This Jewish Life - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

The Second Temple was destroyed 1,946 years ago by Titius and the Romans. Yet the Temple never left our collective consciousness. We invoke it in our prayers, mourn its destruction and hope and yearn for its return. Why do we need a Temple and what is the meaning behind sacrifices?

A fundamental principle of our religion is that the Torah that we have today is the same as the Torah given by God to Moses. Is this a dogmatic belief a leap of faith? How can we be assured that there was no corruption of the Oral Torah over the 1500 years that it was […]

3300 years ago, over a period of 40 years, Moses gave the Jewish nation the Torah that he received from God. It consisted of a Written Torah and an Oral Torah together. For 1500 years the Oral Torah was maintained as such; faithfully and accurately transmitted exclusively orally from generation to generation. Beginning with the publication […]

Jacob is termed in Jewish literature as the “choicest of the forefathers”. What were his defining character traits? What were the dominant episodes and themes of his life? What does his journey teach us about Jewish history? We answer these questions and ponder the qualities of his illustrious wives and their collective eternal legacies in this […]

In this first of a series on Oral Torah we begin with asking the very basic questions: What is the Oral Torah comprised of? How does the Oral Torah relate to the Written Torah? How can we be certain of its veracity? Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 19

The Torah is scant on details regarding the lives of Isaac and Rebecca. Their story does not include a great many anecdotes of their challenges nor does it highlight their accomplishments and greatness. To the contrary, the Torah seems to harshly criticise Isaac as in when it is said that he preferred Esau because he made […]

In this 7th and final episode of our examination of the evidence to try and determine if the Torah is indeed the unadulterated word of God, we explore the interrelationship of the Written and Oral Torah and ask if such cohesion and precision can be the product of a human. PART 1: http://rabbiwolbe.com/the-torah-as-a-divine-document-an-analysis-of-higher-bible-criticism-and-why-the-authorship-of-the-torah-matters/ PART 2: http://rabbiwolbe.com/a-traditional-jewish-response-to-higher-bible-criticism-part-2/ PART 3: http://rabbiwolbe.com/the-millions-of-eyewitness-testimonies-to-the-veracity-accuracy-and-historicity-of-the-torah/ […]

Every person who has ever changed the world, from the great Sage Rabbi Akiva to Travis Kalanick the founder of UBER, has been guided by two core life skills. These two learnable qualities are the underpinnings of every transformational change and improvement that humanity achieved. They are what separates the people who are inspired to […]

Abraham and Sarah are the biological, theological and ideological forebears of our nation. The story of their lives and accomplishments is the story of the Jewish people and, more broadly, the story of human progress and morality throughout history. What propelled them to greatness? What methods did they employ to disseminate their message? What is […]

This part 6 of the Proofs of Torah series, and Part 17 of the Torah Series overall. In this podcast we analyze and investigate select Torah verses and ponder the feasibility of human authorship. Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 17

Performance of Mitzvahs earns a person a portion in Olam Haba. How does that work? In this podcast we examine various Jewish sources that establish the three distinct ways someone can achieve Olam Haba via mitzvahs.

The reality of the Torah being divine and immutable can be agitating and frankly a bit terrifying. As the word of God, every word of the Torah is true and obligatory, and that may trigger cognitive dissonance if we do not behave in a way that reflects that reality. It is vital to recognize that only two […]

Shavous is the date when the Jews stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and heard the Ten Commandments. Ten mitzvahs out of the 613 that they would ultimately receive is only 3% of the total. Why would this day be enshrined as the day of receiving the Torah when they actually received only a small fraction […]

The Talmud records three episodes where individuals acquired Olam Haba in one instant. In these stories we learn a formula for accomplishing the work of a lifetime in one day.  Let us be prepared to seize the once in a lifetime opportunities to dramatically transform our world with one act of selfless dedication and commitment! […]

Torah, in its Oral and Written formats, has and always will be the national pastime of the Jewish nation. Traditionally, it has been the yearnings of young Jews and chief determinant of greatness of Jewish Leaders. Over the course of Jewish history there have been several movements that challenged that belief and attempted to alter the […]

The binary question of the authorship of the Torah is the most critical question that every Jew must encounter in their lives. The answer to that question governs every action and decision that we will be making afterwards. Unfortunately, most people do not ever investigate and ponder that question properly. In Part 3 of our […]

A fundamental core belief of our nation is that observance of mitzvahs bring a person to Olam Haba – imprecisely translated as the afterlife. How exactly does that work?

We continue in our efforts to expose the fallacies of the claims of the Bible Critics. It indeed is preposterous to be intellectually honest and well informed on the issues and believe that their conclusions hold water. Part One: http://rabbiwolbe.com/the-torah-as-a-divine-document-an-analysis-of-higher-bible-criticism-and-why-the-authorship-of-the-torah-matters/ Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe – Torah Part 13

This is the first lecture that revolves around the question of who wrote the Torah and how can we prove our conclusions. In the first session we clarify what the traditional belief is regarding the authorship of the Written and Oral Torah and engage with contemporary critics who question it. Core Beliefs of Judaism with Rabbi […]