Machshavah Lab

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Sol and Chummie Azose, in honor of the upcoming 81st birthday of the Rosh ha'Yeshiva, Rabbi Yisroel Chait, and the 91st birthday of Sol's father, Hazzan Isaac Azose. If you're interested in sponsoring a day's or a week's worth of Torah content, you can contact me...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous, and told me, "No thanks needed!" so I'm not going to thank them.   Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page dvar Torah I wrote entitled, Declaring Hashem's Oneness in Love . This article was my attempt to understan...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous, and told me, "No thanks needed!" so I'm not going to thank them.   Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article entitled, Musings on the Inadequacy of Internet Research . This article was inspired by a humbling pers...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous, and told me, "No thanks needed!" so I'm not going to thank them.   Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article entitled, Bodily Posture as a Sensory Anchor for Kavanah in Tefilah . If you've ever had your mind...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous, and told me, "No thanks needed!" so I'm not going to thank them.   Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article entitled, My Experience Fasting for 48 Hours on the 9th and 10th of Av . The operative phrase here is &...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous, and told me, "No thanks needed!" so I'm not going to thank them.   Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article entitled, The Tenth of Av, Seven Haftaros of Consolation, and Life After the Pain . This article is a P...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by the Reznik family in dedication to the loving memory of Silvia Tanzer (Sora Hesha bas Chaim Moshe) and Irving Tanzer (Yisroel ben Yechezkel). Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote for Tishah b'Av 5781, entitled An Approach to the Blasphemy in Eichah and Kinno...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by the Reznik family in dedication to the loving memory of Silvia Tanzer (Sora Hesha bas Chaim Moshe) and Irving Tanzer (Yisroel ben Yechezkel). Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled, Hunting for Treasure vs. Panning for Gold on the Beaches of Nome , in whic...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by the Reznik family in dedication to the loving memory of Silvia Tanzer (Sora Hesha bas Chaim Moshe) and Irving Tanzer (Yisroel ben Yechezkel). Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled, The Necessity of Metaphysical Trauma for National Teshuvah , in which we a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by the Reznik family in dedication to the loving memory of Silvia Tanzer (Sora Hesha bas Chaim Moshe) and Irving Tanzer (Yisroel ben Yechezkel). Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled, The Sin of Refusing to Look at Oneself , in which we analyze Yeshayahu&apo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This week's Torah content is sponsored by the Reznik family in dedication to the loving memory of Silvia Tanzer (Sora Hesha bas Chaim Moshe) and Irving Tanzer (Yisroel ben Yechezkel). Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled, The Induction of Metaphysical Trauma , which examines an idea from the Rav...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is a recording of the shiur I gave over Zoom on Tishah b'Av 5780 (8/14/20). The shiur focuses on a methodology for learning kinos as applied to Kinah #31, the theme of which is a comparison of the Exodus from Mitzrayim to the "Exodus" from Yerushalayim.   Three other things to note: (1) the actual shiur ends a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled, Haftarah of Mattos / Masei: Divine Love as the Foundation of Rebuke , in which I attempt to explain Yirmiyahu's first prophecy in light of the Rambam's categorization of Torah doctrines, combined with an insight from an expert in childhood trauma. -----...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled, Sameach b'Chelko as Unconditional Happiness , in which I compare an insight into happiness from Anthony de Mello to Ben Zoma's definition of wealth in Pirkei Avos, as explained by the classical commentaries. ---------- If you have questions, comments, o...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled, Feynman: On Definitional Neurosis , in which I analyze a methodological insight conveyed by Richard Feynman in one of his quips. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneew...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled, Bruce Lee's Oak and the Success of Evil , which is about an insight I had into Mishlei and Tehilim based on a nuance in one of my favorite Bruce Lee quotations. ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please fe...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the one-page article I wrote entitled: The One-Page Article: A Summer 2021 Experiment , in which I state and explain my writing plans for the summer.  ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. --...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight's Chumash shiur (given at YBT on 6/16/21) wasn't a shiur, but an exploration of the short but perplexing incident of the fiery serpents, as explained by the Sforno. We only had time to set up the area, and didn't really arrive at any definitive conclusions, but I think the steps we took are good, and can be further d...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This is an "audiobook version" of a dvar Torah I wrote in July 2016 entitled: Parashas Chukas: Overlooking Sacrilegious Speech. Click here for a link to the written version, which is also available as a PDF .  ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! I was talking with a former high school student of mine about the philosophically inclined education she received in Midreshet Shalhevet (a"h). Like any good student, she continued to learn and develop after high school, and to eventually begin to question and critique what she had been taught in an effort to forge her own path. She s...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This is an "audiobook version" of a dvar Torah I wrote in June 2017 entitled: Parashas Korach: What Happened to Korach? Click here for a link to the written version, which is also available as a PDF. And if you're a fan of these "audiobook versions" of my divrei Torah and blog posts, please let me know, since this...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This is an "audiobook version" of a dvar Torah I wrote in June 2018 entitled: Parashas Shelach: The Torah's View of Temptation. Click here for a link to the written version, which is also available as a PDF. And if you're a fan of these "audiobook versions" of my divrei Torah and blog posts, please let me know...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (6/2/21 at YBT) we took up the question: What does the Torah mean by "toeivah" (abomination)? The impetus for taking up this topic was Mishlei 20:10, which referred to unjust weights and measures as a "toeivah," and which we spent a couple of days working on. I mentioned that I came up with a theory for the Tora...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (5/26/21 at YBT), in lieu of our Chumash Methodology Shiur, we took a leaf from the playbook of Saadia Gaon by tackling a fundamental question in epistemology: "What are ideas?" This question, with its right and wrong answers, had surfaced numerous times in various discussions over the course of the year, and I kept on te...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (5/25/20 at YBT), in lieu of our Tehilim shiur, we took up a topic inspired by our Rambam Bekius shiur last week, which focused on the virtue of silence. One of the statements cited by Chazal on silence was from Avos 3:13: "a fence for wisdom is silence." I found Rabbeinu Yonah's commentary on this statement to be il...