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The Second Temple Era was an eventful time for the Jewish People and the perpetuation of Torah. Over the course of the Second Commonwealth our nation was blessed with great legends, such as Ezra, Shimon Ben Shetach, and Hillel, but the Nation faced unprecedented tests too: We were forced to contend with hostile foreign nations; internally, we suffered from discord and sectarianism; and at various times the Rabbis were targeted with assassinations and purges. To understand the imperative for the codification of Oral Torah, we must study the treacherous and perilous conditions of Torah in the Second Temple Era.

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Tisha B’Av (The Ninth of Av) is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. On this day, the Spies returned from scouting the Land and spooked the Nation with their evil report prompting the Nation to needlessly bewail their fate the entire night. As retribution, God pledged: “You cried on this night for no reason, I will give you a legitimate reason to cry on this night.” And indeed, over the millennia, scores of unfortunate events happened to our nation on this inauspicious day. Why is this day so totally designated for bad things, what is the significance of the Temples for us today living in modern times, and what are we supposed to feel during the time of Tisha Bav?

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Although the process to formally codify the Oral Torah did not begin for more than 1500 years after Sinai, there were many advancements in organizing and systematizing Oral Torah that began in earnest soon after Moses’ passing. In this special edition of the TORAH 101 podcast, we discuss the various developments in Oral Torah from Moses until the end of prophecy at the beginning of the Second Commonwealth. Among the many critical subjects discussed is the three different ways that Rabbinic ordinances can be rescinded.

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This Jewish History Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leiluei nishmas Rivka bas Reb Avraham. May her holy Soul be elevated in Heaven

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Rabbi Avraham Grodzinski was the last head of the Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania. He was primary disciple of the Alter of Slabodka, and his successor after the Alter moved to Chevron, heading the yeshiva until WW2 broke out, and even leading a cadre of students in the ghetto under ghastly conditions.  With the destruction of European Jewry in the Holocaust, the vibrant world of the Lithuanian Mussar Yeshiva world expired – the great yeshivos erected or resurrected after the war are a shell of their progenitor’s glory.

Rabbi Grodzinsky is an exemplar of the glory and greatness of that lost world

A man of unmatched nobility – even aristocracy, a person of flawless, sterling character, an unparalleled intellect, and a man who lived a tragic life replete with all manners of suffering, punctuated by his macabre murder by the Nazis on the 22nd day of Tammuz 1944, exactly 76 years to the day from when this podcast is released

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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This Jewish History Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leiluei nishmas Rivka bas Reb Avraham. May her holy Soul be elevated in Heaven

Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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In the narrow sense, Oral Torah refers to the interpretation and understanding of the Written Torah. The Written Torah is written cryptically, and the Oral Torah demystifies and explains it. But the truth is that Oral Torah includes much more than that. Oral Torah includes all of Torah that is not included in the Written text. In our next installment on Rambam’s Thirteen Principles, we discuss the concept of Rabbinic Law, its roots, and how the corpus of Oral Torah was expanded.

Please email me at rabbiwolbe@gmail.com with any questions or comments

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Sponsorship: Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!