The Tefilah Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/18/20 at YBT) we continued our analysis of the difficult Tehilim 90. Thankfully, we were able to arrive at an understanding of the main idea and the purpose of the perek! Granted, there are still some details to be worked out and some clarity to be gained, but I feel like we're on a good path. We als...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/16/20 at YBT) we began working our way through the difficult Tehilim 90. Finding the pivot point was easy, but getting a sense of what was being said was quite difficult. Fortunately, we ended up just feeling our way through by talking it out, and we arrived at a pretty solid approach to the first half. T...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/9/20 at YBT) we continued (concluded?) our analysis of Tehilim 8. After a brief review of what we did last time, we learned through the rest of the Radak, discussing various ideas and nuances along the way. We ended by attempting to solidify our answer to Adler's first question ("What is this pe...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning's Sunday Shiur (2/7/21 at YBT) focused on the berachah Chazal instituted to be said immediately upon waking: Elohai Neshamah. After reviewing our "MMMMMM!" method of tefilah analysis and going over the halachic history of this berachah, we set out to answer a single question: "What do we mean by 'nesha...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/4/20 at YBT) we began Tehilim 8. Unlike some of the other chapters we did, it was fairly easy to identify the pivot point and theorize about the main idea. We began learning through the Radak, whose commentary contained some "gold dust" (you'll have to listen to the shiur to get that refere...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Since tonight's Tehilim shiur (1/12/20 at YBT) will be the last Tehilim shiur before winter break, we attempted to wrap up our analysis of Tehilim 6. First we clarified some points from last time, and then we attempted to answer Adler's Four Questions. We answered Questions #1 (What is the main idea?), #4 (What of it?), and #3 (I...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's tefilah shiur (1/11/21 at YBT) we revisited the actual text of the berachah. We reviewed what we came up with in Part 1 (since Part 2 focused on the text of the kedushah from Yeshayahu Chapter 6), looked up the remaining pesukim cited by the Abudirham in their original context, and then came up with a theory of a Main Ide...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! I am pleased to announce the launch of my fifth and final podcast (for the time being): The Tefilah Podcast! In this short episode I explain what you can expect to find here. With Hashem's help, this will be the vehicle for a lot of learning and growth for all of us! ---------- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss YouTube...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (1/7/20 at YBT) we continued learning Tehilim Chapter 6. After reviewing what we did last time, we finished reading the Radak on the rest of the perek, raising numerous additional questions along the way. We then started working on the second pasuk, trying to understand what David meant when he framed his il...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (1/5/20 at YBT) we began learning Tehilim Chapter 6, which is familiar to many from Tachanun in (Nusach Ashkenaz). We began by reading and translating the perek. Next, we made our initial observations and raised some questions. After identifying the pivot point and engaging in some initial analytical hypothe...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (12/31/20 at YBT) we had PLANNED on finishing Tehilim 114. Instead, I felt compelled to use this "Erev New Years" to reflect on 2020 through a Tehilim-esque lens. This led to an informal discussion on bitachon (trust in Hashem), which in turn led us to read R' Avraham ben ha'Rambam's...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's tefilah shiur (12/28/20 at YBT) we decided that in order to better understand the berachah of Atoh Kadosh, it would be prudent to look into the quintessential expression of kedushah - namely, the kedushah! Specifically, we set out to familiarize ourselves with the pesukim in Yeshayahu 6:1-4, which is the source of the tex...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (12/24/20 at YBT) we moved on to the second perek of Hallel. We raised a bunch of questions and then read the Radak who answered almost all of them and laid the groundwork for a nice main idea. We'll try to polish it up in our next class and answer Adler's fourth question: "What of it?" -...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (12/22/20 at YBT) we continued our learning of Tehilim 113. We began with some methodological questions raised by the parallels between the them and phrasing of our perek and that of Shiras Chanah in I Shmuel 2:1-10. We then attempted to refine our main idea and understand the purpose of the perek. Thanks to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's tefilah shiur (12/21/20 at YBT) we took up a couple of questions that I was asked about the conclusion of the third berachah of the amidah. We decided to explore that berachah in general, but with an aim to answer those specific questions. We DID find answers, but we also uncovered a new level of the berachah that we didn...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning's shiur (12/18/20 at Lomdeha) was an adventure in "tefilah archaeology" focusing on a curious addition to the end of Al ha'Nissim involving a request for miracles. After surveying the evidence which establishes that this is the authentic version of Al ha'Nissim, we investigate the reason why most Ashke...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (12/17/20 at YBT) we began learning Tehilim 113, the first perek of Hallel. We identified the pivot point and answered Adler's first question (What is this perek about as a whole?), and then we started to address Adler's second question (What is each part of this perek saying, and how does it fit i...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In tonight's Tehilim shiur (12/10/20 at YBT) we began continued learning Tehilim 36 based on a combination of our own analysis and the commentary of the Meiri. I'd say we came away with around 90% of a complete understanding, but I still think we need to sharpen the idea. We'll see if that happens! ---------- מקורות: תהלים ל...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our third Tehilim shiur (12/8/20 at YBT), we began learning Tehilim 36 - a chapter I chose because it's the source of the Rambam's "crowning pasuk" of Sefer ha'Mada (36:11), and I wanted to learn the pasuk in its context. Tonight we read and translated the perek, and then focused on analyzing the first half base...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our fourth Tehilim shiur (12/3/20 at YBT), we continued our analysis Tehilim 146, developing the ideas we had last time and bringing them to a polished state. ---------- מקורות: תהלים קמו ירמיהו יז:ה-ח ירמיהו - תהלים קמו ---------- If you're interested in a written version of this shiur, check out this article . If you missed the c...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our third Tehilim shiur (12/1/20 at YBT), we applied our "Adler's Four Questions" and "Pivot Point" methods to Tehilim 146. This, too, should be a familiar perek, since we say it after Ashrei every morning. But in all of your recitations, have you noticed the pivot point? And if you did, have you thought about i...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! In our second Tehilim shiur (11/24/20 at YBT), we applied our "Adler's Four Questions" and "Pivot Point" methods (discussed in our "How to Learn Tehilim Crash Course") to Tehilim 23. Although this is a familiar perek, it proved to be a surprisingly difficult to crack. The smoothest approach I've foun...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight, in our first official Tehilim shiur (11/19/20 at YBT), we applied our "Adler's Four Questions" and "Pivot Point" methods (discussed in our "How to Learn Tehilim Crash Course") to the familiar Tehilim 92. We emerged with a nice idea, and saw the methodology in action. For a write-up of the shiur,...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight (11/17/20) in YBT I gave the introductory session of a shiur in Tehilim I'll be giving on Tuesday and Thursday nights, instead of my Koheles class. In this "crash course" I go over some introductory points about Tehilim and present an overview of the three methods I use when learning Tehilim. Note that this is just a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Tonight's tefilah shiur (11/16/20 at YBT) was different. I found out last night that my great-aunt - Sister Susan, a Catholic nun - died from COVID-19 at the age of 93. Half an hour before the shiur my mom sent me a newspaper clipping from when Sister Susan retired after 44 years of service with the Sisters of Social Service (a conven...