Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe was born in Jerusalem, and raised in New York. He has learned in some of the most prominent Torah centers of the world, including Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and Beth Medrash Gevoha in Lakewood, NJ.

He holds several Rabbinic ordinations including from former Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu Z"L. Rabbi Wolbe has been very active in Jewish outreach since 1996 across the globe, including the US, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Canada and Israel. Rabbi Wolbe has published numerous books in the Russian Language and distributed over 12,000 copies to the multitude of Jewish communities he was serving.

Rabbi Wolbe teaches several Mussar classes every week in various communities around Greater Houston. His passion for Mussar started at young age, while developing a close relationship with his legendary grandfather, Mussar Master, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, Z"L. Much of his lectures and classes are based on the writings and teachings from his grandfather.

Rabbi Wolbe lives in Houston, Texas with his wife, Zehava, and their seven delicious children, Dovi, Meira, Shlomo, Ahuva, Yehuda, Yitzi & Hadassah. Since 2005, they've been working with TORCH - The Houston Kollel, Houston's premier resource for meaningful Jewish education, and love every second of it.

Zehava grew up in a place called “joisey” or New Jersey (for those of you in Rio Linda), and moved to Houston, Texas in 2005. In 2009 she was the regional advisor for TORCH’s JSU clubs in local Houston Public High Schools and then became the Director of the ASCENT Women’s Division of TORCH. Today, Zehava is spearheading the brand  new  TORCH  YJC  -  Young  Jewish  Couples  Division,  focusing  on  marriage,  child-rearing  and  building  a  Jewish home. 

More than her regular one-on-one learning and hosting of regular Shabbat guests, Zehava is most proud of her seven children, Dovi, Meira, Shlomo, Ahuva, Yehuda, Yitzi and Hadassah.

Rabbi  Yaakov  Wolbe  is  the  Director  of  Outreach  for  TORCH,  a  Houston-based  Jewish  education  and  community outreach organization. In that capacity he has delivered hundreds of lectures, classes, and workshops on a wide range of subjects. A believer of harnessing new technologies for the dissemination of Torah, Rabbi Wolbe has launched and maintains five podcast channels (The Jewish History Podcast, The Parsha Podcast, This Jewish Life, Eternal Ethics, and TORAH 101), four of which have been ranked #1  overall  worldwide  on  iTunes  in  their  category  (“Judaism”).  His  podcasts  have  been  downloaded  hundreds  of  thousands  of  times  by  listeners  in  118  countries  and  all  50  states.  Rabbi  Wolbe  holds  Rabbinic ordinations from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, Chief Justice of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Jerusalem and Aish HaTorah. His website is rabbiwolbe.com 

Rabbi Wolbe and his wife Chaya are the proud parents of Akiva, Yehoshua, Miriam, Shlomo, Yitzy and Rivka.

Chaya  Wolbe  holds  degrees  in  Jewish  Education  and  Computer  Science.  Previously,  Chaya  taught  Computer  Science  and  English,  and  currently  she  serves  as  the  Mechaneches  (Lead  Educator)  for  the  Torah Girls Academy, the all-girls Jewish High School in Houston. 

A native of Toronto, Canada, Chaya’s pastimes include cake decorating and tending to her five wonderful children.

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Rabbi Nagel was one of the founding members of the TORCH faculty. He is from upstate NY, where he studied in the Advanced Talmudic Studies Program of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah. Rabbi Nagel brings us his love of learning and teaching Torah, having taught in Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah and at Time Out for Values, an adult education program for newcomers to Jewish education. His Daf Yomi class, which he has taught for over six years is one of TORCH’s most popular offerings. He is also very popular with the teenagers who attend his nightly classes at Yeshivas Ohr Hanegev. Yaakov and his wife Sari have six children, Meira, Tamar, Moshe, Devorah, Aliza, and Riva.

Rabbi  Yaakov  Cohen  was  born  and  raised  in  California.  He  attended  Cal  State  University,  Northridge,  where  he  studied  philosophy  and  psychology.  He  went  on  to  study  at  a  number  of  leading  yeshivot  in  Jerusalem  where  he  received  his  Rabbinic  ordination.  He  has  led  adult  classes  and  seminars  in  both  America  and  Israel,  and  is  the  premier  educator  of  Kabbalah  and  mystical  teaching  in  the  Bible  Belt. Since Joining TORCH in 2011 his following continues to grow and reach tremendous audiences throughout the greater Houston area. 

He is married to Devorah, a talented educator and faculty member of ASCENT, the womens division of TORCH and together have seven remarkable children.

Devorah Cohen grew up in Jerusalem and spent the last 17 years in Texas in various Jewish educational roles.  She  loves  teaching  and  has  taught  a  wide  spectrum  of  ages  from  children,  teen  to  adults  from  diverse  backgrounds.  Devorah’s  passions  are  in  special  education,  drama,  stand  up  comedy  and  eJEWcation and she has a special ability to teach Judaism in a relevant, meaningful & fun way. 

Chaviva  Granitsky  moved  from  Israel  in  2016  and  joined  the  TORCH  team  in  September  2017  to  direct the TORCH Partners Division.

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