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Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (9/17/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we (read: I) realized that we're going to miss the next FOUR Wednesdays on account of the Moadim! Given that consideration, I decided to expedite our usual process and attempt to arrive at a main idea and practical takeaway TONIGHT instead of developing an approach with meforshim over the course of two sessions. Thankfully, I believe we succeeded! We may not have fully developed an understanding of every pasuk, but we definitely hit upon a fundamental idea that (I hope!) will have a beneficial impact on how we cultivate a relationship with Hashem. I know I'LL be thinking about these ideas over the upcoming Moadim! ----- מקורות: תהלים צה אבן עזרא פירוש שני - תהלים צה:ב מצודת דוד - תהלים צה:ב הואיל משה - תהלים צה:ט מאירי - תהלים צה:א מלבי"ם - תהלים צה:א אברבנאל - שמות יז:א-ז ----- The Torah Content for the month of September is sponsored by Meir Areman in loving memory of his grandmother, Esther Chasha bas Meir Gedalya, who recently passed away on the 25th of Av. Tehei nishmasah tzerurah b’tzror ha’chayim.
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If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (9/10/25), in our first Wednesday night Tehilim shiur of the 2025-2026 season, we began Tehilim 95, a.k.a. the first perek in Kabbalas Shabbos. I didn't choose it because of Kabbalas Shabbos (though it's always nice to learn perakim we're already somewhat familiar with), but because I noticed during Kabbalas Shabbos last week how many of the perakim deal with Malchus Hashem (God's Kingship). Since Rosh ha'Shanah is around the corner, I figured this might be a good perek to learn. As usual, our first session was devoted to translating the perek, identifying the "pivot point," then raising all the questions we saw. Next week (בג"ה) we'll attempt to develop a theory before delving into the meforshim. ----- מקורות: תהלים צה שמות טו:כב-כז; יז:א-ז ----- The Torah Content for the month of September is sponsored by Meir Areman in loving memory of his grandmother, Esther Chasha bas Meir Gedalya, who recently passed away on the 25th of Av. Tehei nishmasah tzerurah b’tzror ha’chayim.
My Zoom account has been sponsored for the entire year by Isaac and Aviva Lichter, with hakaras ha’tov to Hashem in honor of Navonah’s first birthday: “We couldn’t have known how much joy and wonder she’d bring into our lives. רבות מחשבות בלב איש, ועצת ה' היא תקום." ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (4/23/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we began a new chapter of Tehilim. Yeah, yeah, I know that we had STARTED Tehilim 42 last time and didn't even get to the analysis, but that was over a month ago, and most of the shiur attendees wanted to start something new. Plus, I started learning this perek over Yom Tov and I was REALLY excited to dive deeper into it! As usual, we spent most of the time working on the translation. We then identified the pivot point(s), which was relatively easy. Finally, in the last five minutes of the shiur, I revealed my subversive theory about the perek - or should I say, my theory that the perek IS subversive! We'll have to wait until next time to see whether my theory is supported by a closer reading of the text and the meforshim. ----- מקורות: תהלים פרק מד Artscroll Robert Alter ----- The total cost of producing my five podcasts in 2024 came to $1,455—an expense I would have otherwise had to cover myself. I’m deeply grateful to the generous sponsors who helped shoulder that cost and supported my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (12/14/22), in our Wednesday night Tefilah shiur, we began with a discussion about the difference between learning vs. tefilah. Next, we did a comprehensive review of all the ideas of Adonai Sfasai Tiftach and "Baruch" which we covered in the past couple of shiurim - some of which we developed beyond what we had previously said. We then learned through a tshuvah of the Rashba on why we switch back and forth in our berachos between 2nd person and 3rd person. In addition to clarifying the ideas he taught us, we spoke about how to implement these insights into our actual tefilah and use them to enhance our relationship with Hashem. We decided to only go over one idea of Atoh tonight in order to increase our chances of internalizing it. Next week (בג"ה) we'll learn another explanation or two from other Rishonim. ----- מקורות: רשב"א - שו"ת חלק ה סימן נב רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות יסודי התורה ב:א-ב,ח-י רמב"ם - אבות א:ג ----- The Torah content for the month of Kislev has been sponsored by Serena and Paul Koppel, who want to be makir tov and express gratitude. ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (12/7/22), in our Wednesday night Tefilah shiur, we began with a quick review of all the ideas of Adonai Sfasai Tiftach and "Baruch" which we covered in the past couple of shiurim. We then learned through the Sefer ha'Chinuch's explanation of the ideas behind "Baruch" and "Yisbarach," which - despite the Sefer ha'Chinuch's humble framing of his own findings - were amazing! Next time we'll move on to the word "Atoh" (בג"ה). ----- מקורות: ספר העיקרים ב:כו אבן עזרא + רד"ק - בראשית ב:ג ספר החינוך - פרשת עקב מצוה תל רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ט:א אבן עזרא - תהלים קיט:יב ----- The Torah content for the month of Kislev has been sponsored by Serena and Paul Koppel, who want to be makir tov and express gratitude. ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (11/30/22), in our Wednesday night Tefilah shiur, we began by wrapping up the Adonai Sfasai Tiftach topic that we began three weeks ago. We then took up the very basic question: What do we mean by "baruch" in the phrase "baruch atoh Hashem"? We learned two interpretations: one from the Abudirham, and one from Rabbeinu Bachya ben Asher. Our analysis of the latter led us to review some pretty fundamental ideas in the first halachos of the Rambam's Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah. There are still many more ideas on "baruch" which will have to wait until next week (בג"ה). ----- מקורות: אבודרהם - ברכות השחר רבינו בחיי בן אשר: כד הקמח – ברכה רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות יסודי התורה א:א-ה רמב"ם - פירוש המשניות, ברכות ט:ז רד"ק - תהלים קיח:ז-ח ----- The Torah content for the month of Kislev has been sponsored by Serena and Paul Koppel, who want to be makir tov and express gratitude. ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (11/23/22), in our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur which fell out on Erev Thanksgiving, it would be apropos to take up "inyanei d'yoma" as it were. Since this perek is only five pesukim long, I was fairly confident we might be able to get at least one main idea tonight, and - despite what seemed like a scattered initial analysis - I believe we succeeded! We ended by reading the thanksgiving words of another national leader, George Washington, which were surprisingly in line with the ideas in the perek. Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone! ----- מקורות: תהלים פרק ק רש"י - תהלים ק:א רש"י - ויקרא ז:יב ספורנו - ויקרא ז:יב רד"ק - תהלים ק:ג תרגום כתובים - תהלים ק:א רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות דעות ג:ג George Washington, "Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789" https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-source-collections/primary-source-collections/article/thanksgiving-proclamation-of-1789/ ----- This week's Torah content has been sponsored anonymously, by a listener who always manages to find me supplemental sources which enhance my shiurim. ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (11/16/22), in our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we continued our analysis of Adonai Sfasai Tiftach and Yihyu l'Ratzon. After reviewing the idea based on the Rambam we covered last night, we developed three more approaches: one based on a pasuk in Mishlei cited by the Abudirham, one based on the commentary of the Rokeach, and one based on our analysis of our two pesukim in context. We concluded by summarizing all the ideas we came up with in practical kavanah terms, and formulating a major question which we will endeavor to answer next time. ----- מקורות: אבודרהם - עמידה פירוש רס"ג - משלי טז:א https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/2017/07/mishlei-161-illusion-of-communication.html רוקח - עמידה תהלים נא תהלים יט ----- This week's Torah content has been sponsored anonymously, in gratitude for making my Torah available and accessible to everyone. May Hashem send a refuah shleimah to Tzvi ha'Kohen ben Shoshanah Geylah. ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (11/9/22), in our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we began our analysis of Adonai Sfasai Tiftach and Yihyu l'Ratzon by reviewing my MMMMMM method of tefilah analysis. We then did a brief overview of the sources for this halacha in the Gemara and the Rambam. We ended Part 1 with our first explanation of Adonai Sfasai Tiftach, which we supported by reviewing the Rambam in the Moreh ha'Nevuchim on the problem with praising Hashem. Next time (בג"ה) we'll examine these pesukim in their context in Tanach. ---------- מקורות: תהלים נא:יז ברכות דף ט: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר אהבה, הלכות תפלה וברכת כהנים ב:ט רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים א:נט ----- This week's Torah content has been sponsored anonymously. May Hashem grant a refuah shleimah to Rachel bas Rivka Chana. ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (11/2/22), in our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we attempted to land the plane ... and crash landed. We began by reviewing the translations and questions from last time, then made some little moves here and there, but did not manage to answer any of Adler's Four Questions, and did not end up with any sort of takeaway. I'm not the first student of Torah to write "tzarich iyun," and it looks like that's where we'll have to leave it for now. May Hashem "uncover our eyes and let us see wonders from His Torah" (cf. Tehilim 119:18). ----- מקורות: רמב"ם - אבות ד:ב תהלים כד אבן עזרא - תהלים כד:י רד"ק - תהלים כד:א ספורנו כד:א,ד רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ח:ד ----- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by my friend and colleague, Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder. Rabbi Feder recently published a book called Gematria Refigured: A New Look at How the Torah Conveys Ideas Through Numbers (2022, Mosaica Press). The approach to gematria he presents in this book is neither fluffy nor fanciful, but rational. If you're interested in some sample chapters, click here. If you have a social media platform and are interested in promoting or reviewing Rabbi Feder's book, let me know and I'll put the two of you in touch. The book is available for purchase at https://mosaicapress.com/product/gematria-refigured/. ----- Please feel free to leave your questions, insights, and feedback in the comments! ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote, entitled, Beur Tefilah: Who is the "Aleinu" in Sim Shalom?If you, like me, never even noticed this question before, then I encourage you to take a moment to think about how you would answer it before reading or listening to my approach. Let me know what you think!
Be sure to check out my new substack at rabbischneeweiss.substack.com! ----- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by my friend and colleague, Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder. Rabbi Feder recently published a book called Gematria Refigured: A New Look at How the Torah Conveys Ideas Through Numbers (2022, Mosaica Press). The approach to gematria he presents in this book is neither fluffy nor fanciful, but rational. If you're interested in some sample chapters, click here. If you have a social media platform and are interested in promoting or reviewing Rabbi Feder's book, let me know and I'll put the two of you in touch. The book is available for purchase at https://mosaicapress.com/product/gematria-refigured/. ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (10/26/22), in our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, began our analysis of Sunday's shir shel yom. We translated the perek, raised a bunch of questions, identified the pivot point, and mapped out a few inroads AND we figured out what Selah means. Maybe. ----- מקורות: תהלים כד אבן עזרא - תהלים ג:ג רד"ק - תהלים כד:א רי"ד שם מאירי שם ספורנו שם א' דברי הימים כא:טז-כב רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ח:ג ----- This week's Torah learning has been sponsored by Vanessa, the first person who offered to cover the costs of my Zoom account for the year. Thank you, Vanessa! ----- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ----- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
In today's Friday morning "Machshavah Lab" shiur for women (9/30/22) we took up a very basic question. I can PRETTY much guarantee that if I ask you, "What is Neilah?" the answer you give will be incorrect. There are some basic facts about Neilah of which most people are unaware. In today's shiur we examined Neilah in light of those facts, and in so doing, arrived at a new - and more accurate - understanding of Ne'ilah and its place within the halachic system. ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ב:ו-ז; ג:ג-ה רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר אהבה, הלכות תפילה וברכת כהנים א:ז; ג:ו; ח:א תלמוד ירושלמי - ברכות ד:א:כב-כג עם פירוש אור לישרים רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר זמנים, הלכות תעניות א:א-ה; ג:יא; ד:א-ב,ה,יח רלב"ג - במדבר י:ט רלב"ג - ויקרא כג:כד רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר זמנים, הלכות שופר וסוכה ולולב א:ב ---------- This week's Torah learning has been sponsored by Joey and Estee, whom I'd like to thank for being such an important part of my life. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Length: 1 hour 13 minutes Synopsis: This past Friday morning (3/28/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we began with a review/relearning of our E-l Elyon analysis, which led to a nice sharpening of points. We then moved on to Gomel Chasadim Tovim and completed a fuller analysis of that. We then started our analysis of v'Koneh ha'Kol, but had to end early. Next week the analysis will continue! (בג"ה) ----- מקורות: בראשית יד:יח-כ רמב"ן - בראשית יד:יח תרגום אונקלוס - שמות טו:א רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ג:נג אבן עזרא - ישעיהו סג:ז ----- This week's Torah content has been sponsored anonymously. Even I don’t know who the sponsor is, but their money is going to a good cause: purchasing the new edition of the Siddur Otzar ha’Tefilos. People have asked me what the best tefilah resource is—and hands down, it’s this siddur. The only problem is that the original printing was pretty horrendous. I’ve been waiting two decades for it to be reprinted, and it finally has! Now I just need to figure out how to get a copy. Regardless, thank you to the anonymous sponsor for your contribution! ----- Substack: rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ Patreon: patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss YouTube Channel: youtube.com/rabbischneeweiss Instagram: instagram.com/rabbischneeweiss/ "The Stoic Jew" Podcast: thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com "Machshavah Lab" Podcast: machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com "The Mishlei Podcast": mishlei.buzzsprout.com "Rambam Bekius" Podcast: rambambekius.buzzsprout.com "The Tefilah Podcast": tefilah.buzzsprout.com Old Blog: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/ WhatsApp Content Hub (where I post all my content and announce my public classes): https://chat.whatsapp.com/GEB1EPIAarsELfHWuI2k0H Amazon Wishlist: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y72CSP86S24W?ref_=wl_sharel
This evening (9/21/22), in our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we concluded our analysis of Tehilim 27 - at least, for this first time learning it! After a LENGTHY review and refinement of the points we covered last time, we finished analyzing the remaining pesukim, then attempted to summarize the purpose of the perek as dictated by the central idea. We even had time for a brief side-point at the end about the Maimonidean view of Gehinom, as explained by the Radak. All in all, this was a great perek. It feels so good to actually understand what I'm saying whenever I say this during this time of year! ----- מקורות: תהלים כז מאירי מצודת דוד רד"ק ---------- This week's Torah learning has been sponsored anonymously, and is dedicated to Yehudit Malka bat Ronit Elisheva, in the zechus that Hashem may help her find what she's looking for. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (9/14/22), in our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we continued our analysis of Tehilim 27. After hearing some approaches from the participants in the shiur, we began learning the Meiri's approach. We got a little more than halfway through - enough to appreciate what seems to be The Main Idea. Next week our goal is "to land the plane," and come away with a solid grasp of the main idea and the purpose of the perek. ----- מקורות: תהלים כז מאירי Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4:8; paraphrase of 5:20 Invictus, by William Ernest Henley The Torah content for the first two weeks of yeshiva has been sponsored anonymously. May Hashem send a refuah shleimah to Moshe Gavriel Ben Malka. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (9/7/22), in our inaugural Tehilim/Tefilah shiur of the season, we began our analysis of Tehilim 27, which is customarily recited between Rosh Chodesh Elul and Shemini Atzeres. We spent the first half of the shiur translating the perek, noting many of the nuances and ambiguities, and spent the second half raising questions, making observations, and suggesting approaches. The participants in the shiur voted to wait until next week to make our "big move" which will unlock the perek, which means that we have a week to think about it before we continue (and, hopefully, complete) our analysis. ----- מקורות: תהלים כז Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: a Translation with Commentary רש"י - תהלים כז:ד ראב"ע - תהלים כז:ז The Torah content for the first two weeks of yeshiva has been sponsored by Avital H. May Hashem send a refuah shleimah to Moshe Gavriel Ben Malka. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (6/14/22), in our last Tehilim/Tefilah shiur of the season, we finished the "Aleph cluster" of pesukim. First we reviewed our interpretations of pesukim 1-4, then we worked out pesukim 5-8 with the help of the meforshim. By the end, we had a unified approach to the entire eight pesukim which can stand as its own sub-perek of Tehilim. And now for a 2.5 month hiatus! Plenty of time for each of us to continue learning Tehilim/Tefilah on our own before joining forces again after the summer (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: תהלים קיט רש"י - תהלים לז:כב רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות דעות ג:ב-ג ספורנו - תהלים קיט:ח רד"ק - תהלים קיט:ה-ו מצודת דוד - תהלים קיט:ו ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Rachayl, who says: "in honor of the end of school, I want to say thank you for making my commutes a time for learning and thinking," to which I say: "Thank YOU, Rachayl, for listening!" ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (6/9/22), in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we reviewed our approach to Tehilim 119, read the theories of three commentators on what the perek as a whole is about, and then began working on the first four pesukim. The various participants in the shiur ventured their own theories, and we concluded by going over my own theory, which answered all of our questions and explained the flow. Next time we'll aim to understand pesukim 5-8 and attempt to unify the first eight pesukim (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: תהלים קיט מאירי - תהלים קיט:א,ד,ח ספורנו - תהלים קיט:א מיוחס לרשב"ם - תהלים קיט:א ר' אברהם בן הרמב"ם - המספיק לעובדי ה' פרק א ירמיהו ט:כב-כג רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ג:נד ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Ann, in loving memory of Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (6/7/22) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we learned the entirety of Tehilim 119 ... JUST KIDDING. We learned through the Radak's overview of the perek, came up with a game plan for how WE intend to approach the perek, and made a first pass at the first eight pesukim. On Thursday we'll attempt to understand them as a unit (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: תהלים קיט רד"ק ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Ann, in loving memory of Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
I'm sharing this recording on all five of my podcasts, regardless of their subject matter, because Rabbi Moskowitz is responsible for all the Torah I learn and teach.
This is the audio of the eulogy I gave for my beloved rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l on Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan 5782 (May 30th, 2022). For the video, click here.
I plan on typing up the transcript of the abridged version of the eulogy (which is the one I gave), as well as the full version of the eulogy (which I haven't yet completed). I'll post links here once they're complete.
Here's the link to the full levaya, which includes the other six incredible and moving eulogies that were given. ---------- מקורות: ב' מלכים פרק ב אברבנאל שם רלב"ג שם רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תלמוד תורה ה:א ---------- This week's Torah content is dedicated to the loving memory of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l. May his soul be bound up in the bond of life. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
About an hour before I was scheduled to give shiur tonight (5/26/22), I received the terrible news that my rebbi - Rabbi Moskowitz (Meir ben Esther Malka) - will no longer be able to continue dialysis. Because I couldn't manage to take my mind off of the imminent implications of this, I decided to do what Rabbi Moskowitz would do in such a situation: give shiur. I chose this topic for its immediate practical relevance. Please pardon any errors or deficiencies in the shiur, whether due to my hasty preparation (I threw this together around 30 minutes before shiur started) or due to my emotional state (which is evident in the first few minutes of shiur). Perhaps some people might deem it inappropriate for me to give a shiur on this topic at this time. I don't care. I am a tefilah teacher, and if there's any right time to give a shiur on this topic, that time is now. ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר אהבה, הלכות תפלה וברכת כהנים א:א-ד; ו:ג-ד ברכות פרק ט משנה ג אברבנאל - במדבר טו:לא אבות פרק ה משנה כא ברכוף דף ס עמוד א בכור שור שם Ari Bleicher, "Tefillat Shav: The Limits of Prayer as a Means to Understanding its Transformative Nature" https://hakirah.org/Vol%2012%20Bleicher.pdf רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר אהבה, הלכות ברכות י:כו רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר שופטים, הלכות אבל יד:א,ו ספר החינוך מצוה תקיב "How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha" https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/2017/08/parashas-shoftim-how-to-say-tehilim-for.html ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Alex K. "in honor of Rabbi Schneeweiss's shiurim." Thank YOU, Alex, for listening to and supporting my shiurim! ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- Patreon: patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss YouTube Channel: youtube.com/rabbischneeweiss Blog: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/ "The Mishlei Podcast": mishlei.buzzsprout.com "The Stoic Jew" Podcast: thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com "Rambam Bekius" Podcast: rambambekius.buzzsprout.com "Machshavah Lab" Podcast: machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com "The Tefilah Podcast": tefilah.buzzsprout.com Guide to the Torah Content of Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/2021/04/links-to-torah-content-of-rabbi-matt.html Amazon Wishlist: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y72CSP86S24W?ref_=wl_sharel
This evening (5/24/22), during our regularly scheduled Tehilim shiur, we took a break from Shir ha'Maalos so that I can address a question I was recently asked: How does davening for other people work? I've had an answer to this question for a while, but I recently came up with a new theory. We spent the first half of shiur reviewing how tefilah works in general. We then went over my "old" answer, which still holds up. And then I shared my new theory. Let me know what you think! ---------- מקורות: רשב"ם + רד"ק - בראשית מח:יא אונקלוס + רש"י - דברים לב:לא רמב"ן + רלב"ג - שמות כא:כב סידור עבודת הלב (אוצר התפילות) ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Alex K. "in honor of Rabbi Schneeweiss's shiurim." Thank YOU, Alex, for listening to and supporting my shiurim! ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (5/19/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we began learning the third Shir ha'Maalos. Usually I have a chance to prepare these Tehilim shiurim in advance, but because we finished 121 so quickly, I haven't yet had time to prepare this with my chavrusa, which meant that it was new to all of us. We made some nice progress and developed a few approaches on our own. We started learning the Meiri but only got a couple of pesukim in. Next week (בג"ה) we'll finish the Meiri and refine our theories. ---------- מקורות: תהלים קכב תרגום כתובים מאירי רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר שופטים, הלכות ממרים א:א ---------- The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Length: 1 hour 12 minutes Synopsis: This past Friday morning (3/21/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we began with a review of the ideas we've learned for each phrase in the first berachah up until now. We re-learned the two explanations of "ha'E-l ha'Gadol ha'Gibor ve'ha'Nora" that we did last time, then learned one more explanation of E-l Elyon, and then began analyzing "gomel chasadim tovim." Since we ended off with some lingering questions, we'll revisit them next them, then move on to the next phrase. ----- מקורות: עץ יוסף ספורנו - דברים י:יז ר"י בר יקר רמב"ן - בראשית יד:יח רד"ק - ספר השורשים: ג.מ.ל. אבודרהם אבן עזרא - ישעיהו סג:ז רד"ק שם תנחומא – משפטים טו ----- This week's Torah content has been sponsored anonymously. Even I don’t know who the sponsor is, but their money is going to a good cause: purchasing the new edition of the Siddur Otzar ha’Tefilos. People have asked me what the best tefilah resource is—and hands down, it’s this siddur. The only problem is that the original printing was pretty horrendous. I’ve been waiting two decades for it to be reprinted, and it finally has! Now I just need to figure out how to get a copy. Regardless, thank you to the anonymous sponsor for your contribution!
----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (5/17/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we started AND finished learning the 2nd of the Shir ha'Maalos (or, if you ask Rashi, the 1st of the Shir ha'Maalos). We were perplexed at first, but we eventually came up with a sound theory. Not only that, but we figured out how to apply the insights to ourselves - as Jews in exiles, and as those who daven to Hashem. ---------- מקורות: תהלים קכא רש"י - תהלים קכא:א רשב"ם - תהלים קכא:א מאירי רד"ק ספורנו Mark Twain, "An Essay Concerning the Jews" (excerpt) https://ohr.edu/ask_db/ask_main.php/176/Q4/ John Adams, "letter to F. A. Van der Kemp [Feb. 16, 1808]" https://www.simpletoremember.com/jewish/blog/john-adams-and-the-jews/ ---------- The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (5/12/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we continued and concluded our analysis of Tehilim 120, thanks to the Meiri! Not only did we understand the main idea of the perek and how all the pesukim contribute to that idea, but we also emerged with practical insights into how to use THIS tefilah, and how to enhance our OTHER tefilos by using David's strategy here. We concluded with an initial reading of Tehilim 121, which we'll continue next week (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: תהלים קכ מאירי Alter רד"ק - תהלים קטז ---------- The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (5/10/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we began the first of the 15 Shir ha'Maalos! We immediately noted the differences in style and substance compared to the other perakim we've learned, but that didn't stop us from diving in. We made it through the translation, the Targum, and half the Meiri before we had to stop for the night. Next time we'll finish the Meiri and then try to understand the main idea and purpose of the perek (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: תהלים קכ תרגום כתובים מיוחס לרשב"ם מאירי Alter ---------- The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This morning (5/6/22), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we went over three insights I recently had into birkas ha'zman (i.e. shehecheyanu). The first is a basic but beautiful pshat from the Kuzari. The second is an insight I had over Pesach into the unique role played by the shehecheyanu we say at the end of kiddush at the seder. The third is an answer given by the Rav to the question: Why don't we say shehecheyanu on sefiras ha'omer? ---------- מקורות: ברכת שהחיינו רמב"ם – משנה תורה: ספר אהבה, הלכות ברכות י:א-ז, יא-טו; יא:ט כוזרי ג:יז (trans. Rabbi Daniel Korobkin) הגדה של פסח - מגיד ר"י בר יקר – פירוש על ההגדה של פסח שיח הגרי"ד – (ב) בענין קידוש בליל הסדר, דף ט-יא סברות במשנה תורה להרמב"ם (2011) – ברכת על אכילת מצה רש"י - שמות יג:ח רב שורקין - הררי קדם חלק ב סימן קו ---------- The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (5/3/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we took one more pass at trying to understand our perek - this time, with the help of the Radak. The first half of the perek was going strong, but then we lost the track. Thankfully, at the very end of the shiur, we managed to find a really nice practical insight into tefilah. We might not have succeeded in understanding the main idea of the perek, but at least we got a solid takeaway. Next time we'll begin a new perek (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: תהלים כח רד"ק רד"ק - תהלים כז:ד ---------- The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (4/28/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we attempted to understand the major idea and import of Tehilim 28, and I believe we did just that! We developed our own theory, drawing on a number of points made by the Malbim, and arrived at a consensus on what the perek is about and how we can use it to improve our own tefilos. Next time (בג"ה) we'll learn the Radak, who takes what appears to be a completely different approach than ours. ---------- מקורות: תהלים כח תרגום מלבי"ם רד"ק מאירי רש"י - דברים ג:כג ---------- The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (4/26/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we began learning Tehilim 28. I'm sure you're all familiar with Tehilim 28 ... just kidding. How many of us have even READ Tehilim 28? THAT's why I want to learn it. We've spent so much time this year on Tehilim that we regularly say, and I wanted to try a perek we never say. Sometimes, exposing one's mind to new material is all it takes to jumpstart a new approach or insight. Since we've focused primarily on perakim about shevach, I thought it would be good to focus on one about bakashah and hodaah. Tonight we translated the perek and raised a ton of questions. We'll aim to develop an approach and answer as many questions as we can next time.
מקורות: תהלים כח תרגום מצודת ציון/דוד אבן עזרא
The Torah content from now through Lag ba'Omer has been sponsored by Adam and Estee Goldberg in honor of Savta Shoshana Sham'eh bat Menachem. May her memory be a blessing.
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.com. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.
This evening (4/5/22), in our tefilah shiur, we were going to continue our analysis of Avos 2:13. However, I recently stumbled upon an eye-opening explanation from the Aruch ha'Shulchan for the (dearly beloved) practice of not saying tachanun for the entirety of Nisan, and I felt like I HAD to give shiur on it. I then realized that since "tachanunim" is one of the subjects of our mishnah, perhaps we could accomplish both objections in one shot. Did we succeed? You tell me! ---------- מקורות: מסכת סופרים כא:א-ג טור אורח חיים תכט:ב שוחן ערוך שם באר היטב שם משנה ברורה שם ערוך השולחן אורח חיים תכט:א-ג אבות פרק ב משנה יג רש"י - דברים ג:כג רבינו יונה - אבות ב:יג יואל ב:יא-יז ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Ann, who (against my will) asked that it be sponsored in honor of me. I'd like to take this moment to thank ALL my regular donors and Patrons for their support. The total cost of my five podcasts in 2021 amounted to over $2000 - all of which would have come out of my own pocket were it not for your generosity. Thank you for helping me make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone! ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (3/29/22), in our tefilah shiur, we continued our analysis of the mishnah in Avos we began last week. After reviewing the facts and questions, we focused on the first clause: "be careful in krias shema." We developed three approaches: one based on Rabbeinu Yonah, who learns this as a reference to saying Krias Shema at haneitz, another based on the Abravanel, who learns this as an explanation of how krias shema prepares us for tefilah, and a third original approach. ---------- מקורות: אבות פרק ב משנה יג רבינו יונה - אבות ב:יג ברכות דף ט עמוד ב עם פירוש רש"י והמאירי תורה תמימה - במדבר כח:ב, אות ב אברבנאל - נחלת אבות ב:יג ---------- The Torah content for the remainder of Adar II has been sponsored by David Campbell, and is dedicated "in honor of Rabbi Schneeweiss and all those who work to produce a grounded and thoughtful Judaism." ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (3/22/22), in our tefilah shiur, we began learning one of the few mishnayos in Pirkei Avos about tefilah. Specifically, how NOT to daven and how to daven, among other things. As usual, we began by raising all the questions and problems we could find. We then read through the Rabbeinu Yonah's commentary, and although we didn't have time to analyze all of it or answer all our questions, we did emerge with a clear practical directive for how NOT to daven and how to daven. We hope to develop that strategy and answer our questions next time (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: אבות פרק ב משנה יג נוסח ההגדה רבינו יונה - אבות ב:יג שולחן ערוך אורח חיים נח:א רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר אהבה, הלכות קריאת שמע א:יא ברכות פרק ד משנה ד רמב"ם - פירוש המשניות אבות ב:יג ---------- The Torah content for the remainder of Adar II has been sponsored by David Campbell, and is dedicated "in honor of Rabbi Schneeweiss and all those who work to produce a grounded and thoughtful Judaism." ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (3/19/25), in our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we began learning the perek before the one we did last time. We had seen opinions that 43 is part of 42, and the proof definitely seems to be in the pudding, so we're going to proceed on that assumption. The translation was a bit quicker than usual, since so many phrases were familiar. We only got a little bit into our analysis, noticing the difficulties of the perek and voicing some intuitions about its themes. Next time we'll engage in some REAL analysis! (בג"ה) ----- מקורות: תהלים פרק מב Artscroll Robert Alter רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות יסודי התורה ב:א-ב רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה י:ב-ג ----- The Torah content for this week has been sponsored by my friend, Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder. His latest book, Happiness in the Face of Adversity: Powerful Torah Ideas from a Mom's Parting Words, shares the wisdom of Shani Feder a"h, a true Eishes Chayil. This is the kind of Torah I wish more people knew—ideas that directly impact our experience of life. Available now on Amazon. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (3/15/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, our goal was to "land the plane" - that is, to wrap up this iteration of our learning of Ashrei. We're doing this because several of our regulars will be out for the next couple of weeks and that seems like a good opportunity to start something new. Did we succeed? Kind of. We didn't end up resolving the outstanding difficulties we had in Ashrei itself, but we did come up with a nice overview of all six chapters of pesukei d'zimra (145-150), based on our recollection of the ideas gleaned from the many months we spent on those chapters. There is more work to be done, but I'm happy with what we've discovered on this particular voyage.
מקורות: רד"ק - תהלים קמה
The Torah content for the remainder of Adar II has been sponsored by David Campbell, and is dedicated "in honor of Rabbi Schneeweiss and all those who work to produce a grounded and thoughtful Judaism."
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.com. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.
Tonight (3/10/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we continued developing our understanding of Ashrei with the commentary of the Radak. On Tuesday we began learning the cluster of pesukim which includes "poseach es yadecha." Things were going well until the very end, when we encountered a VERY metaphysically disturbing Radak (at least, according to the Rambam, which is shocking given how "Maimonidean" the Radak typically is). Tonight our goal was to understand what the Radak was saying in a manner which extricates us from our perplexity ... and I believe we succeeded! Our goal next Tuesday is to try to wrap up THIS iteration of learning Ashrei. ---------- מקורות: רד"ק - תהלים קמה:יד-כא חולין דף סג עמוד א אבן עזרא - תהלים לו:ז רד"ק - בראשית ט:ה רד"ק - א' מלאכים יג:כח בכורות דף ה עמוד ב מכילתא דר' ישמעאל משפטים פרשה כ רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ג:יז ---------- The Torah content from now through Shushan Purim has been sponsored anonymously. This is the last sponsorship we have lined up. If you would like to sponsor a week's worth of content, you know how to find me! ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (3/8/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we continued developing our understanding of Ashrei with the commentary of the Radak. This week we began learning the cluster of pesukim which includes פּוֹתֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכׇל חַי רָצוֹן. We developed some nice insights, but we got absolutely SLAMMED by a controversial shitah the Radak at the very end of shiur, which we'll pick up (with trepidation) next time (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: רד"ק - תהלים קמה:יד-טז ---------- The Torah content from now through Shushan Purim has been sponsored anonymously. This is the last sponsorship we have lined up. If you would like to sponsor a week's worth of content, you know how to find me! ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (3/8/22), before we started our Tehilim shiur, we took 5 minutes to learn through a single paragraph from a responsum of the Rambam on the topic of reciting berachos and pesukei d'zimra quickly. Spoiler alert: if you'll take offense to being told that your tefilah has the halachic status of a parrot (דין בתפילתו דין התוכי) then don't listen to this Rambam! ---------- מקורות: איגרות הרמב"ם (שילת) - תשובה בענין אמירת תחינות ובענין תפילה בחיפזון, עמודים תקפט-תקצ ---------- The Torah content from now through Shushan Purim has been sponsored anonymously. This is the last sponsorship we have lined up. If you would like to sponsor a week's worth of content, you know how to find me! ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Tonight (3/3/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we began by going over everything we covered on Tuesday but with greater depth and clarity. In doing so, we came up with new ideas and new approaches AND it seems that we've opened a path for understanding the second half of Ashrei in a manner that flows smoothly from the first half. If you missed last week, don't listen to it. Listen to this one instead. ---------- מקורות: רד"ק - תהלים קלט:יד; קמה:ח-יד רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ג:נד רמב"ם - ספר המצוות, עשה ב-ג מלבי"ם - איוב לה:ח-ט ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Sarah, in memory of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt"l, who changed many lives with his Torah and sterling middot. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Tonight (3/1/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, since we only had one attendee, we decided to attempt to cover ground. We learned a whopping FOUR pesukim - first, attempting to interpret them on our own, then reading the Radak, and then checking out some other meforshim. We aimed to keep this more on the "bekius" side because we wanted to wait until our usual crowd was there to work on the ideas. That's the plan for next time, anyway. ---------- מקורות: רד"ק - תהלים קמה:יא-יד ראב"ע - תהלים קמה:יד מצודת דוד תהלים קמה:יד מאירי - תהלים קמה:יד ספורנו - תהלים קמה:יד ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Sarah, in memory of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt"l, who changed many lives with his Torah and sterling middot. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Tonight (2/24/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur we continued our pasuk-by-pasuk analysis of Ashrei. We set out to review what we did last time, and ended up diving even deeper into those same three pesukim with the Radak! After a few new observations at the beginning, we reread the Radak, then took a detour to review the Ralbag's take on the middos Ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu which are mentioned in 145:8. We then started to look up the other passages in the Radak's commentary referenced by the footnote, which led to some AMAZING examples - and we didn't even finish with them! To be continued next week (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: רד"ק - תהלים קמה:ח-י; קיט:יד; ח:ג; קג:כב שד"ל - שמות לד:ו רלב"ג - שמות לד:ו-ז ביאור הפרשה רלב"ג - מלחמות ה' ד:ה רלב"ג - פתיחה לביאור התורה תוספות ברכות דף לז עמוד א ---------- The Torah content for the remainder of February has been sponsored by Jeremy Gelbart of Boca Raton, FL, in gratitude for Rabbi Schneeweiss's teaching. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Last night (2/22/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur we continued our pasuk-by-pasuk analysis of Ashrei. After reviewing the ideas from last Thursday (how Ashrei gets you Olam ha'Ba) and last Tuesday (the flow of pesukim 1-7), we continued in the Radak's commentary, taking a detour to the three Gemaras (with Rashi and Tosafos) which discuss the middah of "erech apayim." We got most of the facts, and we'll attempt to understand the unity and flow next time (בג"ה). ---------- מקורות: תהלים קמה עם פירוש הרד"ק עירובין דף כב עמוד א עם פירוש רש"י ותוספות סנהדרין דף קיא עמוד א-ב עם פירוש רש"י בבא קמא דף נ עמוד ב עם פירוש תוספות ---------- The Torah content for the remainder of February has been sponsored by Jeremy Gelbart of Boca Raton, FL, in gratitude for Rabbi Schneeweiss's teaching. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Tonight (2/17/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur we paused our analysis of Ashrei with the Radak to learn the Gemara which states that a person who says Ashrei three times a day is assured a prime spot in Olam ha'Ba. We initially intended to just raise the questions and leave the answers for next week, but we were zocheh to answer all our questions and explain the entire Gemara tonight! ---------- מקורות: ברכות דף ד עמוד ב עם פירוש רש"י רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר שופטים, הלכות מלכים ומלחמות ט:א יערות דבש ח"א דרוש יד רמב"ן - שמות יג:טז רבינו בחיי - ויקרא לז:ז רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ג:נד ---------- The Torah content for the remainder of February has been sponsored by Jeremy Gelbart of Boca Raton, FL, in gratitude for Rabbi Schneeweiss's teaching. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Tonight (2/15/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur we continued our analysis of Ashrei with the aid of the Radak's commentary. We began with a methodology point about how to approach texts like this, which the chachamim acknowledge are deeper or more important than most. We then reviewed pesukim 1-7 to refine some of our previous ideas, note some new ones, and to grasp the flow and unity of the section. We concluded by going over the facts of 8-9 to set up for next time. Buckle in, boys and girls, because it looks like we're going to take our sweet time on this perek! ---------- מקורות: רד"ק - תהלים קמה:א-ט ---------- The Torah content for the remainder of February has been sponsored by Jeremy Gelbart of Boca Raton, FL, in gratitude for Rabbi Schneeweiss's teaching. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (3/12/25), in lieu of our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we took up a Purim-related tefilah topic: Esther’s tefilah! "But wait," you might object, "where in the Megillah does it say that Esther davened?" The answer: it doesn’t—at least not explicitly. But the Midrashim and midrashic Targumim contain several references to her tefilah, and we analyzed the Targum Rishon on Esther 5:1, where her tefilah is spelled out in detail. I wasn’t sure if we’d arrive at an understanding, but one of the guys in the shiur offered a great explanation, which I supplemented with my own insights to help us implement Esther’s strategy in our own davening. ----- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: הקדמה, מצוות דרבנן אסתר ד:טו - ה:א תרגום ראשון לאסתר ה:א רלב"ג - שמות יז (סוף פרשת בשלח) תרגום שני לאסתר ה:א ----- The Torah content for this week has been sponsored by my friend, Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder. His latest book, Happiness in the Face of Adversity: Powerful Torah Ideas from a Mom's Parting Words, shares the wisdom of Shani Feder a"h, a true Eishes Chayil. This is the kind of Torah I wish more people knew—ideas that directly impact our experience of life. Available now on Amazon. ----- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Tonight (2/10/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur we continued our analysis of Ashrei with the aid of the Radak's commentary. Our shiur was shorter than usual (since we discussed a methodology point beforehand, which I've uploaded as a separate recording), we only got through five pesukim, but the Radak certainly delivered - even if his approach would make the Malbim roll over in his grave! ---------- מקורות: רד"ק - תהלים קמה:ג-ז רד"ק - תהלים קיט:א רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים א:נד ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Ann with gratitude to Rabbi Moskowitz for teaching us and enabling us to have better lives. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
This evening (2/10/22), as a preface to our Tehilim shiur, I read a short reflection I wrote about chinuch prompted by an excerpt from "Letters to a Young Poet" (1934) by Rainer Maria Rilke. I chose to conduct a discussion about this because earlier this week in our Tehilim shiur we encountered two major philosophical conundrums regarding how we relate to Hashem, and this excerpt suggests an avenue for "resolving" these and similar conundrums - and for how to live as a Jew, a human being, and an "artist of life" in general.
See also Footnote 4 in Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's "Halakhic Man" ---------- מקורות: Rainer Maria Rilke, "Letters to a Young Poet" רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים א:לד Sigmund Freud, "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" רמב"ן - שער הגמול ג:מא ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Ann with gratitude to Rabbi Moskowitz for teaching us and enabling us to have better lives. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.
Have you ever asked yourself, "How may the Radak's commentary be likened to steak, and the Malbim's to sushi?" If so, then this shiur is for you! Tonight (2/8/21) in our Tehilim/Tefilah shiur we continued our analysis of Ashrei. After reviewing the ideas from the Radak that we covered last time, I presented my metaphorical comparison of the Radak's approach to that of the Malbim. We then "sampled" the Malbim by learning four pesukim with his commentary. Next time we'll decide whose commentary we'll learn the rest of Ashrei with. ---------- מקורות: תהלים פרק קמה רד"ק - תהלים קמה:א-ב מלבי"ם ביאור הענין - תהלים קמה:א-ד ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Ann with gratitude to Rabbi Moskowitz for teaching us and enabling us to have better lives. ---------- If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version. You might also be interested in How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life and How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I can be reached at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. ---------- If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail.com. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.