This Jewish Life - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The Sinai Revelation is the most significant event in all of human history: God revealed Himself to the entire Jewish people, He spoke to them, He gave them the Torah, and they lived. This day is revisited every single year on the festival of Shavuos. Our objective on this day is to renew our vows […]

With deep appreciation to the Almighty for all that He has bestowed upon us, I am happy to share that Chaya and I we are blessed with a healthy baby boy this past week. Thank God, mom and the baby are doing phenomenal. On Friday night, the community was invited to our house for a […]

We are incredibly fortunate to be included amongst the Jewish people. We are incredibly fortunate to be raised with a strong sense of Torah and Torah values, and a deep appreciation for the critical and indispensable mission that our nation was entrusted with at Sinai. We are fortunate to be descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and […]

Lag Ba’Omer is a unique day in the Jewish calendar. It’s a minor festival celebrated in surprising ways for surprising reasons: on this day, the plague that was ravaging the the students of Rabbi Akiva ceased. On this day as well, Rabbi Akiva’s prize student, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochi, died. The death of a great […]

The hardest part of reaching space is the first moment of liftoff, getting the first inch off the ground. The second inch is still hard, but a little bit easier. The first bit of liftoff serves as momentum for the second inch. In our pursuit of spiritual and personal greatness, we are trying to achieve […]

The Talmud describes Messiah as a Metzora (one stricken with tzaraas) bandaging his bandages outside of the gates of Rome. Why is the messiah described as an outcast, as a leper, ostracized from society? Why is Messiah hanging out in Rome, of all places? Shouldn’t he be in a location more associated with our people? Shouldn’t […]

This special pre-Pesach podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Meir Ben Shmuel Chananya. May his soul be elevated in heaven. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – The festival of Passover commemorates a very ancient event that happened more […]

Angels are way loftier than us, right? They’re totally spiritual, they cannot possibly sin, they are messengers of God. We, on the other hand, are mortal, fallible, pitiful humans. That’s not necessarily the case. Our Sages tell us that the human soul is much loftier than the Angels. Our inborn holiness dwarfs that of our […]

None of us admire the people who lose it in a fit of rage. We like we look up to the people who are calm, cool and collected. The people who comport themselves with dignity and nobility and are always in control of themselves. Rage is not a productive attribute. People don’t accomplish things when […]

The Laver was one of the vessels in the Tabernacle. It was a copper basin that housed water that was emitted from spouts. The priests would wash their hands and feet before entering the Tabernacle and before doing any service in the Tabernacle. Our sages reveal some very interesting things about the origin of this […]

Everyone loves the festival of Purim. What’s not to love about it? You get dressed up. You make noise when they say Haman. You give gifts to the poor and foodstuffs to your friends. It’s the one time a year you can drink guiltlessly. But what is the essence of the Festival? What are we […]

Mistakes are endemic to the human condition. All humans make mistakes. Even the titans of our history like Moshe, Aaron, and Joshua made mistakes. Only God is error-free. In this interesting – and maybe a tad controversial – podcast, we take a look at the unusual path of ascent of Moshe’s successor, Joshua. Joshua was […]

The Exodus was for keeps. Although Pharaoh regretted his decision to allow the Israelites to leave and chased them down, setting up a stand-off at the Sea of Reeds, once the sea split for the Israelites and crashed down upon the Egyptians, the Israelites were forever freed from the clutches of Egyptian bondage. Following that […]

The Exodus was not one-and-done. It remains an ever-present, indispensable part of our religion. We are commanded to recall the Exodus every single day. There are many festivals and days of note dedicated to remembering and reliving the Exodus. There are many mitzvos that orient around the exodus. The prominent centrality of the Exodus needs […]

We all aspire to accomplish great things. The Almighty surely did not create us to be mediocre. We’re here to make something of ourselves; to achieve grand ambitions. What is the most effective way to accomplish that? In this very unique podcast, you will learn a very interesting, provocative, delightful, and a bit startling insight […]

Our nation has two houses of monarchy: Joseph and Judah. Joseph was, of course, king of Egypt. David, king of Israel, descended from the tribe of Judah. Following David, all legitimate kings of our people descended from the Davidic line from the tribe of Judah. Our nation is yearning for Messiah. Our sages tell us […]

The Chanukah story is quite dramatic. The world-dominating Greeks were militarily defeated by a prickly pack of Maccabees. Our sages point the focus of the festival to the miracle of the oil when the priests rededicated the temple and cleansed it from all the Greek defilements. They found only a solitary flask of oil. This […]

The saga of Joseph dominates the end of Genesis. Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son, but is hated by his brothers. They don’t view Joseph as someone worthy of keeping around, so they conspire to kill him and ultimately settle for selling him as a slave. In the end, Joseph achieves greatness that surpasses that of […]

We all want to ascend to great heights. We all hope that we can accomplish our potential and unlock our opportunities. We all yearn for self-actualization and development. But it seems that the path of ascent is invariably bumpy. It seems that an ascent to great heights must entail numerous falls along the way. The […]

Nothing is as critical to one’s spiritual development as to finding our a good teacher. A good teacher can educate, can inform, can direct, can inspire, can place a student on the right path for them. But how does a student integrate the teachings and the guidance of their teacher within themselves? What are the different […]