468 episodes
Machshavah Lab Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss
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- Religion & Spirituality
My name is Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss. My goal as a Torah educator is not merely to teach my students my OWN hashkafah. Rather, my goal is to equip them with the foundations, the methodological training, and the tools which will enable them to arrive at their OWN understanding of Judaism and cultivate their OWN relationship with Hashem and His Torah. This podcast is devoted to the shiurim I give which are geared specifically towards that end. As such, the range of topics covered here will be diverse. There will be shiurim on Jewish philosophy, Chumash methodology, aggadic midrashim, maybe even some non-Jewish philosophy as well. Merriam-Webster defines "laboratory" as a place providing opportunity for experimentation, observation, or practice in a field of study. I call this podcast "Machshavah Lab" because this is where we will conduct Torah "experiments" by exploring questions, texts, and ideas in an effort to develop our machshavah in a "hands on," exploratory, firsthand manner.
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Behaalosecha: Moshe’s Short[ened] Tefilah
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Length of the article: 2 pagesLength of the audio: 7 minutes 41 secondsSynopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/21/24, entitled: Behaalosecha: Moshe’s Short[ened] Tefilah. Why was Moshe's tefilah for Miriam so short? Was this his intent or was he forced to shorten it? Either way, what implications does this have for our tefilah?-----The Torah content for this wee...
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Behaalosecha: Insights from the Shortest Tefilah Ever
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Length: 1 hour 17 minutesSynopsis: This evening (6/19/24), in our last Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur of the year, we took up a tefilah-related topic in the parashah: Moshe's short tefilah for Miriam. We raised a bunch of questions, and then set out to gain as many insights as we could. There was so much to cover that we went over time and didn't even finish!----------מקורות:במדבר יב:יגתרגום אונקלוספרשגןרבינו בחייהרכסים לבקעהרמב...
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Emulating Darwin: A Jewish Approach to Seeking God
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Length of the article: 4 pagesLength of the audio: 15 minutes 3 secondsSynopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/18/24, entitled: Emulating Darwin: A Jewish Approach to Seeking God. I recently read some Darwin for the first time and was so impressed by the character reflected in his writing that I was moved to write this article.-----The Torah content for this week has ...
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Naso: Shivim Panim la'Torah in Context
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Length of the article: 2 pagesLength of the audio: 5 minutes 8 secondsSynopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I originally wrote on 6/20/13 which I edited and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/14/24, entitled: Naso: Shivim Panim la'Torah in Context. The idiom "Shivim Panim la'Torah" is well-known but its origin is not. An analysis of its source in context sheds light on its usage by the Rishonim.-----Th...
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Shavuos is NOT About the Giving of the Torah
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Length of the article: 7 pagesLength of the audio: 21 minutes 19 secondsSynopsis: This is the audio version of the 7-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/11/24, entitled: Shavuos is NOT About the Giving of the Torah. This article, originally published on 5/30/17, is one of the few I've written about Shavuos. It deals with a basic question: What is the theme of the holiday? -----The Torah content for this week...
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Ralbag's Sixteen Toalos (Lessons) from Megilas Rus (The Book of Ruth)
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!Length: 1 hour 23 minutesSynopsis: This morning (6/7/24), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab shiurim for women, we decided to do a sequel to our Megilas Esther shiurim from earlier this year. As is his style, the Ralbag concludes sections of his Biblical commentaries with "toalos" (a.k.a. lessons) in halacha, middos, and philosophical ideas which he gleans from the text. He concludes Megilas Esther with 16 such lessons. Since this nu...