All Episodes
Displaying 451 - 480 of 835 in total
Parshas Chukas & Balak (Rebroadcast)
In Parshas Chukas, we read about a highly unusual mitzvah: The Red Heifer, when an entirely red cow is burned together with a motley concoction of ingredients, and the...
Parsha: Korach - Korach's Insatiability
Korach was immensely talented. He was enormously rich, he was clever, and he was devilishly persuasive. His rebellion, however, was doomed from the start. What are the...
Ethics: Levity (6.6.21)
Life is serious. Pursuit of wisdom is the pursuit of truth. Pursuit of wisdom is the pursuit of understanding the Divine (to the best of our abilities). To access wisd...
Parsha: Korach - Demoted For Good (5781)
Korach was a very talented man with a sterling pedigree. He was wise and clever and even had a degree of prophetic clairvoyance. Yet he blundered egregiously by launch...
Mitzvah: Uncertain Guilt Offerings (#128)
This sacrifice is offered when someone is uncertain if they violated a sin or not.– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –DONATE: Please consider supporting the pod...
Parshas Korach (Rebroadcast)
In this week’s parsha, Moshe and Aaron’s first cousin, a man named Korach, launches a rebellion claiming that Moshe is guilty of nepotism in appointing his brother as ...
Parsha: Shelach - Despising Limitations
The nation was on the cusp of entering the Land. After about a year at Sinai, the nation was ready to conquer Canaan. The invasion and war of conquest was imminent. Th...
Parsha: Shelach - Daydreams, Nightmares, and Reveries (5781)
The final five verses of our Parsha contain the third paragraph of the Shema. In it, we are instructed to place tzitzis strings wrapped with a string of blue techeiles...
TORAH 101: Messianic Prognostication
When will Messiah come? We are all curious to know the answer. What if we can find evidence or proof in Scripture to know when the redemption will happen? Isn't that a...
Parshas Shelach (Rebroadcast)
The Jewish people were on the cusp of entering the Land of Canaan, and made a prudent, but ultimately tragic, decision: To send a contingent of scouts to reconnoiter t...
Parsha: Behaaloscha - Bad Old Days
After a year at Sinai, the nation is finally on the move. Following the precise protocol of disassembly and decampment, the nation marches off from Sinai. Destination:...
Ethics: Conversation (6:6:20)
We are speaking beings. In fact, the central differentiation between humanity and animals is the capacity of verbal communication. The judgment that we face in Heaven ...
Parsha: Behaaloscha - Kindle Fire (5781)
Aaron the High Priest held a critical leadership role in the nation. A partial list of his jobs: he offered sacrifices, he did the Yom Kippur services which included t...
Parshas Behaaloscha (Rebroadcast)
The Jewish nation has been encamped at Mount Sinai for nearly a year; in this week’s parsha they finally depart from the Mountain of God, and sadly leave gleefully as ...
Parsha: Nasso - Nazirs Anonymous
The Nazir is someone who accepts a vow, typically for 30 days, to abstain from wine, to not cut their hair, and to not come into contact with the dead. This Nazir is h...
Ethics: Sleep (6.6.19)
We all need to sleep. All humans, irrespective of their intelligence, their physical prowess, their wealth, must lay down in a comatose state for several hours a day a...
TORAH 101: The Sequencing of Messiah
What will happen in the times of Messiah? For us, that is an unanswerable question. Our Sages tell us that unless you are a prophet, it is not possible for you to know...
Accepting the Torah: Ruth, Sinai, and the Heart of Shavuos
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,...
Parsha: Nasso - Princely Pendulum (5781)
The Princes of the Tribes make several notable contributions at the inauguration of the Tabernacle: They contribute 12 oxen and 6 covered wagons to aid the Levites in ...
Shavuos Roundtable with the TORCH Podcasters
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 ...
Parshas Nasso (Rebroadcast)
In the longest parsha in the Torah by verses, we continue to read about the Levite families and their responsibilities, we learn about the three tiers of the Nation’s ...
Parsha: Bamidbar - Common Census
The United States Constitution mandates that a nationwide census is conducted every decade. Other nations also conduct censuses. Censuses are common. Our parsha begins...
Parsha: Bamidbar - Flag-Bearers (5781)
At first glance, Parshas Bamidbar seems like a snoozefest: it's very technical, counting the people, assigning the tribes to their encampments, counting the Levites se...
Mitzvah: Misappropriation of the Sacred (#127, 447)
Misappropriating Temple property is a very bad idea. The sacrifices, the animals, the vessels, the property, the money used for update and maintenance - all items that...
Parshas Bamidbar (Rebroadcast)
We kickstart the Book of Numbers with a census of the twelve tribes of Israel – not including the tribe of Levi who is counted independently – conducted by Moses, Aaro...
Parsha: Behar Bechukosai - Hostage Letter
Our Parsha contains some of the most difficult portions in the Torah, the Admonition. Our nation is told of the consequences of failing to adhere to the rules of God. ...
Ethics: Pleasure (6.6.18)
Pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain are hardwired impulses . We all want to feel good and to avoid feeling bad. Perhaps surprisingly, the Torah fully embraces th...
Parsha: Behar & Bechukosai - Divine Nudge (5781)
Two years ago, our nation underwent an unprecedented calamity. At our people's largest annual festival, the celebration of Lag ba'Omer in Meron, a crowd crush resulted...
TORAH 101: The Variability of Messiah
We have been awaiting and anticipating Messiah for millennia. Messianic yearning has been a hallmark of Jewish life ever since we were exiled from our land with the de...
Parshas Behar & Bechukosai (Rebroadcast)
This week's double-Parsha closes out the Book of Leviticus. Parshas Behar begins at Mount Sinai, where the Almighty instructed Moshe to convey a series of laws to the ...