Machshavah Lab

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (2/25/22), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we began a new topic, prompted by the following question that was sent to me: "What is the impetus for one to follow Halachos d'Rabbanan? When I am sitting alone at night in the privacy of my home, what should motivate me not to eat chicken with cheese?&q...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (2/23/22), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we continued learning the Sefer ha'Chinuch's introduction to Mikdash. After reviewing what we covered last time, we learned the Sefer ha'Chinuch's explanation of Seir l'Azazel, which we compared and contrasted with the Rambam's in the...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! The full title of this YBT Sunday Shiur (given on 2/20/22) is "Midrashic Embellishment: Why Did Chazal Villainize 'the Bad Guys' and Vindicate 'the Good Guys' and What are the Educational Implications for Us?" It is a sequel to the shiur I gave on 4/18/21 entitled: " Midrashic Betrayal: the Detrimental Ef...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (2/18/22), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we concluded our multi-part series on R' Akiva's loaded-with-fundamental-ideas-about-human-existence statement in Pirkei Avos. After reviewing ALL the facts and ideas from Parts 1 and 2 and learning Chazal's statements about erech apayim which were c...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (2/11/22), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we continued in our multi-part series on R' Akiva's loaded-with-fundamental-ideas-about-human-existence statement in Pirkei Avos. After reviewing the facts from last time, we delved into one of the deepest sections of the Rambam's Shemoneh Perakim, w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (2/9/22), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we continued learning the Sefer ha'Chinuch's introduction to Mikdash. Tonight we learned his radical explanation of what it means to say that the shechinah (divine presence) is in the Mikdash. After that we learned the three pshat explanations he gives for...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: On Day #5 of my January 2022 solo cabin retreat, I got a call from my Rosh ha’Yeshiva. The subject? Hashgachah pratis. This longer-than-normal episode is my recollection of that conversation, supplemented by my own extensive footnotes and reflections. I’m posting this as an episode of The Stoic Jew Podcast AND the Machshavah Lab...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (2/4/22), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we began a multi-part analysis of what is - according to the Rambam - one of the most profound mishnayos in Pirkei Avos. Today we began going over the facts: reading and translating the mishnah, raising all of our questions, and learning the Rambam's commentary...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (2/2/22), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we began learning the Sefer ha'Chinuch's introduction to Mikdash, in which he spells out his theory of the purpose of the Mikdash as a whole and offeres explanations of the reasons for many of the particular elements which comprise it. In our first install...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Note: I've uploaded this shiur to Machshavah Lab AND The Tefilah Podcast because it's relevant to both and I can spare the minutes this month. This evening (1/11/22), in our tefilah shiur, we tackled a bunch of fundamental questions on tefilah, including but not limited to: (1) How "poetic" are the Torah's songs, D...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 24 minutes Synopsis: This morning (1/7/22), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we took up two very basic questions: (1) Who carried out the Plague of the Firstborn? (2) What is the purpose of the Korban Pesach? The average Jew who has attended Pesach sedarim would probably have ready answers to both of these...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 12 minutes  Synopsis: This morning (12/31/21), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we had a SURPRISE shiur on the parashah! (It was a "surprise" in the sense that I didn't prepare a shiur. This began as a Q&A and turned into a shiur.) The question was: "What's the deal with Hashem...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (12/31/21), in our Thursday night hashkafah shiur (which is usually not recorded), we continued our multi-part series on the Rambam's shitah about hashgachah, using David Guttman's essay "Divine Providence - Goals, Hopes, and Fears, כי כל דרכיו משפט" as our guide. Tonight we focused on the difficult and abs...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In this morning's (12/26/21) YBT Sunday Shiur we examine four common expressions that are used in reference to the deceased: (1) "aliyah / l'iluyi nishmas" - may the soul have an elevation, (2) "zechus" - in merit of, (3) "zichrono li'vracha" - may their memory be for a blessing, (4) "karap...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (12/24/21), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we continued on the topic we began last week on the four ways that people relate to the Beis Midrash. After reviewing the two approaches we learned last time (Rashi and Rambam) we learned two more: the Meiri's explanation which focused on learning and Rabbein...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (12/22/21), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we set out to glean as many insights as we could from the three episodes recounted about Moshe Rabbeinu before the burning bush - all of which had to do with his intervention for the sake of justice and righteousness. We anchored our approach in the Abravanel, but vent...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (12/27/21), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we took up the mishnah in Pirkei Avos chapter 5 about the four categories of relating to the Beis Midrash (and yes, that phrasing was intentionally vague). We brought a few personal agendas to the table, which we acknowledged at the beginning of shiur. Our plan wa...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (12/16/21), in our Thursday night hashkafah shiur (which is usually not recorded), we continued our multi-part series on the Rambam's shitah about hashgachah, using David Guttman's essay "Divine Providence - Goals, Hopes, and Fears, כי כל דרכיו משפט" as our guide. After reviewing the view of the Atomists an...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (12/15/21), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we set out to understand the four pesukim (Bereishis 49:33 - 50:3) which describe the death and mummification of Yaakov Avinu. After learning a few approaches to the basic pshat and a nice little philosophical interpretation from Rav Hirsch, we moved to the famous midr...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (12/9/21), in our Thursday night hashkafah shiur (which is usually not recorded), we began a multi-part series on the Rambam's shitah about hashgachah, as presented in the Moreh ha'Nevuchim Chelek 3. I have recently come to the realization that I'm due to reexamine the Rambam's view of hashgachah - mostly d...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (12/8/21), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we set out to explore the extraordinarily weird conversation between Yaakov and Paroh which spans five pesukim (Bereishis 47:7-10). Our main difficulty was aptly expressed by the Radak: "I don't know why this account was written." We learned three types o...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! FYI, this is being posted in my Machshavah Lab podcast because it's about a holiday and also in my Tefilah podcast because it's about tefilah. It's the same shiur, though. This evening (12/2/21), in our tefilah shiur, we attempted to take a fresh look at Al ha'Nissim, and when we did, we discovered a major theme that ha...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (12/1/21), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we set out to explore a very, VERY weighty question: how to respond when something bad happens. Our investigation focused on two episodes: the incident of Yosef and Potiphar's wife in Vayeishev, and the response of Yosef's brothers to their predicament in Mike...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (11/19/21), in our "Machshavah Lab" series for women, we continued our quest for practical guidelines on how to cultivate humility. After reviewing the sources and questions from last time, and resolving one apparent contradiction which came up, we delved into the Abravanel's ... interesting strategies for comba...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (11/17/21), in our aptly named "Chumash Exploration," we had two objectives: the primary objective was to analyze the Torah's account of the “fifth matriarch” according to both drash and pshat (in that order) and discuss the methodological implications, and the secondary objective was to answer the question: “Would t...