The Mishlei Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! צַדִּיק הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּרִיבוֹ [וּבָא] (יבא) רֵעֵהוּ וַחֲקָרוֹ In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/17/20 at YBT) we continued learning Mishlei 18:17, this time according to Rabbeinu Yonah, who had a different take on the facts of the pasuk. After defining the according to him and fleshing out the practical implications, we clarified our underst...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! אֹגֵר בַּקַּיִץ בֵּן מַשְׂכִּיל נִרְדָּם בַּקָּצִיר בֵּן מֵבִישׁ: In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (11/16/20 with Lomdeha, hosted at YBT) we learned Mishlei 10:5 which deals with the peculiar case of someone who plants during the planting season, but sleeps through the harvest. We learned three explanations: one original, one based on Met...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! צַדִּיק הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּרִיבוֹ [וּבָא] (יבא) רֵעֵהוּ וַחֲקָרוֹ In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/16/20 at YBT) we began learning Mishlei 18:17 which seems to be about what in modern terms would be called "anchoring bias." We attempted to learn the pasuk on our own, then turned to Metzudas David and Ralbag. Tomorrow we'll refine...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מַתָּן אָדָם יַרְחִיב לוֹ וְלִפְנֵי גְדֹלִים יַנְחֶנּוּ In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/12/20 at YBT) we continued our analysis of Mishlei 18:16, defining and refining our understanding of the pasuk according to Rabbeinu Yonah, with a little bit of Meiri thrown in at the end. If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to h...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! מַתָּן אָדָם יַרְחִיב לוֹ וְלִפְנֵי גְדֹלִים יַנְחֶנּוּ: In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/11/20 at YBT) we began our analysis of Mishlei 18:16. We raised questions, discussed some methodology, then read Rabbeinu Yonah's commentary for one approach. Tomorrow we'll develop that approach into a solid idea. Please feel free to leave...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/10/20 at YBT) we continued our analysis of Mishlei 18:15, formulating our understanding of the key terms, the main idea, and the practical ramifications. לֵב נָבוֹן יִקְנֶה דָּעַת וְאֹזֶן חֲכָמִים תְּבַקֶּשׁ דָּעַת: Please feel free to leave your questions, insights, and feedback in the comments! ----------...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (11/9/20 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we learned a pasuk which seemed fairly simple on its surface. This gave us an opportunity to push past the surface-level interpretation and search for a chidush (novel insight), which we did! And over the course of our analysis, we explored the topics of Mishleic lazin...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/9/20 at YBT) we began our analysis of Mishlei 18:15 which compares the manner in which the chacham and the navon relate to knowledge. Since this is the first pasuk we've done which deals with the terms chochmah, binah, and daas, we discussed the difficulties posed by these terms. We then proceeded to c...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/5/20 at YBT) we developed our understanding of how Mishlei advises us to deal with worry, delving deeply into the topic and discussing practicality. If you find yourself fraught with worry, stress, and anxiety about the future, then this shiur is for you! דְּאָגָה בְלֶב אִישׁ יַשְׁחֶנָּהוְדָבָר טוֹב יְשַׂמְ...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/4/20 at YBT) we set out to refine our understanding of 18:4, which we've been working on for the past two days. Instead, we learned a new approach from Rashi which happened to tie into an idea we discussed in our Koheles shiur last night, rooted in the Rambam's commentary on Berachos Perek 9 Mishn...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/3/20 at YBT) we took a different approach to Mishlei 18:14, based on those meforshim who hold that this pasuk is about the relationship between the mind (intellect and/or psyche) and the health and illness of the physical body. We saw several different approaches, and will attempt to unify or synthesize the...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our Monday Night Mishlei shiur (11/2/20 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we took up the difficult-to-translate and challenging-to-understand Mishlei 10:3. The first half of the pasuk boldly asserts that Hashem will not starve a tzadik. The second half then says ... what, exactly? Thankfully, we managed to emerge with two or three nice ideas...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (11/2/20 at YBT) we began learning Mishlei 18:14, the wording of which is difficult and ambiguous. The chief ambiguity pertains to the word "ruach," which can be translated as either "psyche" or "intellect." Today we took the latter approach and managed to work out most of an idea....

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (10/30/20 at YBT) we continued our analysis of Mishlei 18:13, drawing upon Rabbeinu Yonah and the Radak for our understanding. מֵשִׁיב דָּבָר בְּטֶרֶם יִשְׁמָע אִוֶּלֶת הִיא לוֹ וּכְלִמָּה: Please feel free to leave your questions, insights, and feedback in the comments! ----------------------------------------...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (10/29/20 at YBT) we began with a "Mishlei Moment" I had, as well as an explanation of what "Mishlei Moments" are and why it is beneficial to articulate them. Then we began analyzing Mishlei 18:13 which we will continue tomorrow. מֵשִׁיב דָּבָר בְּטֶרֶם יִשְׁמָע אִוֶּלֶת הִיא לוֹ וּכְלִמָּה:...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (10/28/20 at YBT) we continued our analysis of Mishlei 18:12. We started by refining the two approaches we took yesterday, supporting one of them with the commentary of the GRA, and then we developed two more approaches.  לִפְנֵי שֶׁבֶר יִגְבַּהּ לֶב אִישׁ, וְלִפְנֵי כָבוֹד עֲנָוָה: Please feel free to leave yo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our morning Mishlei shiur (10/27/20 at YBT) we began our analysis of Mishlei 18:12. Our learning was so fruitful that we didn't even get to the meforshim! We came up with two interpretations, each based on a different reading of the pasuk. Tomorrow we'll refine these interpretations, then venture into the meforshim to learn wh...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our Monday Night Community Mishlei shiur (10/26/20 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we learned Mishlei 10:2: לֹא יוֹעִילוּ אוֹצְרוֹת רֶשַׁע, וּצְדָקָה תַּצִּיל מִמָּוֶת. This pasuk was a real exercise in walking the fine line between interpreting the pasuk literally and figuratively, narrowly and broadly, conservatively and speculatively. W...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! The pasuk we learned in Mishlei shiur this morning (10/26/20 at YBT) is clearly related to the previous pasuk. How it is related is a matter of debate. This morning's pasuk also raised the controversial question: Should you assume that every Mishlei pasuk is telling the truth? According to Ralbag, ibn Kaspi, and Rabbeinu Yonah, the an...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! The pasuk we learned in Mishlei shiur this morning (10/26/20 at YBT) is clearly related to the previous pasuk. How it is related is a matter of debate. This morning's pasuk also raised the controversial question: Should you assume that every Mishlei pasuk is telling the truth? According to Ralbag, ibn Kaspi, and Rabbeinu Yonah, the an...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning's Mishlei shiur (10/22/20 at YBT) was a doozy. After summarizing yesterday's findings, reading the Rabbeinu Yonah, and attempting some approaches, we ended up caving and just reading my four-sentence summary from when I prepared this idea over the summer. Don't get me wrong - the idea was a good one, but we just...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning's Mishlei shiur (10/21/20 at YBT) was a little different. This is a very difficult pasuk for a number of reasons. After struggling to come up with an approach, we decided to check out the meforshim, just to get a sense of their approaches. We'll continue this tomorrow, and then try to come up with our own approach in...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! We began our morning Mishlei shiur (10/20/20 at YBT) with a review of yesterday's explanation of Mishlei 18:9: גַּם מִתְרַפֶּה בִמְלַאכְתּוֹ אָח הוּא לְבַעַל מַשְׁחִית. Yesterday we ended off with a question on the Rabbeinu Yonah and today we ended up getting not one, but two ideas on the Rabbeinu Yonah. We then did a brief methodolog...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our Monday Night Community Mishlei shiur (10/19/20 with Lomdeha, hosted by YBT) we learned Mishlei 10:1: מִשְׁלֵי שְׁלֹמֹה: בֵּן חָכָם יְשַׂמַּח אָב וּבֵן כְּסִיל תּוּגַת אִמּוֹ. Not only did we come up with two (maybe three?) ideas, but we covered a LOT of Mishlei methodology along the way. If you're looking for a way to get into...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In this morning's Mishlei shiur (10/19/20 at YBT) we reviewed Mishlei 18:8, and then moved on to Mishlei 18:9: גַּם מִתְרַפֶּה בִמְלַאכְתּוֹ אָח הוּא לְבַעַל מַשְׁחִית. We came up with our own explanation, which was reflected in the Metzudas David (albeit in reference to a far more specific realm). We concluded with the Rabbeinu Yonah...