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The Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection is the one-stop shop for the Torah inspiration shared by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe in one simple feed. The Jewish Inspiration Podcast, Parsha Review Podcast, Thinking Talmudist Podcast, Living Jewishly Podcast and Unboxing Judaism Podcast all in one convenient place. Enjoy!
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Parsha Review Podcast
Good morning, everybody. It's so wonderful to be here this beautiful Friday morning in Houston, Texas. I Want to begin by dedicating today's class to Hanan and Hindi Frostbaum. I don't know who they are, but my daughter Called me this weekend. She says I need to tell you something really special She said my daughter, you know, she does hair services wigs, etc hair cutting and one of her
one of the women who came to pick up or drop off a Shaitan got they got into somehow some into some conversation and she mentioned that she listens to some podcast from a rabbi in Houston So my daughter says who she says rabbi Wolby. She says which rabbi will be she says she pulls it up on her phone She says on my way walking here. I was listening. I've been listening to his podcast for a very long time
Particularly the Parsha podcast so I was very honored by that and to me. It's it's a great I don't I never ever know who's listening. I have no idea who's listening and Baruch Hashem. We just finished 2025 and We had a remarkable remarkable Incline in our listenership in 2025 something to the scale of I think a 45% growth overall Which is which is obscene and I'm there you go high-five and Baruch Hashem, so I want to thank Hanan and Hindi for being such
Dedicated listeners and I want to bless them and all of our listeners to have magnificent Learnings through the Torah that everything that we learn everything that we are inspired by should influence us Should should hopefully make an impact on each and every one of us. I say this to myself because You know, I I don't teach Messages for you. I love you all. It's great to see your beautiful faces
But I teach things that are meaningful to me so that I can learn and I can grow and thank you for joining me on that journey So it really is very very special when I'm able to hear that people are Listening and that people are and those of you who are listening out there, please reach out I'd love to get get your feedback things you agree with things You don't agree with sit things you enjoy things you don't enjoy. So I hope you enjoy the following
Idea on this week's parasha parashas vayekhi we know the famous part of this week's parasha is Jacob is about to die. And what does he do before he dies? He doesn't gather his family and say hey guys, let's hold hands and let's sing kumbaya No, he gives blessings and what type of blessings that does he give he gives each and every one a different unique blessing Emphasizing the
Specialty the uniqueness the talents of each and every one and I think that that number one is a very very important thing to notice pay attention and to implement in our lives and that is Every single child is different Don't try to raise your children. This is the cookie cutter You know stamp and that's the way I want all of my children to look like no Every child is unique. Every child is special. Every child has talents that are so incredible Help them all
Help them all come to the surface help them all reach their potential That's our job as parents and I think that that you know, we we sort of live in a society where people think about equality Judaism does not believe in equality the way the world thinks of equality the world thinks of equality as equal outcome That's not true in Judaism. We we go by equal potential not equal outcome Equal potential not equal outcome. Yes, everyone deserves to have opportunity But the results that's everyone is different
Everyone is unique. Everyone is special and we don't want to take that away from our children that they have to be like their friends They have to be like the rest of their class. They have to be like the rest of their community They have to be unique. They have to be special. Nobody should limit your your child or our own Trajectory nobody should limit it. We should do everything we can to bring out our uniqueness and shine in the world
Okay, so that's piece number one. I think it's very important when we talk about education education is not a one-size-fits-all education is not meant to be a Simple journey of like this is what we do to look at each child Uniquely you have to look at each child with a special love Bringing out their potential and connecting to this is an incredible insight That I learned this week about the blessings that Jacob gives to his grandchildren Ephraim and Menashe in the in
chapter number 48 Memchis Pesach of verse number 20, it says by your work and by Yom HaHu and Jacob blessed them on that day. Laymore saying as follows. Behoi Yivarich Yisrael, Laymore By you shall Israel bless That means that forever when we bless our children we bless them exactly the way Jacob blessed Ephraim and Menashe. What is that? May God make you like Ephraim and Menashe and he put Ephraim before Menashe That's what the verse says. Yisimcha olehim k'Ephraim haMenashe, vayosim es Ephraim lefne Menashe
We can get into all the details of why he put Ephraim before Menashe, but the point that I'm trying to focus on now is Behoi Yivarich Yisrael Specifically when we bless our children, this is a an age-old tradition that parents bless their children every Friday night At a young lady Who said to me after she became religious and we would you know, just like recalling all of the stories and all of the
Experiences that she had on her journey. So I said what actually did it for you? Like what at what point did you say? That's what I want. I want to be Shomer Shabbos. I want to keep kosher I want to have family purity in my marriage. When did that epiphany take place? And she said I once saw you bless your children Friday night at the meal right before the meal And she said ah, that's what I want It's a very powerful thing for us to bless our children
When do we have in the world out there an opportunity to just bless our children? See we just came off the heels of we had Thanksgiving at the end of November we had other legal holidays that were celebrated around the world where families get together and they have like their once a year get together of the Whole family we have that every single Shabbos in Judaism Hashem gives us the opportunity to have a Thanksgiving every single Shabbos where we get together with our family and we wine and we
Dine and we do all of the lovely beautiful delicious things that we want to do with her with our loved ones What do we do at that time? We take a moment to bless our children So why specifically in the name of Ephraim and Menashe the two children of Joseph? So there are multiple reasons given number one is that? They they utilized their talents They utilize their talents and they became the fullest They could possibly become even more they've they outdid their potential
Our sages tell us that Ephraim and Menashe one learned with Joseph the father and one learned with Jacob their grandfather when he came down to Egypt They became they were very very scholarly. They were very wise. They were great great Jewish examples But I say just tell us another reason it's because if you look in the history There hasn't been a very good Relationship between brothers We see Cain and Abel the first set of brothers one killed the other
We see throughout history Abraham had two children Isaac and Ishmael didn't work. So well Isaac had two children Jacob and Asaph didn't either work Jacob had multiple children and we know what happened there where they sold their brother to Egypt and we see that there's constantly this this conflict because Jacob could have blessed them saying you should be like Abraham. You should be like Isaac you should be like me. You should be like my son Joseph You should be like Moses like David No
Specifically the choy of our Israel the future of the Jewish people. They will bless their children to be like you Ephraim and Menashe Why? Because they had a special harmony that was unique It was unique Okay. I Want to share with you another? outstanding idea. Oh so another thing a third reason is because the Ephraim and Menashe Where did they grow up? Where were they born? They were born their passport said Egypt. They were born in Egypt
They grew up in Egypt. They lived in Egypt. They had the environment of Egypt. They had the culture of Egypt they had everything surrounding them yet, they stood out as servants of Hashem without any Compromise Not withstanding the entire environment that they had around them They maintained their relationship with Hashem without any Compromise and You know what Jacob saw in his prophecy Jacob saw in his prophecy that the Jewish people are gonna spend a heck of a lot of time in
Exile, we're right now in exile, even though We love Texas and we love being here, but still we're in exile. We don't have a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem We have wars that we have to deal with We have to realize that we're in exile so What happens when we're in exile We sometimes get caught up in the frame of mind of saying, you know what? If we didn't stand out that much like a sore thumb in the eyes of the nations of the world
Then you know what would happen They won't hate us because we'll be just like them and we look throughout history We look throughout history as we mentioned dozens of times right over here five pages small font of Incident after incident with the Jewish people were persecuted and you know in each of those cases The Jewish people had a different status in one of them They were at the higher Hierarchy of wealth. Oh
The Jews are stealing all the money. They're in charge of all the banks. Did you ever hear that before? The Jews aren't controlling the world, right? And what happens when the Jewish people were poor? Their leeches on the culture Whatever status the Jewish people had so that that resulted in in Jews being enslaved expulsions massacres book burnings Jews burned alive Pogroms Expulsion expulsion expulsion forced conversions synagogue burnings. I'm talking about year after year after year public torture and burnings mob attacks Jews burned alive steak burnings
I'm reading this just like mob attack widespread programs lynchings You look at what's going on and you'd think if we're just And you'd think if we're just one of them, they won't hate us that never worked ever It never worked in the history of the Jewish people 3,300 years the Jewish people Since we received the Torah It hasn't changed We're still dealing with the same things today and it's beautiful to see in our generation where people say, you know
What they're coming after us. We're gonna make a bigger starter star of David on our necklace We're not gonna hide it. We're gonna wear a bigger yarmulke. We're gonna be more Proclaiming and proud of our Judaism than ever before. We're not gonna hide it and that's the way we need to be Because you know what if I'm in Menasha did Not withstanding that they grew up in Egypt They maintained a firmness into their Beliefs in Hashem in their Torah in their observance and not removing one iota
Jacob saw that the future of the Jewish people will be similar to that of Ephraim and Menashe. We will be surrounded By influences from the nations of the world Jacob says beho yivorach Yisroel The Jewish people wherever they're going to be They will remember that Ephraim and Menashe survived Egypt. Ephraim and Menashe maintained their stature when they were in Egypt. Ephraim and Menashe were so Elevated notwithstanding the lowliness of their generation
Egypt was the most materialistic place on earth. It was the wealthiest country on earth. They had the greatest power on earth They didn't give in to it Ephraim and Menashe were The the example of what it meant to be God-fearing Jews Hebrews at the time But I want to share with you one more thing That I heard this week and I think it's so magnificent So we stand there every Friday night and bless our children
Yisimcha alokim k'Ephraim and Menashe. Hashem should bless you, my dear children. Hashem should bless you to be like Ephraim and Menashe But do you know how Ephraim and Menashe? Became an Ephraim and Menashe How did they become an Ephraim and Menashe? Because they had a father who was Joseph They had a father who was Joseph. Ah That's how you get an Ephraim and Menashe You get an Ephraim and Menashe when you have a father Joseph and what we're doing every Friday night is looking at our children and
We're turning to ourselves and saying buddy take accountability You need to be a Joseph in order for them to be an Ephraim and Menashe Not just pass the buck on and say, you know children follow follow the laws of the Torah You do the right thing you but me I Have an exemption. No, there's no such thing if you become a Yosef and Yosef was of the greatest It says The greater one is the greater their challenge will be The greater their temptation will be
Because you have more tools you have more weapons. You can handle a bigger war with your Yetzhara You can deal with more look who was seduced daily, it says By the wife by the wife of Potiphar the Torah mentions at one time And he was thrown thrown in prison for that Every day she was trying to he was such a good-looking guy He's a successful guy He had to Be strong he had to withstand challenge. He had to persevere
Not withstanding all the challenges he was facing He was a Yosef when you're a Yosef you get in Ephraim and Menashe and This is I think the most important message Be a Yosef So that you can have an Ephraim and Menashe When we bless our children, we're taking accountability to ourselves saying be a Yosef Be like Yosef He had every reason in the world to drop his faith He had every reason in the world to say, you know what? This is just not for me
He was sold by his brothers He became viceroy of Egypt 22 years. He's away from his father he's like I could just Just sell out and goodbye What do I need this for? What do I need this for? He only became stronger in his faith He became strong when he was away from his father when he was away from his brothers when he was in Egypt
And he didn't have a shul to go to he didn't have a torch center to go to he didn't have some place to go learn What did he do? He had to grow from within find Hashem discover Hashem anew and Become the great Yosef Hatzadik That when his brothers come it's the most fascinating thing to see the Midos of Yosef his brothers come and he says Guys guys, don't don't be upset at yourselves. Don't get angry that you sold me to Egypt. That was Hashem's big plan
No, it's not you. What do you mean? What do you think we would do if something like that happened to us? Oh, we'd get all our revenge out. You're kidding. You sold me to Egypt. You want me to be nice to you? What does Yosef say? He says guys no, this is part of Hashem's plan Hashem planted this. Do you understand what that takes? To see them right in front of your eyes and say it wasn't you
It was Hashem who did that. My dear friends. We have to learn how to be a Yosef In order to have children like Ephraim and Menashe They became the great leaders they were They became the great examples of what it means to be a Jewish person Because they had a father Yosef. This is amazing. B'chol Yivorach Yisroel Forever this is the way we bless our children be like Ephraim and Menashe Because we're gonna have to live up to being a Yosef
Our children cannot be Ephraim and Menashe if we're not a Yosef We have to be upstanding. We have to be committed. We have to be dedicated We have to excel in every area in order for our children to be the Ephraim and Menashe that they can be Be great I Think that's the most amazing blessing we get from Jacob to all of us here today Be unique be you Don't fall into the crowd and say it's just we're all the same it's fine as long as I'm you know
I one of the things I despise the most is when you take your child to the doctor and They tell you what the What the average is for height and what the average is for weight They tell you that you know, it's fine. Yeah, you're a little bit above average. You're a little below average. No, no You're you You're the only you they will ever be there is no average You're you you're one-of-a-kind You're unique. You're special
Find your talents find your uniqueness and this is what Jacob is doing in these blessings to all of his children He's showing that each of you are different each of you. They you're not that don't do the whole Kumbaya We're all the same. We're all equal. No, we're not equal We're different. The Kohen is not the Levy the Levy is not the Israelite Their men are not the women the women are not the men. Everyone is unique Everyone is special
We see that there's always a uniqueness that's trying to be brought out in our Torah For every single person to find their specialty you be you Don't try to be somebody else Don't try to just be average You could be so much greater than average why be average Olympic gold medalists don't say I can just be average I Could be the best That's what we're aiming for my dear friends have a magnificent Shabbos Very very good point. You're saying that
We don't do say this by Abraham. We don't say this by Isaac or Jacob. We don't say this by Joseph We say this by Joseph's children Yes, we are a product of our of how we were raised and even I you know, even if someone is raised in a unstable home, I know somebody who grew up with a Very very Abusive home Extremely abusive. I know someone else who grew up in a home where the father and or mother were Addicted to various different things
One was an alcoholic Other addicted to meds, whatever whatever it may be each one in their own situation. Some are physically abusive sexually abusive mentally abusive emotionally abusive and We want to turn over our lives To make it like it didn't exist It did it did exist don't run away from it Don't let your past experience limit you Don't I had a friend of mine who Went through some abuse in his life and he used it as an excuse to really stink at life
You know why I'm a failure and he's pointing fingers to everybody Pointing fingers at everybody this person abused me. This one didn't encourage me. This one didn't teach me this one didn't Compliment me this everyone we can excuse everybody We can excuse we can point fingers at everybody It's all their fault Well, we can just look in the mirror and say you know what forget the forgive. I need to make something out of myself It's my life these challenges I have a
Specific individual that I'm very close with grew up in a very abusive home and not withstanding that he's married has two beautiful daughters and I always tell him One day you will owe your parents not withstanding. He hasn't spoken to his parents in over a decade Once nothing to do he'll dance on their grave Probably rightfully considering the abuse I said still You are the man you are today because of them that it's difficult for him to hear it, but it's the reality
Because in order for you to sometimes bring out your strengths to bring out your talents your convictions your Commitments is because you worked through all of the challenges that you faced You didn't sign up for that that's not what I wanted when I was born into this family but that's the hand you were dealt and that's the cards you need to play with and Make the absolute best of it. Don't excuse it and say oh
this is all the reasons why I am not successful in life and blame everybody else and I think that this is not only applicable to raising children and for ourselves, but it's in every area of life In every area of life. We need to look into ourselves in our marriages in our jobs in our Parenting how am I going to succeed? Not oh the HR director doesn't like me and this we can blame everybody
Not withstanding all of those challenges, I want to succeed so I'm not gonna allow those excuses and I can point fingers at everybody It's not going to help unless I look in the mirror and say I want to get my life under control I Need to fix this and all of those things that lead us to that point Are contributors to it? To us getting a grip of our lives and not to run away not to give excuses and not to say oh
What was to me everyone have mercy. Let me get a handout and goodbye. It's giving up on life We cannot give up on life. We cannot Hashem wants us here Hashem believes in us Hashem knows that we can attain greatness. That's why he keeps on investing on us in us every single day Because Hashem believes we can do great things Let's go do it Yes, so if you want me to explain the the the estrangement culture in our country America has an
unbelievable gift of abundance and that gets people to become selfish and self-centered and self Self-serving and This becomes a very very very big problem Becomes a very big problem because you will never find you will never ever find in Someone who is committed and dedicated to Torah life any kind of a strange estrangement ever. I Don't know of a single case like that. Oh As soon as I move it out of move Torah out of my life and I move Hashem out of my life
So now I want to this is my I know I'm standing my ground and I'm gonna take a position on this That's not Torah That's not Torah the Torah teaches us how to be benevolent and kind and forgiving and loving and Selfless and you know what to me one of the most painful things I have a very very dear friend He doesn't speak to two of his children and This is tragic It's tragic and I've spoken to him about it. I've spoken. He says no, they're they're losers
I don't want anything to do with them. I want to talk to the rest of my life. I Think it's tragic personally, I think it's tragic Because these are children you brought to this world We have a responsibility We have a responsibility To do everything we can to bring the best product out of those children And and then we have siblings who don't talk to each other and then it's Children who don't talk to to parents and parents who don't talk to children
Siblings who don't and relatives who don't and to me? I I just it's it's we're small people. My grandfather would say this He says claim dementia lock people are small and they get they get Too caught up in small things We need to be big We need to be great people everything we see everything we see in our Torah is about greatness You know the small people were look in the Torah you'll see a sub was a small guy
He's got a very very small details about him. Yeshmo was a small guy Look at Bill. Um, he was a small guy Balak was a small guy Korach was a small guy. You see the the Torah shows us what the difference between the contrast between greatness and emptiness my grandfather once set on a mission to write biographies about great Torah scholars and Great philosophers and great world leaders and to contrast them You know you Aristotle
Aristotle was living a very promiscuous lifestyle and is a great philosopher and his students found him like this with a woman You're the great Aristotle what's wrong with you Says no now. I'm not Aristotle now. I'm just me that doesn't work in Judaism The way you act in private is the way you act in public It's who you are. I want to I want to tell you something yet. I had an epiphany over This break that we had a few days. I was thinking about this a lot is
That we need to be intentional Jews We need to be intentional Sometimes you ask them why you do it. No idea. I just did it. It's like this culture of like, I don't know. I Don't care Yes kids today like no, I don't know. I mean, you don't know you see in the Talmud that we study every Friday Every single thing the sages said Was backed up. It was intentional. I said this because I have this source To be an intentional Jew
Meaning I shouldn't someone shouldn't ask a person Tell me do you keep kosher? No, I don't keep kosher. Why not? Huh? I don't know Why? be intentional Be intentional Meaning if it's important enough for me to to do or not do let me have a backing for it Let me do it now if a person says look I'm I believe in it, but I'm not there yet. That's a very good answer That's intentional, too But to just say I don't know
That's not intent and I want to focus on this this year I want to drill it in that we should be intentional Jews That means I'm doing it with a plan Yes or no, for example, okay I told my children when we arrived we went on vacation went for a few days before we got out of the car. I Said to them what are we doing now for the next three days? We're gonna be away out in hill country. It's great It was such a great rejuvenating
vacation I Said we're essentially just wasting time. We're wasting time. We're not doing anything. I'm not teaching classes Right, I'm not I didn't even bring and this was again intentional I Didn't I brought something to learn? I didn't bring all of my My class prep that I normally would bring didn't bring it with me It was intentional why? Because my job on vacation was to rejuvenate Was to refresh and I told my children My children went back to school today. I
Said you're going we're going now on this trip not to waste time We're going to replenish our energies We're going to refresh so that we can go back to learning with intention with focus with clarity and If we do so I heard this from my rabbi, so this is not just me saying this then it's not a vacation It's a service of a sham. It's just as important those three days of vacation of Taking off time and not teaching It's just as important as sitting and studying Torah
why because it's the service of You enhancing your teaching you enhancing your ability to keep on going That's part of your service of a sham So I told my children Before you get out of the car and before you go run around and enjoy the lazy river and enjoy all of the wonderful things remember our goal here is To refresh our energy So that we can now continue to service a service in and you know what we had to daven in our room
Shachar's men come I rev morning afternoon evening. We didn't have a minion there. I sham. Hopefully we'll forgive will forgive us But there was an intention We're not just doing it. Just do it. Whatever whatever No, no, whatever to become an intentional Jew Shabbos do I observe Shabbos? Hopefully I'm on a journey towards Shabbos. I'm intentional. I'm gonna do something. I'm gonna take a small step I'm gonna light Shabbos candles Friday night, I won't use my phone. I won't turn the television on or off
I tell people I haven't had a guy who came to me one of my classes This is more Israeli because that for them soccer is like Bible says I cannot miss a soccer game The Israeli soccer team that he follows So I said to him so why don't you preset it? Keep your television on Don't change the channel. I just leave it That's it. He says I can do that. I said yes, you can do it
Is it the spirit of Shabbos not exactly but it's far better than you turning it on on Shabbos You understand so if a person is on a journey we can talk I can I've done this with dozens. Thank Hashem dozens and dozens of students Who said it's impossible for me to do this. I said, let's let's take a step one small step and With some it started if you know those those Shabbos light covers it started because of one of our students
Here at the torch center who came to me after years and years of learning. She says, okay, I'm ready to go Tell me what to do. I said take one light switch For Shabbos that you don't turn on or off put a blue the blue Tape the painters tape put it on top of the light switch say this is my light That doesn't go on or off the entire Shabbos. She said that's it said that's it come to me in two months
Tell me when it's easy. She came to me two months later, and she said it's this is everybody knows This is the Shabbos light. It doesn't go on or off. It stays as is I said find a second switch and do that now And slowly but surely her entire house became completely Shomer Shabbos She was still driving by the way. She was still driving to synagogue on Shabbos But slowly that phased out as well
It's small small small steps and a person, you know what you might be thinking now. He's like that's it's too Too much of a bridge to get over too much of a it's too far beyond my Don't look for far beyond look at right now. What can I do? Today's Friday? What can I do this Shabbos to make it one? Drop better than last Shabbos. That's it We're about Intention. Let's be intentional Jews. That's right. Something really really small something below the radar something that's not
Attackable by the Yetzirah We can all do it and we can do a great job and eat by the way each one of us in our own area of life For one it could be Shabbos for one. It could be to fill in for one. It could be kosher You know what Ted on Tuesdays? I don't need Burger King. I don't need milk and meat together just on Tuesdays you but you realize what a transformation that becomes when in
Nine months we come back to Hashem and we say Hashem on Rosh Hashanah I'm a different person than I was last year because now on Wednesdays, I don't eat any more milk and meat Because now on Shabbos I only drive To synagogue and I don't pick up my cleaners and I don't go to the movies and I don't manipulate the television I have it preset But you understand that it's taking a step
It's taking a step and that's what we need to be on a journey as Jews. We need to be on a journey We're not but which by the way Is hinted throughout the Torah the Jewish people are always traveling. They're always going Do you know how many times they camped in the 40 years 42 different encampments? They're constantly the Jews are Wandering Jews. We're always moving. We're always going we're always doing something in our Judaism. We cannot be complacent
We always have to be moving. We always have to be changing. We always have to be modifying and adjusting Just like the guy who tickers with his car and is never happy and he always wants to make the car a little bit better We all know that guy Sunday morning is busy with his car He's always busy right spraying and foaming and and and under the under the engine and it did just always dealing with it
Because he always wants to improve it. We need to always be improving taking a step Not let our Judaism be dormant to not let it be complacent to not let it be whatever Make it intentional my dear friends have a magnificent Shabbos!
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