest of the land of Canaan, the nation did the prudent thing: they undertook a reconnaissance mission to scout out the enemy defenses. Moshe selected 12 righteous men, one from each tribe, to traverse the land and inspect it from the inside. The result was a catastrophic disaster: the scouts brought a devastating report about the land, prompting the people to los...

We recite the three paragraphs of the Shema twice a day. The third paragraph contains the mitzvah of placing tzitzis fringes on the corner of our garments, and to wrap the fringes with a cord of blue-dyed wool. In this interesting podcast we share the fascinating and controversial history of the ancient blue dye, and share a profound insight into its power and symbolism. – – – – – – – – – – – – –...

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. – – – – – –...

Parshas Behaaloscha contains a smorgasbord of fascinating narratives and storylines. In this interesting and fun edition of the Parsha podcast, we propose a theme that connects many of the intersecting storylines together. What does Aaron's kindling of the menorah, the nation's method of encamping and decamping, the makeup date for the Paschal offering for impure people, and Miriam's episode of tz...

After nearly a year at Sinai, the nation is on the move: in perfect formation, each tribe perfectly positioned and oriented, the nation finally departed the site of the Sinai Revelation. Following the cloud, the nation traveled. In this very special Parsha podcast, we go deep and deeper in trying to plumb the depths of the Torah to the best of our abilities. The first segment revolves around the n...

Envy is a deadly sin, and it's almost entirely unavoidable. Our Sages that "Envy extracts a person from the world." It causes a person to be severed from the world. But there is so much cause for envy wherever we turn. In every area of life, there is rank inequality. Other people have things that seem good and desirable. How is it possible to not covet the goodies of others? In this interesting po...

The Jewish nation has been encamped at Mount Sinai for nearly a year; in this week’s parsha they finally depart from the Mountain of God, and sadly leave gleefully as a child escaping school. This kick starts a series of missteps that carry harsh consequences. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish ou...

The longest Parsha in the Torah (Nasso) contains a seemingly unconnected string of subjects. It begins by detailing the responsibilities of adult working-age Levites from three Levite families, followed by a census of those Levites. In the middle of the Parsha contains the laws of the sotah (the suspected adulteress) and the Nazir (a person who accepts upon himself a vow to refrain from wine, comi...