Category Archives: Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

Man In The Arena: Three Ways To Understand The Judgment of Rosh Hashana

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In addition to the many other themes and motifs of the day, Rosh Hashana is called the Day of Judgment. The Mishnah tells us that on Rosh Hashana every human has an individual audience with the Almighty in the same way that a shepherd counts each sheep individually. The judgment is comprehensive: all of a person’s income for the year is determined on this day. But the most important decree of Rosh Hashana is who will live and who will die.

In this podcast, we study a difficult statement in the Talmud regarding the judgment on Rosh Hashana. On the surface, this statement is quite inexplicable. Upon further analysis, however, we discover the central goal of Rosh Hashana, and, frankly, what we are trying to accomplish in our lives.

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A Mystical Approach To The Rosh Hashana Readings ft. Rabbi Shmuly Botnick

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As is true by Shabbos and all Festivals, on the two days of Rosh Hashana we read sections from the Torah and a supplemental reading from Tanach, the Haftorah. At first blush, the four readings of Rosh Hashana have no direct connection to the Festival. One day one, the Torah portion that we read is Genesis chapter 21 which relates the story of the birth of Isaac and the banishment and subsequent salvation of Ishmael. The Haftorah of day one is the story of the birth and youth of Samuel from Samuel I. These are certainly quite lovely stories, but they don’t immediately evoke the Day of Judgment and the New Year.

Same thing for day two. The Torah reading is the Binding of Isaac episode of Genesis chapter 22 and the Haftorah is from Jeremiah chapter 31 which talks of the destruction of the First Temple. What that has to do with Rosh Hashana is, at least initially, a great mystery.

In this very special pre-Rosh Hashana edition of the podcast, we bring on a guest to help us disentangle this intriguing question. My brother in law, Rabbi Shmuly Botnick, is a rabbi, a lawyer, and one of my favorite people to discuss Torah matters with. He has an incisive, creative, and agile mind and bears a vast repository of Torah knowledge. He will be our guide in trying to understand the deeper meaning threading through these four readings. What we learn will not only transform our appreciation of the Rosh Hashana readings, it will transform our understanding of what we are here to accomplish.

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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!

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Parsha: Nitzavim – Drawbridge Of The Soul

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With the entire nation gathered on his final day of life, Moshe warns the people against being seduced by idolatry. The nation, Moshe reveals, is particularly vulnerable to idolatry because of the people whose land through which we have traversed. We saw the Egyptian fascination with idolatry. We saw the various other nations obsession with paganism. Consequently, we are susceptible to mimicking their ways. In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast – the antepenultimate episode of the fifth cycle of The Parsha Podcast – we explore a mysterious and quite inexplicable element of Moshe’s warning. What we discover is quite surprising.

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This Parsha Podcast is sponsored by the Gelb, Goldman and Shacknofsky children in honor of our parents David and Susan Gelb. Wishing them and all of Klal Yisrael a happy and healthy New Year.

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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!

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Mitzvah: Bribes and Palm-Greasing (#83)

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Judgment is the ultimate partnership between us and God. Litigants who come to a Jewish court are coming to hear the will of the Almighty on the case. Consequently, the judges have to be very meticulous in being impartial and neutral in judgment.

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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!

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Rosh Hashana: Customs, Rituals, Ceremonies, and Practices

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The two days of Rosh Hashana are two of the most important days in the year. These festival days are celebratory and joyous, but are also dedicated to prayer, to introspection, and repentance. Rosh Hashana is a time when we try to strike a delicate balance of festivities and trepidation due to the Day of Judgement. In this unique podcast we examine the myriad customs, ceremonies, rituals, and practices of Rosh Hashana – we learn about their significance, we learn about the lessons contained within them, we learn about about the various activities that we do to get in the right frame of mind for the Day of Judgement.

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!

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Parsha: Parshas Nitzavim & Vayeilech (Rebroadcast)

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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 through a final covenant with God. The parsha also contains the prophetic predictions of the Messianic times, and it ends with a simple, binary choice: Moshe tells the nation, “Behold I have placed before you today, the life and the good, and death and evil… Choose Life!” 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 and he is taking leave from the nation and handing over the reins to Joshua.

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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!

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

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Parsha: Ki Savo – Maniacal Determination

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Our parsha contains perhaps the most difficult Torah portion to read and digest: The Tochacha (Admonition). In it we are told the consequences of our deeds. If obey the Almighty and hearken to His commandments, He will reward us with bountiful blessings. Should we deviate from Him and repudiate His Torah, however, He promises to unleash all manner of suffering upon us. And it is brutal. Our Sages calculated that the Tochacha contains 98 distinct curses and maledictions. What is the message of these ferocious curses? In this special edition of The Parsha Podcast, we suggest a novel approach to understanding what the Torah wants of us.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated anonymously in the merit of the speedy recovery for Daniel Zev Ben Miriam. He is a relative of a dear friend of ours who contracted a severe case of COVID and then it was discovered that he has cancer too and is undergoing treatment. He really needs a refuah shlema; please include him in your prayers. May he have a Refuah Sheleima – a complete and total recovery from his illness with no lingering effects.

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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!

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

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Mitzvah: Conjecture in Court (#82)

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A court is tasked with verifying the validity of the claims of the witnesses and rendering a ruling. What kinds of testimony are admissible in court? What are the extrajudicial carveouts for the defendants who are clearly guilty but get off on technicalities?

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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!

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

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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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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!

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

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Parsha: Ki Seitzei – A Lifetime A Day

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The Midrash in our parsha calculates that the Torah contains 613 mitzvos, 248 positive mitzvos, where the Torah commands us to do something proactive, and 365 negative mitzvos, where we are instructed to refrain from transgressing the Almighty’s will. These figures are not coincidental. They are precisely targeted to enable us to accomplish our life’s mission. In this ground-breaking and earth-shattering edition of the Parsha Podcast, we explore a transformational element of mitzvos that will radically reshape our lives – for the good.

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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!

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

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