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 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 – Government-in-Exile
We begin the month of Elul on the Parsha Podcast with style, flair, and panache. It starts with some sweet, sweet vindication as we share a citation that…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Shoftim – Hill To Die On (5782)
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 – Idle Tree, Idle Warship, and Falls Profits
The Torah spends a lot of time cautioning us against idolatry. As the nation is about to cross over the Jordan and enter Canaan, they are repeatedly warned to…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Reeh – Steak Your Claim (5782)
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 – Shock and Awe
Flashy achievements make the news. Great triumphs, awesome deeds, transcendent moments grab our attention and seize our imagination. Humdrum acts fail to stir…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Eikev – Well-Heeled (5782)
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 – Get a Life
Moshe was Joshua’s teacher. By any measure, Moshe was a greater leader of the nation than Joshua was. Moshe was the sun to Joshua’s moon. But Moshe was unable…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Vaeschanan – Linked to Sinai (5782)
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 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 – Citizen of Heaven
A year after the Exodus Moshe dispatched a contingency of dignified men to scout the land of Canaan prior to the Nation’s invasion. It was a catastrophic…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Devarim – Withholding Judgment (5782)
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 – Order of Sisters
The Book of Bamidbar ends on a bit of a surprising note. The final chapter of our book revisits the somewhat technical narrative relating to the inheritance of…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Mattos & Masei – Contrarian Guide (5782)
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 – Eggs Not Cheese
Pinchas, Aaron’s grandson, did a valorous and zealous act of bravery when he skewered the prince of the tribe of Shimon and stopped the plague from wiping out…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Pinchas – Staying Hungry (5782)
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 – Donkey Gait Keeper
In every generation there are malevolent forces seeking to destroy the Jewish people. They have never been successful, nor will they ever be. The Almighty…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Balak – A Single Point (5782)
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 – Mourning Clouds
Two giants passed away in this week’s Parsha: Moshe two elder siblings, his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron – two of the great leaders and benefactors of…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Chukas – Between a Rock and a Wet Place (5782)
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 – The Jewish Kryptonite
We all have weaknesses. Nations, as well, have witnesses. When the Almighty sought to give the Torah to the Jewish people at Sinai, He first offered it to all…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Korach – Debating Back to Sinai (5782)
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 – Prophylactic Phylacteries
Prior to initiating the war of conquest of the land of Canaan, the nation did the prudent thing: they undertook a reconnaissance mission to scout out the enemy…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Shelach – Enter Via the Window (5782)
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 – Honeymoon Phases
After nearly a year at Sinai, the nation is on the move: in perfect formation, each tribe perfectly positioned and oriented, the nation finally departed the…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Behaaloscha – Follow the Cloud (5782)
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 – Gordian Knot
Parshas Nasso is the longest Parsha in the Torah by verses. In this very special Parsha podcast we explore three different elements of the Parsha: We offer a…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Nasso – The Fourth Crown (5782)
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
Bamidbar – Legion of God
At first glance, the subject matter of Parshas Bamidbar is quite bland and technical. It talks of a census, and the orientation of the tribes in the camp, and…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Bamidbar – Autopsy of Giants (5782)
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 – Impractical Torah?
Torah is absolutely vast. It is a veritable ocean. And we are privileged to be able to study it and immerse ourselves in it. Those of us who have had the great…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Bechukosai – Self-Assembly Kit (5782)
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 – Intractable Land
The Land of Israel is special: It is the land of God. All other lands were given by God to humanity. The land of Israel He reserved for himself. The Torah…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Behar – The Jubilant 50’s (5782)
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 – Simulated Martyrdom
Humans have a very important role to play in God’s world. The Almighty created a world in which He is obfuscated. It is possible to live a whole life without…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Emor – Spiritual Fingerprint (5782)
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 – Loving the Unlovable
Some people are easy to love. They are good people. They have a good character. They are righteous and noble and pleasant. People like that are very lovable…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Kedoshim – The Superhuman Imperative (5782)
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 – Fleshy Onesie
The first verse of our Parsha revisits a tragic event from the past. The Torah tells us that after the death of Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu, Moshe was…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Acharei Mos – A Consequential Life (5782)
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
Metzora – Barbarians at the Gate
The Metzora (one stricken with tzaraas) is unwelcome in polite society. Even impolite society doesn’t want anything to do with him. They must leave the camp…
- The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Metzora – 21st Century Prophecy (5782)
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…