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PODCAST

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke

Welcome to "The Weekly Parsha with Michoel Brooke," your go-to podcast for engaging, accessible Torah study.Join us to explore the weekly Torah Parshios, offering insights and life lessons for beginners and seasoned learners. Each 15-to 25-minute episode offers a comprehensive yet digestible exploration of the weekly Parsha.Discover valuable Parsha wisdom to enrich your spiritual journey, deepen your understanding of our holy Torah, and inspire personal growth. Subscribe today and begin your journey

religion & spirituality judaism

All Episodes

29:30

Parshas Shemos: Imagine the Way Rebbetzin Batsheva...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2026/01/09

A tyrant schemes, two women defy—and the future shifts. Our story begins in a tense, oppressive Egypt, where fear is weaponized into policy, and cruelty becomes law. Amid this darkness, the narrative turns to Shifra and Puah—midwives who reject the king’s decree to kill, choosing instead to nurture life. Rashi identifies them as Yocheved and Miriam, yet the Torah preserves their action-based names: the Swaddler and the Crooner. This naming choice offers profound insight: true greatness often ...

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33:27

Parshas Vayechi: Rule Yourself First

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2026/01/02

A crown should go to the strongest, the firstborn, or the loudest—unless the Torah is teaching a different law of power. We open Yaakov's closing blessings and follow the path that leads past Reuven, Shimeon, and Levi to Yehudah, the lion who can lie down. Not because he overwhelms others, but because he governs himself. That shift—from dominance to discipline—becomes the episode’s heartbeat. We unpack Rashi’s luminous reading of “from the prey, my son, you rose,” showing how Judah earns kin...

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22:47

Parshas Vayigash: Rope by Rope: The Art of Relentless...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/12/26

The air is tight with silence, the court of Yosef unmoving, and then Yehuda steps forward. That one act—crossing an invisible line of protocol—opens a masterclass on courage, responsibility, and the kind of reasoning that can thaw a heart guarded by power. We trace the moment Binyamin’s fate hangs by a thread and watch how Yehuda weaves threads into a rope: memory, duty, empathy, and personal guarantee, each linked to the next until justice can breathe. We walk you through the Midrash on “de...

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21:12

Parshas Mikeitz: Why You Can't Succeed Until You Let...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/12/18

What if growth isn't about grinding harder, but carrying less? In this episode, we explore Joseph's surprising blueprint for success: first, name your pain to release its hold, then build from a place of freedom. By examining why Menashe ("God made me forget") precedes Ephraim ("God made me fruitful"), we uncover a timeless principle that turns spiritual insight into daily strategy. We bridge this ancient narrative with lived experience. The Sforno interprets "forgetting" as the ultimate rel...

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26:36

Parshas Vayishlach: The War Against Flippancy and...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/12/05

What if holiness isn’t a place we visit, but a home we build? In Parshat Vayishlach, Chazal offer a powerful progression: Avraham called the sacred site a mountain, Yitzchak a field, and Yaakov a house. This isn’t just poetry; it’s a blueprint for spiritual growth. A mountain can be a chance ascent, a field requires cultivation, but a house is where you live. Yaakov’s journey invites us to turn fleeting moments of inspiration into a durable, lived-in relationship with God—a spiritual home tha...

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27:05

Parshas Vayeitzei: Started From the Bottom, Now We're...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/11/28

Angels on a ladder, a promise of land, and a family saga filled with tension set the stage—but the heart of this episode is a piercing question: why do the sages single out Rivka as a “rose among thorns,” while Rachel and Leah, no less righteous, don’t receive the same praise? We follow the thread from Yaakov’s dream through Lavan’s deceit to the naming of the twelve tribes, and then zoom in on character, context, and the hidden mechanics of influence. We explore Rivka’s acts of radical kind...

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32:18

Parshas Toldos: The Voice of Yaakov and the Hands of...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/11/21

Two brothers step onto the world’s stage and show us two kinds of power. Esau strides forward with muscle and heat, living for the rush of now. Jacob moves quieter but surer, holding fast to covenant and truth. When Isaac mutters, “the voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,” he leaves us a compass for every age: power that grabs close versus power that travels far. We follow that thread from the birthright and the blessing straight into daily life, where anxiety, headlines, and deadlines...

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25:49

Parshas Chayei Sarah: The Pious Portable Toilet...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/11/14

Grief, generosity, and grounded choices shape the arc from Sarah’s passing to Rivka’s arrival at the well—and they also shape our Mondays. We walk through Chayei Sarah as more than history: it’s a diary of decisive moments that refuses to preach in bullet points. Instead, the text slows down at each crossroads—buying a burial plot in full view, drawing water for strangers, finding comfort after loss—and lets us learn how courage and kindness look when money, honor, and family are on the line....

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26:32

Parshas Vayera: Why God Loved Avraham and Why I Plan...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/11/07

The week exploded with joy: a healthy baby boy, hospital runs, school interviews for our four-year-old, and more miles on the Parkway than we can count. In the rush, a harder truth surfaced—our Gemara seat sat empty—and that stung. So we turned to Vayera for clarity and found a verse that hit like a bell: God doesn’t single out Avraham for breaking idols, debating kings, or even building a tent of radical hospitality. The love lands here—he teaches his children and his household to keep the w...

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25:03

Parshas Noach: Noach Against The Tide

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/10/24

A world soaked in deceit, a flood that resets history, a tower that scrapes the sky—all before Abraham even arrives. We walk straight into the heart of those early chapters and uncover a surprising throughline: resistance is the engine of spiritual growth. Noah’s quiet defiance in a corrupt age becomes a template, not for perfection, but for courage under pressure. And when God warns Cain that “sin crouches at the door,” the final word is not fear—it’s possibility: “you can master it.” I sha...

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35:11

Parshas Bereishis: After a Stirring Elul, a Rousing...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/10/17

The holidays ignited a spark. Now comes the real test: can we carry that energy into the carpool lane, the Tuesday meeting, and the quiet space before bed? We walk through the entire journey from Elul’s wake-up call to Simchas Torah’s dance and turn each highlight into a practice you can hold onto when the calendar goes silent. No clichés—just a clear path to turning synagogue inspiration into weekday holiness. We begin by revisiting the landmarks: the shofar’s call, Kol Nidrei’s hush, the f...

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37:10

Parshas Nitzavim: You're Repenting the Wrong Way!...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/09/19

What if our understanding of repentance makes it harder than it needs to be? This insightful exploration of teshuvah (repentance) unveils a revolutionary approach, transforming this seemingly daunting spiritual task into something remarkably accessible. Drawing from the Torah's promise that this mitzvah "is not too baffling for you, nor beyond reach," we discover that the path of return might be closer than we ever imagined. The episode introduces the profound wisdom of Rabbi Shlomo Hoffman...

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27:56

Parshas Ki Savo: Have Some Swag!

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/09/12

Buried within the Torah lies a mitzvah so unexpected and profound that it redefines how we understand spiritual growth. The commandment of Viduy Ma’aser—the confession of tithes—stands apart as perhaps the only mitzvah that calls upon us not to confess our failures, but to declare our successes. Unlike the familiar confessions of Yom Kippur, where we openly acknowledge our shortcomings, Viduy Ma’aser asks us to stand before God and confidently proclaim, “I have done what You commanded me.” T...

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28:43

Parshas Ki Seitzei: Help, I've Lost My Faith!

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/09/05

Have you ever considered that the most valuable possessions we can lose aren't physical at all? In this deeply moving exploration of Parashas Kisete, we uncover a revolutionary perspective on one of Judaism's most fundamental mitzvot: Hashavas Aveda, the commandment to return lost objects. While most of us understand this mitzvah in its literal sense—finding and returning physical items like wallets or pets—there exists a profound spiritual dimension that touches the very core of our p...

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33:28

Parshas Shoftim: MAKE LIKE A TREE, AND GROW!

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/08/29

Have you ever wondered why we're drawn to the majestic presence of ancient trees? There's something profound in their silent testimony to growth, resilience, and patient flourishing—qualities we all seek in our own lives. In this enlightening exploration of Parashas Shoftim, we uncover the Torah's remarkable wisdom hidden within a seemingly mundane instruction about warfare. When the verse states "Ki ha'adam eitz hasadeh" (for man is a tree of the field), it reveals a profound metaphor that ...

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41:53

Parshas Re’eh: WHY CAN’T IT BE YOU? - Elul 2025...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/08/25

What if the very obstacles blocking your spiritual growth are actually divine opportunities in disguise? As we enter the month of Elul—that critical period of spiritual preparation before the High Holidays—many of us feel a heaviness rather than excitement. Some experience anxiety, others indifference, when we should be feeling energized like hitting that star power-up in Mario Kart. The secret to transforming this experience lies in how we view our "nisionos"—those personal tests and challe...

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28:46

Parshas Eikev: Don't Tread on Me!

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/08/15

At the heart of Parshas Eikev lies a curious Hebrew word that transforms our understanding of divine blessing. The word "eikev" – typically translated as "because" but literally meaning "heel" – opens a window into how we might unlock the abundant blessings promised in Torah. While some commentators take the straightforward approach that blessing follows obedience, Rashi offers a more nuanced perspective. He suggests the verse refers specifically to those mitzvot we tend to trample underfoot...

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39:30

Parshas Vaeschanan: The Wife Thief, the Tomahawk...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/08/08

What if everything you thought you knew about kindness in Judaism was only scratching the surface? In this deeply moving exploration of "chesed," we uncover how this three-letter Hebrew word forms the very foundation of Jewish life—appearing 248 times throughout Tanakh and comprising the beginning and end of Torah itself. The power of this concept comes alive through a heart-wrenching story from the 1929 Hebron Massacre, where a dying yeshiva student, his body torn and bleeding, used his fin...

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36:45

Parshas Devarim - Tisha B’Av: Bring Along Your Golf...

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/08/01

What caused the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash? The Talmud provides a surprising, direct answer from God Himself that continues to challenge us today. The connection between Parshas Devarim and Tisha B'Av is no coincidence. Both center on honest reflection about past mistakes rather than glossing over uncomfortable truths. Moshe's rebuke in Devarim exemplifies true Mussar – looking back at previous actions with clarity to understand where we went wrong. Similarly, Tisha B'Av isn't merely ...

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25:54

Parshas Mattos-Masei: Greetings from Koh!

The Weekly Parsha - With Michoel Brooke ·

2025/07/25

The fog of uncertainty isn't a weakness in our religious experience—it's the proving ground of our most profound faith. Moses spoke to the tribal leaders with a unique clarity of prophecy, using the phrase "Zeh hadavar" (this is precisely what God said). But as Rashi teaches us, this perfect clarity was reserved only for Moshe. All other prophets received divine messages with some ambiguity, expressed as "Koh amar Hashem" (thus says the Lord). This distinction reveals a profound spirit...

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293 results

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