The Mishlei Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 22:3 - The Opposite of Seeing Evil and Hiding (Part 1) עָרוּם רָאָה רָעָה [וְנִסְתָּר] (ויסתר) וּפְתָיִים עָבְרוּ וְנֶעֱנָשׁוּ: This morning (5/4/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began a rather tricky pasuk. Lots of questions and ambiguity. We made a few moves and discussed some nice methodology, but we're going to need t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 22:2 - Hashem Makes the Rich and the Poor (Part 2) עָשִׁיר וָרָשׁ נִפְגָּשׁוּ עֹשֵׂה כֻלָּם יי: This morning (5/3/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk, and learned through not one, not two, but SIX meforshim! We didn't manage to define how each one was learning the pasuk, but g...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 11:18 - False Deeds and True Seeds רָשָׁע עֹשֶׂה פְעֻלַּת שָׁקֶר וְזֹרֵעַ צְדָקָה שֶׂכֶר אֱמֶת: This evening (5/2/22), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned another pasuk about reshaim and tzadikim ... or at least, those who do tzedakah. The questions we came up with pointed us in some clear directions, and we were able to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 22:2 - Hashem Makes the Rich and the Poor (Part 1) עָשִׁיר וָרָשׁ נִפְגָּשׁוּ עֹשֵׂה כֻלָּם יי: This morning (4/29/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur (which was slightly shorter than usual, due to Rosh Chodesh davening), we began learning a pasuk whose translation, questions, and problems were quite clear. We developed several fruit...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 22:1 - A Good Name is Preferable to Wealth (Part 2) נִבְחָר שֵׁם מֵעֹשֶׁר רָב מִכֶּסֶף וּמִזָּהָב חֵן טוֹב: This morning (4/29/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we revisited the pasuk we learned yesterday. In contrast to yesterday, not only did we come up with several ideas on our own, but we also learned some ideas from the mefor...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 22:1 - A Good Name is Preferable to Wealth (Part 1) נִבְחָר שֵׁם מֵעֹשֶׁר רָב מִכֶּסֶף וּמִזָּהָב חֵן טוֹב: This morning (4/28/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began a new pasuk comparing wealth with a good name and good favor. The good news is that the pasuk is fairly straightforward. The bad news ... is that the pasuk is fai...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:30-31 - You Can't Outsmart Hashem (Part 2) אֵין חׇכְמָה וְאֵין תְּבוּנָה וְאֵין עֵצָה לְנֶגֶד יְיָ: סוּס מוּכָן לְיוֹם מִלְחָמָה וְלַיְיָ הַתְּשׁוּעָה: This morning (4/7/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began by reviewing yesterday's pasuk and learning Saadia Gaon's commentary which generously furnished us wi...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:30 - You Can't Outsmart Hashem אֵין חׇכְמָה וְאֵין תְּבוּנָה וְאֵין עֵצָה לְנֶגֶד יְיָ: This morning (4/6/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began learning a pasuk which we knew would be either very straightforward or very technical. It ended up being the former. We learned several different but related approaches on thi...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:29 - The Visible Brazenness of the Rasha (Part 2) הֵעֵז אִישׁ רָשָׁע בְּפָנָיו וְיָשָׁר הוּא [יָבִין] (יכין) [דַּרְכּוֹ] (דרכיו): This morning (4/5/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk. After reviewing our explanation of Saadia Gaon yesterday, we learned two more approaches: that...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 11:17 - Mishlei on Kindness and Cruelty גֹּמֵל נַפְשׁוֹ אִישׁ חָסֶד וְעֹכֵר שְׁאֵרוֹ אַכְזָרִי: Last night (4/4/22), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned one of the few pesukim in Sefer Mishlei about chesed. This one was a real doozy to translate! Thankfully, we came up with six or seven of our own approaches to the pasuk...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:29 - The Visible Brazenness of the Rasha (Part 1) הֵעֵז אִישׁ רָשָׁע בְּפָנָיו וְיָשָׁר הוּא [יָבִין] (יכין) [דַּרְכּוֹ] (דרכיו): This morning (4/4/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began a new pasuk which seems to be about how to read reshaim. After a brief intro about kre/ksiv in Tanach, we analyzed the pasuk and arrived a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:28 - The Fate of the Lying Witness (Part 2) עֵד כְּזָבִים יֹאבֵד וְאִישׁ שׁוֹמֵעַ לָנֶצַח יְדַבֵּר: This morning (3/31/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk. After refining our understanding of Metzudas David, we learned Rabbeinu Yonah's approach, followed by the Meiri's...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:28 - The Fate of the Lying Witness (Part 1) עֵד כְּזָבִים יֹאבֵד וְאִישׁ שׁוֹמֵעַ לָנֶצַח יְדַבֵּר: This morning (3/30/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began working on a new pasuk. The first half is clearly about a witness who tells lies. The second half is decidedly less clear. We developed three approaches, then began wo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:27 - The Offering of the Rasha (Part 2) זֶבַח רְשָׁעִים תּוֹעֵבָה אַף כִּי בְזִמָּה יְבִיאֶנּוּ: This morning (3/29/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we continued working on yesterday's pasuk. Instead of developing the approaches we started yesterday, we devoted the full force of our minds to the commentary of the Metzudas...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 11:16 - In Pursuit of Kavod: Machiavellian vs. Mishleic אֵשֶׁת חֵן תִּתְמֹךְ כָּבוֹד וְעָרִיצִים יִתְמְכוּ עֹשֶׁר: This evening (3/28/22), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned one of the most difficult pesukim in recent memory. The questions were powerful and it was difficult to pin down the subject matter of the pasuk. We...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:27 - The Offering of the Rasha (Part 1) זֶבַח רְשָׁעִים תּוֹעֵבָה אַף כִּי בְזִמָּה יְבִיאֶנּוּ: This morning (3/28/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began a seemingly non-Mishleic pasuk about the korbanos of the wicked. We quickly found ourselves faced with a decision-tree of readings which led to different approaches to th...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:25-26 - The Lethal Desire of the Lazy Person (Part 4) תַּאֲוַת עָצֵל תְּמִיתֶנּוּ כִּי מֵאֲנוּ יָדָיו לַעֲשׂוֹת: This morning (3/24/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we concluded our analysis of this week's pesukim. After reviewing the insight from yesterday, we sharpened our own approach and Rabbeinu Yonah's approach...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:25-26 - The Lethal Desire of the Lazy Person (Part 3) תַּאֲוַת עָצֵל תְּמִיתֶנּוּ כִּי מֵאֲנוּ יָדָיו לַעֲשׂוֹת: This morning (3/23/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we continued to develop the approach we took yesterday, inspired by Rabbeinu Yonah. We spent the first half of shiur developing a "horseshoe theory" abou...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:25-26 - The Lethal Desire of the Lazy Person (Part 2) תַּאֲוַת עָצֵל תְּמִיתֶנּוּ כִּי מֵאֲנוּ יָדָיו לַעֲשׂוֹת: This morning (3/22/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we refined the idea we were developing yesterday about how the lazy person is in a constant state of suffering even in the realm of pleasure-seeking, as opposed to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 11:15 - Who Should Hate Handshakes? רַע יֵרוֹעַ כִּי עָרַב זָר וְשֹׂנֵא תֹקְעִים בּוֹטֵחַ: Last night (3/21/22), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned a pasuk which, at first glance, seemed to give anti-Mishleic (and anti-social) advice. Additionally, it was a challenge to figure out what this pasuk was even talking about....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 21:25-26 - The Lethal Desire of the Lazy Person (Part 1) תַּאֲוַת עָצֵל תְּמִיתֶנּוּ כִּי מֵאֲנוּ יָדָיו לַעֲשׂוֹת: This morning (3/21/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began a Mishlei couplet on laziness. We raised a TON of questions and made some moves, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how these play out with...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 11:14 - A Strategy for Generating Strategies בְּאֵין תַּחְבֻּלוֹת יִפׇּל עָם וּתְשׁוּעָה בְּרֹב יוֹעֵץ: This evening (3/14/22), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned a pasuk about the importance of strategies and abundant counsel. The challenge was understand the context and the lack of qualifications (e.g. Why "strate...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (3/10/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we wrapped up this round of "Mishlei Bekius on Leitzim" by examining the one quality we hadn't yet thought about: sichah bateilah ("idle chatter"). Thankfully, Rabbeinu Yonah explains this in his commentary on Mishlei 14:6, which is one of the pesukim that gave...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (3/9/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we concluded our survey of all the pesukim in Mishlei which mention leitz, along with our surface-level analysis and observations. We concluded by reading the first Rabbeinu Yonah on leitzim. Tomorrow the plan is to conclude this round of the sugya by learning Rabbeinu Yonah's comme...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (3/8/22), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began with a methodology tip on how to learn the five megillos. Next, we reviewed all the pesukim we covered yesterday, reaping tremendous rewards in the process. After that, we learned five more pesukim, following our bekius approach and objective from yesterday. We hope to conclude...