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Religion & SpiritualityJudaism

TORAH 101 - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

TORCH

TORAH 101 is aptly described as “An Intellectual’s Introduction to Torah”. If you are a person who wants to understand the foundations of Torah in a logical and cogent fashion, if you don’t want to subsist with the juvenile perception of Torah of your youth, if you want to wrestle with the deeper questions of theology, eschatology, theodicy, and Jewish philosophy, TORAH 101 is the podcast for you. We will delve into the weighty topics in Jewish philosophy: the divinity of Torah: the interrelationship of Written and Oral Torah, the multidimensionality of Torah, a critical examination of Bible criticism, Torah and Science, why bad things happen to good people, and we will thoroughly explore Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith. Please email all questions, comments, and feedback to rabbiwolbe@gmail.com

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  • 21 episodes
  • Avg 49 min
  • English

Episodes 21

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  • August 10 · 57 min

    #111: Reflecting Cherubs

    Cherubs made many appearances in the Tabernacle and the Temple. Hewn onto the Cover of the Ark off the Covenant were two golden cherubs facing each other. But there were more cherubs. Of the Tabernacle’s multiple fabric covers was one called the “Mishk...

  • July 20 · 46 min

    #110: Man As Microcosm

    How exactly can man influence all the worlds, all the spheres, all the dimensions, and all the realms? Our Sages compare the human to the soul of the world. We have the levers that determine what happens to all of created existence.

  • April 20 · 46 min

    #109: The Sanctuary of the Heart

    The more important someone is the greater the impact of their actions. The maneuver of a general changes the course of a campaign; a mistake of the general can imperil the entire army; a brilliant stroke of the general can achieve unexpected victory.

  • March 22 · 50 min

    #108: The Power of Pre-Sin Adam

    Adam was created in the image of God. He was given vast influence over God’s creations. What is the mechanism of this power? What is the mechanism of Adam’s ability to influence God’s creations? How is Adam able to move worlds?

  • March 19 · 41 min

    #107: Created in the Image of God

    “And God made man in His image. In the image of God (Elokim) He made him.” The majority of the secrets of the Kabbalistic esoterica are hidden in these cryptic words, but the magisterial work, Nefesh HaChaim, authored by Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin,

  • March 15 · 45 min

    #106: Mishnah Commentary, Heuristics, and Appendices

    As a very young man, Rambam wrote a commentary on the entire Mishnah. He prefaces his commentary with a sprawling and magisterial introduction which covers vast subjects related to Torah, oral and written, the history of the transmission,

  • March 9 · 48 min

    #105: Post-Mishnaic Development of Oral Torah

    The Mishnah was at the end of the canonization of the Oral Torah. The Tosefta, the Sifra and Sifri soon followed. 300 years after Rabbi Judah the Prince canonized the Mishnah, the Babylonian Talmud was canonized.

  • February 16 · 45 min

    #104: Sixth Order of Mishnah (Purity)

    The Order of Purity is the longest of the Six Orders of Mishnah and by far the most foreign to us. The overwhelming majority of the laws of this order of Mishnah are only applicable in Temple times. different sources of impurity although our overview w...

  • February 9 · 43 min

    #103: Fifth Order of Mishnah (Sacrifices)

    Unfortunately, none of us have ever witnessed or participated in a sacrifice. Ever since the Temple was destroyed more than 1,950 years ago, our nation has been bereft of a central component of our religious life. Our nation,

  • February 4 · 58 min

    #102: Fourth Order of Mishnah (Damages)

    Human interactions can often times get messy. There are myriads of circumstances that require courts and judgements. The Fourth Order of Mishnah contains the books of law and judgement and, surprisingly, the authoritative work on ethics: Chapters of th...

  • Sep 1, 2025 · 1 hr

    #101: Third Order of Mishnah (Women)

    A great corpus of Torah law governs the relationships between men and women. The Second Order of Mishnah contains books on the initiation of marriage, on marital responsibilities, on the annulment of marriage via divorce, on the suspected adulteress,

  • Aug 11, 2025 · 1 hr 5 min

    #100: Second Order of Mishnah (Festivals)

    The Jewish calendar is studded with days of great importance. Each week we relive Genesis by celebrating the holy Shabbos. At half-year intervals are the mega festivals of Sukkos and Pesach (Passover). There’s also Shavuos, Rosh Hashanah,

  • Jul 21, 2025 · 45 min

    #99: First Order of Mishnah (Planting)

    The Mishnah is a massive, sprawling, and utterly comprehensive canon of Torah law. Spanning 60+ books over 6 Orders, the Mishnah includes all the laws of the Torah. To study it all would take a very long time. To know it all, takes a lifetime.

  • Jul 7, 2025 · 1 hr 3 min

    #98: Components of Oral Torah

    What makes up Oral Torah? What are the different types of information included in the Mishnah? In part 3 of the authoritative, magisterial, and comprehensive introduction to Mishnah offered by Rambam, we learn about the five different components of ora...

  • Jun 16, 2025 · 59 min

    #97: Real and Fraudulent Prophecy

    The veracity of prophecy is a critical component of our philosophy. But how do we know if a prophecy claimant is legit? How do we differentiate between real prophets and fraudulent ones? In our second installment on Rambam’s introduction to his comment...

  • Jun 8, 2025 · 47 min

    #96: Origins of Oral Torah

    The Torah was given to us by God with absolute perfection. A unique feature of that is the dual formats of Torah: written and oral. In this interesting and informative podcast, we begin the study of Maimonides’ magisterial introduction to his commentar...

  • May 14, 2025 · 41 min

    #95: Venues of Reward and Punishment

    Spiritual pleasure is vastly, infinitely greater than physical pleasures, and are completely imperceivable by bodies. Only if you work assiduously to develop a sensory connection with your soul, can you begin to taste it.

  • May 7, 2025 · 42 min

    #94: The (Near Total) Inaccessibility of Spiritual Pleasure

    There is great confusion about what the ultimate reward for righteousness and the ultimate punishment for wickedness are. Rambam’s magisterial essay is designed to provide clarity in these lofty matters of eschatology. In part 2,

  • Mar 10, 2025 · 44 min

    #92: World of Souls

    Why do bad things happen to good people? What role does Oral Torah play in Jewish life? Why did the Almighty create two worlds, the world of the bodies and the world of the souls? What is the difference between today and the days of Messiah?

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