In preparation for the upcoming festival of Chanukah, the TORCH Podcasters gathered together in the TORCH Centre to discuss the upcoming days of light. Each of us shared an idea about Chanukah and how to make the most of these days. If you want to experience a convivial, collegial, conversation about Chanukah with the Podcasters of TORCH, now is your chance.

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

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The most noteworthy days of Month of Kislev are the days of Chanukah that begin on the 25th of Kislev and stretch into the following month of Teves. Chanukah celebrates the victory of the Jewish people over the Greeks and the restoration and the reinauguration of the Temple. But what is the secret of this month? On a deep, spiritual level, what exactly were the Greeks seeking and how did the Jews thwart them? In this exquisite podcast, Rabbi Shmuly Botnick  weaves a masterful tapestry of Torah and Kabballah revealing the secret and the mystery of this month. He takes us on a riveting journey through some of the most consequential events of our history and shows how they all intersect and interconnect with the themes and energy of the month. If you want to plumb the depths of Kislev, join us for this thrilling, dizzying ride.

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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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In this podcast you will learn something that is simultaneously exhilaratingly exciting and angst-inducingly terrifying. You will learn how someone can have a winning lottery ticket and fail to cash it. You will learn about the small trigger that is needed to actualize our blessings and potential. This is a very important lesson that we need to learn, absorb, and integrate into our behavior.

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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TORAH 101

Each of the twelve months in the Jewish calendar contain a unique spiritual energy and power. The power of each month, encapsulated in a zodiac sign, is often represented in the holidays, festivals, and noteworthy days of said month. The month that just concluded, Tishrei, is jam packed with days of note: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeres, Simchas Torah. The month that we are just beginning, Cheshvan, contains no obvious days of import. But every month has its secrets and mysteries. In this special edition of the podcast, we invited Rabbi Shmuly Botnick to take us on a journey to the depths of the month of Cheshvan. Boy, did he deliver!

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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TORAH 101

The Sukkah that we dwell in for 7 days is a reenactment of the Clouds of Glory that enshrouded the nation for 40 years. Starting right after the Exodus, the nation was cocooned in miraculous clouds. These clouds flattened mountains, filled in valleys, and eliminated any threats. The clouds signal journeys, cleaned and ironed clothes, and blanketed the nation with defensive invisibility against their enemies. How exactly our sukkah resembles the clouds of Glory is a great mystery. In this very special podcast, we propose a novel approach to understanding the festival of Sukkot, the sukkah, and what exactly we are supposed to achieve over the course of this 7-Day festival and the Shemini Atzeres endcap.

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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TORAH 101

In honor of the festival of Sukkot, I gathered together with some of my TORCH podcaster colleagues to chat about the festival, it’s meaning, and lessons. Each one of us got an opportunity to share an idea on the festival, and to promote our respective podcast(s). In a decision that compromised the audio quality, we recorded inside a Sukkah, exposed to the elements and to all manner of ambient noise. If you are interested in being a fly on the wall of our Sukkah and can tolerate a suboptimal audio experience, this podcast is for you.

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101

Yom Kippur is the greatest day of the year. The name of book of Talmud that orients around Yom Kippur is Yoma, meaning “Day.” This is The Day when everything changes. On this day, the Almighty is close to us. On this day, He extends purification and forgiveness to us. On this day, God purifies us from all of our sins. This is the day when we can transform ourselves in an outsized, asymmetric manner. On this day, a small effort goes a very, very, long way. This day is like an elevator: with one push of the button we can ascend to heavenly heights! But it demands some work on our part. Yom Kippur is a magical, alchemical day, but it is conditional on us doing our part. In this special pre-Yom Kippur podcast, we lay out what are the costs that we need to pay to earn the alchemy of Yom Kippur. The price may be steep, but compared to what we get for it, it is the opportunity of a lifetime. This is not the day to squander. In this podcast, we learn what we need to do.

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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TORAH 101

One of the most mysterious elements of the Yom Kippur ceremony is the scapegoat ceremony. The High priest took two identical male goats and made a lottery, one was offered as a sacrifice to God in the Temple, and the other one was a scapegoat, upon which the sins of the nation were conferred and whose destiny was to be chucked off a cliff in barren desert. this was a central part of the Yom Kippur services when the Temple was extant, and even today it is incorporated into the Mussaf prayer on this holiest of days. What is the meaning of the scapegoat? What is the secret of the scapegoat? What lessons can we glean from this process that will enhance our understanding of Yom Kippur and what we are supposed to be trying to do? In preparation for Yom Kippur, we explore and examine this strange – frankly baffling – ritual, and uncover insights that get to the heart of what Yom Kippur is and how we can make the most of it.

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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TORAH 101

Our Sages enumerates a list of seven things that preceded the world. Included in this list is repentance. Why was it necessary to create repentance before the creation of the world? In this podcast we speculate an answer: repentance is a supernatural miracle that thoroughly violates the rules of this world, and therefore once the world would have been created, repentance can no longer be created. It is such an outlier, it is such a miracle, it is so wondrous and unprecedented, that there is no way to have created it post creation of the world. In this podcast – as we experience the Ten Days of Repentance spanning Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur – we explore the eight wonders of repentance. When you finish listening you will emerge with a renewed understanding and appreciation for the value and the miraculous nature of repentance.

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

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This Jewish Life

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TORAH 101

On the night of Rosh Hashana in Jewish homes the world over, a strange set of customs are observed. We take an apple, dip it into honey, and declare that we should have a sweet new year. We take a pomegranate, disgorge it’s seeds, consume them and pray that we be filled with merits like a pomegranate is replete with seeds. This ceremony continues with cabbage, squash, carrots, a head of fish for those who are brave enough, and many more ceremonial foods. What is the secret behind this very unusual custom? What is the meaning behind this strange ritual? What are some of the lessons that we can learn from the auspicious omens associated with foods? In this special pre-Rosh Hashana podcast we explored the meaning and the mystery of the ceremonial foods and fruits that we eat on the nights of Rosh Hashana., emerging armed with a keener understanding of the day and with tools to make the most of it.

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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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SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletter

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SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe’s Podcasts

The Parsha Podcast

The Jewish History Podcast

The Mitzvah Podcast 

This Jewish Life

The Ethics Podcast

TORAH 101