Shows / The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
The Parsha Podcast with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe was started in 2016 with the goal of making the weekly Parsha accessible and useful. Every Sunday, the Parsha Podcast will feature an hour-long podcast outlining the story, narratives and major themes of that week’s Parsha and offer a selection of valuable and interesting insights from it. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, two more episodes that focuses on one idea, theme, or comment on the Parsha will be released. Please send comments or questions to…
Episodes
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Ki Savo – Clinging to Gold
On the surface, Bikkurim appears to be an ordinary, tithe-like Mitzvah. When the first fruits of a season’s crop begin to sprout, you designate them as…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Ki Savo (Rebroadcast)
As the Book of Deuteronomy draws to its conclusion, the narrative makes a transition: Moshe finishes conveying the mitzvos to the nation, and sets up his final…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Ki Seitzei – The Payoff Pitch
What is the nature of the conflict of life? How, indeed, are we suspended between good and bad, between mitzvos and sin, between the evil and good…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Ki Seitzei (Rebroadcast)
In the parsha that contains the most mitzvos of any of the 54 Torah sections (a staggering 74 mitzvos), we read about the wayward and rebellious son, the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Shoftim – Hill To Die On
Our Parsha contains the instructions for how to conduct war. We are told that we must extend peace overtures before launching an attack, we are told about the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Shoftim (Rebroadcast)
This week we learn the laws governing all kinds of leaders: The parsha begins by detailing the laws of judges, the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Reeh – Steak Your Claim to Eternity
The criminal treated most severely under Torah law is the Meisis, a personal tries to entice others to do idolatry. Attempting to persuade people to repudiate…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Reeh (Rebroadcast)
This week’s parsha marks a transition in the Book of Deuteronomy: it is no longer primarily about admonishment and rebuke and warnings, instead we read a bevy…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Eikev – Well-Heeled
If the Almighty promises to give you a blessing, your ears should perk up. If God promises to give you abundance, health, prosperity, fertility, security, and…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Eikev (Rebroadcast)
We pick up where we left off last week amid Moshe’s speech to the nation before his passing, and as in the previous few weeks, Parshas Eikev is jam packed with…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vaeschanan – Linked to Sinai
Although he was the paradigmatic leader of all time, Moshe was barred from crossing the Jordan River and entering the Land. Joshua his student was to succeed…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Va’eschanan (Rebroadcast)
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…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Devarim – Human Fallibility and What to Do About it
Parshas Devarim begins the Book of Deuteronomy, the final installment of the Pentateuch. Moshe is destined to pass and he gathers the nation to prepare them…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Devarim (Rebroadcast)
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…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Mattos & Masei – Contrarian Guide
This week we conclude the Book of Numbers with a double-Parsha, the sole double-Parsha of this calendar year. Of the myriad of interesting subjects found in…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Mattos & Masei (Rebroadcast)
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…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Pinchas – Staying Hungry
Although a paternal grandson of Aaron the Kohein, Pinchas was not initially – prior to his heroic act of martyrdom – a Kohein. The law stated that only Aaron…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Pinchas (Rebroadcast)
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’…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Balak – A Single Point
Our nation has no shortage of enemies. This is not new. Even in antiquity, our nation was always a target. Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law, try to smothered the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Balak (Rebroadcast)
After the Jewish nation trounced the mighty kingdoms of Sichon and Og in last week’s parsha, the comparatively smaller and weaker kingdom of Moab resorted to…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Chukas – Between a Rock and a Watery Place
Parshas Chukas contains some of the most interesting and iconic sections of the Torah. It begins with the mysterious red cow, a blush bovine whose burnt ashes…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Chukas (Rebroadcast)
In this week’s parsha, we read about a highly unusual mitzvah: The Red Heifer, when an entirely red cow is burned together with a motley concoction of…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Korach – Debating Back to Sinai
Debate and disagreement are part of the human condition. We are all unique and we all see the world differently. It should come as no shock, therefore, that…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Korach (Rebroadcast)
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…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Shelach – Enter Via the Window
One of the most unfortunate events in our history is chronicled in this week’s Parsha. The nation was on the doorstep of entering the Land of Canaan and…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Shelach (Rebroadcast)
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…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Behaaloscha – Follow the Cloud
Traveling in the wilderness was not simple. The nation was guided by the clouds of Glory. When the clouds of Glory would depart from a top of the Tabernacle…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Behaaloscha (Rebroadcast)
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…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Nasso – The Fourth Crown
Our Parsha contains the interesting law of the Nazir. A Nazir is someone who has accepted upon themselves a vow to abstain from wine, haircuts, and contact…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Nasso (Rebroadcast)
In the longest parsha in the Torah by verses, we continue to read about the Levite families and their responsibilities, we learn about the three tiers of the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Ruth: The Enduring Lesson of Shavuos
The Book of Ruth – and its eponymous heroine – are true enigmas. The Book contains no new laws and its story, while inspirational and poignant, bears no easily…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Bamidbar – Autopsy of Giants
Our Parsha recounts – for the third time hitherto in the Torah – the episode of the untimely death of Aaron’s two eldest sons, Nadav and Avihu. These two young…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Bamidbar (Rebroadcast)
We kickstart the Book of Numbers with a census of the twelve tribes of Israel – not including the tribe of Levi who is counted independently – conducted by…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Bechukosai – Self-Assembly Kit
Why was our soul sent to this world? What was lacking for it in Heaven? That is not an easy question to answer. There are other hard questions to ponder: why…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Bechukosai (Rebroadcast)
In two chapters in the Torah (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28) we read about the positive consequences of obeying the Torah and heeding its laws; and the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Behar – The Jubilant 50’s
Being a farmer in antiquity was a hard job. Without any mechanized tools and plows, farming demanded a great deal of sweat and toil. But what choice did you…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Behar (Rebroadcast)
At Mount Sinai, the Almighty instructed Moshe to convey a series of laws to the Jewish people. The first is the mitzvah of Shemittah, the prohibition of…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Emor – Spiritual Fingerprint
The Kohanic family is the most prestigious and sanctified family in our nation. Direct descendants of the legendary Aaron, this family was consecrated as the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Emor (Rebroadcast)
Parshas Emor contains a staggering 56 mitzvos, nearly all of them relating to either to the Kohanim, the priests, or to the Festivals, and the parsha ends with…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Kedoshim – The Superhuman Imperative
Our Parsha begins with an unusual ceremony: Moshe gathers the entire Jewish Nation, men, women, and children, to convey to them the mitzvos of our Parsha…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Kedoshim (Rebroadcast)
This week’s parsha has the highest mitzvah density of any parsha: In its 64 verses we learn 51 separate mitzvos covering many different areas of Jewish…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Acharei Mos – A Consequential Life
The verse in our Parsha makes a big promise: if you adhere to the Mitzvos and statutes and laws of the Torah you will be granted life. Life is what we all so…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Acharei (Rebroadcast)
The three chapters of our parsha cover three general categories. First we read about the Yom Kippur sacrifices and procedures; then we learn about the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
When God Positions Man: A Yahrzeit Tribute to Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe
This Pesach marks the 17th yahrzeit of my grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe. Because this week is Pesach and does not feature a new Parsha, I recorded a special…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Pesach Special with Akiva and Yehoshua Wolbe
This upcoming Shabbos coincides with the first day of Pesach. Consequently, there is no new Parsha this week. But there will still be a new Parsha Podcast. My…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Metzora – 21st Century Prophecy
How involved is God in the day-to-day lives of humanity? What is the nature of divine communication to humanity? The central subject of our Parsha offers a…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Metzora (Rebroadcast)
A metzora is someone who is stricken with the tangible illness of tzaraas caused by a variety of sins, most notably the sin of lashon hara, evil talk and…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Tazria – Torah In A Box
The bulk of our Parsha deals with the inapplicable laws of purity and impurity, but we also told about a Mitzvah that is very much applicable today…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Tazria (Rebroadcast)
A very large percentage of Torah is dedicated to the laws of purity and impurity. Parshas Tazria deals exclusively with these laws, first with respect to the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Shemini – Aaron’s Credentials
In our Parsha Aaron is promoted to become the high priest. Previously, Moshe served as high priest in an interim role, henceforth Aaron and his descendants…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
We Have Been Blessed With a Baby Boy
With deep appreciation to the Almighty for all the goodness that He has bestowed upon us, I’m happy to share that my wife, Chaya, and I were blessed with a…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Shemini (Rebroadcast)
After months of preparation and building, and a week of inauguration, the nation was anticipating the climax of the Tabernacle experience: When God finally…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Tzav – Ready, Steady, Fire!
A lot of things are needed for the Temple and the Tabernacle to function properly. There are all kinds of prerequisites, protocols, procedures, and rituals…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
The Book of Esther on an Allegorical Level (Rebroadcast)
On Purim we read the Book of Esther, which tells the story of the Purim miracle. The Persian king Achashverosh conspires with his Amalekite viceroy Haman to…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Tzav (Rebroadcast)
In continuation of the themes of last week, Parshas Tzav details the procedures of processing many of the sacrifices enumerated in Parshas Vayikra, teaches us…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayikra – From Each According to His Ability
Our Parsha deals exclusively with sacrifices. Since the destruction of the Temple nearly 2,000 years ago, our nation has not offered a single sacrifice. In…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Vayikra (Rebroadcast)
In Parshas Vayikra, the first Torah section in The Book of Leviticus, we learn about the processes and procedures of many different varieties of sacrifices…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Pekudei – Bold Initiatives Checklist
The most ambitious initiative ever undertook in the history of mankind was the construction of the Tabernacle. Think about it: humans are getting together with…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Pekudei (Rebroadcast)
The final parsha in the Book of Exodus wraps up the account of the construction of the Tabernacle, and its vessels and vestments. Again and again we read the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayakhel – Heart Donor
LAST CHANCE to support The Parsha Podcast and the annual TORCH fundraiser at giveTORCH.org Every donation will be TRIPLED Show your support for TORCH and the…