Explore every episode of the podcast The Parshah on Fire

Get ready for one of the Jewish world’s most prolific writers lecturers and communicators of Torah wisdom and thought. Reb Daniel Glatstein has a lot to say and he is certainly not afraid to say it.

Balak was mysteriously rewarded with having a granddaughter named Rus who ended up giving birth to Dovid Hamlech. How in the world does that make any sense?

Do enough people do Kiruv?

We’ve been taught since fourth grade that the Parah Adumah is beyond human intelligence and we can get nothin inspirational out of it. Is that really true?

There have been many sinners in the Jewish people's time in the desert. All were punished. Some were killed. But none recieved a punishment anyware close to the bizarre phenomenon that swalloed Korach whole. Why is that? What was so different about Korach that propelled God to decree that a normal punishmant would not suffice? The answer might surprise you.

Are there more kids going off the derech these days? If yes why? Are there more young couples getting divorced today? If yes why? Are people working on themselves to become better people? If not why? Listen to this fascinating podcast to find out why.

What exactly did the spies do wrong? The answer might surprise you.

The sin of the Twelve Spies had more negative ramifications than any other sin in the entire Torah. It wiped out the entire generation. It prolonged the building of the Beis Hamikdash for hundreds of years. It gave birth to what is now called Tisha B'av; the saddest day of the Jewish year. The question is what was so bad about what the Twelve Tribes did? How do their actions explain the amount of pain and bloodshed that they brought about? The answer might surprise you.

A little wartime chizzuk

The Jews strangely complain about cucumbers.

Why do some things go after the woman in Judaism and some things go after the man? Is it all random or is there a method to the madness?

Why is it that certain times in Judaism we go after one's mother while other times we go after one's father. One's tribe, one's name, one's inheritance goes after one's father. One's Jewishness and one's firstborn status goes after the mother. Is there a rhyme and reason or is it merely arbitrary? The answer might surpirse you.

Why do we seem to divide the Jewish people with 12 tribes? Why can’t we just have one tribe?

How are Jews still around.

Everybody knows why we celebrate Lag Ba’Omer. But do we really? You might be surprised.

What was so bad with the behavior of Reb Akiva's Talmidim that warranted the mass death of 24,000 people? The answer might surprise you.

Much like the rest of nature, man is immensely selfish. We spend almost 96% of our brainpower thinking about ourselves. That being the case, how is it possible to love someone the same way you love yourself? The answer might surprise you.

The Torah brought the world the kindest book ever written. So why weren’t handicapped people allowed to work in the Bais Hamikdash? What happened to our kindness?

The very first step in V'ahavta L'reacha Kamocha is loving oneself. Proper self-love is the ultimate prerequisite to loving others. What does Jewish self-love look like?

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All 410 years of the first Bais Hamikdash were credited to Aharon. Why? What was it about him specifically? The answer might surprise you.

No sin in the entire Torah is given as much attention as the sin of Loshon Hara/gossip. It is the Proverbial mother of all sins. The King of Iniquities. The question is why? Why is it so bad? How did it climb the mountain of sin and plant itself on the top? The answer might surprise you.

How could the children of the Kohen Gadol act so disobediently on the first day of the Mishkan's installment? The answer might surprise you.

I recently narrowly escaped a fire. Here's my takeaway.

Is there something magical and mystical about those ancient Karbanos- sacrifices, or is there perhaps something about them far simpler? The answer might make you think.

Every single time Hashem spoke to Moshe he would first call out to him with a "Vayikra". Yet the Torah only mentions it in three places. Why? The answer might inspire you.

Contained in the building of the Mishkan was a remarkable lesson for Jews throughout history.

How do I tie in suicide, shipwrecks and Japanese bullet trains? Listen to find out.

How did these simple Jews in the desert learn the skills required to build the Mishkan; an extremely intricate and sophisticated building? Weren't these Jews mere slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years? From where did they get the architectural know how to build this complicated building? The answer might surprise you!

How could the Jews, who just prior witnessed God split a Sea and then talk to them from atop a mountain, possibly bow down to a golden calf. What in the world were they thinking? And why did they choose a calf of all animals to serve? Why not something a little more powerful? Like a polar bear or a Komodo dragon? Why a calf? The answer might surprise you. 

What were those shiny little jiggling bells doing on the bottom of the Kohen Gadol's robe? What purpose did they serve?  What role did they play? The answer might surprise you.

The Jews were instructed to build a largely wooden Mishkan in the middle of a barren, lifeless desert. Where exactly did they get the wood from? The answer might surprise you. 

How is it expected that we believe in God when some of the smartest philosophers ever, didn't?

What exactly are we celebrating on Tu B’Shvat? The answer might surprise you.

Everyone knows that 600,000 Jews left Egypt. What is far less known is that 2.4 million Jews did not. What happened to those people? Why didn't they make it out alive? The answer might surprise you.

Ever wonder what exactly Pharo saw in us that drove him literally to the brink of insanity? What did the villains of history see in the Jews that filled them with such rage? How does one explain the Jew’s unbelievably unparalleled ability to invoke the passionate hatred of virtually every significant country in world history? What is it about the Jew? The answer may surprise you.

When Moshe approached the Jews in Egypt with the news that Hashem would be taking them out and setting them free his words fell on deaf ears. Why was that? Shouldn't the Jews, who were tortured and abused, have been thrilled to hear Moshe's glimmer of hope? The answer might surprise you.

The names of the books of the Torah all encapsulate all that's contained within them. The odd one out is Sefer Shemos. Names? How does that encapsulate all that transpired within it? The answer might surprise you.

Every Friday night for thousands of years we have been blessing our sons to be like Ephraim and Menashe. Why do we choose them as the two figures we hope our children emulate? Why don't we tell our children to become like Yehuda and Levi or Yissachar and Zevulun or Reuvain and Shimon? What's so special about Ephraim and Menashe? The answer might surprise you.

Ever wonder why Yosef didn't relieve his father of the pain he was in by telling him he was alive? Why did he wait so long? The answer might surprise you.

Mark Twain famously wrote in 1897 "All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret to his immortality?" What is the answer to his question?

I believe the answer is embedded in Chanukah.

No story in the entire Torah is given more real estate than the story of Yosef. Why is that? The answer might surprise you.

Our entire existence in Egypt, the slavery, the miracles, and the exodus can all be traced to one action; Yakov giving Yosef a special coat. This coat caused the brothers to be jealous of Yosef which in turn made them sell him as a slave, which led to Yosef landing in Egypt etc. The obvious question is what was Yakov thinking by giving one son a special coat and not the others. Isn't this violating the most basic rule of child-rearing; Don't show favoritism. Why did Yakov do this? The answer may surprise you.

In the most famous boxing match in the history of the world, Yakov battles the Angel of Eisav. Ever wonder why the Angel started up with Yakov precisely as he was about to make peace with Eisav? Why specifically then? And even stranger, after Yakov finishes the fight and gets severely wounded by the Angel he asks the Angel to bless him. Why would you ask your enemy, who just made you permanently crippled to bless you? The answer might surprise you.

After Yakov's famous dream, he erects a monument memorializing his spiritual experience and he takes out a bottle of olive oil and pours it on top of the monument. Ever wonder why he did that? Why is the Torah filled with stories of us anointing monuments and kings by pouring some extra virgin olive oil on their heads? What are we trying to accomplish? The answer might surprise you.

This will absolutely change the way you look at Shabbos. From suicide stats to Beethoven to pirates to Alaska and Bangkok and Japan we cover it all in this Podcast

Isn't it bizarre that a lot of the Jewish people's leaders grew up in homes that had horrible influences all around them? Rivka grew up as the sister of one of history's worst con artists Lavan. Yitchok's brother was the adulterous and idolatrous Yishmael. Yakov's brother was the serial murderer Eisav. Yosef spent most of his life alone in Egypt and eventually married an Egyptian woman. Moshe grew up as the adopted son of Pharo and married a local priest's daughter. Why is this? Shouldn't Hashem want the future leaders of the Jewish people to have upbringings within the Jewish community, unexposed to any negative influences? The answer might surprise you.

We all know that our Matriarch Sarah was a holy, pure, and loving woman. But why doesn't the Torah mention that explicitly? Why only allude to it? The answer might surprise you.

In one of the strangest moments in the Torah, Lot's wife turns into a pillar of salt after looking back and watching the destruction of the city of Sodom. What in the world is the big deal with watching this sulfur and fire apocalypse? Why did Hashem care that she looked back? The answer might surprise you.

The giant Og gleefully ran to tell Avraham that his Nephew Lot was captured by the mighty kings hoping that Avraham would go attack them, get killed in the process and Og could then marry Avraham's wife Sara. What was Og thinking? How crazy did he think Avraham, an old sage, was to wage war on a group of mighty and brutal kings? The answer might surprise you.

We were all taught as children that Avraham was the first to discover monotheism. But was he? Wasn't it Noach? Wasn't Noach the lone believer in a corrupt world? The answer might surprise you.