The Ethics Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

In the fifth mishna we learn about the proper ways to interact with others, especially those less fortunate, in a pious and peril-free manner. This Ethics Podcast was originally released on the Ethics...

In the fourth mishna of Pirkei Avos, our sages offer three steps to accessing Torah. In our deconstruction of this teaching we learn about the nature of Torah and the unusual ways that we access it. –...

In following the previous mishna which distilled the life objectives to three tenets, Pirkei Avos proceeds to delve into each one individually. In perhaps the most difficult mishna of the book, Antigo...

The second Mishna in Pirkei Avos features a powerful teaching from one of the pivotal and legendary characters in Jewish History. Shimon HaTzadik (Simeon the Righteous), the Kohen Gadol who succeeded ...

The first mishna of Pirkei Avos begins with attributing the first 900 years of the line of transmission of the Torah from Moshe at Sinai until the Men of the Great Assembly. The second sections is thr...

With endless praise to the Almighty for all goodness that he has done for us, we hereby present the final episode of the Ethics podcast. We began this project in 2017 and now, thanks to the boundless ...

God owns everything. He created everything and owns it all. But there are some things that God cherishes above others. Our Mishnah describes five cherished possessions of God. These five are uniquely ...

There are only three rules of real estate: location, location, location. When it comes to choosing a place to live, the same principle applies. But what determines a good location? In this very intere...

Not everything that we covet in life necessarily redounds to our benefit. There are great many things that are double-edge swords: they can be used for good; they can accelerate our ascent to righteou...

The thing that we crave more than anything else is life. We all want life. We all flee from curtailing of – or danger to – our life. How do we indeed get life? In this wonderful Mishnah we learn how T...

When we hear something beautiful, something genius, something powerful, we may be tempted to pass it off as our own. In the final installment of the 48 ways to wisdom we learn about the imperative of ...

The penultimate way to wisdom offered by our sages instructs us to be systematic in our studies. What exactly does this mean? In this very special Ethics Podcast, we offer three different interpretati...

Teachers are usually pretty talented. They’re usually gifted, knowledgeable, intelligent, and well-studied. In way to wisdom # 46 we learn how a student should strive to make their teacher even sharpe...

What are our intentions when we study? What are we trying to achieve? If we are studying the Almighty’s Torah simply as an exercise in theoretical, abstract learning, we are missing the essence of Tor...

Listening is a lost art. To truly listen and consider the other person’s position is becoming increasingly rarer. We get consumed with our own ideas and perspectives; someone else’s opposing position ...

Questions are arguably the most potent tool by which to open up a complex subject. Asking questions on a given matter; asking many, diverse questions, analyzing and probing the issue from all angles, ...

What is our relationship with our studies? For some (many?) studying Torah is very important. It is a great priority. But is it the permanent fixture of a person’s life? That designation is applied to...

Truth and peace are often incompatible. A peaceful solution to a problem is often not truthful; unvarnished truth is rarely diplomatic. In way number 40 to acquire wisdom we learn how we must deploy t...

Not everyone is a saint. In fact, the verse testifies that there is no righteous person in the land who does only good and never sins. So everyone is a sinner, to one degree or another. How ought we r...

Everyone is going through something. Everyone has difficulties in life. That is the human condition. It is also all by design. But we are instructed to empathize with others in whatever challenge they...

There was a need to render halachic rulings. Sometimes there was uncertainty and there’s a need to have a halachic decisor render a ruling. But what is the attitude necessary for a halachic arbiter? I...

It is a mark of Torah ignorance to be content with the degree of Torah study that you have. It is broader than the land and deeper than the sea. Torah is effectively infinite. To have a swelled heart ...

Honor is a funny thing. It yields no tangible, discernible, sensory benefit to the recipient, yet it is so highly coveted and desired. We all want respect. We all want others to look up to us and to a...

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 Ethics Pod...

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 Pod...

Charity is a big element of religious life. Our Sages tell us that the mitzvah of charity equals all the mitzvos of the Torah combined. But monetary charity is only one type of charity. There are many...

Why dont humans naturally love each other? Why is there often discord and disunity? Humans are a strange bunch indeed. In this very interesting and stimulating podcast we offer three distinct ideas as...

The requirement to love God is featured prominently in our religion. The Shema – the pledge of allegiance of our faith – contains the mitzvah to love God right after the first sentence of accepting hi...

Torah was not given to angels. Torah was given to humans. One way to expand our ability to acquire Torah is by enhancing our humanity. The more human we are, the more we are a worthy receptacle of Tor...

We love Torah. Torah study is our national pastime and obsession. It is enjoyable; it is fun; it is interesting — but to acquire it – we have to now that it is imperative: It is as indispensable as wa...

Humans are fallible. We are imperfect, yet we are tasked with being the stewards and the guardians of the perfect. We hold the Almighty’s Torah in our hands. We are tasked with perpetuating it from ge...

There is an unequal distribution of talents, gifts, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Everyone is different. Everyone is their own world. This applies both in the spiritual domain and in the mater...

The greatest pedagogues of history – the Sages of the Mishnah – codified “knowing your place” as a means to acquire Torah, to acquire wisdom. What exactly is intended with knowing your place? In this ...

Life is full of nuisances. For many – maybe all – life inevitably contains some pain, suffering, and affliction. How we approach these situations is a central element of our religion and theology. Our...

Our primary responsibility as humans and as Jews is to develop and deepen our faith in the Creator. Can we have faith in man? Can we have faith in a mortal? In the 24th way to achieve and acquire wisd...

Although the study of Torah is ostensibly a cognitive pursuit, there are many qualities that are not cognitive nature that facilitate and enable the study of Torah. In this way to acquire wisdom, way ...

Anger is part of the human experience. When things agitate us, we get frustrated and have a tendency to lash out, to berate, to say things that we may regret. In this ethics podcast, we learn about th...

Life is serious. Pursuit of wisdom is the pursuit of truth. Pursuit of wisdom is the pursuit of understanding the Divine (to the best of our abilities). To access wisdom, we have to be very serious. B...

We are speaking beings. In fact, the central differentiation between humanity and animals is the capacity of verbal communication. The judgment that we face in Heaven is largely about how we deployed ...

We all need to sleep. All humans, irrespective of their intelligence, their physical prowess, their wealth, must lay down in a comatose state for several hours a day and sleep. Sleep is also enjoyable...

Pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain are hardwired impulses . We all want to feel good and to avoid feeling bad. Perhaps surprisingly, the Torah fully embraces this principle. The reason why we w...

Our resources are finite. We must engage in trade-offs, deciding what pursuits to prioritize over others. This, of course, is all well known. But it’s more complicated: by design, we feel drawn to see...

The central conflict of our lives orients around our relationship with the physical world in which we currently inhabit: the Torah teaches us that the objective of life is to optimize for the benefit ...

The oral Torah is vast, comprehensive, and multi-layered. One of its layers is known as Mishnah. What is Mishnah, how was it organized and codified, and why does it prepare us for wisdom? In this Ethi...

Our works of Scripture are all prophetic, each written with varying degrees of prophecy. When we study Scripture we are encountering the word of God. But what is the objective of the study of Scriptur...

Humans are not monolithic. Each one of us is unique and have a unique take on every life situation. The truth is even more granular: even within a single person, there is not uniformity. We are all in...

One of the most rewarding things a person can do is to teach others. But beyond the feeling of gratification that comes with teaching, When you are able to educate and enlighten other people with your...

Humans are not perfect. Only God is. We are fallible. We are mistake-prone. Yet our mission and mandate is to discover truth. That is achieved, chiefly, via the study of Torah. The Almighty embedded t...

Our glorious tradition was perpetuated from generation to generation, from teacher to student, from parent to child, for thousands of years. One of the ways to acquire wisdom is by studying under the ...

Our sages tell us that one of the ways to acquire wisdom is with purity. What exactly is purity and why would it be a means through which we can acquire wisdom? In this Ethics Podcast we explore the s...