Machshavah Lab

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 8 minutes 22 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/26/24 entitled: Pinchas: The Korban Tamid as ... God's Food? How would you respond to the claim that korbanos are "God's food"? How would y...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 6 minutes 31 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I originally published on my old blog on 12/27/13, which I edited and republished on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/19/24 entitled: Vaeira: Do You Believe in Magic? Is magic real? There are three views amo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 8 minutes 45 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/19/24 entitled: Balak: Blaming Sins on “Sin City.” When it comes to nature vs. nurture, we think of "nurture" in reference to people and one's s...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 8 minutes 3 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/12/24 entitled: Chukas: How the Deaths of Tzadikim Atone . I was going to call this article, "How Miriam and Aharon Died for Our Sins," but I opted fo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 8 minutes 1 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/5/24 entitled: Korach: The Sexual Allegations Against Moshe Rabbeinu . Did you know that Korach led a nationwide smear campaign against Moshe by accusing him of...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 4 pages Length of the audio: 15 minutes 31 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/28/24 entitled: Shelach: Shadal’s Radical Take on the Forty Years in the Wilderness . What if I told you that Israel were not condemned to wander in the Wilde...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 1 page Length of the audio: 4 minutes Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I originally published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/24/22, which I've edited and republished on 6/27/24, entitled: Shelach: Challah as a Consequence of the Cheit ha'Meraglim . Why does the Torah introdu...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 52 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/21/24) we had a surprise Q&A as our last shiur in yeshiva of the 2023-2024 year! We took up seven questions: (1) How do we reconcile/account for the differences in the average working hours today vs. in the time of Chazal and the Rishonim, insofar as our learning is concerned? (2) What is me...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 7 minutes 41 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/21/24, entitled: Behaalosecha: Moshe’s  Short[ened] Tefilah . Why was Moshe's tefilah for Miriam so short? Was this his intent or was he forced to shorten...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 17 minutes Synopsis: This evening (6/19/24), in our last Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur of the year, we took up a tefilah-related topic in the parashah: Moshe's short tefilah for Miriam. We raised a bunch of questions, and then set out to gain as many insights as we could. There was so much to cover that we went...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 4 pages Length of the audio: 15 minutes 3 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/18/24, entitled: Emulating Darwin: A Jewish Approach to Seeking God . I recently read some Darwin for the first time and was so impressed by the character refl...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 5 minutes 8 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I originally wrote on 6/20/13 which I edited and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/14/24, entitled: Naso: Shivim Panim la'Torah in Context . The idiom "Shivim Panim la'Torah" i...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 7 pages Length of the audio: 21 minutes 19 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 7-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/11/24, entitled: Shavuos is NOT About the Giving of the Torah . This article, originally published on 5/30/17, is one of the few I've written about Shavu...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 23 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/7/24), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab shiurim for women, we decided to do a sequel to our Megilas Esther shiurim from earlier this year. As is his style, the Ralbag concludes sections of his Biblical commentaries with "toalos" (a.k.a. lessons) in halacha, middos, and philo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour Synopsis: This morning (6/7/24) we continued our analysis of the sugya we started on Wednesday night. After reviewing the facts and questions, we set out to define - or at least, attempt to define - the two main disagreements: (1) What was the structure of the takanah? (2) Which name of Hashem was this in reference to? I sha...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 39 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (6/6/24), in our Thursday night Pirkei Avos shiur for women, we continued our analysis of the mishnah about deriving worldly benefit from words of Torah. After a VERY brief review of the Rambam, to which Parts 1 and 2 were devoted, we examined the opposition as formulated by two Rishonim. Sforno...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In honor of the second yahrzeit of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l, I will be reposting all the "Rabbi Moskowitz Memory” Facebook posts that I wrote during the week of his passing. Rabbi Moskowitz Memory #7: Immortality in This World Length of article: 2 pages Length of audio: 4 minutes 40 seconds Synopsis: This is the last...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In honor of the second yahrzeit of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l, I will be reposting all the "Rabbi Moskowitz Memory” Facebook posts that I wrote during the week of his passing. I’m not going to edit any of them unless I find a typo. I want to preserve the spontaneous writing I did during that intense period of grieving....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 6 minutes Synopsis: This evening (6/5/24), in lieu of our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur, we took up a halachic topic: the takanah (Rabbinic enactment) to greet one's fellow with the name of Hashem. This topic is so dense, intricate, and intertwined that we spent the entire time going through the facts and raisin...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In honor of the second yahrzeit of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l, I will be reposting all the "Rabbi Moskowitz Memory” Facebook posts that I wrote during the week of his passing. I’m not going to edit any of them unless I find a typo. I want to preserve the spontaneous writing I did during that intense period of grieving....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In honor of the second yahrzeit of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l, I will be reposting all the "Rabbi Moskowitz Memory” Facebook posts that I wrote during the week of his passing. I’m not going to edit any of them unless I find a typo. I want to preserve the spontaneous writing I did during that intense period of grieving....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In honor of the second yahrzeit of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l, I will be reposting all the "Rabbi Moskowitz Memory” Facebook posts that I wrote during the week of his passing. I’m not going to edit any of them unless I find a typo. I want to preserve the spontaneous writing I did during that intense period of grieving....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In honor of the second yahrzeit of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l, I will be reposting all the "Rabbi Moskowitz Memory” Facebook posts that I wrote during the week of his passing. I’m not going to edit any of them unless I find a typo. I want to preserve the spontaneous writing I did during that intense period of grieving....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In honor of the second yahrzeit of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l, I will be reposting all the "Rabbi Moskowitz Memory” Facebook posts that I wrote during the week of his passing. I’m not going to edit any of them unless I find a typo. I want to preserve the spontaneous writing I did during that intense period of grieving....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In honor of the second yahrzeit of my rebbi, Rabbi Morton Moskowitz zt"l, I will be reposting all the "Rabbi Moskowitz Memory” Facebook posts that I wrote during the week of his passing. I’m not going to edit any of them unless I find a typo. I want to preserve the spontaneous writing I did during that intense period of grieving....