The Mishlei Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 11:3 - The Integrity of the Upright תֻּמַּת יְשָׁרִים תַּנְחֵם וְסֶלֶף בֹּגְדִים יְשָׁדֵּם: This evening (11/8/21), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we tackled a VERY difficult pasuk in which literally every word needed to be defined conceptually. Not only that, but this pasuk introduced us to not one, not two, but THREE new Mish...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:4 - Furrows of the Wicked (Part 1) רוּם עֵינַיִם וּרְחַב לֵב נִר רְשָׁעִים חַטָּאת: This morning (11/8/21) we started a pasuk which was doubly difficult to read, due to its idiomatic terminology and its ambiguous syntax. We struggled to work out viable approaches for most of the shiur and finally hit upon a good one in the last...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:3 - Tzedakah and Mishpat vs. Sacrifice (Part 2) עֲשֹׂה צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט נִבְחָר לַי״י מִזָּבַח: This morning (11/4/21) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk by learning through six or seven meforshim. We were able to extract full ideas from some of them and partial ideas from others, but either way, we emerged w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:3 - Tzedakah and Mishpat vs. Sacrifice (Part 1) עֲשֹׂה צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט נִבְחָר לַי״י מִזָּבַח: This morning (11/3/21) we started learning a very non-Mishleic pasuk - "non-Mishleic" in the sense that it discusses korbanos. We developed three nice approaches on our own. Tomorrow the plan is to learn the meforshim, st...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 11:2 - Mishleic Tznius בָּא זָדוֹן וַיָּבֹא קָלוֹן וְאֶת צְנוּעִים חׇכְמָה: This evening (11/1/21), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned Mishlei's take on tznius (modesty) and its relationship with chochmah. The pasuk was difficult in that it was quite vague - yet, we were able to come up with a good four or five soli...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:2 - Subjective Evaluations vs. Hashem כׇּל דֶּרֶךְ אִישׁ יָשָׁר בְּעֵינָיו וְתֹכֵן לִבּוֹת י״י: This morning (11/1/21) we learned one of those "Duh!" pesukim, which seem like they're stating an obvious idea. In cases like these, the challenge is to find an intellectual chidush (new insight), an emotional chidush,...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:1 - Do Kings Have Free Will? (Part 2) פַּלְגֵי מַיִם לֶב מֶלֶךְ בְּיַד י״י עַל כׇּל אֲשֶׁר יַחְפֹּץ יַטֶּנּוּ: This morning (10/28/21) we learned three meforshim on yesterday's pasuk: Saadia Gaon, Meiri, and Rabbeinu Yonah. We got some nice ideas from the first two, but ran into difficulty with Rabbeinu Yonah, thanks in no...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! (NOTE: The internet went out 30 minutes in, which forced me to split the recording into Part A and Part B. If I had the time and the skill I'd merge the two videos into one, but at the present, I have neither.) Mishlei 21:1 (Part A) Do Kings Have Free Will? (Part 1) פַּלְגֵי מַיִם לֶב מֶלֶךְ בְּיַד י״י עַל כׇּל אֲשֶׁר יַחְפֹּץ יַטֶּנּ...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! (NOTE: The internet went out 30 minutes in, which forced me to split the recording into Part A and Part B. If I had the time and the skill I'd merge the two videos into one, but at the present, I have neither.) Mishlei 21:1 (Part B) Do Kings Have Free Will? (Part 1) פַּלְגֵי מַיִם לֶב מֶלֶךְ בְּיַד י״י עַל כׇּל אֲשֶׁר יַחְפֹּץ יַטֶּנּ...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 20:30 - Wounds that Purge and Polish Evil (Part 2) חַבֻּרוֹת פֶּצַע [תַּמְרוּק] (תמריק) בְּרָע וּמַכּוֹת חַדְרֵי בָטֶן: This morning (10/26/21) we continued our learning of yesterday's pasuk. We began by reviewing the ideas we went over yesterday, including Rabbeinu Yonah's, for which we developed an approach. We then lea...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 11:1 - Hashem Hates Deceitful Scales מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה תּוֹעֲבַת י״י וְאֶבֶן שְׁלֵמָה רְצוֹנוֹ: This evening (10/25/21), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned a pasuk which came preloaded with a unique set of challenges. Not only is this pasuk a repition of what the Torah already says, but Shlomo HIMSELF essentially repeats...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 20:30 - Wounds that Purge and Polish Evil (Part 1) חַבֻּרוֹת פֶּצַע [תַּמְרוּק] (תמריק) בְּרָע וּמַכּוֹת חַדְרֵי בָטֶן: This morning (10/25/21) we began learning the final pasuk in Chapter 20. The translation proved to be difficult on account of the contronym "tamrook b'ra," which can either mean "to purge evil&...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 20:29 - The Glory of Youths and Elders (Part 2) תִּפְאֶרֶת בַּחוּרִים כֹּחָם וַהֲדַר זְקֵנִים שֵׂיבָה: This morning (10/21/21), after reviewing what we covered yesterday, we learned several meforshim - each of which led to new and beneficial insights. Considering how relatively "bland" this pasuk appeared at first blush,...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! תִּפְאֶרֶת בַּחוּרִים כֹּחָם וַהֲדַר זְקֵנִים שֵׂיבָה: This morning (10/20/21) we began a new pasuk which seemed to focus on "non-Mishleic" qualities, without any Mishleic implications. We developed several nice explanations, supported by meforshim on non-Mishlei sources. Tomorrow we'll see what the meforshim on Mishlei have...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת יִצְּרוּ מֶלֶךְ וְסָעַד בַּחֶסֶד כִּסְאוֹ: This morning (10/19/21) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk about the role of chesed and emes) in relation to the king and his subjects. After reviewing yesterday's approach and hearing a new one, we turned to the meforshim. We arrived at three approaches: (1) Me...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! (לא) פִּי צַדִּיק יָנוּב חׇכְמָה וּלְשׁוֹן תַּהְפֻּכוֹת תִּכָּרֵת: (לב) שִׂפְתֵי צַדִּיק יֵדְעוּן רָצוֹן וּפִי רְשָׁעִים תַּהְפֻּכוֹת: This evening (10/18/21), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned the last two pesukim of Chapter 10, which most meforshim treat as one long pasuk. This time our own analysis led us directly to the Rab...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת יִצְּרוּ מֶלֶךְ וְסָעַד בַּחֶסֶד כִּסְאוֹ: This morning (10/18/21) we started learning a pasuk about the role of chesed and emes (whatever those mean) in relation to the king and his subjects. We spent today working out a straightforward approach which accounted for the asymmetry in the structure of the pasuk, and the counter...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! נֵר י״י נִשְׁמַת אָדָם חֹפֵשׂ כׇּל חַדְרֵי בָטֶן: This morning (10/14/21) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk, beginning with a review of what we said. We then attempted to understand the pasuk according to the second - and more difficult - reading, according to which Hashem "uses" the soul of man as a lamp to sea...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! נֵר י״י נִשְׁמַת אָדָם חֹפֵשׂ כׇּל חַדְרֵי בָטֶן: This morning (10/13/21) we began a new pasuk which, at first glance, seems very non-Mishleic. It appears to be a factual statement about man's soul and it's relationship to God's knowledge. We developed a solid idea based on one reading of the pasuk. Tomorrow we'll see w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְזָרֶה רְשָׁעִים מֶלֶךְ חָכָם וַיָּשֶׁב עֲלֵיהֶם אוֹפָן: This morning (10/12/21) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk - this time, with the help of the meforshim. Shadal and Malbim both learn the pasuk to be about the samem topic: how a wise judge gets the wicked to confess (although Shadal, in our view, provides a more com...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! צַדִּיק לְעוֹלָם בַּל יִמּוֹט וּרְשָׁעִים לֹא יִשְׁכְּנוּ אָרֶץ: This evening (10/11/21), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned yet another difficult pasuk. This one was fairly easy to read, but proved difficult to get a unified chidush (novel insight) from, even with our abundance of ideas about tzadikim and reshaim from earlier i...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְזָרֶה רְשָׁעִים מֶלֶךְ חָכָם וַיָּשֶׁב עֲלֵיהֶם אוֹפָן: This morning (10/11/21) we began a new pasuk about how a wise king ought to deal with the wicked. There are a couple of ambiguitiies in the translation which suggest a number of different directions. We spent this morning trying to figure out the first half of the pasuk, but didn&ap...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מוֹקֵשׁ אָדָם יָלַע קֹדֶשׁ, וְאַחַר נְדָרִים לְבַקֵּר: This morning (10/8/21) was our third day on this pasuk. After reviewing yesterday's idea from the Meiri, we learned three more interpretations: two from the Meiri and one from Rabbeinu Yonah, who tied this into Monday's pasuk (10/4). It may have taken us three days, but we ul...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מוֹקֵשׁ אָדָם יָלַע קֹדֶשׁ, וְאַחַר נְדָרִים לְבַקֵּר: Yesterday we had one goal: be to learn at least ONE idea from this very confusing pasuk. This morning (10/7/21) we succeeded, thanks to the Meiri and the Rambam! Since the Meiri gives several other interpretations which we didn't have time for, we plan on continuing in the Meiri t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מוֹקֵשׁ אָדָם יָלַע קֹדֶשׁ, וְאַחַר נְדָרִים לְבַקֵּר: This morning (10/6/21) we began a pasuk which proved to be EXTREMELY difficult to translate. Every translation and commentary we consulted seemed to read the pasuk differently. We spent most of our (shorter) shiur today trying to arrive at a coherent translation, and we spent the last...