Machshavah Lab

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 7/9/26 (a revised version of an article originally published on 7/25/14) titled: Masei: The Release of Unintentional Killers .  Why are the unintentional killers exiled to the cities of refuge released when the Kohen Gadol d...

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 6/25/26 titled: Chukas: Three Radical Takes on the Sin of Moshe and Aharon . There are over a dozen theories about which sin barred Moshe and Aharon from leading the people into the Land. Here are three relatively unknown ap...

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 6/24/26 (originally on 7/7/17) titled: Balak: The Appeal of Baal Peor (and Darwin) . Worshiping an idol by defecating on it: what could the appeal possibly be, and what does it have to do with us today? Rav Hirsch has a theo...

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 6/19/26 titled: Korach: How Did Korach and His Followers Think They Could Get Away With It? Korach and his men claim to be chosen by Hashem. Moshe says, "Let's test it." Korach agrees. They fail the test. One...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length:49 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/18/26), in lieu of morning Mishlei, we had the last Q&A - and last shiur! - of the 2025-2026 season. We took up four questions: (1) What are the parameters of philosophical/ethical bribery? (2) How do you navigate having friends who could potentially have a bad influence on you, and how might...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: Here's the audio recording of the graduation charge I delivered to the NEJA Graduating Class of 2026 on June 14th, 2026. Transcript is available here . ----- The Torah content for this month has been sponsored by Meir Areman, l’zeicher nishmas Zelda bas Ziesel, his grandmother, whose yahrzeit is on the 21st of Sivan. ----- I...

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 6/11/26 titled: Shelach: The Sin of the Spies and the Root of Idolatry . There are many theories about the cause of this catastrophic sin. Sforno aims to explain the Israelites' perplexing accusation: that Hashem hates...

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 6/9/26 titled: Behaalosecha: Don’t Cry Over Lost Fish / Forbidden Relations (FULL Article) . Sometimes a fish is just a fish, but sometimes it's a euphemism. At least, that's the disagreement in the Gemara. What is...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 20 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/5/26), in our last Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women of the season, we concluded the Rambam's INITIAL presentation of the true view of hashgachah, as understood from the Torah by the multitude of Sages, and as understood by the Rambam himself. Because we're going to be...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 35 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (6/4/26), in our Thursday night Machshavah Lab series for women, was not a shiur but an exploration with an agenda (which I explain toward the beginning and won't divulge here). We read the famous aggadah about the four Tannaim who entered Pardes - R. Akiva, Acher, Ben Zoma, and Ben Azzai -...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 5-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 5/29/26 titled: Naso: Three Explanations of the Chatas ha’Nazir (Nazrite’s Sin-Offering) . Why must every nazir bring a chatas? I knew about the diametrically opposed answers given by the Rambam and Ramban, but I recently fo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 2 hours 19 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/17/26), in my last YBT Sunday Shiur of the season, I gave an updated version of my Judaism Demystified episode titled "Can God Do Anything/Everything? Can God Do the Impossible?" The shiur had three parts: (1) in the first hour of the shiur, I presented seven approaches to answ...

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 5/14/26 titled: Bamidbar / Korach: What We Guard in the Mikdash . Why is the Tribe of Levi commanded to guard the Mikdash? Do the Rambam and Torah Temimah disagree? And what relevance does this mitzvah have to the current st...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 28 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/15/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we moved on to the next - and last! - subseries within our overarching series on Iyov. Over the course of the next eight chapters, the Rambam presents his views on God's knowledge, hashgachah, and Sefer Iyov. Today we covered...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 25 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/8/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we review what we covered last time, then learned and discussed the rest of the Rambam's Moreh ha'Nevuchim 3:12, in which he outlines the three types of ra that befall human beings. In addition to the points explicitly ra...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 7-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 5/7/26 titled: Behar: The Torah’s Double Standard for Slave Labor . In this article (first published in 2024), we examine three approaches to understanding why the Torah forbids us to work a Jewish slave with oppressive labo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 53 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/1/26), in our shorter-than-usual Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we began with an efficient review of the Rambam's theory of ra which we covered last time in 3:10. We then read and discussed the short 3:11 about the cause of interpersonal ra. Finally, we learned through the firs...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 43 minutes Synopsis: This evening (4/30/25), in our Thursday night women’s shiur, we learned through the entire chapter in the Moreh ha'Nevuchim in which the Rambam discusses the purpose of the universe. Technically speaking, this is part of our Friday morning Sefer Iyov Machshavah Lab series for women, but in order to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 22 minutes Synopsis: This morning (4/24/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we began with a review of 3:8 and the satan, then quickly learned through 3:9 while avoiding epistemological potholes, and finally began 3:10, one of the most important chapters in the series. Here the Rambam formally presents his...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 22 minutes Synopsis: This morning (4/17/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we finally began the "Moreh ha'Nevuchim" portion of our Iyov journey. After a very brief review of matter and form, we read, analyzed, and discussed the Moreh 3:8 about the relationship between matter and ra. We con...

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 4/16/26 title: Shemini / Tazria / Metzora: What a REAL Rationalist Would Say About Tumah . These three parshiyos all deal with tumah (impurity), which many regard as a mysterious force. Self-described rationalists will likel...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 28 minutes Synopsis: This morning (4/16/26), in lieu of our usual morning Mishlei, we had a short Q&A session! We discussed three questions: (1) To what degree can we "diagnose" whether something in our life was hashgachah pratis? (2) What does the Rambam mean by all the aggadic statements he brings down in Hilchos De...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 7 minutes Synopsis: This Friday morning (3/20/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we were GOING to begin the section of the Rambam's Moreh ha'Nevuchim that will be our focus for the next couple of months, beginning with 3:8 on the nature of matter. However, five minutes before shiur, I spontaneo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 47 minutes Synopsis: Turns out, I accidentally forgot to upload last Friday's Iyov shiur! This past Friday morning (3/13/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, I gave a shiur with the aim of introducing the basics of Aristotelian "hylomorphic" thinking, explaining the concepts of "matter&...

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 3/20/26 title: Vayikra: Toward a Theory of Jewish Guilt . Most people who think they know what the asham talui (suspended guilt-offering) is for are missing an important fact - one that sheds light on the Torah's concep...