Torah 101 - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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? […]

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 […]

In his commentary to Mishnah, Rambam (Maimonides) offers a fascinating overview of the subjects of the Afterlife, Resurrection, Messiah, Paradise, and Olam Haba (the world to come). This is arguably the single greatest essay on these exotic, esoteric, and arcane subjects. In this podcast, we address the first section of this magisterial essay. We read […]

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 […]

Why did God give us such a precious and holy and profound Torah? Wouldn’t it be enough to give us some simple rules to live by? Why is our nation chosen above all other nations? Shouldn’t all humans be the same? These are some very advanced question and one that our sages reveal deep insights […]

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 […]