We have a begun hallowed days of Elul. In one month, we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah. We will all be judged. We will blow the shofar. We will pray for a good year. Ten days later, the holy day of Yom Kippur. We will fast for 25 hours: no food, no drink. On that day,we are like angels. On that day – The gates of mercy are open, like no other day. On that day – The gates of repentance, the gates of forgiveness, the gates of atonement, are wide open. On that day – God is ensconced, as it were, on the throne of mercy. Elul is when we prepare. But how exactly do we prepare? In this interesting podcast, we draw back to the beginning, to the first Elul. It contains the secret and the propitious power of these days.

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The Temple is a central component of our religion. Ever since it was destroyed by the Romans, our nation has been operating in a suboptimal fashion. Certainly, we have prayers to match the sacrifices of God, and our Torah Academy halls, the four cubits of halacha, is a place where the divine presence rests; we have the Almighty’s precious mitzvos, and we have the opportunity to pray to Him and to repent and return to Him, but something vital is missing. Absent a Temple, the world is blanketed in darkness. Absent the Temple, it is as if there is a thick metal blockade separating us from our Father in heaven. It doesn’t need to be like this. The Temple can be rebuilt, and we can and must play a part. What can we do to build the Third Temple? Our sages laid out a roadmap.

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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 with God and to re-accept His holy Torah. But how do you accept the Torah? What are the prerequisites and necessary criteria for accepting the Torah? To answer those questions we have to study the Sinai Revelation and the events that preceded and succeeded it. In this very special podcast we explore many different dimensions and elements of the festival and the days that it commemorates and discover the essential quality that was needed to accept the Torah initially and the primary way for us to tap into the vast, awesome, spiritual power of Shavuos.

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Lag Ba’Omer is a unique day in the Jewish calendar. It’s a minor festival celebrated in surprising ways for surprising reasons: on this day, the plague that was ravaging the the students of Rabbi Akiva ceased. On this day as well, Rabbi Akiva’s prize student, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochi, died. The death of a great sage is more of a transition to the heavenly academy. Rabbi Shimon, the great cognoscente and promulgator of the Kabbalistic Torah, ascended to heaven on this auspicious day, and therefore, the power of his life, lessons, and teachings is particularly strong on this day. But why is Rabbi Shimon singled out as the day, as the person whose day of transition to the heavenly academy is particularly celebrated? In this interesting podcast, we identify a unique theme strong throughout the life and teachings of Rabbi Shimon that makes his influence and message ever so relevant.

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This special pre-Pesach podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Meir Ben Shmuel Chananya. May his soul be elevated in heaven.

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The festival of Passover commemorates a very ancient event that happened more than 3,300 years ago: the release of the nation from bondage in Egypt in the Exodus. Why is the Exodus relevant to us, living thousands of years later? Why is there a daily commandment to remember the Exodus? Why are there so many important days and mitzvos whose liturgy define as a “remembrance for the Exodus?” Why does the Exodus make so many appearances in our religion? In this very interesting and profound podcast, we share the core insight that serves as the beating heart of this festival and learn valuable life lessons and frameworks that will utterly transform our perception of spiritual and personal development and ascent.

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Everyone loves the festival of Purim. What’s not to love about it? You get dressed up. You make noise when they say Haman. You give gifts to the poor and foodstuffs to your friends. It’s the one time a year you can drink guiltlessly. But what is the essence of the Festival? What are we trying to achieve on Purim? Our Sages tell us something quite inexplicable: The holiness and purity of Purim exceeds that of Yom Kippur. What can they possibly mean by that? In this very sharp and interesting podcast, we share an idea that will completely reshape how you understand this festival and will train you in how to make the most out of this highly auspicious day.

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The Chanukah story is quite dramatic. The world-dominating Greeks were militarily defeated by a prickly pack of Maccabees. Our sages point the focus of the festival to the miracle of the oil when the priests rededicated the temple and cleansed it from all the Greek defilements. They found only a solitary flask of oil. This oil was designed to last only one day, but miraculously it lasted eight. To relive and commemorate this miracle, the Rabbinic Festival of Chanukah was instituted. On each of the eight nights of Chanukah we light a candle to remember the miracle of lights. What really lies behind this mitzvah? What is the actual secret of the Chanukah Menorah? What does our kindling of the Menorah have to do with the miracle that happened 2300 years ago? In this fascinating Chanukah podcast episode, we share a very profound insight that will totally reshape our understanding of the festival and this mitzvah.

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This special Chanukah podcast is dedicated by my dear friend Alex Tannenbaum in loving memory and leilui nishmas his mother, Yocheved Leora bas Menachem, whose birthday fell out on the last day of Chanukah. May her soul be elevated in heaven.

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The holiest day of the year is upon us. The day of Yom Kippur is unmatched and unrivaled by any other. It is a day of elevation. It is a day of purification. It is a day to be cleansed of all of our sins. It is a day to move past all of our trauma. On this day God pledges to forgive us from for all of our sins. But some of us have a hard time connecting with this awesome day. Some of us wish that we can leapfrog this day and move on to the festival of Sukkos. Why do we have such a hard time with this day, and what is there to do about it? In this really superb podcast, we learn about the secrets of this awesome day, and what is actually we need to do so that we merit to partake in its vast, awesome power.

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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 protagonist, Jonah, and of the people of Nineveh. But our Sages let us in on a secret that the Book of Jonah contains a  hidden, kabbalistic story embedded beneath the story – which also teaches us powerful, topical messages for the Day of Atonement.

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Rosh Hashanah marks the day of the creation of Adam on Day Six of Genesis. The creation of Adam facilitated the coronation of God as King. Because Adam was endowed with the choice to accept or reject God, his decision to submit himself to God and his Dominion resulted in the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Rosh Hashanah is thus the day of the creation and re-creation of man, and also the day of the coronation and the re-coronation of God. But what does coronating God in modern times – when the world has gone so far astray from God – look like? In this wonderful podcast, we explore a sharp and incisive essay written by my grandfather of blessed memory. We learn how the forces of evil have occupied the world, dethroning, as it were, God from His proper place. So long as this evil dominates the world, God’s Throne is incomplete. But not all have succumbed to the pitiful usurpers regime. There are still some people who are loyal to God and His rule. We maintain Fidelity to God’s Kingdom in Exile. We are the Resistance.

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DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!

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TORAH 101