Machshavah Lab

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This episode is an "audiobook style" reading of an article I wrote on August 4, 2015 entitled Mussar Without "Should"s and "Shouldn't"s .   Click here to access the article  on my blog.  ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Today's Lomdeha Friday Seminar (4/9/21) was intended to expand the horizons of my particular students, who (a) have been immersed in a largely Maimonidean Torah framework, and (b) have never been exposed to an anti-Maimonidean polemic. This shiur centered on Shadal's commentary on Devarim 6:5, about ahavas Hashem (love of God), w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In today's Iyov class (4/7/20 at Lomdeha) we tackled one of the classic "spicy questions": Can God do the impossible? We examined four "no" answers: one based on logic, and the other three given by various meforshim (Rambam, Saadia Gaon, and the Sefer ha'Ikkarim). Some questions we left unanswered, but hopeful...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 43 minutes Synopsis: In today's Lomdeha Friday Seminar (3/19/21) we explored one of the most underappreciated themes of Pesach, namely, maror. People talk about the Egyptian slavery and oppression, but not the specific quality of "bitterness." In this shiur we utilize the best Chumash commentary in the entire world t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 42 minutes Synopsis: Yesterday a student asked "why chametz is such a big deal" (my words, not hers). In this morning's Jewish Ethics class (3/16/21 at Lomdeha) we answered this question by learning/reviewing an excerpt from "the famous Ramban at the end of Parashas Bo" in which he explains the significance...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! [Note: If you have not yet listened to Part 1 , it is critical that you listen to it first!] In today's Lomdeha Friday Seminar (3/12/21) we continued discussing the topic we raised last week, focusing on the last three out of the seven premises enumerated last time, with one final premise thrown in for good measure. All three premises...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (3/11/21 at YBT) I made a mistake. I had a really rough week and was super exhausted. I knew I'd be able to give my Tehilim shiur, but I seriously considered cancelling my haggadah shiur. Unfortunately, my feelings of guilt got the better of me, and I pushed ahead anyway. Bad move. I could barely think during the shiur, a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (3/10/21 at YBT) we continued learning through the Ritva's commentary on the Haggadah, focusing on Avadim Hayinu and the various halachos surrounding that portion of the text. ---------- מקורות: פירוש הריטב"א להגדה של פסח תלמוד בבלי פסחים דף קטז עמוד א ---------- If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In today's Lomdeha Friday Seminar (3/5/21) we broached a broad, deep, and nuanced topic: what to make of the elements of Torah which seem to be obsolete, or worse. The goal of this shiur was to initiate the conversation and to present my own perspective on how to address such questions and problems. My "answer" involves seve...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This evening (3/3/21 at YBT) we began our hagadah preparation for the year! We've chosen to focus on the Ritva (for reasons I explain at the beginning of the video), and we began learning his commentary from the beginning. He ended up providing a non-intuitive reading of Ha Lachma Anya which certainly gave us food for thought. We brie...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! I was about to sit down to reread an article I wrote on Purim two years ago (Purim 5779, 3/21/19) entitled  Haman's Ancient Motive , when I thought to myself, "Why don't I just read it out loud, record it, and upload it as a podcast episode?" and so I did! If you're in the mood for 20-minute "audiobook style&q...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In today's Lomdeha Friday Seminar (2/19/21) we learned a pischa (or pesichta) - that is, a midrashic introduction to Megilas Esther. We explained the main idea of the midrash and how it serves as a thematic framework for reading the megilah, and we concluding by connecting this theme (albeit with a speculative theory) to the obligatio...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Topics in Jewish Philosophy shiur (2/18/21 at YBT) I attempted to capture and articulate an epistemological upheaval I recently underwent, triggered by my binge-reading of Barry Lopez's award winning wildlife book "Of Wolves and Men" (1978). As I mention at the outset, I was hesitant to give this shiur beca...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Note: This is essentially the same shiur I gave in my Rambam Bekius chavurah at YBT on 2/15/21 , but this one is slightly shorter, due to the length of the periods at Lomdeha. Also, I didn't mistakenly refer to the Riaz as the Rid in this shiur! This morning (2/16/21 at Lomdeha) we took up a side-quest: to defend the Rambam against a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Note: I initially gave this over at YBT as a Chumash Methodology shiur, but since I felt that the Lomdeha version was clearer, I replaced the earlier upload with this one. In today's Lomdeha Friday Seminar (2/12/21) we examined the question of how the Torah commands our emotions. I am of the opinion that the Torah NEVER commands us to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This episode is an "audiobook style" reading of an article I wrote on July 2, 2014 entitled Seltzer Theories vs. Jam Theories .   Click here to access the article  on my blog and click here for a PDF version. ---------- 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! In today's Lomdeha Friday Seminar (2/5/21) we continued our "guided reading" of Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman's book. In the last shiur we covered four out of six guidelines for how to respond to claims, questions, and problems raised by archeologists and scholars of ancient history against the historicity (and validity) of t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In this morning's Jewish Ethics class (2/4/21 at Lomdeha) we resumed our analysis of "know what to respond to an apikores (heretic)." After a brief review, we learned the commentaries of Rashi, Rambam, and Meiri and discussed their practical implications. ---------- מקורות: אבות ב:יד ---------- If you have questions, comment...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In this morning's Jewish Ethics class (2/2/21 at Lomdeha) we began learning the famous injunction "know what to respond to an apikores (heretic)." As usual, we began by raising all of the questions and problems we could think of, and then started to answer these questions on our own. Tomorrow we'll learn the meforshim. ...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In today's Lomdeha Friday Seminar (1/15/21) we tackled a treacherous but important topic: how to respond to claims, questions, and problems raised by archeologists and scholars of ancient history against the historicity (and validity) of the Torah. In this shiur I identify six guidelines to bear in mind when navigating these issues, t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Chumash Methodology shiur (given at YBT on 1/13/21) we finished R' Avraham ben ha'Rambam's essay on the drashos of Chazal. We began by reviewing all five categories of drashah and the four categories of Talmudic anecdotes, raising a few questions and making some clarifications along the way. We then read th...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! There's a reason why my Friday Lomdeha Seminar series is called "Machshavah Lab" - namely, because do experiments in machshavah! In this morning's shiur (1/8/21 at Lomdeha) we examined a "hidden" source in the Rambam, in which he hints at what turns out to be a very egalitarian stance on men and women in relat...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Chumash Methodology shiur (given at YBT on 1/6/21) we continued R' Avraham ben ha'Rambam's essay on the midrashim of Chazal, beginning his classification of the four types of Talmudic anecdotes. Tonight we made it through the second, third, and fourth category of Talmudic anecdotes, attempting to "deco...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In this morning's shiur (1/1/21 at Lomdeha) we learned the views of five different meforshim on the incident involving Reuven and Bilhah and discussed the methodological implications for learning similar cases. ---------- מקורות: קהלת ז:כ בראשית מט:ג-ד בראשית לה:כב דברי הימים א' ה:א-ב תלמוד בבלי – שבת דף נה עמוד ב רש"י – ברא...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (12/31/20 at YBT) we had PLANNED on finishing Tehilim 114. Instead, I felt compelled to use this "Erev New Years" to reflect on 2020 through a Tehilim-esque lens. This led to an informal discussion on bitachon (trust in Hashem), which in turn led us to read R' Avraham ben ha'Rambam's...