The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe

This week we learn the laws governing all kinds of leaders: The parsha begins by detailing the laws of judges, the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court, and what happens to rebellious judges; we read about the unique laws related to kings; there are more laws pertaining to the Kohanim; and we find the means of vetting professed prophets and what happens to the six...

Idolatry is anathema. Idolatry in the Holy Land is totally intolerable. Multiple times in the book of Devarim, we are exhorted to thoroughly and utterly destroy any remnant of idolatry that we encounter in the Land, be it altars, pillars, idolatrous trees, or molten images. But it is insufficient to eliminate the idols. We are required to uproot the idols from their source. T...

The Torah spends a lot of time cautioning us against idolatry. As the nation is about to cross over the Jordan and enter Canaan, they are repeatedly warned to not fall prey to the idolatrous practices of the indigenous population. Instead, they must shatter the idolatrous altars, destroy idolatrous infrastructure, obliterate idolatrous paraphernalia , uproot idolatrous trees,...

This week’s parsha marks a transition in the Book of Deuteronomy: it is no longer primarily about admonishment and rebuke and warnings, instead we read a bevy of mitzvos – some repetitions and some new ones that have hitherto not been mentioned.

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Several themes seem to be repeating themselves again and again throughout the Book of Devarim. For example, the nation is repeatedly encouraged to not be fearful of the formidable Canaanite Nations waiting for them on the other side of the Jordan. But the one theme that repeats itself more frequently than any other is the nation being encouraged to observe the laws, the statu...