Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcast Collection

Parshas Vayeishev contains two intersecting, seemingly scandalous, storylines, that after all the dust has settled we can see are harbingers of the Messiah and Redemption: Joseph is hated by his brothers, and is eventually sold by them as a slave after they nearly killed him. By Parsha end, Joseph is languishing in an Egyptian prison after being falsely accused of attempted rape. Judah is also hum...

Parshas Vayishlach is an action-packed parsha. After a tension-filled 20 years with Laban, Jacob has to dodge bullets for another parsha. Esau wants to kill him. The angel tries to strike at him the entire night. His daughter Dina is kidnapped and raped, and his sons slaughter the perpetrating city in rage. The bulk of the parsha indeed recounts the travails of Jacob and his family, but the final...

The Torah tells us that the land must lay fallow every 7th year. For an entire year, all the farmers in Israel must cease operations. Moreover, they must relinquish ownership on the land. Just as Shabbos on a weekly schedule, the Shemittah marks a year of rest on a week of years. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Sponsorship:  Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to...

After successfully escaping the clutches of his deceptive father in law, Laban, Jacob heads back west to the Land of Canaan, and back to his family. The journey back home was a lot more tumultuous and chaotic than anticipated. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Please email me at  rabbiwolbe@gmail.com  with any questions or comments TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover Please visit our websit...

Jacob’s accomplishments in our Parsha are remarkable. At the onset of our parsha, Jacob is a 77 year old bachelor without a penny to his name. Having been robbed clean of all his possessions, Jacob undertook the grandest, most ambitious initiative in human history: the founding of the Jewish nation. In our parsha, he pulls it off. By the time the parsha concludes, Jacob has spent more than two dec...

Every mitzvah that we do benefits us for all eternity. Our Sages reveal to us that each Mitzvah creates an advocate who vigorously fights on our behalf and defends us in front of the Heavenly court. Mitzvos are great assets to have. In this podcast, we discover that there is a way to game the system to unlock myriads and boatloads of mitzvos for a relatively inexpensive cost. Listening to this epi...

Parshas Vayeitzei follows Jacob as he is fleeing from his murderous brother Esau and travels to Charan to the house of Laban, his wily and deceptive uncle, and marries multiple wives and fathers 12 children. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Please email me at  rabbiwolbe@gmail.com  with any questions or comments TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover Please visit our website  torchweb.org  to...

Was Abraham the first Jew? Did Abraham observe the laws of the Torah? The Torah dedicates a huge amount of attention to Abraham and his family. The laws of Torah were conveyed at Sinai to Moshe, Abraham’s great-great-great-grandson. How much of that, if any, did Abraham have? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we survey the evidence that Abraham and his family indeed had, observed, and...

Argumentation has become a lost art. Our society promotes uniformity and consensus, a monochromatic society where divergent ideas are shunned. This approach is antithetical to Torah. Our religion does not believe that your thinking should be outsourced to others. We do not believe that everyone ought to follow others like a flock of sheep. At Sinai, our Sages tell us, every one of the 600,00 souls...

How exactly does the Almighty determine what are the circumstances that people are placed in in this world? That is an impossible question for humans to answer with exactitude. Unless the Almighty reveals the answer via one of His prophets, we are in the dark. Nevertheless, our Sages outlines for us a bevy of frameworks for how the Almighty dispenses circumstances. In this very special episode, we...

What do you are about to hear is a vaccine against divorce. This first dose is intended for single people, who have not yet decided who they want to spend the rest of their lives with. If you are already married, you’ve made your choice and this part of the vaccine is not relevant to you. You can still listen to it, but be aware that this aspect of the vaccine is not pertinent to you. In this seri...

In Parshas Toldos we meet twin boys that are polar opposites: Esau, beloved by his father Isaac, is a man of the fields; while Jacob is loved by his mother Rebecca and prefers to dwell in the tents of scholarship. These two children will spawn nations and ideals that diverged from each other even before they were born. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Please email me at  rabbiwolbe@gmai...

Eliezer was Abraham’s right hand man. He was in charge of all of Abraham’s affairs. According to the Talmud, Eliezer was the consummate student of Abraham, drawing from Abraham’s wellsprings of Torah and sharing it with others. In our Parsha, Eliezer was the central protagonist. Eliezer was conscripted by Abraham to travel east to Aram Naharayim to secure a spouse for Isaac. The journey, we discov...

Why are some people rich and others poor? Why do some people have a pleasant life, while others live in grinding, miserable, poverty and privation? Why is there so much inequality in the world? These questions are hard to answer. Rambam tells us that there is a certain kind of heretics that concludes from the disorder and chaos in the world that God has abandoned the land. In this podcast, we begi...

Some of the highlights of this week’s parsha: Immediately after the Binding of Isaac, Sarah passed away at the age of 127, and soon afterward Abraham had to procure a burial spot for her. In addition, Abraham sent his trusted confidante, Eliezer, to his hometown to find a spouse for Isaac. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Sponsorship:  Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a do...

For the third time in the Torah, we read about destruction. Previously, the Flood destroyed the world save Noah and family, and the Dispersal ended the universal civilization, and in our parsha we read about the overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah. The timing of Sodom’s destruction is really interesting. Our Sages said that it happened on Passover on the same day that Lot was appointed judge over th...

The Tenth Principle of the Thirteen Principles of Faith states that God is aware of the actions of mankind and acts accordingly. This kickstarts the third section of the Principles which broadly deal with reward and punishment. Divine reward and punishment is only feasible if the Almighty has complete knowledge of all the behavior and deeds of the people that He judges. In the first episode on the...

This week’s parsha features several iconic episodes: Abraham was visited by God as he was recuperating from his circumcision, and concurrently engaged in superlative kindness with three angels masquerading as pagan travelers; Abraham was informed that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were about to be destroyed and was unsuccessful in interceding on their behalf; and we also read the two Torah sect...

Abraham and Sarah undergo seismic changes in our Parsha. Their names get changed as does their destiny. Originally, they were barren, but in our Parsha, the founding Patriarch and Matriarch are told that they will bear a son, Isaac. The mechanics of how this transformation occurred, however, is a bit of a head scratcher. Our Sages tell us that it was because of their original names and identities,...

Love is a fickle emotion. It is something that changes seemingly randomly. Why is love not fixed in place? What is the secret to enduring love? In this exquisite Mishnah we discover the inner workings of how love works and what determines its stability. We also read a terrifying account of how people’s spiritual standing can change after their demise. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Sp...

In this week’s parsha, Abraham is instructed to move to Israel, is given divine promises that he will be the father of many nations; his children will be as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars of the heaven, a son Ishmael is born, and he is commanded to circumcise his foreskin and those of all males in his household. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Please email me at  rabbi...

Our Parsha marks a nadir in the story of mankind. Humanity sunk to such spiritual lows that the Almighty decided to destroy the world and start over with just Noah and his family as humanity’s progenitors going forward. What were the conditions of the Flood’s survivors after spending a year in the Ark? In this very special edition of The Parsha Podcast, we examine three fascinating elements about...

There are different types of people in the world. Just as our faces are not identical, our perspectives and abilities and innate qualities differ. Regarding a host of things, our Sages tell us that there are four distinct character types. In this wide-ranging Ethics Podcast we discuss memory tips, how to boost your intelligence, the critical aspects of teaching, a clever tactic of how to handcuff...

When my dear friend, Dan Kullman, asked me to join him on The Shema Podcast to discuss the phenomenon of people saying, “But I’m a good person,” I was not aware of how pervasive such a sentiment is and why discussing it would be interesting. In the end we had a delightful and stimulating conversation. Dan was kind enough to allow me to post the conversation on my podcast, so here it is.  If you en...

In this week’s parsha: Noah and his family build an Ark as a refuge from an extinction-level Flood brought by God to destroy the world’s sinners. Please email me at  rabbiwolbe@gmail.com  with any questions or comments TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover Please visit our website  torchweb.org  to get your FREE TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover. or CLICK this  LINK  to access the form directly https://...