Torah 101 · Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

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#110: Man As Microcosm

Jul 20, 2026

46:16

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. But what is the mechanism of that? How precisely does man actualize his […]

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#109: The Sanctuary of the Heart

Apr 20, 2026

46:32

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. A simple foot soldier has a much smaller impact. Adam was created in […]

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#108: The Power of Pre-Sin Adam + 2026 TORCH Campaign Pitch

Mar 22, 2026

57:03

The 2026 annual TORCH fundraiser is happening right now at giveTORCH.org. Every donation is doubled at giveTORCH.org. Every donation is matched at giveTORCH.org Please support TORCH and the Parsha Podcast with a generous contribution right now at giveTORCH.org. Give what you can give at giveTORCH.org and ensure that the Parsha Podcast and the other great […]

4

#107: Created in the Image of God + 2026 TORCH Fundraiser

Mar 19, 2026

52:26

The 2026 annual TORCH fundraiser is happening right now at giveTORCH.org. Every donation is doubled at giveTORCH.org. Every donation is matched at giveTORCH.org Please support TORCH and the TORAH 101 Podcast with a generous contribution right now at giveTORCH.org. Give what you can give at giveTORCH.org and ensure that the TORAH 101 Podcast and the […]

5

#106: Mishnah Commentary, Heuristics, and Appendices + 2026 TORCH Fundraiser

Mar 15, 2026

55:04

The 2026 annual TORCH fundraiser is happening right now at giveTORCH.org. Every donation is doubled at giveTORCH.org. Every donation is matched at giveTORCH.org Please support TORCH and the Parsha Podcast with a generous contribution right now at giveTORCH.org. Give what you can give at giveTORCH.org and ensure that the Parsha Podcast and the other great […]

6

#105: Post-Mishnaic Development of Oral Torah

Mar 9, 2026

48:08

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. In this penultimate episode on Rambam’s magisterial introduction to Mishnah, we learn all about the Talmud: how it was […]

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#104: Sixth Order of Mishnah (Purity)

Feb 16, 2026

45:49

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 will be very brief, we will learn about the various […]

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#103: Fifth Order of Mishnah (Sacrifices)

Feb 9, 2026

43:31

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, and truly the whole world, can only be in an optimal state when the presence of God […]

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#102: Fourth Order of Mishnah (Damages)

Feb 4, 2026

58:18

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 the Fathers (Pirkei Avos). This podcast will help you gain a brief overview on the Books of […]

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#101: Third Order of Mishnah (Women)

Sep 1, 2025

1:00:06

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, and on levirate marriages. The Order also contains two seemingly unrelated books: a book on vows […]

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#100: Second Order of Mishnah (Festivals)

Aug 11, 2025

1:05:21

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, and the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. The second Order of Mishnah orients around all these days of […]

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#99: First Order of Mishnah (Planting)

Jul 21, 2025

45:59

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. In this podcast, we try to gain an appreciation for […]

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#98: Components of Oral Torah

Jul 7, 2025

1:03:29

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 oral Torah, two that come all the way back from the times of Moshe, and three […]

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#97: Real and Fraudulent Prophecy

Jun 16, 2025

59:35

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 commentary on Mishnah, we explore the four different categories of prophecy, the limitations of […]

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#96: Origins of Oral Torah

Jun 8, 2025

47:39

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 commentary on Mishnah. He begins by tracing the history of oral Torah all the […]

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#95: Venues of Reward and Punishment

May 14, 2025

41:58

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. The ultimate venue of spiritual pleasure is known as Olam Haba, the world to come. What about other venues of reward? […]

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

May 7, 2025

42:32

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, we learn all about the concept of spiritual pleasure. Our bodies are very finely attuned to experiences of pain and […]

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#93: Ultimate Reward and Punishment: Rambam’s Magisterial Essay Part 1 + TORCH Fundraiser

Mar 18, 2025

49:45

Please support the TORAH 101 Podcasts by donating to our annual fundraiser at giveTORCH.org This is our only annual fundraiser. Every donation is DOUBLED! Support the TORCH Podcasts by visiting giveTORCH.org right now and making a generous donation! This is the LINK for the Fundraiser. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – […]

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#92: World of Souls + 2025 TORCH Fundraiser

Mar 10, 2025

46:14

Please support the TORAH 101 Podcasts by donating to our annual fundraiser at giveTORCH.org This is our only annual fundraiser. Every donation is DOUBLED! Support the TORCH Podcasts by visiting giveTORCH.org right now and making a generous donation! This is the LINK for the Fundraiser. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – […]

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#91: The Purpose of Torah + Annual TORCH Fundraiser

Mar 5, 2025

54:07

Please support the TORAH 101 Podcasts by donating to our annual fundraiser at giveTORCH.org This is our only annual fundraiser. Every donation is DOUBLED! Support the TORCH Podcasts by visiting giveTORCH.org right now and making a generous donation! This is the LINK for the Fundraiser. – – – – – – – – – – […]

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#90: Testimony at Sinai

Feb 24, 2025

46:53

The Sinai Revelation was a mass testimony of faith. The only event of its kind saw God revealing Himself to a nation comprised of millions, who heard and experienced prophecy and lived to tell their children about it. The founding event of our religion is historically unchallengeable and completely unprecedented: There is no other religion […]

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#89: Where Atheists Go Wrong

Feb 17, 2025

53:17

Some atheists are quite intelligent. Some atheists score highly on IQ tests. How can they be so wrong on matters of faith? Where exactly do the atheists go wrong? In this interesting TORAH 101 podcast, we pinpoint the precise area that causes atheists to err. It turns out, a perfectly functioning and competent and capable […]

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#88: Unresolved Mysteries of Resurrection

Jun 24, 2024

53:25

We have made enormous strides in our pursuit of a deep, and comprehensive study of Rambam’s 13 principles of faith. We have plumbed the depths of these 13 tenets of our religion to the best of our ability. This podcast marks the final installment of this series. In it we explore some of the various […]

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#87: The Timeline of Resurrection

May 20, 2024

49:19

It is hard enough for us to keep track of what happens to us in our lifetime; what happens after we die is truly a mystery. But there are timelines that are even murkier: what happens after Messiah? How does the Resurrection unfold? Is Resurrection a one-time thing or are there many different resurrections? What […]

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#86: The Nature of the Ultimate Resurrection + TORCH Campaign

Mar 20, 2024

47:27

TORCH Fundraiser — support the TORAH 101 Podcast Our organization, TORCH, does only one fundraiser a year, and that is happening right now at giveTORCH.org. This is a matching campaign and every donation will be DOUBLED. Please support the TORAH 101 Podcast right now at giveTORCH.org The website for the Fundraiser is giveTORCH.org Click and donate to support the […]

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#85: The Point of Resurrection + TORCH Fundraising Campaign

Mar 12, 2024

1:09:28

TORCH Fundraiser — support the TORAH 101 Podcast Our organization, TORCH, does only one fundraiser a year, and that is happening right now at giveTORCH.org. This is a matching campaign and every donation will be DOUBLED. Please support the TORAH 101 Podcast right now at giveTORCH.org The website for the Fundraiser is giveTORCH.org Click and donate to support the […]

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#84: Rambam’s Epistle of Resurrection

Feb 14, 2024

1:10:19

The great medieval sage my Maimonides – Rambam – has been guiding us throughout our studies of the 13th principles of faith. This transcendental scholar, who’s magisterial writings are authoritatively accepted amongst the entirety of the Jewish people, was one of our people’s greatest personalities. His writings are enormously influential and authoritative in matters of […]

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#83: The Nature of the Preliminary Resurrection

Jan 29, 2024

55:35

In our pursuit of understanding of the subject of resurrection, many questions remain. In the previous episode we talked about the two types of resurrection, there is still a lack of clarity in the similarities and the differences between the two types of resurrection. Furthermore, the Talmud says that the righteous are alive even when […]

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#82: Messianic Resurrection

Jan 22, 2024

59:23

One of me hallmarks of the Messianic times is the resurrection of the righteous. With Messiah comes the reemergence of the righteous. Those buried in the land will precede those buried outside of it, but all the righteous will come back. This is well established in the Literature. In this podcast we discussed the two […]

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#81: Supernatural Resurrection

Jan 8, 2024

52:16

The subject of resurrection was hotly debated in times of yore. The Talmud records a series of debates between great rabbis and their Roman contemporaries about the this subject. When we probe the matter more deeply, we discover that the Roman disbelievers of resurrection have a very good argument. Reasonable people can come to the […]

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#80: Resurrection: An Introduction

Dec 25, 2023

1:02:45

We stridently disagree with the oft-repeated statement: “You only live once.” #YOLO is a sentiment that violates our beliefs. A central principle of our religion is the concept of resurrection. Death is not permanent. The dead will rise again. Life will be extended to the bodies of the deceased. Abraham will once again grace this […]

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Messiah Panoply: Messiah Ben Joseph, Gog and Magog, Elijah, Resurrection, etc.

Oct 9, 2023

1:08:47

We have studied the subject of Messiah in its length and breadth. In the 16th and final installment of our study of the 12th of Rambam’s Thirteen Principles of Faith, we briefly survey a potpourri of subjects that are tangential to the main subject of Messiah. We explore six different topics: Messiah Ben Joseph; the […]

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#78: Preparing for Messiah

Sep 4, 2023

48:45

Messiah is something that we anticipate and yearn for and await, but it is also something that we must prepare for. The consequences of being unprepared for Messiah are grave. How can we prepare for Messiah? What, specifically, do the sources focus on when it comes to getting in shape for Messiah? In this podcast […]

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#77: False and Unrealized Messiahs

Aug 14, 2023

1:11:33

Our Nation has been yearning for Messiah for a very long time. And for good cause: Messiah is associated with wonderful things. Messiah is the state of the world when the mission that Abraham began gets actualized. Messiah is when the knowledge that our nation personified for millennia finally becomes ubiquitous. Messiah is a time […]

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#76: Characteristics of King Messiah

Jul 10, 2023

38:08

King Messiah will spearhead the spiritual movement that will reverberate the world over. This King will bear a grand and lofty stature exceeding that of the greatest exemplars of our history. In this podcast we explore King Messiah further: what are the indicators of the real messiah? What are the means by which we can […]

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#75: Indications of the Messianic Era

Jun 26, 2023

46:09

The world will undergo immense changes in the times of Messiah. Those changes will be so transformative and so comprehensive that our current world and our current values are scarcely similar to those of the world of Messiah. When Messiah will come is a question that we cannot answer. Trying to do so is prohibited, […]

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#74: Messianic Prognostication

Jun 12, 2023

1:03:39

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 tantalizing notion? In this podcast we survey the prohibition, futility, and peril of Messianic prognostication. – – – – – – – – […]

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#73: The Sequencing of Messiah

May 29, 2023

56:04

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 ahead of time how the Messianic transformation will unfold. That said, our Sages do provide us with descriptions and accounts and hints […]

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#72: The Variability of Messiah

May 8, 2023

50:52

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 destruction of the Second Temple. Messiah, we have learned, will definitely happen. It is inevitable. But the type of Messiah depends upon the path that we choose […]

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#71: The Inevitability of Messiah

Apr 18, 2023

51:12

The sources all agree: Messiah is not a possibility that we can potentially achieve; it is an inevitability. It will definitely happen. Under no circumstances will Messiah and not come before the year 6,000 since Adam. The inevitability of Messiah raises a fundamental question, though: if something is inevitable, it cannot be linked to frail, […]

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#70: The Messianic Renaissance

Mar 22, 2023

59:16

The Messianic era will unleash seismic changes to our nation and to all of humanity. In this podcast we talk about the ultimate catalyst of Messiah: Repentance. The sources agree that it is only via repentance that Messiah can arrive. When our nation returns to the Almighty, the world is ready to transition to the […]

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#69: The Miracles of Messiah

Feb 20, 2023

56:04

Messiah is not an isolated, discrete, transformation that occurs in a vacuum. Messiah is the ultimate redemption. Our nation has experienced redemption before. The pattern of exile and redemption has been constant feature of our nation’s history. It began in Egypt. Our nation enslaved, tormented, and oppressed in Egypt for centuries until the Almighty redeemed […]

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#68: The Persona of King Messiah

Feb 13, 2023

44:22

Messiah will not be an ordinary person. He will be a towering figure who’s impact reverberates the world over. In this podcast we study what our Sages tell us about who Messiah is and what his stature will be, and talk about the wide-ranging and far reaching implications that he will have. – – – […]

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#67: The Messianic Revolution

Feb 7, 2023

1:09:58

Messiah will be an era of seismic changes for the Jewish people and for the world. Knowledge of God will be ubiquitous. The primacy of the Jewish people as God’s chosen Nation will be universally accepted. The pursuit of wisdom will supersede all other pursuits. The world will begin it’s a rapid progress towards perfection. […]

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#66: The Mechanisms of Messiah

Jan 23, 2023

50:59

The sources depicting Messiah and the Messianic Era paint a very different picture of the world than the one we are accustomed to. Knowledge of God will be universal, on that day God will be One and His Name will be One. The pursuit of knowledge will dominate. The Jewish Nation will be heralded. King […]

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#65: The Objective of Messiah

Jan 16, 2023

47:32

The subject of the Messiah is notoriously confusing. What is Messiah? How will Messiah change our lives? What will be different in the Messianic era? The answers to these questions are not ubiquitously known. In this podcast we proceed in our studies of the Twelfth Principle of Rambam’s Thirteen Principles of Faith by addressing the […]

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#64: Messiah: A General Introduction

Dec 26, 2022

54:24

Our nation has been anticipating and longing for the Messiah, Moshiach (משיח) in Hebrew, for millennia. We are awaiting his arrival, which can come any day. The Messianic era is a utopian world that we yearn for. But what exactly is the Messiah? What are the qualifications to be Messiah? What is the Messianic era […]

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#63: Admission to the Afterlife

Dec 5, 2022

1:14:31

The term “Olam Haba” refers the world after the Resurrection, the world where there’s life with no death, where there is the dispensing of reward for those who adhere to the word of God. If we were to distill our life mission to one sentence it would be this sentence: our mission in this world […]

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#62: The Experience of the Afterlife

Sep 28, 2022

1:04:03

What is Olam Haba like? Our sages describe this future world as the world of ultimate reward. Paradise in the Afterlife is a very wonderful and pleasurable experience, but even Paradise is not the ultimate reward. That is reserved for Olam Haba. But what is it like? What does it feel like? In this podcast […]

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#61: Reincarnation

Sep 19, 2022

1:21:59

After a person dies, the Heavenly tribunal determines the fate of their Soul. If the Soul is pristinely pure, the person having accomplished everything that was expected of them and they are also lacking any blemishes borne about by sin, the Soul is ushered to Paradise. If the Soul needs some cleansing, it can be […]

Torah 101 · Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

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