The Mishlei Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מֵחֹרֶף עָצֵל לֹא יַחֲרֹשׁ [וְשָׁאַל] (ישאל) בַּקָּצִיר וָאָיִן: This morning (4/28/21 at YBT) we learned another relatively straightforward pasuk - thanks, in no small measure, to the definition of laziness provided by Saadia Gaon in his introduction to Mishlei. The insight we gained was still valuable, and we would like to give more thou...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! כָּבוֹד לָאִישׁ שֶׁבֶת מֵרִיב וְכׇל אֱוִיל יִתְגַּלָּע: This morning (4/27/21 at YBT) we learned a pasuk that was refreshingly straightforward and easy to interpret, yet just as rich and practical as the other ideas in Mishlei. We even managed to connect it to yesterday's pasuk, "Rabbeinu Yonah style" (in quotation marks bec...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! My understanding of several Mishleic personalities has been shifting as of late, and I wanted to explore some of these insights with my Monday Night Mishlei group. For this reason, we took a break from our pasuk-by-pasuk learning of Mishlei Chapter 10 in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (4/26/21 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) in order to refin...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! נַהַם כַּכְּפִיר אֵימַת מֶלֶךְ מִתְעַבְּרוֹ חוֹטֵא נַפְשׁוֹ: This morning (4/26/21 at YBT) we learned a pasuk that was quite similar to Mishlei 19:12, which we learned earlier this year. We arrived at two ideas here: one based on a creative reading which was aimed at the king (and anyone who is in a position of eminent leadership), and the...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! לֵץ הַיַּיִן הֹמֶה שֵׁכָר וְכׇל שֹׁגֶה בּוֹ לֹא יֶחְכָּם: This morning (4/21/21 at YBT) we wrapped up our analysis of yesterday's pasuk. We managed to resolve the problems we had with the Metzudas David's interpretation yesterday. We then learned Rabbeinu Yonah's explanation, which (it turns out) was where I got half of mine...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! לֵץ הַיַּיִן הֹמֶה שֵׁכָר וְכׇל שֹׁגֶה בּוֹ לֹא יֶחְכָּם: This morning (4/21/21 at YBT) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk. First we reviewed and refined two of the approaches from yesterday. The second of those approaches gave rise to a third, which we also explored. We then began working on the Metzudas David's expl...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! לֵץ הַיַּיִן הֹמֶה שֵׁכָר וְכׇל שֹׁגֶה בּוֹ לֹא יֶחְכָּם: This morning (4/20/21 at YBT) we began learning a VERY difficult-to-translate pasuk. We were immediately confronted with six or seven different ways to translate it. Nevertheless, we were able to make some headway in our understanding, and began developing several approaches. Tomorr...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! שִׂפְתֵי צַדִּיק יִרְעוּ רַבִּים וֶאֱוִילִים בַּחֲסַר לֵב יָמוּתוּ: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (4/19/21 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we came up with two ideas. The first was a nice, standard Mishleic idea which followed Saadia Gaon's translation. The second was a foundational insight into the personality of the eveel (Pleasure-...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! נָכוֹנוּ לַלֵּצִים שְׁפָטִים וּמַהֲלֻמוֹת לְגֵו כְּסִילִים: This morning (4/19/21 at YBT) we learned a pasuk which seems to be fundamental in our understanding of leiztim and ksilim. We explored several different approaches and refined them to around the 75-90% complete range. There are still some questions that remain to be answered and s...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! עֵד בְּלִיַּעַל יָלִיץ מִשְׁפָּט וּפִי רְשָׁעִים יְבַלַּע אָוֶן: This morning (4/15/21 at YBT) we learned a pasuk which felt like a multiple-choice test when it came to the translation. After some initial fumbling we arrived at not one, not two, but three interpretations! The bonus is that all three interpretations were based on only one t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! עֹכֵר בֵּיתוֹ בּוֹצֵעַ בָּצַע וְשׂוֹנֵא מַתָּנֹת יִחְיֶה: This morning (4/14/21 at YBT) we departed from our current chapter to take a request: the pasuk which is the source of the oft-quoted idiom "one who hates gifts will live." We were somewhat pressed for time, but we managed to come up with two or three solid approaches. Ple...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! חֲדַל בְּנִי לִשְׁמֹעַ מוּסָר לִשְׁגוֹת מֵאִמְרֵי דָעַת: This morning (4/13/21 at YBT) we continued our analysis of yesterday's syntactically nightmarish pasuk, and - much to our delight - we arrived at several different explanations which all boiled down to one main idea and which aligned with Saadia Gaon's translation and comme...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! כֶּסֶף נִבְחָר לְשׁוֹן צַדִּיק לֵב רְשָׁעִים כִּמְעָט: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (4/12/21 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we decided tried an experiment: a part live and part hybrid shiur (as opposed to a Zoom only shiur). The bad news is that the experiment was a failure. The good news is that we still managed to get three explanatio...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! חֲדַל בְּנִי לִשְׁמֹעַ מוּסָר לִשְׁגוֹת מֵאִמְרֵי דָעַת: This morning (4/12/21 at YBT) we began working on an EXTREMELY convoluted pasuk. Our session was shortened because of Rosh Chodesh davening, and we spent the majority of the time working on translations. We ended shiur with three translations and a number of translations. Tomorrow we...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! We don't usually do Mishlei on Friday mornings, but I had an epiphany last night about a speculative application of Mishlei within the framework of IFS (Internal Family Systems) based on a comment made by Shadal about human nature and a methodological premise articulated by Saadia Gaon in his introduction to Mishlei. I decided to shar...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְשַׁדֶּד אָב יַבְרִיחַ אֵם בֵּן מֵבִישׁ וּמַחְפִּיר: Our morning Mishlei shiur (4/8/21 at YBT) resumed with another pasuk about disciplining one's children. This one didn't focus on the method of discipline, but rather on the consequences of the failure to do so. And not just any consequences, but some rather dire ones - especia...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! לֵץ תַּכֶּה וּפֶתִי יַעְרִם וְהוֹכִיחַ לְנָבוֹן יָבִין דָּעַת: This morning (3/23/21 at YBT) we continued learning through Rabbeinu Yonah's character profiles of the pesi, the leitz, and the naar. Even though we learned through these same sources six months ago, we came away with new insights and a clearer understanding this time arou...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! חֲנֹךְ לַנַּעַר עַל פִּי דַרְכּוֹ גַּם כִּי יַזְקִין לֹא יָסוּר מִמֶּנָּה: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (3/22/21 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we decided to deviate from our chapter in order to learn a pasuk that I hoped would shed light on the Arbaah Banim section of the Haggadah - and it did! We ended up having an excellent discussio...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! לֵץ תַּכֶּה וּפֶתִי יַעְרִם וְהוֹכִיחַ לְנָבוֹן יָבִין דָּעַת: This morning (3/22/21 at YBT) I was inclined to choose a pasuk that had something to do with Pesach, since this is the week before Pesach. As it so happens, according to Rashi the pasuk we were scheduled to learn DOES have to do with Pesach! We began analyzing the pasuk itself...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! טָמַן עָצֵל יָדוֹ בַּצַּלָּחַת, גַּם אֶל פִּיהוּ לֹא יְשִׁיבֶנָּה: This morning (3/18/21 at YBT) we learned a pasuk about laziness. After struggling through some of the more obscure translations, we decided to go with the smoother reading, which led to a foundational discussion about the nature of laziness. We might not have arrived at a &...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! יִרְאַת י״י לְחַיִּים וְשָׂבֵעַ יָלִין בַּל יִפָּקֶד רָע: This morning (3/17/21 at YBT), armed with our definition of yiras Hashem from yesterday's pesukim (1:7 and 15:33), we continued our analysis of Mishlei 19:23 and arrived at a nice idea which happened to coincide with some Stoic ideas that I've been discussing on The Stoic...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! יִרְאַת יְיָ רֵאשִׁית דָּעַת, חָכְמָה וּמוּסָר אֱוִילִים בָּזוּ: יִרְאַת י״י מוּסַר חׇכְמָה וְלִפְנֵי כָבוֹד עֲנָוָה: This morning (3/16/21 at YBT) we began our analysis of Mishlei 19:23, the next pasuk in our perek, but because this was the first pasuk we've learned this year which mentioned yiras Hashem (fear of God), we decided to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! בְּרֹב דְּבָרִים לֹא יֶחְדַּל פָּשַׁע, וְחוֹשֵׂךְ שְׂפָתָיו מַשְׂכִּיל: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (3/15/21 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we learned a pasuk which seemed like a cliche Mishlei idea at first glance. As always, once we delved into the analysis, we became sensitive to the nuances and we managed to uncover a new idea. As...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! תַּאֲוַת אָדָם חַסְדּוֹ וְטוֹב רָשׁ מֵאִישׁ כָּזָב: This morning (3/15/21 at YBT) we learned a very weird-sounding pasuk which seemed to consist of a jumble of unrelated topics. We came up with one approach based on Saadia Gaon's translation WITHOUT consulting his commentary, and we came up with a second approach based on his commenta...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! רַבּוֹת מַחֲשָׁבוֹת בְּלֶב אִישׁ וַעֲצַת י״י הִיא תָקוּם: This morning (3/11/21 at YBT) we learned the Ralbag on yesterday's pasuk, which helped us clarify Mishlei's treatment of the subject of hashgachah. And as an aside, I am pleased to announce that this is the 100th Mishlei shiur I've given at YBT this year. Here's...