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
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
Re’eh – Look at Me
Moshe begins our parsha by presenting the Nation with a choice: See, I have placed before you today blessing and curse. And he continues to state that the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Re’eh (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 – Cheat Code for Life
The Torah contains a lot of details regarding what the Almighty expects of us. A verse in our parsha purports to get to the bottom line of what – in one…
- 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
Va’eschanan – Entry Denied
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…
- 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 – Man of Words
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…
- 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 – Talent Incubator
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…
- 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 – Eternal Promotion
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…
- 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 – Some Men Are From Mars
Our parsha contains an attempted genocide. Bilaam, the prophet of the idolaters, a man of prodigious ability an skill, dedicates himself with tenacity and…
- 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 – Inglorious Origins
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…
- 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 – Demoted For Good
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…
- 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 – Daydreams, Nightmares, and Reveries
The final five verses of our Parsha contain the third paragraph of the Shema. In it, we are instructed to place tzitzis strings wrapped with a string of blue…
- 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 – Kindle Fire
Aaron the High Priest held a critical leadership role in the nation. A partial list of his jobs: he offered sacrifices, he did the Yom Kippur services which…
- 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 – Princely Pendulum
The Princes of the Tribes make several notable contributions at the inauguration of the Tabernacle: They contribute 12 oxen and 6 covered wagons to aid the…
- 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
Bamidbar – Flag-Bearers
At first glance, Parshas Bamidbar seems like a snoozefest: it’s very technical, counting the people, assigning the tribes to their encampments, counting 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
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
Behar/Bechukosai – Divine Nudge
This past week our nation underwent an unprecedented calamity. At our people’s largest annual festival, the celebration of Lag ba’Omer in Meron, a crowd crush…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Behar & Bechukosai (Rebroadcast)
This week’s double-Parsha closes out the Book of Leviticus. Parshas Behar begins at Mount Sinai, where the Almighty instructed Moshe to convey a series of laws…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Emor – Sense of Belonging
Our parsha contains the first recorded instance of capital punishment in Jewish history. A disgruntled man, the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man…
- 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
Acharei Mos/Kedoshim – Challenge Accepted
Our Nation has always had bad neighbors. The Midrash in our Parsha states that the Egyptians and the Canaanites, both nations that our people lived in close…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Acharei & Kedoshim (Rebroadcast)
This week’s double-parsha contains a smorgasbord of mitzvos. The three chapters of Parshas Acharei cover three general categories. First we read about the Yom…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Tazria/Metzora – Blessings in Disguises
Tzaraas, the spiritual leprosy whose laws are detailed in our Parsha, appeared in three different areas: the befell sinners’ skin, clothing, and house. How…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Tazria & Metzora (Rebroadcast)
A very large percentage of Torah is dedicated to the laws of purity and impurity. This week’s double Parshas of Tazria and Metzora largely deal with these…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Shemini – Find Your Breach
The 8th day of the Tabernacle’s Inauguration was supposed to be a day of total, exuberant jubilation. The laborious months of preparation were complete, and…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Tzav – Ashes, Ashes, We all Rise Up
The beginning of our parsha details the intricate processing of the Olah offerings. The animal is slaughtered, its blood is sprinkled on the Altar walls, it is…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayikra – Vicarious Sacrifice
Sacrifices sound like a cheat code: You sin and you rebelled against God and your soul gets tarnished. By the strict letter of the law, sin ought to be an…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayakhel Pekudei – On Giants’ Shoulders feat. Akiva Wolbe
Bezalel was the architect of the most consequential building project of all time. He was tasked with the responsibility of building the Mishkan, the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Vayakhel & Pekudei (Rebroadcast)
Last chance to Support the TORCH Fundraiser Please support The Parsha Podcast and the annual TORCH fundraiser at giveTORCH.org Every donation will be DOUBLED…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
TORCH Fundraiser: A Conversation with our Board President, Dan Kullman
Please support The TORCH Podcasts and the annual TORCH fundraiser at giveTORCH.org Every donation will be TRIPLED Show your support for TORCH and the TORCH…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Ki Sisa – Hold Your Fire + TORCH Fundraiser
Please support The Parsha Podcast and the annual TORCH fundraiser at giveTORCH.org Every donation will be TRIPLED Show your support for TORCH and the Parsha…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Ki Sisa (Rebroadcast) + Annual TORCH Fundraiser
Please support The Parsha Podcast and the annual TORCH fundraiser at giveTORCH.org Every donation will be TRIPLED Show your support for TORCH and the Parsha…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Tetzaveh – The Great Collaboration
Besides being brothers, Moshe and Aaron were both leaders of the Jewish people: Moshe was the king and Aaron was the high priest. These brothers had different…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Esther on an Allegorical Level
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
Terumah – 3 Points Behind the Ark
In the epicenter of the Tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant. This golden vessel was the receptacle of the Tablets, both the First…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Mishpatim – Crowning Achievement
The end of our Parsha revisits the Sinai Revelation of Parsha Yisro and recounts some of the preparations for the Ten Commandments. In the negotiations and…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Yisro – Jethro’s Epiphany
The protagonist of our parsha, Jethro, underwent a long and fruitful spiritual journey. When the journey began, Jethro was a idolater who worshipped every…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Beshalach – Bread of Angels
Parshas Beshalach is arguable the most action-packed Parsha in the Torah. It starts with the Jews hightailing out of Egypt – only to have Pharaoh follow in hot…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Bo – The Ember of Abraham
The Jewish nation was in the dumps. They had spent hundreds of years in Egypt, and the possibility of ever leaving and reconstituting as an independent nation…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vaeira – Pharaoh’s Education
The Jewish people undergo a stunning transformation in our Parsha: It begins with the nation walling in misery; when Moshe offers a plan for salvation, they…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Shemos – Grooming Greatness
Moses is the greatest leader of our history and the archetype of a great, transformative leader. Why was he chosen for the role? What was his training to…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayechi – The Five Stages of Transformation
The Book of Genesis is replete with interesting stories. We follow the narrative about Adam and Noah and their families, Abraham and his odyssey and trials…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayigash – Fruitful Famine
In Parshas Vayigash, the Joseph trilogy comes to a close. The saga that began when Joseph was 17 ends when Jacob is reunited with his favorite son, now viceroy…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Mikeitz – Talent Evaluation
Joseph is one of the most impressive figures in Jewish history. His accomplishments are vast: His holiness under spiritually treacherous conditions are…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayeishev – The Holy Hologram
Joseph is one of the greatest heroes of Jewish history. His greatest deed was when he resisted temptation and rebuffed the seductions of his master…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayishlach – Unrequited Love
This a unique edition of The Parsha Podcast that you dont want to miss. Instead of the usual one big idea that we typically cover in a Parsha podcast, in this…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayeitzei – Laban’s Potion
As the father of all four of Jacob’s wives, Laban is in effect the father in law of the Jewish people. If we examine Laban’s story, he seems to have both…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Toldos – Esau’s Fatal Flaw
Jacob’s twin brother Esav is one of the worst villains in Jewish history. He seems to be an unending litany of bad character. Our parsha ends with Esav dead…