This Jewish Life - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

The Ten Days of Repentance, beginning with the two days of Rosh Hashana and culminating in Yom Kippur, are the season of repentance in the Jewish calendar. On these days, the Almighty is close to us. Our prayers are more efficacious. Our spiritual accomplishments are amplified and accelerated during these powerful, awesome days. Our Sages […]

On Yom Kippur afternoon, we read the 48-verse Book of Jonah, which tells of a renegade prophet, Jonah, who defies the directive of God and refuses to castigate the people of Nineveh and instead escapes from God to Tarshish – with mixed results. A simple reading of the story reveals a tale of repentance, both of […]

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 […]

On the second day of Rosh Hashana, we read the Torah section of Genesis chapter 22 that tells the very famous and quite troubling episode of the Binding of Isaac. Abraham – the same Abraham who railed against the ways of child sacrifice of the pagans – is instructed by God to take Isaac – the same Isaac […]

The Torah readings for the two days of Rosh Hashana were not arbitrarily chosen. There are very good reasons why on the first day of Rosh Hashana we read Genesis chapter 21, which tells of the conception and birth of Isaac, and the banishment of Ishmael, his brush with death, and his salvation. In this […]

Of all the episodes that I have recorded over the years, this will be perhaps the most unique one. For one, it will be released simultaneously on all 6 channels that I am fortunate enough to host: The Parsha Podcast, The Jewish History Podcast, The Mitzvah Podcast , This Jewish Life, The Ethics Podcast, and […]

The laws of Shabbat are vast and seemingly draconian. A study of its laws reveal a comprehensive governance of every aspect of our lives on Shabbat. The Talmud even declares that greetings one’s fellow on Shabbat is “barely permitted.” To an outsider looking in, the laws of Shabbat are crippling and limiting. The Talmud offers […]

We all recognize that we will eventually die. Each of us know that there will come a point in time where our body and Soul separate and go their own way. The body will return to its origin, the dust, and the Soul will return to its Heavenly roots. What happens to our Soul in […]

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, […]

The Book of Ruth – and its eponymous heroine – are true enigmas. The Book contains no new laws and its story, while inspirational and poignant, bears no easily discernible connection to the Festival of Shavuos, when it is read. The Book’s protagonist, Ruth, has a decidedly checkered pedigree, yet becomes the matriarch of the […]

Parshas Bamidbar is the Torah portion that we read immediately prior to Shavuos, the Festival of the Giving of the Torah, each year. In this special episode, we offer a mind-bending idea to ponder the connection between Shavuos and Parshas Bamidbar. To aid with visualizing the contents of this unique episode, please download the accompanying […]

Shavuos is the day that marks the most significant event in the history of humankind: A nation coalesced around Mount Sinai to temporarily catapult into a state of prophecy, to hear God say the Ten Commandments, and to live to tell the tale. Shavuos is thus aptly named, “the Day of the Giving of the […]

Lag BaOmer is the day that marks the Yahrtzeit/Hillula of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, one of the great Sages of the Mishnaic Era. In celebration and recognition of Rabbi Shimon’s accomplishments and stature, the custom is to make it a mini-holiday. But of course, Rabbi Shimon was not the only transcendental Sage of that time. […]

The days spanning the Festivals of Pesach and Shavuos, of Exodus and Sinai, are called the days of the Omer. During these 49 days, during these 7 weeks of 7 days, we are commanded to count the days by mentioning each day’s number and the corresponding number of weeks and days. In this sweeping podcast […]

It has been 15 years since my illustrious grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, passed away, on the first day of Chol HaMoed Pesach 2005. In this special shiur to mark his yahrtzeit, we speculate the ways that he became great and take a very valuable lesson on how to become great ourselves during this coronavirus pandemic. […]

The Torah provides four verses that describe the appropriate conversations fathers should have with their sons on Pesach Eve. The Haggadah explains that each conversation refers to a different type of son. There is a distinct dialogue with the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son, and the son who does not know how […]

The Festival of Pesach is described as, “The time of our Freedom”, and “The Festival of Matzos.” What is the essence of these days? What is the distinct power that we can tap into over the course of this 8-day Festival? In this special pre-Pesach episode, we learn the central point of the Festival that […]

We are living in extraordinary times and facing unprecedented challenges: The coronavirus is upending everyday life in a way that we have never seen in our lifetime. People are scared, people are quarantined, markets are plummeting, schools are off, shuls and yeshivos are shuttered, no one can get toilet paper or bottled water – our […]

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According to Jewish tradition, 2020 is the year 5780. Science estimates the age of the universe to be somewhere between 13.8-15.4 billion years. In this podcast, we will share a brilliant reconciliation sourced from centuries-old Kabbalistic books. The Shema Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-shema-podcast/id1498489422 Daf Yomi Breakneck Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daf-yomi-breakneck-with-rabbi-elchanan-shoff/id1494823922 TORCH Shabbat Light Switch Cover Please visit our website torchweb.org to […]