Machshavah Lab

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 15 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/9/23), in our Machshavah Lab series for women, we attempted to answer as many of the questions we raised last time as possible. This time we focused on the approach of the Ralbag - well, at least, the approach we managed to tease out of the few comments where addressed our questions. What...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 50 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/9/23), in our last Friday morning Q&A of the year, we took up six questions: (1) How does a person balance their mission in life as a Jew and a human being with their mission as an individual? (2) To what extent is work a lechatchila or a bedieved? (3) If you'll be attending consecutive...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 1 page Length of audio: 4 minutes 46 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 6/9/23, entitled: Behaalosecha: The Shechinah Isn't a Dog Person . I am not a dog person. I have no problem with dog people UNLESS they're insensitive to those who aren't dog people. According...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 12 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (6/8/23), in our last Thursday Night Pirkei Avos shiur of the season, we learned that God "loves" all human beings, but He loves Israel more, and may love certain members of Israel even more than that. Tonight we relied exclusively on the Sforno as our guide. By learning his commentarie...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 7 pages Length of audio: 16 minutes 1 second Synopsis: This is the audio version of an article I re-published on 6/7/23 (originally published on Kol ha'Seridim on 6/1/18) entitled: Behaalosecha: Moshe's View of Miracles . There's an uncomfortable moment when Moshe seems to question Hashem's Omnipotenc...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 1 page Length of audio: 4 minutes 23 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 6/2/23, entitled: Naso: Confessing to an Omnipotent God . Do YOU know the source in the Written Torah for the mitzvah of vidui (confession of sins)? And if you do, can you explain why it's presented in t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 15 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/2/23), in our Machshavah Lab series for women, we revisited the nazir: a topic which many feel they have SOME familiarity. We began by taking stock of what we know (or think we know). We then read through all the pesukim in detail, formulating question after question on the institution of...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 47 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/2/23), in our Friday morning Q&A, we took up five questions: (1) How should a person relate to teshuvah on aveiros one no longer does? (2) What is the Torah's stance on speaking about a person in an embarrassing way in the context of tochachah, considering how the pesukim openly talk ab...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 50 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (6/1/23), in our Thursday Night Pirkei Avos shiur, we learned the final "fence" clause of our mishnah - one which I thought would be too uninteresting for a full shiur, but turned out to be eye-opening and practical in a way that was different from the other clauses. To spice things up...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 16 minutes Synopsis: This is the audio recording of the event held in memory of Rabbi Moskowitz at YBT on Rosh Chodesh Sivan 5783 (5/21/23), on the occasion of his 1st yahrzeit. Here is a list of the speakers in order: - Rabbi Pesach Chait - Mrs. Leya Moskowitz - Racheli Zimmer - Rabbi Aaron Zimmer - Rabbi Leslie Ungar - Rab...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! One summer in the mid-2000s, Rabbi Moskowitz zt"l and I (and the other students who attended those shiurim during those weeks) worked out an approach to Eishes Chayil (a.k.a. Mishlei 31:10-31). This morning (5/21/23), in honor of his first yahrzeit, I presented his approach and our ideas on the entirety of Eishes Chayil. To listen to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 1 page Length of audio: 3 minutes 56 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 5/19/23, entitled: Bamidbar: Moshe's Non-Biological Sons . Who were Moshe's sons? You may be tempted to answer, "Gershom and Eliezer" - but that's not what it says in Bamidbar's...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 44 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/19/23), in our Friday morning Q&A, we took up three questions: (1) What are some guidelines for tefilah in a minyan which davens faster than you prefer? (2) Is it a mitzvah to speculate? (whatever that means) (3) What are we to make of the common narrative that the Torah is the ONLY path to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 38 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (5/18/23), in our Thursday Night Pirkei Avos shiur, we tackled the topic of silence according to the Rambam - learning through his treatment of silence in the Mishneh Torah and in his commentary on the Mishnah - with the aim of understanding both Avos 3:17 and Avos 1:17 (which is the first mishna...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 4 pages Length of audio: 11 minutes 23 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of an article I re-published on 5/15/23 (originally published on Kol ha'Seridim on 5/22/20) entitled: Bamidbar: The Terminal Bachelorhood of Nadav and Avihu . The deaths of Nadav and Avihu are recorded in Shemini, but Bamidbar adds on...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/12/23), in our SECOND Friday Q&A (this time, for women), we took up five questions: (1) What guidelines should govern our decision to partake in forms of entertainment which don't line up with Torah values? (2) To what extent is it our responsibililty to correct people who are mistaken?...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/12/23), in our Friday Q&A, we took up four questions: (1) What are some ways to foster an interactive learning environment in a class, especially on Zoom? (2) How does one balance the "proper" allocation of learning time with the consideration of "a person should only learn wh...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 1 page Length of audio: 4 minutes 14 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 5/12/23, entitled: Behar: The Prohibition to Free a Canaanite Slave . The Torah permits slavery. Many (including myself) hold that Judaism is philosophically anti-slavery. If so, why are we prohibited to free...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 32 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (5/11/23), in our Thursday Night Pirkei Avos shiur, we continued learning the mishnah we started last week. We began by reviewing, clarifying, and expanding upon the ideas we learned last week concerning "vows are a fence for detachment from worldly pleasures." Then we moved on to the c...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 6 pages Length of audio: 15 minutes 27 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of an article I re-published on 5/8/23 (originally published on Kol ha'Seridim on 6/3/16) entitled, Bechukosai: Why are Women Worth Less than Men? Fact: in this week's parashah, the Torah assigns greater monetary value to men tha...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 15 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/5/23), in our Machshavah Lab series for women, we learned - surprise surprise! - eight different explanations of shaatnez! We began with a simple methodological hack for learning about the reasons for mitzvos, and then we read through eight commentaries on shaatnez and attempted to extrac...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/5/23), in our Friday Q&A, we took up three(ish) questions: (1) To what extent should/may a rebbi - or teacher, parent, mentor, etc. - talk about their own personal struggles to help those whom they guide? (2) What are some guidelines for navigating workplace temptations involving members of...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 1 page Length of audio: 4 minutes 16 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 5/5/23, entitled: Emor: Why Judaism Punishes Converts . The ending of this parashah has bothered me for years. Thanks to Sforno, Shadal, and Assyriology, I think I finally have an answer - one which sheds lig...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 41 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (5/4/23), in our Thursday Night Pirkei Avos shiur, we began learning a mishnah about five types of fences. After raising questions on the whole mishnah, we decided to focus solely on the clause about nedarim, as explained by Rabbeinu Yonah and the Rambam. We took a deep dive into what, exactly, i...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 4.5 pages Length of audio: 11 minutes 31 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of an article I re-published on 4/30/23 (originally published on Kol ha'Seridim on 5/8/20) entitled, Emor: Does Hashem Hate Unibrows? The answer is: Of course not! But then why does the Torah ban a Kohen with a unibrow from serving...