The Mishlei Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! גּוֹלֶה סּוֹד הוֹלֵךְ רָכִיל וּלְפֹתֶה שְׂפָתָיו לֹא תִתְעָרָב: This morning (7/30/21 at YBT) we reviewed the idea we came up with yesterday, then consulted the meforshim. It turns out that the approach we took was, by and large, the same approach they took, albeit with subtle differences. Thus, most of what we did today was a refining of...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! גּוֹלֶה סּוֹד הוֹלֵךְ רָכִיל וּלְפֹתֶה שְׂפָתָיו לֹא תִתְעָרָב: This morning (7/29/21 at YBT) we moved on to the next pasuk, which - as hashgachah would have it - is about the same topic that we've been working on in Rambam Bekius this week: rechilus (gossip). Today's pasuk warns us not to mingle with three (or two?) types of ind...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מַחֲשָׁבוֹת בְּעֵצָה תִכּוֹן וּבְתַחְבֻּלוֹת עֲשֵׂה מִלְחָמָה: This morning (7/28/21 at YBT) we returned to "regular Mishlei," resuming where we left off in June. Today's pasuk seemed to fall into the "Duh!" category, but as always, deeper analysis revealed Mishleic wisdom. We developed our own complete approach, t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! (ה) בְּטַח אֶל י״י בְּכׇל לִבֶּךָ וְאֶל בִּינָתְךָ אַל תִּשָּׁעֵן. (ו) בְּכׇל דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ וְהוּא יְיַשֵּׁר אֹרְחֹתֶיךָ. This morning (7/27/21 at YBT) we began by reviewing and refining yesterday's approach to 3:5. We then tackled 3:6, came up with an approach, and developed it with the aid of the Radak and Marcus Aurelius. ----...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! (ה) בְּטַח אֶל י״י בְּכׇל לִבֶּךָ וְאֶל בִּינָתְךָ אַל תִּשָּׁעֵן. (ו) בְּכׇל דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ וְהוּא יְיַשֵּׁר אֹרְחֹתֶיךָ. We're back! At least, for the next two weeks (bg"h). This morning (7/26/21 at YBT) we took up a pasuk which, on the surface, appears to contradict Torah, Mishlei, and rationality itself! As is our practic...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! עָרֵב לָאִישׁ לֶחֶם שָׁקֶר וְאַחַר יִמָּלֵא פִיהוּ חָצָץ: This morning (6/17/21 at YBT) we continued working on yesterday's pasuk with both of yesterday's meforshim. We definitely made progress and gleaned some nice insights, but I'm not 100% happy with our understanding of the Metzudas David, but there's definitely pot...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! עָרֵב לָאִישׁ לֶחֶם שָׁקֶר וְאַחַר יִמָּלֵא פִיהוּ חָצָץ: This morning (6/16/21 at YBT) we started a new pasuk with a highly, multi-sensorily evocative mashal. Perhaps it's because our shiur had triple the number of guys, we didn't really get to delve into the possibilities we raised. I'd like to revisit our pasuk tomorrow,...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! לְקַח בִּגְדוֹ כִּי עָרַב זָר וּבְעַד [נׇכְרִיָּה] (נכרים) חַבְלֵהוּ: This morning (6/15/21 at YBT) we continued our analysis of yesterday's pasuk, starting with Metzudas David. We then read Rabbeinu Yonah's explanation, which was consistent with the approach we had developed. We concluded by trying to learn the Ralbag's int...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! יִרְאַת י״י תּוֹסִיף יָמִים וּשְׁנוֹת רְשָׁעִים תִּקְצֹרְנָה: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (6/14/21 at YBT) we learned a pasuk which looked so basic that the Radak actually said, "[The meaning] is clear, and the pasuk is repeating the idea in different words." Nevertheless, we raised all the questions and looked for a chidus...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! לְקַח בִּגְדוֹ כִּי עָרַב זָר וּבְעַד [נׇכְרִיָּה] (נכרים) חַבְלֵהוּ: This morning (6/14/21 at YBT) we tackled a pasuk that was difficult to translate and confusing to understand on a factual level - so much so that we bypassed our usual procedure in our analysis. We ended up arriving at an approach based on Metzudas David, which we didn&a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! יֵשׁ זָהָב וְרׇב פְּנִינִים וּכְלִי יְקָר שִׂפְתֵי דָעַת: This morning (6/10/21 at YBT) we continued our analysis of 20:15 from the Metzudas David, where we left off yesterday. We got a "chidush," but not the type of truly insightful chidush I tend to look for in Mishlei. I feel like we were right there, but we just didn't g...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! יֵשׁ זָהָב וְרׇב פְּנִינִים וּכְלִי יְקָר שִׂפְתֵי דָעַת: This morning (6/9/21 at YBT) we learned Mishlei 20:15 on its own. I say "on its own" because a number of meforshim connect it to the previous pasuk, which we learned on Monday. We developed a few approaches today and began analyzing the Metzudas David's explanation. T...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! (ז) שְׁתַּיִם שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵאִתָּךְ אַל תִּמְנַע מִמֶּנִּי בְּטֶרֶם אָמוּת. (ח) שָׁוְא וּדְבַר כָּזָב הַרְחֵק מִמֶּנִּי רֵאשׁ וָעֹשֶׁר אַל תִּתֶּן לִי הַטְרִיפֵנִי לֶחֶם חֻקִּי. (ט) פֶּן אֶשְׂבַּע וְכִחַשְׁתִּי וְאָמַרְתִּי מִי י״י וּפֶן אִוָּרֵשׁ וְגָנַבְתִּי וְתָפַשְׂתִּי שֵׁם אֱלֹהָי. This morning (6/8/21 at YBT) we took a break from ou...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! כַּחֹמֶץ לַשִּׁנַּיִם וְכֶעָשָׁן לָעֵינָיִם כֵּן הֶעָצֵל לְשֹׁלְחָיו: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (6/7/21 at YBT) the pasuk we learned was very easy to translate and relatively easy to analyze. The difficulty was in the highly specific analagies in the first half of the pasuk. We found that these could be interpreted in a number of d...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! רַע רַע יֹאמַר הַקּוֹנֶה וְאֹזֵל לוֹ אָז יִתְהַלָּל: This morning (6/7/21 at YBT) we learned one of those pesukim that elicits an immediate, "So what?" reaction upon first reading. In this case, our pasuk seemed to describe the standard and innocuous business practice of haggling over merchandise. The more we delved into our anal...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! אַל תֶּאֱהַב שֵׁנָה פֶּן תִּוָּרֵשׁ פְּקַח עֵינֶיךָ שְׂבַע לָחֶם: This morning (6/3/21 at YBT) we took up a pasuk that looked quite basic, but we ended up getting a nice practical idea or two from it anyway - both in the nigleh and the nistar ways of learning. FYI, the book on sleep Isaac keeps talking about is called Why We Sleep: Unlocki...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! אֹזֶן שֹׁמַעַת וְעַיִן רֹאָה י״י עָשָׂה גַם שְׁנֵיהֶם: This morning (6/2/21 at YBT) we learned one of those pesukim that seems too obvious to mention. Therein lay the challenge! We came up with a good approach which was corroborated by Metzudas David. Stil more to think about, though. ---------- מקורות: משלי כ:יב מצודת דוד - כ:יב מאירי - כ...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! גַּם בְּמַעֲלָלָיו יִתְנַכֶּר נָעַר אִם זַךְ וְאִם יָשָׁר פׇּעֳלוֹ: This morning (6/1/21 at YBT) we learned a new pasuk with intentionally ambiguous wording that leads to two nearly opposite readings. We ended up developing one approach, which was corroborated by the Metzudas David, and we quickly read through Rabbeinu Yonah's comment...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! כַּעֲבוֹר סוּפָה וְאֵין רָשָׁע וְצַדִּיק יְסוֹד עוֹלָם: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (5/31/21 at YBT) we learned a pasuk which posed a double difficulty: it was awkward to read and translate, and the idea seemed to be quite similar to the last pasuk we learned. Thankfully, we managed to get a chidush (new insight) which was corroborat...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! אֶבֶן וָאֶבֶן אֵיפָה וְאֵיפָה תּוֹעֲבַת י״י גַּם שְׁנֵיהֶם: This morning (5/31/21 at YBT) we continued learning the pasuk we started on Thursday. As we discovered then, this pasuk intersects a number of different subjects, including Chumash, Torah she'baal Peh, aggadata. We decided to focus on the statements of Chazal brought down by...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! אֶבֶן וָאֶבֶן אֵיפָה וְאֵיפָה תּוֹעֲבַת י״י גַּם שְׁנֵיהֶם: This morning (5/27/21 at YBT) we began learning a pasuk which, on the surface, is unnecessary, since the Chumash says the same thing with greater elaboration. We spent some time getting the facts, which turned into a quasi Rambam Bekius shiur, and then we outlined an approach to t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מֶלֶךְ יוֹשֵׁב עַל כִּסֵּא דִין מְזָרֶה בְעֵינָיו כׇּל רָע: מִי יֹאמַר זִכִּיתִי לִבִּי טָהַרְתִּי מֵחַטָּאתִי: This morning (5/26/21 at YBT) we refined our own understanding of the pasuk we learned yesterday (20:9), then we learned a similar explanation of that pasuk by the Ri Nachmias, and then we learned the Meiri who explains 20:8 and...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מִי יֹאמַר זִכִּיתִי לִבִּי טָהַרְתִּי מֵחַטָּאתִי: This morning (5/25/21 at YBT) we had planned to do the meforshim on 20:8, but since many of them take it to be connected to 20:9, we decided to focus on the latter today and then learn the meforshim on both of them tomorrow. We probably would have gotten further today, but I took a detour...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מְגוֹרַת רָשָׁע הִיא תְבוֹאֶנּוּ וְתַאֲוַת צַדִּיקִים יִתֵּן: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (5/24/21 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we learned a pasuk that sounded both weird (in terms of diction and syntax) and untrue. As always, our questions guided us to approaches, and our approaches led to ideas, and our ideas led to insights. We en...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מֶלֶךְ יוֹשֵׁב עַל כִּסֵּא דִין מְזָרֶה בְעֵינָיו כׇּל רָע: This morning (5/24/21 at YBT) we returned to our regularly scheduled Mishlei. (The Super Ultra Hyper Mega Meta Mishlei review was a worthwhile use of time, but I just couldn't bear to spend another day NOT learning fresh Mishlei.) We continued with our new plan of me not prep...