Starting from the second day of Passover, we count the Omer. For 7 weeks of 7 days a piece -- 49 days -- we count. Once the count is completed, the festival of Shavuos is upon us. What exactly is the meaning of this interesting Mitzvah? The subject gets trickier when you examine how the Torah frames this Mitzvah. The counting does not begin on the first day of Passover, rather on the second day of Passover when a special barley meal offering is brought in the Temple, and it concludes with the bringing of a wheat flour offering. What is the significance of these two offerings? In this very special podcast we uncover one of the core themes of this time of the year, an idea that will enhance our Omer and truthfully our spiritual lives.

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A very large percentage of Torah is dedicated to the laws of purity and impurity. This week's double Parshas of Tazria and Metzora largely deal with these laws. One variant of impurity that is discussed in both parshas is that of a metzora, A metzora is someone who is stricken with the tangible illness of tzaraas caused by a variety of sins, most notably the sin of lashon hara, evil talk and slander. In Parshas Tazria we read about when it strikes a person’s garment or body; and the bulk of Parshas Metzora orients around tzaraas remediation and a third type of tzaraas that afflicts the sinner's house.

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Assembling and disassembling the Tabernacle was a difficult task that Moshe repeated for seven days. Each morning he placed the vertical beams into their silver sockets, and affixed the golden rings on the top of the beams. He placed the horizontal bars that went on each side of the vertical beams, including the snaking bar that went through turned corners. He covered the Tabernacle with the four different covers, and arranged the whole courtyard. It was lots of work and Moshe did it himself seven days in a row, assembling the Tabernacle each morning, and then disassembling it once the day's work was finished. Wouldn't it be easier to simply assemble it once for good? In this very special Parsha podcast, we explore the curious week of inauguration of the Tabernacle.

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This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in honor of a new baby: Yosef Simcha Borowsky, the new son of our dear friends David and Chana Borowsky. On behalf of the entire Parsha Podcast family and the extended TORCH family we wish them a hearty Mazal Tov on Yosef Simcha. May Yosef Simcha indeed add joy to his family and to the entire Jewish nation and become a beacon of light who brings honor and glory to his family and to his people, and of course to his Creator.

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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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Nadav and Avihu were the crown princes of the Jewish nation. These two sons were slated to succeed Moshe and Aaron. Moshe declared, without hyperbole, that his two nephews, Nadav and Avihu, were greater than he and Aaron. These two sons of Aaron were without peer. Yet they acted in an inexplicable manner: On the eighth day of the inauguration of the Tabernacle, Nadav and Avihu brought an unauthorized offering and died in shocking fashion. What possessed these two exemplars to behave in the way that they did? What do we make of the multiplicity of reasons offered by our Sages for their errant behavior? In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast we offer a novel explanation of what motivated Nadav and Avihu that neatly explains what we know about this shocking and tragic episode.

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After months of preparation and building, and a week of inauguration, the nation was anticipating the climax of the Tabernacle experience: When God finally rested His Presence upon the people’s handiwork. On the eighth day the Tabernacle was erected for good, and a Heavenly fire consumed the various sacrifices offered upon the Altar and the nation experienced the euphoria and intense trepidation of having God in their midst. But a second divine fire marred the joy when Aaron’s two sons were consumed for bringing a foreign and improper offering.

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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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Matzah is a tricky food. It is made with the same ingredients as bread ; the only difference is the speed of how they are processed. The Torah tells us that we must guard the matzos to prevent them from turning into chametz. Our sages tell us that this applies not only to matzos, but also to The thing that is spelled the same way in Hebrew, Mitzvos. Mitzvah opportunities come as dough that needs to be baked. If you stick around and wait for too long, the dough will leaven and the opportunity will sour. When a Mitzvah opportunity strikes, you mustn't tarry even for a moment. In this special Yartzeit podcast, I share a remarkable story about my grandfather Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe's fulfillment of this idea.

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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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A top of the altar were fires that were never extinguished for hundreds of years. What was the nature of these fires? What were they made up of? How are they different than other fires? When we examine the sources, we discovered that there were multiple types of fires, including a special, Divine fire that descended from heaven. When we probe the subject we discover some fascinating, powerful insights.

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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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On the first day of a Kohein's tenure doing service in the Temple, they bring a once-in-a-lifetime offering: a meal-offering that is almost identical to the daily meal-offering offered by the High Priest. This offering is classified by the Torah as the offering of Aaron and his sons. When we analyze this unique meal offering, we discover some very interesting and surprising things that pave the way for a very fascinating analysis and study. Some people think that the Book of Leviticus is not so practical for us; this podcast dispels that notion.

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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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TORAH 101