Machshavah Lab

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 4 minutes 26 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 4/4/23, entitled: Avadim Hayinu: Would We Still Be Slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt?  Ordinarily I don't write up such speculative answers, but this question has been bothering me for so long that I decided to share the best two answer I have i...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 4 minutes 6 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 4/3/23, entitled: Arbaah Banim: The Alternate Version of the Wise and Simple Sons . If you're looking for a discussion catalyst at your seder on the Arbaah Banim, consider bringing up the OTHER answers we give to the wise and simple sons....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 4 minutes 2 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 4/2/23, entitled: Maaseh b’Rebbi Eliezer: Abravanel’s Framing of Insomnia on Pesach Night . Ever wonder why we talk about the Sages in Bnei Brak staying up all night? Better question: Have you ever gotten a bad sleep after the seder? If the ans...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 35 minutes Synopsis: As I mention in the introductory disclaimer for the shiur I gave this morning (3/31/23) in our Machshavah Lab series for women, I wasn't sure how this shiur would turn out. At best, it could yield some earthshattering insight into the four cups and how we relate to them; at worst, it would just be a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/31/23), in our Friday Q&A, we took up four questions: (1) If you know you're closeminded in a certain area, whether in learning or in life, what steps can you take to overcome that closemindedness? (2) What can be done to maximize the potential for chidushim in learning, as opposed to r...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 4 minutes 20 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 3/29/23, entitled: Tzav: Korban Todah – Thanking God with a Chametz and Matzah Party . Even though we are currently unable to bring korbanos, the ideas are as relevant to our lives as ever, provided we ask the right questions and look for the...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 4 minutes 4 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 3/26/23, entitled: Vayikra: Shadal's View of Korbanos . 67% of this article was written by Shadal. Yet, I wanted to highlight Shadal's radical theory, compare and contrast it with Rambam's view, and use it to answer a common ques...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 30 minutes Synopsis: The shiur I gave this morning (3/24/23) in our Machshavah Lab series for women was inspired by a pet-peeve of mine: symbolic explanations of the mitzvos regarding chametz on Pesach. The first hour of the shiur is devoted to my presentation of why the NON-symbolic understanding of chametz is fundamental -...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/24/23), in our Friday Q&A, we spent the first 25 minutes on an excellent question posed by Rabbi Scott Kahn: (1) "Why are you Orthodox?" Everyone gave their own answers, which we discussed and debated, and then I gave my own answer. In the remaining 20 minutes we tackled three more...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 35 minutes Synopsis: This evening (3/23/23), in lieu of our Thursday Night Pirkei Avos shiur, we did a Chumash Exploration shiur on Sforno's view that the Egyptian exile was NOT decreed by Hashem, but was entirely our fault, and could have been avoided. We read and discussed Sforno's commentary on the first fourtee...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 4 minutes 30 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 3/17/23, entitled: Vayakhel: The Meaning of the Mirror Donation . I only had enough space in this article to convey a simple idea. For an elaboration on the ideas here, check out the 3/17/23 shiur I gave (on YouTube or my Machshavah Lab podcas...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 19 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/17/23), in our Machshavah Lab series for women, we tackled a topic that I've been working on for my article this Friday: the women's donation of the bronze mirrors to make the laver and its base in the Mishkan. We examined two approaches - that of Rashi and R' Avraham ben h...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 46 minutes Synopsis: This might be the best Q&A of the year. At the very least, it was the most practical. This morning (3/17/23), in our Friday Q&A, we took up a single VERY multi-faceted question (at least seven parts!) about how to deal with a situation (in the past, present, and future) where you're with a group of...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 34 minutes Synopsis: This evening (3/16/23), in our Thursday Night Pirkei Avos shiur, we learned a mishnah in Pirkei Avos which was much more oriented towards the practical than many other mishnayos we've learned. Part of what made this so practical is that it discussed behaviors that many of us engage in, such as sleep...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 10 minutes 43 seconds Synopsis: This is the eulogy I delivered at the funeral of my Popo (grandmother), Helen Chang (10/5/1924 - 2/2/2023) on 3/13/23 in Honolulu, HI. Click here for the video of my eulogy, and click here for the transcript. Be sure to check out the beautiful eulogy given by my brother, Jonny, by clicking here .

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 4 minutes 47 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote on 3/10/23, entitled: Ki Tisa: Is Shabbos a Day of Simchah? If so, why isn't it presented this way in the Torah and in halacha? And if not, then why are there so many references to Shabbos joy in the songs we sing on Shabbos?   If you enjoy...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (3/10/23), in lieu of our Friday Q&A, we continued working on the Gemara we started on Wednesday. We reviewed what we covered last time, read and elucidated a summary of an idea from the Nefesh ha'Chayim, and then attempted to figure out the machlokess of the pesukim (if there IS a machlokess). While we didn't ar...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (3/8/23), in lieu of a morning Mishlei shiur, we set out to answer a question posed by one of my talmidim to our Rosh ha'Yeshiva at the Purim seudah last night: How does one become a chacham? We identified three sources which talk about Step #1, and we decided to work on the most problematic one: "Ha'Kadosh Baru...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 8 minutes 5 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote on Megilas Esther, entitled: Megilas Esther: How Esther Stayed Religious . This article, which I cranked out over Taanis Esther and Purim day, offers insight into Esther's character via a set of bizarre midrashim about her observance of hilch...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 30 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/3/23), in our Machshavah Lab series for women, I presented an idea I happened upon in Purim 5780 (March 2020) but didn't finish developing. R' Yosef ibn Kaspi asks: How can the Torah wage a war of vengeance against Amalek when revenge is a reprehensible trait and is prohibited b...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: Last night I gave a special Purim shiur to my women's group on my current (radical?) understanding of the mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. That shiur ended up being 1 hour and 46 minutes long. Because I know that time is valuable, I wanted to do my best to produce a shorter version, and that's what this...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In lieu of tonight's (3/2/23) regularly scheduled Pirkei Avos shiur for women, I gave a special Purim shiur on a well-trodden topic. Each year I attempt to review ALL the halachic positions on Purim drunkenness, but only in the past couple of years have I formed my own view. In one sense, this is a synthesis of different ideas I'...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Have you ever checked your phone while learning in a shiur, chavrusa, or even by yourself? This might seem innocuous, but Chazal teach us in Pirkei Avos that if you interrupt your learning to remark on the beauty of a tree or a field, then the Torah considers it as though you are "liable for your soul." This morning (2/26/23), I...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 5 minutes 34 seconds Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page (half-)article I wrote, entitled, Mishpatim: The Sanctuary-Altar Sanctuary (or Mizbeach as Refuge for Killers) . No, this isn't Parashas Mishpatim, and no, this is NOT a complete dvar Torah. I've been working on this question for two weeks, and I decid...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 13 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/24/23), in our second Friday Q&A (this one for women), we took up five questions: (1) If the texts of Torah she'baal Peh "evolved" to suit the needs of the times, why can't this happen with the text of tefilah as well? (2) What advice do I have for how to insert pe...