The Mishlei Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 20:30 - Wounds that Purge and Polish Evil (Part 1) חַבֻּרוֹת פֶּצַע [תַּמְרוּק] (תמריק) בְּרָע וּמַכּוֹת חַדְרֵי בָטֶן: This morning (10/25/21) we began learning the final pasuk in Chapter 20. The translation proved to be difficult on account of the contronym "tamrook b'ra," which can either mean "to purge evil&...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 20:29 - The Glory of Youths and Elders (Part 2) תִּפְאֶרֶת בַּחוּרִים כֹּחָם וַהֲדַר זְקֵנִים שֵׂיבָה: This morning (10/21/21), after reviewing what we covered yesterday, we learned several meforshim - each of which led to new and beneficial insights. Considering how relatively "bland" this pasuk appeared at first blush,...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! תִּפְאֶרֶת בַּחוּרִים כֹּחָם וַהֲדַר זְקֵנִים שֵׂיבָה: This morning (10/20/21) we began a new pasuk which seemed to focus on "non-Mishleic" qualities, without any Mishleic implications. We developed several nice explanations, supported by meforshim on non-Mishlei sources. Tomorrow we'll see what the meforshim on Mishlei have...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת יִצְּרוּ מֶלֶךְ וְסָעַד בַּחֶסֶד כִּסְאוֹ: This morning (10/19/21) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk about the role of chesed and emes) in relation to the king and his subjects. After reviewing yesterday's approach and hearing a new one, we turned to the meforshim. We arrived at three approaches: (1) Me...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! (לא) פִּי צַדִּיק יָנוּב חׇכְמָה וּלְשׁוֹן תַּהְפֻּכוֹת תִּכָּרֵת: (לב) שִׂפְתֵי צַדִּיק יֵדְעוּן רָצוֹן וּפִי רְשָׁעִים תַּהְפֻּכוֹת: This evening (10/18/21), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned the last two pesukim of Chapter 10, which most meforshim treat as one long pasuk. This time our own analysis led us directly to the Rab...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת יִצְּרוּ מֶלֶךְ וְסָעַד בַּחֶסֶד כִּסְאוֹ: This morning (10/18/21) we started learning a pasuk about the role of chesed and emes (whatever those mean) in relation to the king and his subjects. We spent today working out a straightforward approach which accounted for the asymmetry in the structure of the pasuk, and the counter...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! נֵר י״י נִשְׁמַת אָדָם חֹפֵשׂ כׇּל חַדְרֵי בָטֶן: This morning (10/14/21) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk, beginning with a review of what we said. We then attempted to understand the pasuk according to the second - and more difficult - reading, according to which Hashem "uses" the soul of man as a lamp to sea...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! נֵר י״י נִשְׁמַת אָדָם חֹפֵשׂ כׇּל חַדְרֵי בָטֶן: This morning (10/13/21) we began a new pasuk which, at first glance, seems very non-Mishleic. It appears to be a factual statement about man's soul and it's relationship to God's knowledge. We developed a solid idea based on one reading of the pasuk. Tomorrow we'll see w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְזָרֶה רְשָׁעִים מֶלֶךְ חָכָם וַיָּשֶׁב עֲלֵיהֶם אוֹפָן: This morning (10/12/21) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk - this time, with the help of the meforshim. Shadal and Malbim both learn the pasuk to be about the samem topic: how a wise judge gets the wicked to confess (although Shadal, in our view, provides a more com...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! צַדִּיק לְעוֹלָם בַּל יִמּוֹט וּרְשָׁעִים לֹא יִשְׁכְּנוּ אָרֶץ: This evening (10/11/21), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned yet another difficult pasuk. This one was fairly easy to read, but proved difficult to get a unified chidush (novel insight) from, even with our abundance of ideas about tzadikim and reshaim from earlier i...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְזָרֶה רְשָׁעִים מֶלֶךְ חָכָם וַיָּשֶׁב עֲלֵיהֶם אוֹפָן: This morning (10/11/21) we began a new pasuk about how a wise king ought to deal with the wicked. There are a couple of ambiguitiies in the translation which suggest a number of different directions. We spent this morning trying to figure out the first half of the pasuk, but didn&ap...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מוֹקֵשׁ אָדָם יָלַע קֹדֶשׁ, וְאַחַר נְדָרִים לְבַקֵּר: This morning (10/8/21) was our third day on this pasuk. After reviewing yesterday's idea from the Meiri, we learned three more interpretations: two from the Meiri and one from Rabbeinu Yonah, who tied this into Monday's pasuk (10/4). It may have taken us three days, but we ul...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מוֹקֵשׁ אָדָם יָלַע קֹדֶשׁ, וְאַחַר נְדָרִים לְבַקֵּר: Yesterday we had one goal: be to learn at least ONE idea from this very confusing pasuk. This morning (10/7/21) we succeeded, thanks to the Meiri and the Rambam! Since the Meiri gives several other interpretations which we didn't have time for, we plan on continuing in the Meiri t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מוֹקֵשׁ אָדָם יָלַע קֹדֶשׁ, וְאַחַר נְדָרִים לְבַקֵּר: This morning (10/6/21) we began a pasuk which proved to be EXTREMELY difficult to translate. Every translation and commentary we consulted seemed to read the pasuk differently. We spent most of our (shorter) shiur today trying to arrive at a coherent translation, and we spent the last...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מֵי״י מִצְעֲדֵי גָבֶר וְאָדָם מַה יָּבִין דַּרְכּוֹ: This morning (10/5/21) we began by reviewing our four approaches from yesterday. We then consulted the meforshim - some of whom took similar approaches to ours, and some of whom added new points. We concluded by tying the ideas we learned to the berachah we say every morning. ----------...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מָעוֹז לַתֹּם דֶּרֶךְ י״י וּמְחִתָּה לְפֹעֲלֵי אָוֶן: This evening (10/4/21), in our Monday Night Mishlei Shiur, we learned a pasuk that was difficult to translate and even more difficult to understand. We developed several related approaches and did our best to hone them, thanks to Rabbeinu Yonah, and although we didn't QUITE reach t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מֵי״י מִצְעֲדֵי גָבֶר וְאָדָם מַה יָּבִין דַּרְכּוֹ: This morning (10/4/21) we began learning the pasuk which, according to some, is the source-pasuk for the berachah of "ha'meichin mitzadei gaver." We spent this morning's learning session attempting to develop our own approaches. Tomorrow we'll consult the meforsh...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! תּוֹעֲבַת י״י אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן וּמֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה לֹא טוֹב: This morning (9/17/21) we encountered yet ANOTHER pasuk about deceitful weights and measures! We had enough difficulty with the pasuk earlier in the perek, which seemed to be a repetition of what is already stated in the Torah. What does this NEW seemingly redundant pasuk come to add...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 20:22 - Hope to Hashem, the Avenger (Part 2) אַל תֹּאמַר אֲשַׁלְּמָה רָע קַוֵּה לַי״י וְיֹשַׁע לָךְ: This morning (9/14/21) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk. We clarified our understanding of MOST of Rabbeinu Yonah's approach, but didn't succeed in figuring out the last part. Thankfully, Radak, Ralbag,...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! תּוֹחֶלֶת צַדִּיקִים שִׂמְחָה וְתִקְוַת רְשָׁעִים תֹּאבֵד: This evening (9/13/21), in our first Monday Night Mishlei Shiur of the 2021-2022 year, we learned a pasuk which proved difficult to read at first. Our analysis led us to an idea that was expanded upon by the Rabbeinu Yonah. If the promise in the title of the shiur sounds too good t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! אַל תֹּאמַר אֲשַׁלְּמָה רָע קַוֵּה לַי״י וְיֹשַׁע לָךְ: This morning (9/13/21) we began our analysis of a seemingly non-Mishleic pasuk. The questions were straightforward, and we took a few steps on our own before turning to the meforshim. The meforshim did a thorough job explaining the case in the first half of the pasuk, but shed very li...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְכַסֶּה פְשָׁעָיו לֹא יַצְלִיחַ וּמוֹדֶה וְעֹזֵב יְרֻחָם: This morning (9/10/21), in our inaugural morning Mishlei shiur of 2021-2022, we learned a pasuk that is very relevant to the Aseres Ymei Teshuvah. First we learned the pasuk according to the most basic pshat, namely, that it's about how to maximize the chance that you will be...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! נַחֲלָה מְבֹהֶלֶת בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה וְאַחֲרִיתָהּ לֹא תְבֹרָךְ: This morning (8/5/21 at YBT) we concluded our 2020-2021 season of Mishlei with Mishlei 20:21. Fortunately, the ideas were so abundant that we didn't have enough time to refine and consolidate them! Those who listen to the shiur will have to do that work on their own, if they...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְקַלֵּל אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ יִדְעַךְ נֵרוֹ בֶּאֱשׁוּן חֹשֶׁךְ: This morning (8/4/21 at YBT) we continued the pasuk we started on Monday ... with tremendous difficulty! We tried out a bunch of different approaches, including one based on the Rambam in the Sefer ha'Mitzvos. There were interesting avenues, but no definitive conclusions. Suc...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְקַלֵּל אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ יִדְעַךְ נֵרוֹ בֶּאֱשׁוּן חֹשֶׁךְ: This morning (8/2/21 at YBT) we began analyzing a new pasuk - one which struck us as difficult because of its allegorical content and (seemingly) hyperbolic style. Today we explored a few approaches. Next time we'll develop those approaches with the help of the meforshim. ---...