Machshavah Lab

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 7 minutes 51 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/28/23, entitled: Vaeschanan: Mezuzah – Caffeine for the Soul . If you're in the mood for a weird, homiletical, practical, scientific, quasi-Maimonidean ex...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (7/27/23), immediately after my Tishah b'Av shiur on Kinnah #11, we initiated a new shiur/chavurah on a midrash about the sin that destroyed the city of Beitar. After analyzing that midrash, we compared it to the Gemara's view of which sin destroyed Beitar. We took up a few more topics and questions after that, but...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (7/27/23), after giving over my annual Tishah b'Av shiur at Shevet Achim (a.k.a. The Island Synagogue), I gave it over again on Zoom. This year's focus was Kinnah #11, which (I argue) is a contender for one of the most important kinnos, since it was instituted by none other than Yirmiyahu himself, a couple of decades...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 7 pages Length of the audio: 23 minutes 56 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 7-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/25/23, entitled:  The Sin of Columbus, Yehoyakim, and American Jewry . This article began as 4th of July musings about Columbus which illuminated my understan...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 3 pages Length of the audio: 10 minutes 2 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 3-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/23/23, entitled: Devarim: The Idolatry of Showing Favoritism in Judgment . If you think you know what the Torah means when it says, "Do not show favoritis...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 7 minutes 27 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/17/23, entitled: No Excuses in Talmud Torah: Ralbag’s Conclusion to Sefer Bamidbar . Have you ever made excuses for not  teaching or learning? I know I have. Y...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 4 pages Length of the audio: 12 minutes 32 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/12/23, entitled: Freddie Mercury, Shadal, and the Crisis of Human Finitude . What do Freddie Mercury and Shadal have in common? And what does this have to do...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of the article: 2 pages Length of the audio: 8 minutes 21 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/7/23, entitled: Pinchas: The Biological Kohen (and Why I Identify as a Levi) .  The article I spent all of 17th of Tammuz writing didn't come together, so...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 1 page Length of audio: 4 minutes 31 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/5/23, entitled: 17th of Tammuz 5783: Which Tamid Ceased (Part 1: Questions) . I came up with some juicy questions on this topic, but no answers. I wrote up these questi...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 2 pages Length of audio: 7 minutes 8 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/3/23, entitled: Become the Best by Accepting that You Aren’t . I was recently asked how I integrate Torah and movies/TV - but that's not why I wrote this article....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 3 pages Length of audio: 11 minutes 5 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 3-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/30/23, entitled: Chukas: Ultra-Pure Cave Babies, Taylor Swift, and Enriched Uranium . In this article (which needed more than a single page to do it justice) we explor...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 7 pages Length of audio: 19 minutes 48 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 7-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/28/23, entitled On Why I Value 18Forty and the Orthodox Conundrum Podcasts . My two favorite Jewish podcasts are 18Forty (Rabbi David Bashevkin) and the Orthodox Conu...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 1 page Length of audio: 4 minutes 7 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/23/23, entitled: Korach: To Guard and Revere the Mikdash . In my ongoing effort to mine this parashah for topics OTHER than the saga of Korach, I've decided to take...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length of article: 1 page Length of audio: 4 minutes 11 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 6/16/23, entitled: Shelach: That Time the Letter Yod Pleaded Before Hashem . I never know where an article will end up once I begin writing. This one began as an analysis of a midrash about Yehoshua's na...

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...