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Our double Parsha delineates the implementation phases of the building of the Tabernacle. All the materials are assembled, all the artisans are ready, and the building begins. In this podcast we focus on the construction of one of the vessels of the Tabernacle, the Laver, a copper basin that housed water. Our sages reveal some very interesting things about the origin of this copper, the use of this vessel, and a very interesting disagreement that Moshe had with God about the Laver. What we discover can materially transform and improve our life.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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Is the objective of Torah to constrict us or to allow us to flower? Are we ultimately supposed to curb our uniqueness, our individuality, or are we supposed to find ways to have our uniqueness sprout forth and blossom? One may argue that the Torah is very regimented in its commandments. We are told how to dress and how to eat and much of our daily schedule is compelled upon us by the myriad commandments and plethora of Divine guidances. It seems that we are being told to restrain our uniqueness and instead adopt the way of God. In this fascinating podcast, we discover that, although that is true, that is only the beginning. In the beginning of a spiritual journey, we must firm our standing as a soldier of God. However, once we are secure as a soldier, we must find a ladder to heaven. What that ladder looks like and how to find it, and how to scale its many rungs - those are the questions that we ponder in podcast.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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After the Torah delineates the instructions to assemble the materials for the construction of the Tabernacle in Parshas Terumah and the creation of the vestments of the high priest in Parshas Tetzaveh, Parshas Vayakhel outlines the implementation those plans: The massive fundraising efforts, and the actual building of the Tabernacle and its vessels under the auspices of Bezalel, and Parshas Pekudei wraps up the account of the construction of the Tabernacle, and its vessels and vestments. Again and again we read the refrain that everything was done precisely how God commanded Moses.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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The most shocking, surprising, baffling, and unexpected event in the Torah - and perhaps in all of human history - happens in this week's Parsha. A nation fresh off the greatest experience ever experienced by any Nation, a nation fed by manna and drinking water out of a rock, a nation purported to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a nation that was extracted one nation from another Nation, committed the most grievous, inexplicable, indefensible sin of all: the Jews make the Golden Calf. In this very special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we explore the rationale of this decision. Why did they make the golden calf? Why do they choose that their idol be a bovine? What was their calculus, and why was it flawed? The answer, we propose, relates to the very interesting difference between the sediment-free oil used to kindle the Menorah and the sediment-laden spices and herbs used to make the incense. There's a way up the mountain blazed by Moshe, but if you try to take a shortcut you may fall on your face.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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Not all mitzvos made sense to us. When it comes to the sprawling laws of purity and impurity, we are basically clueless.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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The most calamitous, catastrophic, disastrous event in Jewish history - and arguably the most devastating event in all of human history - happens in our Parsha. A mere 40 days after the exultant, euphoric, transcendental Revelation at Sinai, the nation stoops to a very low nadir: they make a golden calf and begin to worship it. Most surprisingly, a central participant in this debacle was none other than Aaron the high priest. Why would Aaron, one of our nation's greatest men, agree to participate in the deification of a golden calf? By pondering this mystery we will discover both an answer to this puzzling question and a wonderful insight into the nature of reality, and how our perception of reality and the truth may be very different.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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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? These are just some of the questions that are raised in the third and final installment on the introduction of the Sefer HaChinuch in this edition of the TORAH 101 Podcast.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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This Jewish Life

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TORAH 101

Please support the TORCH 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!

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This special Purim Podcast is dedicated by my dear friend Adam Chuckrow in loving memory and leilui nishmas his grandmother Hadassah bat Yosef who passed away last Purim, so her firs Yartzeit is this Purim. May her Soul be elevated in Heaven.

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The Purim story is revisited and relived each year, when we read the Book of Esther, offer gifts to the poor, deliver food to our neighbors, enjoy a festive banquet, and drink a bit more than we typically do. The story goes back 2,500 years to a time when our nation was an exile in Persia and a genocidal maniac named Haman tried to exterminate Jewish people. In this special Purim podcast, we try to go a bit behind the scenes, and to see a bit of the story behind the story the of what happened in Persia and what the primary takeaway of the festival is supposed to be.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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This Jewish History Podcast is dedicated in loving memory and leilui nishmas Maury Magids, Michael Ben Shmuel and Yehudit, whose Yartzeit falls out on the 6th of Adar. May his Soul be elevated in Heaven

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The Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Hakohen Kagan, was one of the most renowned and influential Jews of modern times. He did not serve in any official capacity, and his influence reverberated the world over. His personal piety was legendary. He was a saint, a veritable angel walking amongst men. His literary contributions altered the landscape of Jewish life. The modern sensitivity to all to all forms of Lashon Hara can be attributed to him. His monumental Mishnah Berurah systematized and clarified and organized practical Jewish law. His many other writings were vitally important to help the Jews of his time, and their impact and influence continues until this day. This is the story of the life, piety, and works of the Chofetz Chaim.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: [email protected]

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

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The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

Please support the Parsha Podcast by donating to our annual fundraiser at giveTORCH.org

This is our only annual fundraiser.

Every donation is DOUBLED!

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This week’s parsha contains several instructions related to the Tabernacle, but the majority of the parsha is dedicated to arguably the most shocking and troubling episode in the whole Torah, the Golden Calf. Forty days after the nation reached the pinnacle of human accomplishment – a national revelation at Sinai – the same nation committed what seems on the surface to be idolatry.

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DONATE to TORCH: 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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Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: [email protected]

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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

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The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101