The Mishlei Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:28: The Nature of the King's Glory   בְּרׇב עָם הַדְרַת מֶלֶךְ, וּבְאֶפֶס לְאֹם מְחִתַּת רָזוֹן: Length: 36 minutes (last 9 minutes were spliced off) Synopsis: This morning (4/11/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we began analyzing a pasuk with a famous first half and a difficult-to-translate second half. We came up with s...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:26-27: The Benefits of Mishleic Fear of Hashem (Part 2)   בְּיִרְאַת י"י מִבְטַח עֹז, וּלְבָנָיו יִהְיֶה מַחְסֶה: יִרְאַת י"י מְקוֹר חַיִּים לָסוּר מִמֹּקְשֵׁי מָוֶת: Length: 44 minutes Synopsis: This morning (4/5/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we reviewed yesterday's pesukim and ideas, and then learned the me...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:26-27: The Benefits of Mishleic Fear of Hashem (Part 1)   בְּיִרְאַת י"י מִבְטַח עֹז, וּלְבָנָיו יִהְיֶה מַחְסֶה: יִרְאַת י"י מְקוֹר חַיִּים לָסוּר מִמֹּקְשֵׁי מָוֶת: Length: 41 minutes Synopsis: This morning (4/3/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned two pesukim - on account of the small size of the shiur and...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:18 - Nuanced Ways to Reject Mussar רֵישׁ וְקָלוֹן פּוֹרֵעַ מוּסָר וְשֹׁמֵר תּוֹכַחַת יְכֻבָּד: Length: 1 hour 33 minutes Synopsis:  Tonight (4/1/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk which seemed like one of those "Shlomo ha'Melecch reached into a bag filled with Mishlei words and randomly picked s...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:25 - Saving Lives and Saying Lies (Part 2)   מַצִּיל נְפָשׁוֹת עֵד אֱמֶת, וְיָפִחַ כְּזָבִים מִרְמָה: Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/28/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we came back for another attempt at yesterday's difficult pasuk - and this time, we managed to get ideas! Three really nice ideas, in fact:...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:25 - Saving Lives and Saying Lies (Part 1)   מַצִּיל נְפָשׁוֹת עֵד אֱמֶת, וְיָפִחַ כְּזָבִים מִרְמָה: Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/27/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we started a new and difficult pasuk. Not only was it similar to a pasuk we learned earlier this year, but the syntax was awkward and the two hal...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 29:11 - How a Chacham Handles a Ksil's Anger (Part 2)   כׇּל רוּחוֹ יוֹצִיא כְסִיל, וְחָכָם בְּאָחוֹר יְשַׁבְּחֶנָּה: Length: 50 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/22/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we continued working on the pasuk we started on Wednesday. We spent most of the time developing other ideas in the pshat - whic...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 29:11 - How a Chacham Handles a Ksil's Anger (Part 1)   כׇּל רוּחוֹ יוֹצִיא כְסִיל, וְחָכָם בְּאָחוֹר יְשַׁבְּחֶנָּה: Length: 46 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/20/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we took a break from our chapter to learn a pasuk which is used as an introduction to Megilas Esther. The connection is less ob...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:17 - How to Select (or Be) an Agent מַלְאָךְ רָשָׁע יִפֹּל בְּרָע וְצִיר אֱמוּנִים מַרְפֵּא: Length: 1 hour 36 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (3/18/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a puzzling pasuk about a niche topic: agents. Like many pesukim, this one was cryptically worded, and the opposite halves didn't qu...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:24 - False or a Tautology?   עֲטֶרֶת חֲכָמִים עׇשְׁרָם, אִוֶּלֶת כְּסִילִים אִוֶּלֶת: Length: 46 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/14/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned a VERY strange pasuk. The first half seems false (or, at the very least, misleading) and the second half reads like a tautology. Nevertheless, we were...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:23 - "No Pain No Gain" According to Mishlei   בְּכׇל עֶצֶב יִהְיֶה מוֹתָר, וּדְבַר שְׂפָתַיִם אַךְ לְמַחְסוֹר: Length: 46 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/13/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned the next pasuk which we rendered into rhyming English as follows: "In every pain there is gain, but speech-of-...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:16 - To Act With Mishleic Cunning כׇּל עָרוּם יַעֲשֶׂה בְדָעַת וּכְסִיל יִפְרֹשׂ אִוֶּלֶת: Length: 1 hour 44 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (3/11/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk that looked like a ton of Mishlei terms were just randomly tossed together and assembled into a full pasuk. I was a little nervous...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:22 - Why Plotting Evil is Bad and Plotting Good is Good   הֲלוֹא יִתְעוּ חֹרְשֵׁי רָע, וְחֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת חֹרְשֵׁי טוֹב: Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/6/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned the next pasuk, which is one of the most symmetrical Mishlei pesukim I've seen ... and yet, not. We utilized this...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:15 - Don't Force שֵׂכֶל טוֹב יִתֶּן חֵן וְדֶרֶךְ בֹּגְדִים אֵיתָן: Length: 1 hour 22 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (3/4/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, I was nervous about our prospects. The first half of the pasuk looked easy, but the second half mentioned the elusive Mishleic archetype of the bogeid - a definition tha...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:21 - How to Treat the Humble/Poor   בׇּז לְרֵעֵהוּ חוֹטֵא, וּמְחוֹנֵן [עֲנָוִים] (עניים) אַשְׁרָיו Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/29/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned the next pasuk, which some meforshim connect to the previous one. We came up with a few approaches and half-approaches, then learned the...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:20 - Fair-weather Friends   גַּם לְרֵעֵהוּ יִשָּׂנֵא רָשׁ וְאֹהֲבֵי עָשִׁיר רַבִּים: Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/28/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned yet another full pasuk in one session! It was unclear at first whether this one was about wealth/poverty or love/hate, but it ended up being about the...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:14 - How to Benefit from the Fountain of Life תּוֹרַת חָכָם מְקוֹר חַיִּים לָסוּר מִמֹּקְשֵׁי מָוֶת: Length: 1 hour 32 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (2/26/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk that seemed a bit trite or bland with relatively few meforshim. Our two leads were a syntactical quirk and the fact that...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:19 - Do the Wicked Bow Before the Good?   שַׁחוּ רָעִים לִפְנֵי טוֹבִים, וּרְשָׁעִים עַל שַׁעֲרֵי צַדִּיק: Length: 46 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/22/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned another full pasuk in one session! We were immediately confronted with the classic "Is this really true?" question, and...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:18 - Inheriting Foolishness   נָחֲלוּ פְתָאיִם אִוֶּלֶת, וַעֲרוּמִים יַכְתִּרוּ דָעַת: Length: 47 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/21/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned another fundamental pasuk about how the pesi makes decisions. Since we had a smaller crowd than usual, we were able to proceed through our analysis q...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:13 - Scorned Things and Revered Mitzvos בָּז לְדָבָר יֵחָבֶל לוֹ, וִירֵא מִצְוָה הוּא יְשֻׁלָּם: Length: 1 hour 18 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (2/19/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk that seemed all over the place at first glance. What followed was one of the smoothest Mishlei analyses in memory: three of...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 14:17 - When Deliberate Thinkers Are Hated   קְצַר אַפַּיִם יַעֲשֶׂה אִוֶּלֶת וְאִישׁ מְזִמּוֹת יִשָּׂנֵא: Length: 47 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/7/24), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned a perplexing pasuk which seemed to issue a warning of a negative consequence for a positive Mishleic archetype. We came up with sever...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:12 - Since When is Taavah is a Tree of Life?! תּוֹחֶלֶת מְמֻשָּׁכָה מַחֲלָה לֵב, וְעֵץ חַיִּים תַּאֲוָה בָאָה: Length: 1 hour 22 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (2/5/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk that, on the surface, seems to advocate the pursuit of תאוה (desire, lust, instinctual pleasure) and goes so fa...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:11 - How to Get Money, Middos, and Wisdom FAST! ... Well, Slow הוֹן מֵהֶבֶל יִמְעָט, וְקֹבֵץ עַל יָד יַרְבֶּה: Length: 1 hour 28 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (1/29/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk that looks super simple and super cliche ... not just Mishlei cliché, but CLICHÉ cliché. Nevertheless, I am pl...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:10 - The Secret to Teamwork, Leadership, and Communication רַק בְּזָדוֹן יִתֵּן מַצָּה וְאֶת נוֹעָצִים חׇכְמָה: Length: 1 hour 28 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (1/22/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk I had never learned before. The syntax of this pasuk was somewhat odd, as was the juxtaposition of seemingly...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 13:9 - What Type of Light Does YOUR Soul Make? אוֹר צַדִּיקִים יִשְׂמָח, וְנֵר רְשָׁעִים יִדְעָךְ: Length: 1 hour 29 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (1/15/24), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk which looked really easy and turned out to be super difficult! Unlike most of our Monday Night Mishlei shiurim, when we typic...