Machshavah Lab
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.
Episodes
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Length: 1 hour 8 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (1/9/25), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we changed course. I explain my reasons at the beginning of shiur and justify them based on how the meforshim approach Iyov, but the upshot is that we're going to switch into high gear and cover "Round 1" of the debate between Iyov and his three...
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Length: 1 hour 34 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (1/8/25), in our Thursday night Pirkei Avos shiur for women, we finally concluded our analysis of Avos 1:6. In many ways, this was a follow-up to our Rambam Shiur on friendship, both because I originally intended to cover Rabbeinu Yonah in that shiur, and because Rabbeinu Yonah complements the Rambam. We ended up building ...
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Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 1/9/25 titled: Shemos: The “Second Chumash”? No, this isn’t a reference to apocrypha. It’s a real book, and it’s the subject of the Netziv’s preface to Sefer Shemos. Read this, and you may never look at Shemos the same way again.
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The Torah content for the ...
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Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 6-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 12/26/25 titled: Vayigash: Hulk Yehuda Threatens to Kill Yosef for Wanting Binyamin as a Sex Slave?! Despite my preference for peshat, this midrash is so wild and so against the peshat that I couldn't resist the urge to work on it. I may not have answered...
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Length of article: 4 pages
Length of audio: 12 minutes 36 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 12/19/25 titled: Mikeitz: And Then They Got DRUNK. Why does the Torah mention that Yosef’s brothers got drunk? Here are four distinct approaches, each with its own methodological aim, an...
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Length: 1 hour 21 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (12/12/25), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we analyzed Iyov's "post-breakdown monologue" in Chapter 3 through the eyes of the Malbim and the Rambam, comparing and contrasting their approaches. Although we answered all the questions we initially asked, there are some outstanding diffic...
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Length: 1 hour 57 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (12/11/25), in our Thursday night Pirkei Avos shiur for women, we learned one of my favorite Rambam passages of all time: his mini-discourse on friendship. I can honestly say that this was the most comprehensive shiur I’ve ever given on the topic. We took the mishnah, raised every question we could, then read the Rambam, r...
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Length of article: 1 pages
Length of audio: 4 minutes 31 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 12/11/25 titled: Vayeishev: Yosef ha’Tzadik – A Role Model in Sin. In this short dvar Torah, we compare two readings of Mrs. Potiphar’s attempted rape of Yosef and ask which portrays him ...
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Length: 1 hour 11 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (12/5/25), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we began by reviewing the facts from last time. From there we took up a Vayishlach/Iyov side-quest, examining the midrash that Iyov’s wife was Dinah, a midrash for which I have found zero explanations. After that, we continued reading the sefer through the e...
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Length of article: 4 pages
Length of audio: 14 minutes 8 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 12/4/25 titled: Vayishlach: Does Rashi Slander Dinah and Leah? Abravanel takes Rashi to task for blaming Dinah’s rape on Leah’s conduct. While I ordinarily side with the peshat, I’d like ...
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Length of article: 3 pages
Length of audio: 10 minutes 57 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 3-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 12/1/25 titled: Did Rambam Actually Praise Ibn Ezra and Trash the French Jews (for Eating Salsa)? You may have heard that the Rambam endorsed Ibn Ezra’s commentaries. Maybe you even hear...
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Length: 1 hour 4 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (11/21/25), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we had a shorter shiur in the usual. We spent the first portion clarifying some points from Part 3 - specifically, whether Ralbag would be considered a kofer (heretic) according to the Rambam. We then read through the remainder of the narrative about Iyov&ap...
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Length of article: 4 pages
Length of audio: 16 minutes 8 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 11/21/25 titled: Toldos: How Different Were Yaakov and Eisav? I was tempted to title this "When Teaching Rashi to Children Promotes Kefirah (Heresy)" but I decided that was too ...
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Length: 1 hour 27 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (11/14/25), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we continued learning through the prologue of Iyov (1:1 - 3:1). We began with a question of Iyov Methodology: Which commentaries would I recommend? This led to another important tangent (the second in three sessions!) about the ikkarim (fundamentals of Juda...
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Length: 1 hour 29 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (11/13/25), in our Thursday night Pirkei Avos shiur for women, we continued with the clause we worked on last time. We spent the first part of shiur reviewing everything we covered last time, answering the questions we left off with and sharpening some of the insights we had. Then we moved on to the Meiri, who gave us seve...
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Length of article: 2 pages
Length of audio: 9 minutes 8 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 11/13/25 titled: Chayei Sarah: Sarah’s Years — A Peshat-Style Alternative to Rashi’s Midrashic Reading. Rashi’s drash on Sarah’s 127 years is well known and conveys profound ideas, but I p...
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Length: 1 hour 4 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (11/7/25), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we reviewed the first five pesukim and answered our questions based largely on the Malbim's commentary, setting the stage for the drama that unfolds in the remainder of Chapters 1-2.
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מקורות:
איוב א:א-יב
מלבי"ם - איוה א:א-ה
...
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Length of article: 4 pages
Length of audio: 15 minutes 19 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 11/7/25 titled: Vayeira: Maybe Lote Wasn’t the Bad Guy Rashi Makes Him Out to Be.In Rashi’s “world of midrash,” Lote’s the bad guy—but in the “world of peshat,” Radak paints a different ...
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Length: 1 hour 29 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (11/6/25), in our Thursday night Pirkei Avos shiur for women, we went back and learned the beginning of the mishnah we started last week. We spent most of the time mining the depths of Rashi on the first clause-and-half. We then moved on to Rambam and Rabbeinu Yonah, attempting to compare and contrast them to discern how m...
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Length: 1 hour 17 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (10/31/25), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we began our unit on what I call the Prologue to Sefer Iyov (1:1 - 3:1). The initial plan was to have a brief introduction, then read and translate the entire Prologue, then analyze 1:1-5. Instead, our intro led to a rant (on my part) about the Rambam'...
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