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
Chayei Sarah – Buried Alive (5784)
Sarah died at the age of 127. Abraham negotiated with the Hittites for the purchase of a burial plot, the Cave of Machpelah. The objective of the purchase of…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Chayei Sarah (Rebroadcast)
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…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayeira – Sodium and Gomorrah
Abraham was the paragon of faith. He was also the paragon of kindness and hospitality. When he was 99 years old and only three days removed from a very painful…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayeira – Abraham Abraham (5784)
On the second day of Rosh Hashanah each year we read chapter 22 of Genesis, the Binding of Isaac episode. Abraham is instructed to take his beloved son Isaac…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Vayeira (Rebroadcast)
This week’s parsha features several iconic episodes: Abraham was visited by God as he was recuperating from his circumcision, and concurrently engaged in…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Lech Lecha – Three and a Half Men
Our nation has three forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and four foremothers, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. The Book of Genesis principally orients…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Lech Lecha – The Generational Secret (5784)
Join us for an exquisite Parsha Podcast as we go deep and deeper into Lech Lecha. The deep idea relates to Lot’s fateful decision to choose to move to the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Lech Lecha (Rebroadcast)
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…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Noach – Hell on High Water
Noah’s experience during the flood it was not exactly akin to a year-long cruise. There wasn’t a lot of relaxing poolside with a pina colada. In fact, for an…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Noach – Secret Of Invincibility (5784)
We started this week’s Parsha Podcast by talking about the Tower of Babel episode. We gleaned from that story something absolutely transformational and deep…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Noach (Rebroadcast)
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. – – – – – – –…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Bereishis – Duality of Man
Parshas Bereishis is the first Parsha and also the most difficult one to understand. From beginning to end, our Parsha is a riddle and a mystery. In this…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Bereishis – Microcosm of History (5784)
In this podcast we attempt to read not just the text but also the subtext of the parsha – to go deep and deeper on three subjects in the first Parsha in the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Bereishis (Rebroadcast)
With praise and appreciation to the Almighty, we begin year 10 of the Parsha Podcast (5786). This year, we will re-upload the Parsha Rebroadcast episode which…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vezos Haberacha 5785 – The Heavenly Verses
There was no joy that matches the joy of Torah study, and that Joy is amplified yet further when we have the great privilege of finishing the entire Torah and…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vezos Haberacha – A Mission For Everyone (5783)
At the very end of Moshe’s life, he, like Jacob before him, blesses the tribes. When Jacob was about to pass, he blessed his sons, now Moshe is blessing the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Vezos Haberacha (The Rebroadcast)
The final parsha of the Torah details the blessings that Moshe conveyed to the tribes of Israel immediately prior to his passing, and the Torah ends with the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Haazinu – Injustice In Justice
The high holidays are days of judgment. On Rosh Hashanah, every single person stands before God in judgment and their verdict is written, but left unsealed…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Haazinu – Antidote to Vacuousness (5783)
On the final day of Moshe’s life, he conveys the Song of Haazinu to the nation. In this masterful prophetic Song, the Torah overviews Jewish history, past…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Jonah: The Yom Kippur Reading on an Allegorical Level
On Yom Kippur afternoon, we read the 48-verse Book of Jonah, which tells of a renegade prophet, Jonah, who defies the directive of God and refuses to castigate…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Haazinu (The Rebroadcast)
Still in the final day of Moshe’s life, he conveys to the nation a 43-verse Song predicting the contours of Jewish history, both past, present, and future. The…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vayeilech – Mission Improbable
Moshe’s tenure as leader of the Jews was chock full of magnificent accomplishments. He spearheaded the Exodus, he brought the Torah down from Heaven, in his…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Vayeilech (Rebroadcast)
Moshe is 120 years old to the day. He was born on the seventh of Adar and now it is the seven of Adar 120 years later. Today is his last day before his passing…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Nitzavim – Repent Up Demand
How difficult is it to repent? How hard is it to examine your behavior, your choices, your values, your decisions to determine which are in need of…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Nitzavim Vayeilech – Pro Choice (5783)
On the final day of Moshe’s life, he gathers the entire nation for a parting message. After forging another covenant between the nation and God and explicating…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Nitzavim (Rebroadcast)
On the final day of Moshe’s life, he gathered the entire nation – men, women, children, and according to the Talmud, all souls of future Jews – to pass them…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Ki Savo – A Cursory Reading
Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy is arguably the most difficult portion in the Torah to read. Known as the Admonition, the chapter details the blessings that will be…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Ki Savo – Dial of Joy (5783)
The Torah has a surprising view on joy and how to attain it. The prevailing attitude in our society is that a person’s state of joy is contingent upon…
- 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 – Yibbum Or Bust
The death of one’s spouse is always a tragedy, but there’s something particularly sad about someone who dies without children. Leaving no living progeny behind…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Ki Seitzei – The Upside of Laziness (5783)
Our parsha begins with the unusual law of the marriage of a Jewish warrior and an enemy captive woman. When a Jewish warrior spots a prisoner of war that he…
- 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 – Crown Jewels
Many of us secretly harbor the belief the we would make a fine president. Leading a nation sounds like a cushy job: armies of aides at your beck and call…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Shoftim – Crisper Genes (5783)
The nation is on the doorstep of Canaan. In our Parsha, the people are instructed in how they must treat the Canaanite inhabitants of the land. It’s not…
- 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 – Path Independence
We like to maintain optionality and delay decisions if possible. The idea of being pigeonholed into one path irks us. But Moshe tells the nation that we must…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Reeh – Making Dough (5783)
The Parsha ends with a delineation of the festivals. When discussing Passover, the verse notes that for 7 days we eat matzah because we left Egypt within great…
- 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 – Tefillin’ Good
This is a very special episode of the Parsha podcast. Exactly 5 years ago, the Parsha podcast began a streak of producing a brand new episode each week. With…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Eikev – Longevity Pill (5783)
A ubiquitous feature in Jewish homes, the Mezuzah contains a scroll with two paragraphs from the Torah, one from this week’s Parsha and one from last week’s…
- 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 – Two of Hearts
Even believers are incapable of understanding God. It’s supremely logical to observe that our wonderful world – our wonderful universe – certainly had a…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vaeschanan – Jordan Rules (5783)
As a result of Moshe’s sin of striking the rock, he was barred from crossing over the Jordan River and entering the Land of Canaan. In Moshe’s speech to the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Parshas Vaeschanan (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 – Wellsprings of Beer
There are many levels of Torah. There are many ways to acquire Torah, 48 by the calculation of our Sages. The human with the greatest understanding of Torah…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Devarim – Middling East (5783)
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…
- 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 – Greatness and Anti-Greatness
Accidents are unfortunate. Accidents that lead to death are a catastrophe. Among the myriad of subjects discussed in this week’s double Parsha is the law of…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Mattos & Masei – 49-Step Program (5783)
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…
- 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 – Sunday and Moonday
Great leaders are often irreplaceable. The greatest leader of them all is certainly irreplaceable. But even Moshe must have a successor. In our Parsha, Moshe…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Pinchas – Sons of Anarchist (5783)
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…
- 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 – Ruthless and Ruthful Determination
Balak, King of Moab, and Bilaam, sorcerer extraordinaire, hatched a plot to annihilate the Jewish people. Had their plan been successful, there would not have…
- 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 – Bold and Boulder
When the nation needed water, they found it in a most unexpected place: Moshe struck a rock and it began to spew forth enough water for the entire nation. Why…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Chukas – Methods of Transformation (5783)
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…
- 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 – On Cloudy
Of Korach’s 253 collaborators, only three are named, and all three are Reubenites: Dathan, Abiram, and On Ben Peles. Dathan and Abiram remain true to Korach’s…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Korach – Korach’s Insatiability (5783)
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…