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Parsha: Ki Savo – Clinging to Gold

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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 Bikkurim, and eventually bring them to Jerusalem with much pomp and ceremony. Upon closer examination, this mitzvah is associated with all kinds of surprising people: When we bring the Bikkurim we invoke Pharaoh and the Egyptian experience and Jacob’s father-in-law Laban, of all people. In addition, the Midrash makes a stunning statement that Bikkurim is emblematic of the reason why God created the world. In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we propose a novel explanation of the Mitzvah of Bikkurim that reveals it’s association with Pharaoh and Laban, and offer a new rationale for why it represents the goal of creation.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leilui nishmas Yidit Esther bas Yonah, the mother of our dear friend and longtime TORCH Board member, Josh Blackman. Yidit Esther passed away this morning in NY. May her Soul be elevated in Heaven.

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

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts 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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TORAH 101: The Mechanics of the Afterlife

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What happens after we die is an endlessly fascinating – or terrifying – topic. In our exploration of the Afterlife we have covered vast grounds: We’ve spoken about death and the various types of death; we’ve spoken about the reckoning and accounting that a person must submit before the Heavenly tribunal; we have been made aware of some of the travails that the body undergoes in the grave; we’ve learned about two different venues that a person can end up in – paradise and purgatory; we’ve spent a great deal of effort trying to understand the nature of the soul.

In this podcast we take the next step: We explore the mechanics of the purging of the soul from its contaminants and what actually happens in purgatory. We also introduce another potential destiny for the soul, one that is decidedly unfortunate. In our elaboration and explication of these ideas we also discover the fundamental link between a person’s behavior and that person’s status in the afterlife. If you are interested in demystifying the great and fascinating subjects of the Afterlife, this podcast will offer a lot of clarification.

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

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts 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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Parsha: Parshas Ki Savo (Rebroadcast)

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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 parting message to the people. First, he commands the nation to perform several elaborate ceremonies on the very first day that they cross the Jordan River; then he conveys a scathing, terrifying list of curses that will befall the people in the event that we deviate from the Torah.

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

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts 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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Parsha: Ki Seitzei – The Payoff Pitch

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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 inclinations? The Almighty designed the world based upon the principle of free will, meaning that we all have the choice of how to live our lives and what to prioritize. In this special Bar Mitzvah edition of the Parsha Podcast, we learn about the varying strengths and weaknesses of the forces urging us to embrace or repel the will of God, and we discover the mechanics of the life-defining war against the Yetzer Hara.

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

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The Spiritual Edifice

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The Jewish holiday calendar is not evenly distributed. Mush of our Festivals are clumped together in one month, followed by a long winter with few special days, none of them of Biblical origin. Our Sages explain that the clustering of the High Holidays and the Festival of Sukkot is no coincidence. These days constitute one, continuous process. Over the course of the Festival season we are building the spiritual edifice in which we will reside for the entire year.

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TORAH 101: Paradise and Purgatory

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Paradise and Purgatory, “Gehenom” and “Gan Eden” in Hebrew, are two potential destinations of the soul after a person dies. The righteous ones who have lived their lives in complete compliance with the rules, instructions, and guidance of the Torah are brought to Paradise, a venue of sublime, spiritual pleasure. The wicked who have sullied their Souls with sin during their lifetimes must undergo a process of Purgatory to cleanse their Souls from its blemishes. In this podcast we discuss the function, purpose, and nature of Paradise and Purgatory. We discover that although Purgatory may be a very unpleasant experience for the Soul, the capacity for cleansing and purging the Soul of its blemishes redounds to our benefit greatly.

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

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts 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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Parsha: Parshas Ki Seitzei (Rebroadcast)

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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 requirement to build a fence around your roof to prevent tragedy, two episodes that we are mandated to remember, and many, many more interesting and insightful mitzvos.

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

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts 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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The Power and Opportunity of Elul

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These 40 days from the beginning of the month of Elul, the final month in the Jewish calendar, and Yom Kippur are the most powerful days of the year. These 40 days coincide with the 40 days that Moshe was in Heaven for the third 40 day stint when he received the second set of Tablets inscribed by the “finger of God.” Our Sages tell us that this month is “Days of Ratzon“, days of goodwill, days of desire. In this special podcast, we identify the central element of these days and discover the ways to unlock the unlimited power of Elul.

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

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts 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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Parsha: Shoftim – Hill To Die On

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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 special nature of the Canaanite wars, and we are prohibited from felling fruit-bearing trees in order to make siege works. This podcast discusses the very unusual way that soldier conscription is done. Seemingly, there are cavernous loopholes to allow soldiers to desert in mass numbers. We suggest a new homiletic approach to understand the lesson behind the very strange soldier selection process.

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

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts 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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