Explore every episode of the podcast This Jewish Life - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

The festival of Sukkos is called “the time of our joy.” The entire festival is associated with joy. Sitting in the Sukkah is joyous, shaking the Lulav is joyous, the traditional celebratory festivities are known as the “Joy of the Drawing.” Why are these days so intimately associated with joy? In this special podcast, we […]

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 […]

Yom Kippur is a day of atonement and expiation. On this auspicious day, the Almighty forgives us for all our transgressions and we become purified before God. But the purification of Yom Kippur is limited to sins between man and God. For interpersonal transgressions, there is no atonement unless the aggressor appeases and secures forgiveness […]

God showered humanity with endless gifts: the ability to see, to hear, to walk, to taste, to think, to make choices, to become closer to Him. The list is very long. One of the greatest gifts that God gave humanity is the ability to repent. When we err, when we make blunders, when we go […]

Rush Hashanah is a day of judgment. On this day, God sits, as it were, on His Throne of Judgment. The intensity and scrutiny of divine judgment is unfathomable. Even the angels quake and quiver with trepidation. For some, the results of the judgment are instantaneous: the completely righteous are immediately inscribed and sealed into […]

Mitzvos have infinite value. There is no experience that we can have in this world that matches the reward in the world to come for a single mitzvah. But not all mitzvos are the same. Some contain more power than others. And even within a single mitzvah, there are infinite gradients of degrees of devotion […]

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 […]

Death and the afterlife are foreign, and often terrifying, subjects. Naturally, most of us tend to try to avoid thinking about it too much. This is exactly what allows the evil inclination to deceive and mislead us. It’s an important subject to the well-upon, though too much morbid fascination can be counterproductive. In part 2 […]

Sooner or later, we all are required to drink from the bitter portion of death. As a result of the sin of Adam, death is the fate of all mankind. But what happens afterwards? What happens in the afterlife? In that, we are all different. The state of a person after they pass depends completely […]

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 […]

The sorcerer/prophet of the nations, Balaam, sought to curse the Israelites, but his attempts were thwarted. The Talmud reveals some very interesting elements of his botched effort. Had he succeeded in cursing the nation, there would have been nothing left. He would have achieved total devastation. In this very interesting and informative podcast, we study […]

It takes years to develop a taste for prayer. Prayer is described in our sources as “service of the heart.” Service of any sort is difficult for us, and most of us are not attuned enough to our hearts to even understand what service of the heart means. Prayer is a foundational pillar of our […]

There are two wives – two women whose names we don’t even know – who caused seismic, tectonic shifts in the fates and the fortunes of their husbands, their families, their tribes, and the nation at large. 254 men were part of the Korach rebellion against Moshe and Aaron. 253 of them perished. On(e) survived […]

We recite the three paragraphs of the Shema twice a day. The third paragraph contains the mitzvah of placing tzitzis fringes on the corner of our garments, and to wrap the fringes with a cord of blue-dyed wool. In this interesting podcast we share the fascinating and controversial history of the ancient blue dye, and […]

Envy is a deadly sin, and it’s almost entirely unavoidable. Our Sages that “Envy extracts a person from the world.” It causes a person to be severed from the world. But there is so much cause for envy wherever we turn. In every area of life, there is rank inequality. Other people have things that […]

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 deep appreciation to the Almighty for all that He has bestowed upon us, I am happy to share that Chaya and I we are blessed with a healthy baby boy this past week. Thank God, mom and the baby are doing phenomenal. On Friday night, the community was invited to our house for a […]

We are incredibly fortunate to be included amongst the Jewish people. We are incredibly fortunate to be raised with a strong sense of Torah and Torah values, and a deep appreciation for the critical and indispensable mission that our nation was entrusted with at Sinai. We are fortunate to be descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and […]

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 […]

The hardest part of reaching space is the first moment of liftoff, getting the first inch off the ground. The second inch is still hard, but a little bit easier. The first bit of liftoff serves as momentum for the second inch. In our pursuit of spiritual and personal greatness, we are trying to achieve […]

The Talmud describes Messiah as a Metzora (one stricken with tzaraas) bandaging his bandages outside of the gates of Rome. Why is the messiah described as an outcast, as a leper, ostracized from society? Why is Messiah hanging out in Rome, of all places? Shouldn’t he be in a location more associated with our people? Shouldn’t […]

This special pre-Pesach podcast is dedicated in loving memory of Meir Ben Shmuel Chananya. May his soul be elevated in heaven. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – The festival of Passover commemorates a very ancient event that happened more […]

Angels are way loftier than us, right? They’re totally spiritual, they cannot possibly sin, they are messengers of God. We, on the other hand, are mortal, fallible, pitiful humans. That’s not necessarily the case. Our Sages tell us that the human soul is much loftier than the Angels. Our inborn holiness dwarfs that of our […]

None of us admire the people who lose it in a fit of rage. We like we look up to the people who are calm, cool and collected. The people who comport themselves with dignity and nobility and are always in control of themselves. Rage is not a productive attribute. People don’t accomplish things when […]

The Laver was one of the vessels in the Tabernacle. It was a copper basin that housed water that was emitted from spouts. The priests would wash their hands and feet before entering the Tabernacle and before doing any service in the Tabernacle. Our sages reveal some very interesting things about the origin of this […]

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 […]

Mistakes are endemic to the human condition. All humans make mistakes. Even the titans of our history like Moshe, Aaron, and Joshua made mistakes. Only God is error-free. In this interesting – and maybe a tad controversial – podcast, we take a look at the unusual path of ascent of Moshe’s successor, Joshua. Joshua was […]

The Exodus was for keeps. Although Pharaoh regretted his decision to allow the Israelites to leave and chased them down, setting up a stand-off at the Sea of Reeds, once the sea split for the Israelites and crashed down upon the Egyptians, the Israelites were forever freed from the clutches of Egyptian bondage. Following that […]

The Exodus was not one-and-done. It remains an ever-present, indispensable part of our religion. We are commanded to recall the Exodus every single day. There are many festivals and days of note dedicated to remembering and reliving the Exodus. There are many mitzvos that orient around the exodus. The prominent centrality of the Exodus needs […]

We all aspire to accomplish great things. The Almighty surely did not create us to be mediocre. We’re here to make something of ourselves; to achieve grand ambitions. What is the most effective way to accomplish that? In this very unique podcast, you will learn a very interesting, provocative, delightful, and a bit startling insight […]

Our nation has two houses of monarchy: Joseph and Judah. Joseph was, of course, king of Egypt. David, king of Israel, descended from the tribe of Judah. Following David, all legitimate kings of our people descended from the Davidic line from the tribe of Judah. Our nation is yearning for Messiah. Our sages tell us […]

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 […]

The saga of Joseph dominates the end of Genesis. Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son, but is hated by his brothers. They don’t view Joseph as someone worthy of keeping around, so they conspire to kill him and ultimately settle for selling him as a slave. In the end, Joseph achieves greatness that surpasses that of […]

We all want to ascend to great heights. We all hope that we can accomplish our potential and unlock our opportunities. We all yearn for self-actualization and development. But it seems that the path of ascent is invariably bumpy. It seems that an ascent to great heights must entail numerous falls along the way. The […]

Nothing is as critical to one’s spiritual development as to finding our a good teacher.A good teacher can educate, can inform, can direct, can inspire, can place a student on the right path for them. But how does a student integrate the teachings and the guidance of their teacher within themselves? What are the different […]

Our character traits fall into three categories: The ones that are easily changeable with minimal effort. The ones that can be changed, but it requires much more intense and concerted effort because they are much more deeply rooted. The character flaws that are not changeable; they are hardwired and fixed in place. What do we […]

Torah is not supposed to be a detached, academic study. The Almighty gave us a Torah as the authoritative guide for living the most elevated and rich life possible. The Creator of all of created existence endowed humanity with with the guidance for how to live a most meaningful and uplifting life. The First Gate […]

A thick wall separates the world of Torah from the world outside of it. Those who are outside have no concept of the wondrous nature of that world. Even people who are Torah observant – who are Orthodox – can be totally ignorant of this most magnificent world. Even someone who is privileged to be […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Repentance is one of God’s great gifts to humanity. The ability to move past our mistakes, to cleanse ourselves from our previous trauma, to expunge sin and any of its after effects is indeed a great gift. But this gift may come with some scary packaging. We are all a bit intimidated with the notion […]

The judgment on Rosh Hashanah is comprehensive: every single human has his or her moment of judgment before God. Even the dead are judged again each year. The judgment covers not only our behavior with respect to fulfilling our obligations to God, it also covers interpersonal matters. If we are meritorious, we will be forgiven […]

Preparing for the High Holidays can be daunting. How can anyone adequately prepare for standing in judgment in front of the Heavenly tribunal? But prepare we must. The month of Elul is designated for preparing for the awesome days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Our Sages took these days very seriously and were completely […]

We are on the doorstep of the month of mercy, the month that precedes the high holidays, the month of Elul. The high holidays are very significant and auspicious days, and it is imperative that we prepare for them. How ought we prepare? What are the particular points of emphasis that we should stress during […]

We all want to live long. But how long is a long life? Centenarians are still rare. Global life expectancy is around 70 years old. In healthier, richer countries, maybe 80. But when you open up Scripture, you find ages an order of magnitude larger. Adam lived to 930. Methuselah to 969. How do we […]

The ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar. All manner of calamities and tragedies and disasters befell our people on this day. On this day the nation was condemned to wonder in the wilderness for 40 years. On this day both Temples were destroyed. On this […]

Some subjects are way too dicey address publicly – electrified third rail subjects which zap anyone who approaches it. But Blake Cohen is not afraid of third rails. In fact, he recently launched a podcast that is dedicated exclusively to the untouchable “Third Rails” of Judaism. Fittingly, his show was called “Third Rail Judaism”, where […]

Perhaps the most controversial and divisive subject that dominates Israeli society today is the question of the blanket army exemption given to Yeshiva students. Someone whose Torah is their profession is entitled to defer and ultimately bypass mandatory constriction to the IDF. What is the rationale for this exemption? Why are the ultra-orthodox (Chareidi) communities […]

What would a comprehensive and rigorous regimen of Torah study look like? Suppose someone wants to really become a Torah maestro. What would be a fitting schedule of course work for them to become a well-rounded Torah scholar? Torah is the antidote to the evil inclination. How much Torah and how many Torah domains and […]