Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcast Collection

Moshe was very desirous of entering the Land. The Midrash reveals that he prayed 515 separate prayers to petition God to revoke His ban on Moshe entering the Land. But God said no. You may not enter the Land, though He allowed Moshe to visualize the Land from atop a mountain. The dialogue between Moshe and God is featured at the beginning of our Parsha. When did this happen? Why was Moshe so insis...

Although the study of Torah is ostensibly a cognitive pursuit, there are many qualities that are not cognitive nature that facilitate and enable the study of Torah. In this way to acquire wisdom, way #23, we learn about what it means to have a good heart , and how that serves as a means to acquire wisdom. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts b...

This week’s parsha continues Moshe’s monologue to the nation in the weeks preceding his passing. He begins by recounting his repeated efforts in trying to convince God to rescind His decree that Moshe not enter the Land; Moshe then begins the retelling of the Torah; and we read many warnings and predictions about proper behavior and the consequences of abandoning Torah and mitzvos. This is a parsh...

In his speech to the Nation, Moshe revisits the episode of the Spies that occurred 39 years prior. When the nation was on the verge of entering the Land, Moshe commissioned 12 distinguished men to reconnoiter the Land and to share their findings with the nation. It was a debacle and a fiasco. As a result of the report, the nation abandoned hopes to enter the land. They became defeatist and lapsed...

At the end of Moshe's life, he gathers the entire nation for his parting message to the nation. The Midrash makes a remarkable contrast between Moshe's beginning and end of his tenure: When God initially commanded Moshe to save his brethren from enslavement in Egypt, Moshe protested by saying that he is not a man of words. That was 40 years before our Parsha. Our Parsha begins, "these are the word...

The first activity performed in the Temple each day was the removal of the ashes from the previous day's sacrifices. Before today's sacrificial schedule can commence, the Altar must be cleared from the ashes of yesterday's sacrifices. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational eff...

5 weeks before his passing, Moses gives a three-parsha-long speech to the nation, which constitutes his last will and testament. He begins with a retrospective of the history of the nation over the past 40 years since the Exodus – subtly rebuking the nation, guiding them, admonishing them, ensuring that they don’t repeat their mistakes of yore. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – DONATE: P...

What did the nation do over the course of the 40 years in the wilderness? What was their objective? In our parsha we read that the nation stopped in 42 locations over the course of their 40-year sojourn. The Torah delineates the names of the 42 different venues where the nation encamped. What is the salience of such a detailed recounting of the nation's sojourns? In this podcast, we explored this...

Anger is part of the human experience. When things agitate us, we get frustrated and have a tendency to lash out, to berate, to say things that we may regret. In this ethics podcast, we learn about the virtue of being slow to anger and how it can help supercharge our pursuit of wisdom. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation...

Our parsha contains the laws regarding a person who murders someone accidentally. We are told that the accidental murderer must flee to the city of refuge and remain there until the passing of the High Priest. Although we have neither a High Priest nor a Jewish court of laws that adjudicates as per the laws of the Torah, in this special Canada-recorded edition of the Parsha Podcast, we offer a nov...

King Messiah will spearhead the spiritual movement that will reverberate the world over. This King will bear a grand and lofty stature exceeding that of the greatest exemplars of our history. In this podcast we explore King Messiah further: what are the indicators of the real messiah? What are the means by which we can identify King Messiah? What are some other characteristics that we are told abo...

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. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –...

Korach's rebellion claimed many victims: Some of the perpetrators were swallowed up in a miraculous sinkhole; some were consumed by a divine fire; and some were killed in a plague. In our Parsha, we discover that the sons of Korach did not die. Although they were participants in the rebellion initially, at the very last moment, they repented and were spared. In this Parsha Podcast we explore the f...

The 18th century commentary on the Torah, Ohr HaChaim, is one of the most unique, ingenious, and sprawling works in the Jewish library. In this special podcast, released on the 280th yartzeit of the author of Ohr HaChaim, Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar, Rabbi Shmuly Botnick shares with us a sampling of ideas curated from the Ohr HaChaim commentary on the Torah to help us get a sense of the beauty and brill...

Over the course of the 40 years since the Exodus, the Nation was lead by Moshe and Aaron, the King and High Priest respectively. In our Parsha, successors are designated for both posts. Due to his valiant heroism of the end of last week's portion, Pinchas is promoted to being a kohein. He would go on to become the High Priest and the patriarch of a slew of High Priests. A successor is designated f...

Unlike the previous mitzvah that required a sacrifice for an uncertain violation, in this mitzvah, we learn about a guilt offering for someone who definitely violated a transgression. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 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 . Than...

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...

In the first of this week's double parsha, we read about the death of two giants: Miriam and Aaron, Moshe's older sister and brother, pass away. Our sages tell us that the death of the righteous serves as an atonement in a way similar to sacrifices. Just as sacrifices atone, so too does the death of the righteous. But why does the death of the righteous provide atonement? Why is the sacrifice used...

Our parsha contains an attempted genocide. Bilaam, the prophet of the idolaters, a man of prodigious ability an skill, dedicates himself with tenacity and persistence to curse and destroy the people. Although his three attempts at cursing the nation backfire when he is compelled by God to bless the nation instead, the parsha ends with the implementation of his advice to get the nation to sin and i...

The red cow is the Torah's most mysterious mitzvah. We are told to take a completely red cow and slaughter it, and burn it's body together with a concoction of other ingredients, the ashes of which become the potion to purify people who have come into contact with dead people. If that doesn't make sense to you, I can hereby comfort you that you are not alone. Aside from Moshe, no human in history...

The world will undergo immense changes in the times of Messiah. Those changes will be so transformative and so comprehensive that our current world and our current values are scarcely similar to those of the world of Messiah. When Messiah will come is a question that we cannot answer. Trying to do so is prohibited, dangerous, and futile. There is great peril laden in the quest Messianic prognostic...

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...

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 power...

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. – – – – – – – – – – – – –...

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 be...