Machshavah Lab

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 50 minutes Synopsis: This week (3/19/26), in our Thursday night Machshavah Lab series for women, we continued the topic we embarked on the week before. First, we revised our understanding of the Rambam's approach and my "Pillow Theory." Then we answered all the questions we raised last time. We then learned th...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 3/11/26 titled: Vayakhel / Pikudei: Remembering Minas Tirith … I Mean Mikdash . Saadia Gaon states that contemplating the architecture of the Mishkan earns us reward. What is the nature of this reward? How should this shape...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! DISCLAIMER: I almost didn't post this shiur because it wasn't as clear as I hoped AND because we revised it in Part 2. I'm happy with Part 2, but I'm posting Part 1 for the sake of thoroughness and transparency. Just know that if you listen to it, you should NOT expect the level of clarity that I typically aim for. Leng...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 3/11/26 titled: Post-Purim 5786: Operation Growling Bear . This began as a recap of a Mishlei/Megilah/Midrash crossover shiur I gave before Purim. Then Operation Roaring Lion, which commenced on Shabbos Zachor, added another...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 3/9/26 titled: What Modern Orthodoxy Means to Me (or Rabbi Fox’s 2007 NYHS Commencement Address) . Since NYHS’s annual fundraising campaign is in full swing, I figured this would be a good time to share the educational philo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 40 minutes Synopsis: This evening (3/5/25), in our Thursday night women’s shiur, we continued our exploration of Rabbeinu Yonah on bitachon. The bad news is that I didn't have a chance to prepare. The good news is that our review went SO far in-depth that we ended up covering a whole lot that I hadn't planned. In t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 3/5/26 titled: Ki Tisa: Is Shabbos a Day of Simchah?  If so, why isn't it presented this way in the Torah and in halacha? And if not, then why are there so many references to Shabbos joy in the songs we sing on Shabbos?...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 31 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/5/26), in lieu of our usual morning Mishlei, we had a Q&A session! We discussed four questions: (1) What's the nature of the halacha of "learning the halachos of the chag 30 days before the chag"? (2) How necessary is it for people to read and understand every line of the Hagg...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 26 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/27/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we capped off our series of shiurim on malachim with a midrash on Megilas Esther about a malach (in preparation for Purim, of course). This is a well-known midrash, but the version in the Gemara differs markedly from the version i...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 46 minutes Synopsis: This evening (2/26/25), in our Thursday night women’s shiur, we continued our exploration of Rabbeinu Yonah on bitachon. After a lengthy, in-depth review of what we covered last time on Mishlei 3:5, we began learning his commentary on Mishlei 3:6. If Part 1 focused on the theoretical aspects of bitachon,...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 2 hours Synopsis: Back in 2022, I gave a shiur on the extremely niche topic of avunculate marriage, that is, an uncle marrying his niece. Two years later, I received an email titled “Avunculate Marriage: Need Some Spiritual Guidance” from an aunt and nephew who were in love and seeking rabbinic guidance about whether their relation...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 26 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/20/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we continued our exploration of the Rambam’s view of angels. After a brief review, a question led us on an unplanned detour through his presentation of angels in the Mishneh Torah. We then returned to the central question: Why are...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 2/20/26 titled: Terumah – The “Where?” “What?” and “Why?” of Shechinah . I typically rely on the Rambam's explanation of shechinah in the Moreh 1:25. This time, I'd like to showcase the explanations of two Italian...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 3-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 2/13/26 titled: Mishpatim – Is there a Conflict Between Trusting in Hashem and Trusting in Doctors? The Torah unequivocally allows us to rely on physicians for healing, but should we regard that allowance as reluctant or as...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/13/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, I had planned to continue our analysis of the Rambam's view of angels. Instead, we did something more important: review and clarification! We did a complete review of all the main points from last time, and raised additional questio...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 30 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/6/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we initiated the next phase: decoding the allegory of the satan. After reviewing and raising questions about the first few pesukim of the allegory, we turned to the Rambam’s primary treatment of angels in the Moreh, summarizing and...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 59 minutes Synopsis: This evening (2/5/25), in our Thursday night women's shiur, we embarked toward an unknown destination, though in very specific waters. Our goal was to understand Rabbeinu Yonah’s take on bitachon (trust, or security, in God). Our journey began with his essay-like commentaries on Mishlei, chapter 3....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 2/5/26 titled: Yisro – Ralbag: On Drafting an AI Policy for a Jewish Day School . Is this a dvar Torah on the parashah, an overview of Ralbag’s theory of Torah, or a set of guidelines for drafting AI policy? The answer is: Y...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 7 minutes Synopsis: Last night (2/1/26), I was honored to give a shiur at Congregation Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park (West Hempstead, NY) in memory of my dear student Adira a"h, on the occasion of her third yahrzeit. As I mention in the disclaimers toward the beginning, a friend of mine was worried that it might come acro...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 13 minutes Synopsis: This morning (1/30/26), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we began with a comprehensive review of the facts, questions, and steps we took last time. Then I presented my approach, which we developed with our own insights supplemented by ideas from Rabbi Chait's shiur (which I had...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 1/28/26 titled: Bo/Beshalach: How Many Israelites Died in the Plague of Darkness?  This article spotlights a highly problematic midrash on a pasuk in Beshalach about an event in Bo which has bothered me for over a decade. Th...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 26 minutes Synopsis: This morning (1/23/26), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we took a brief interlude from our learning of Sefer Iyov to analyze the well-known slogan of Nachum Ish Gam Zu, as well as the similar but lesser known slogan of his student, R. Akiva. We went through all the facts, raised a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 17 minutes 53 seconds Synopsis:  Last week (1/14/26), I published an article on my Substack titled Rav Kook: First Impressions of a New Chapter in My Learning . This was a surprisingly challenging article to write, but I’m proud of how it turned out, and I’ve received great feedback on it so far. However, I chose to keep most of it...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 28 minutes Synopsis: This morning (1/16/25), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we concluded our catch-up crash course. After reviewing our mission and Iyov's exchange with Eliphaz, we covered Bildad's speech and Iyov's thorough response, then wrapped things up with Tzofar's speech and...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 1/16/26 titled: Vaeira: An Explanation of Hashem Hardening Paroh’s Heart You May Not Have Heard . Many explanations have been offered for Hashem hardening Paroh’s heart, some more satisfying than others. Here is an approach...