This Jewish Life - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

We are incredibly fortunate to be included amongst the Jewish people. We are incredibly fortunate to be raised with a strong sense of Torah and Torah values, and a deep appreciation for the critical and indispensable mission that our nation was entrusted with at Sinai. We are fortunate to be descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and […]

Our nation has two houses of monarchy: Joseph and Judah. Joseph was, of course, king of Egypt. David, king of Israel, descended from the tribe of Judah. Following David, all legitimate kings of our people descended from the Davidic line from the tribe of Judah. Our nation is yearning for Messiah. Our sages tell us […]

Matzah is a tricky food. It is made with the same ingredients as bread ; the only difference is the speed of how they are processed. The Torah tells us that we must guard the matzos to prevent them from turning into chametz. Our sages tell us that this applies not only to matzos, but […]

Pesach (Passover) marks the founding event of our nation. We had been enslaved in Egypt for centuries, and in one night the Almighty extracted a nation from amidst a nation with miracles, signs, and wonders. Each Passover we remember and relive that momentous night. We gather together with our family at the Seder, ask the […]

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Ambitious people want to accomplish ambitious goals. They want to undertake bold challenges, they want to make an indelible impact upon the world. Every such noble goal will face a fierce obstacle. If you are someone who dreams big, who harbors hope to make a mark, you must be very aware of the most formidable […]

The month of Shevat is associated with a tribe of Asher and corresponds to the letter Tzadik (צ) and its zodiac sign is a bucket. So much is told to us by the Kabbalists. But what is the secret of this month? What is the energy that permeates this month? What are the particular ways […]

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Our family was blessed with a new baby boy this past Sunday evening. With the help of the almighty, he will be joining the covenant of Abraham and receive his Bris tomorrow morning, Monday the 15th of January, in the Young Israel of Houston. In this special, celebratory podcast, I share what I said on […]

In the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the terror organization that has governed Gaza since 2007, there is a very big divide between Jews living in the land of Israel and those of us in the Diaspora. While Jews worldwide may empathize with their Israeli brethren and rally and pray for their cause, the […]

Kidneys serve many vital functions. Their primary function is to filter the blood from any toxins or contaminants. Thankfully, the Almighty sends (most of) us to this world with two working kidneys. We have a bit of nephrological redundancy. People who suffer from kidney failure, God forbid, are greatly imperiled. In this podcast, I welcome […]

Few sequels live up to the high standards set by the original. Podfather Part 2 is an exception to the rule. In this special episode covering a variety of parenting subjects, we hear from both PodParents. My father and my mother – Avi and Faige Wolbe – both joined me in the TORCH Centre to […]

The Hebrew word for education is “Chinuch”. Rabbi Yerachmiel Garfield is the Head of School of Yeshiva Torat Emet, the school in Houston, Texas that we send our children to, and is the host of the Chinuch Today podcast. In his podcasts, he interviews teachers and educators about Jewish education. He asked my brother and […]

Rabbi Shmuly Botnick returns to the podcast with his most mind-bending and dynamic contribution hitherto. In this exhilarating roller-coaster of a podcast, Rabbi Botnick weaves the generation of Enosh, the Flood, the placement of Moshe into the water, his retrieval by Pharaoh’s daughter, his complaint to God about the initial efforts to save the nation, […]

It is not exactly clear what the participants in the Tower of Babel wanted. We know they wanted to ascend to heaven and to make a name for themselves, but what precisely they wanted is more of a mystery. The Midrash talks about it, the Talmud does as well – and in this podcast we […]

Parents are sent home with newborn babies without an instruction manual. They are expected to raise their child(ren) to become productive, responsible, and successful adults. As Jews, we have an added responsibility to raise our children as good Jews. Parents face a monumental task. This was always nightmarishly difficult, but with the rapidly-changing world that […]

The festival of Sukkos is called “the time of our joy.” The entire festival is associated with joy. Sitting in the Sukkah is joyous, shaking the Lulav is joyous, the traditional celebratory festivities are known as the “Joy of the Drawing.” Why are these days so intimately associated with joy? In this special podcast, we […]

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 days spanning from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur are known as the Ten Days of Repentance. Over the course of these days, we have extra prayers and supplications, and make an extra effort to improve and correct our ways, culminating of course, with the greatest day of them all, Yom Kippur. But repentance is […]

Rosh Hashana is a day of repentance. But unlike Yom Kippur, there is nary a mention of sin in all the ceremonies, prayers, and liturgies of Rosh Hashanah. What is the nature of repentance decoupled from acknowledgment of sin? When we study the sources related to Rosh Hashanah, we discover several fascinating opportunities that differentiate […]

Rosh Hashanah is the beginning. It is the beginning of the High Holidays. It is the beginning of the 10 days of repentance. It marks the beginning of humanity. On this day, Adam was created. Rosh Hashana marks the beginning of God’s Dominion and Kingship over the world, because a king absent a nation is […]

The month of Elul is upon us. Over the course of the next few weeks, Jewish communities worldwide will prepare for the high holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur with special prayers and with a daily blast of the shofar. We are preparing. We are getting ready for the awesome days upcoming. But what […]

The Torah is an instruction manual from God. The word Torah, in fact, means instruction. The Torah contains many details; in fact, there is no conceivable situation that the Torah does not provide guidance for. But what is the ultimate goal of Torah? What does the finished product supposed to look like? In a surprising […]

The Ninth Day of the month of Av is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. On this day, the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. On this same day the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. The Bar Kochba rebellion was stamped out with violent finality on this day. This is a […]

The 18th century commentary on the Torah, Ohr HaChaim, is one of the most unique, ingenious, and sprawling works in the Jewish library. In this special podcast, released on the 280th yartzeit of the author of Ohr HaChaim, Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar, Rabbi Shmuly Botnick shares with us a sampling of ideas curated from the […]

The Sinai Revelation is the most significant event in all of human history: God revealed Himself to the entire Jewish people, He spoke to them, He gave them the Torah, and they lived. This day is revisited every single year on the festival of Shavuos. Our objective on this day is to renew our vows […]

Shavuos is the Festival that marks the day of the giving of the Torah. More than 3300 years ago, our nation coalesced around Mount Sinai and we experienced some thing that no other nation has ever experienced: the Almighty spoke to us as a nation and we lived to tell the tale. We heard the […]

Our forefather Abraham forged a covenant with God: God shows him to be the forefather of the Jewish people, which includes all sorts of Rights and responsibilities. For one, Abraham’s descendants were condemned to be enslaved for 400 years. On the brighter side, the nation became recipients of the Almighty’s Torah and Mitzvos. The nation […]

The Pesach Haggadah guides us through the Seder night and the story of the Exodus. But as is always true in our religion, there are secrets and mysteries lurking beneath the surface. To plumb the esoteric depths of the Haggadah we invited back to the podcast the legend himself, Rabbi Shmuly Botnick. In this podcast […]

The Festival of Pesach is upon us. For seven days we will eat Matzah and avoid any traces of chometz. We will gather together with our families around the Seder table and recount the story of the Exodus, retelling and reliving the founding episode of our Nation. In an effort to get in the mode […]

“When the month of Adar commences, we increase joy.” This oft-recited Talmudic dictum captures the emotion of this month. Adar is a time of joy due to the Purim miracles. It is also associated with, we discover in this belated month-theme podcast with the great Rabbi Shmuly Botnick, fish, the tribe of Naftali, techeiles, the […]

In preparation for the upcoming festival of Purim, my colleagues and I gathered together for a roundtable discussion about the power and meaning of the day. It is a joyous day of celebration and revelry, but when we examine it deeply, we discover it is a day of great, transformative, spiritual power. Elevate your Purim […]

Please support the annual TORCH fundraiser at giveTORCH.org Every donation is DOUBLED. Our organization, TORCH, runs one annual fundraiser, and it is happening right now at giveTORCH.org. We need your support – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – This week […]

The Jewish people were trapped. Only a week after they left Egypt, Pharaoh had chased them in hot pursuit, and now they had no place to go: with their backs up against the sea, and a heavily armed Egyptian army encircling them, the nation complained to Moshe, “are there insufficient graves in Egypt?”. For his […]

The Jewish months are replete with secrets and mysteries. Studying the months and their hidden messages reveal to us the power contained with the days and the spiritual energy of the times. The month of Shevat is known for the minor festival at its midpoint, Tu B’Shvat, which is the Rosh Hashana for fruit trees. […]

The Month of Teves doesn’t have many memorable days. The only days of note are the last couple of days of Chanukah, and the fast of the 10th of Teves, which commemorates The siege of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians, an event which culminated in the destruction of the First Temple and the […]

In preparation for the upcoming festival of Chanukah, the TORCH Podcasters gathered together in the TORCH Centre to discuss the upcoming days of light. Each of us shared an idea about Chanukah and how to make the most of these days. If you want to experience a convivial, collegial, conversation about Chanukah with the Podcasters […]

The most noteworthy days of Month of Kislev are the days of Chanukah that begin on the 25th of Kislev and stretch into the following month of Teves. Chanukah celebrates the victory of the Jewish people over the Greeks and the restoration and the reinauguration of the Temple. But what is the secret of this […]

In this podcast you will learn something that is simultaneously exhilaratingly exciting and angst-inducingly terrifying. You will learn how someone can have a winning lottery ticket and fail to cash it. You will learn about the small trigger that is needed to actualize our blessings and potential. This is a very important lesson that we […]

Each of the twelve months in the Jewish calendar contain a unique spiritual energy and power. The power of each month, encapsulated in a zodiac sign, is often represented in the holidays, festivals, and noteworthy days of said month. The month that just concluded, Tishrei, is jam packed with days of note: Rosh Hashana, Yom […]

The Sukkah that we dwell in for 7 days is a reenactment of the Clouds of Glory that enshrouded the nation for 40 years. Starting right after the Exodus, the nation was cocooned in miraculous clouds. These clouds flattened mountains, filled in valleys, and eliminated any threats. The clouds signal journeys, cleaned and ironed clothes, […]

In honor of the festival of Sukkot, I gathered together with some of my TORCH podcaster colleagues to chat about the festival, it’s meaning, and lessons. Each one of us got an opportunity to share an idea on the festival, and to promote our respective podcast(s). In a decision that compromised the audio quality, we […]

Yom Kippur is the greatest day of the year. The name of book of Talmud that orients around Yom Kippur is Yoma, meaning “Day.” This is The Day when everything changes. On this day, the Almighty is close to us. On this day, He extends purification and forgiveness to us. On this day, God purifies […]

One of the most mysterious elements of the Yom Kippur ceremony is the scapegoat ceremony. The High priest took two identical male goats and made a lottery, one was offered as a sacrifice to God in the Temple, and the other one was a scapegoat, upon which the sins of the nation were conferred and […]

Our Sages enumerates a list of seven things that preceded the world. Included in this list is repentance. Why was it necessary to create repentance before the creation of the world? In this podcast we speculate an answer: repentance is a supernatural miracle that thoroughly violates the rules of this world, and therefore once the […]

On the night of Rosh Hashana in Jewish homes the world over, a strange set of customs are observed. We take an apple, dip it into honey, and declare that we should have a sweet new year. We take a pomegranate, disgorge it’s seeds, consume them and pray that we be filled with merits like […]

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 […]

Tastewise, kosher chicken and non-kosher chicken are indistinguishable. When it comes to the price tag, these two fowls are drastically different. The discrepancy in price creates an incentive for unscrupulous restaurateurs. If you can buy chicken at the non-kosher price, and sell it at the kosher price, you can juice your profits by a large […]

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, […]

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 […]