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
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length: 1 hour 39 minutes
Synopsis: Last night (9/5/24), in our first Thursday night Pirkei Avos shiur for women of the 2024-2025, we took up a tefilah-related Mishnah from chapter 2, since I've been in tefilah mode all summer and I wanted to share some ideas. If you're looking for an eye-opening perspective on tefilah filled with potential, be sure to listen a...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of article: 2 pages
Length of audio: 8 minutes 12 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 9/6/24, titled: Shofetim: Three Philosophies of Bal Tashchis (Wasteful Destruction). Some mitzvos have well-hidden reasons. Others suffer the opposite fate: everyone assumes they understa...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of article: 2 pages
Length of audio: 6 minutes 14 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I originally wrote on 8/14/15, which I edited and republished on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 8/30/24, titled: Re'eh: MEAT IS MURDER!!! P.E.T.A. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) equates slaughtering animals for food with mu...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of article: 2 pages
Length of audio: 8 minutes 44 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 8/23/24 titled: Eikev: When to Disregard Tznius (Modesty) and Act Like an Animal. Yes, this is an article about a case in which Chazal permit us to totally disregard the laws of tznius and explicit...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of article: 3 pages
Length of audio: 10 minutes 11 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 3-page article I originally wrote on 8/4/14, which I edited and republished on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 8/14/24 entitled: Vaeschanan: Ayn Rand, Art, and Avodah Zarah. Like her or hate her, Ayn Rand's definition of art sheds light on why the Torah...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length: 1 hour 16 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (8/13/24), I gave my annual kinnos shiur at Shevet Achim (a.k.a. The Island Synagogue), and for the first time ever, I recorded it! I chose this kinnah because it presents itself as being related to tefilah, which has been the focus of my learning all summer. But even a surface-level examination of the text indicates that ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of article: 2 pages
Length of audio: 8 minutes 4 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 8/12/24 entitled: Tishah b’Av 5784: Does Hashem Still Listen to Our Prayers? One would assume the answer is "yes," but a midrash about the destruction of Mikdash indicates otherwise. What ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of article: 3 pages
Length of audio: 12 minutes 35 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 3-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 8/9/24 entitled: Haftaras Devarim: Will Hashem Hate Our Tishah b’Av? Some years I write a Tishah b'Av article and feel like I'm not adding anything - just showcasing the words of the pro...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 5 pages
Length of the audio: 17 minutes 25 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 5-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 8/1/24 entitled: Four Insights from a Jewish Renewal Rabbi. I can't say I've ever written an article prompted by someone from a non-Orthodox Jewish movement, but once I heard thi...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 2 pages
Length of the audio: 8 minutes 22 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/26/24 entitled: Pinchas: The Korban Tamid as ... God's Food? How would you respond to the claim that korbanos are "God's food"? How would you account for the similarit...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 2 pages
Length of the audio: 6 minutes 31 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I originally published on my old blog on 12/27/13, which I edited and republished on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/19/24 entitled: Vaeira: Do You Believe in Magic? Is magic real? There are three views among the Rishonim. This used t...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 2 pages
Length of the audio: 8 minutes 45 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/19/24 entitled: Balak: Blaming Sins on “Sin City.” When it comes to nature vs. nurture, we think of "nurture" in reference to people and one's surroundings. But what role i...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 2 pages
Length of the audio: 8 minutes 3 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/12/24 entitled: Chukas: How the Deaths of Tzadikim Atone. I was going to call this article, "How Miriam and Aharon Died for Our Sins," but I opted for the more generic NON-Jesusy...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 2 pages
Length of the audio: 8 minutes 1 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 7/5/24 entitled: Korach: The Sexual Allegations Against Moshe Rabbeinu. Did you know that Korach led a nationwide smear campaign against Moshe by accusing him of sexual impropriety? I wasn&a...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 4 pages
Length of the audio: 15 minutes 31 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/28/24 entitled: Shelach: Shadal’s Radical Take on the Forty Years in the Wilderness. What if I told you that Israel were not condemned to wander in the Wilderness for 40 years as a punis...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 1 page
Length of the audio: 4 minutes
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I originally published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 6/24/22, which I've edited and republished on 6/27/24, entitled: Shelach: Challah as a Consequence of the Cheit ha'Meraglim. Why does the Torah introduce the mitzvah of separating ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length: 52 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (6/21/24) we had a surprise Q&A as our last shiur in yeshiva of the 2023-2024 year! We took up seven questions: (1) How do we reconcile/account for the differences in the average working hours today vs. in the time of Chazal and the Rishonim, insofar as our learning is concerned? (2) What is meant by the term "ego"?...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 2 pages
Length of the audio: 7 minutes 41 seconds
Synopsis: 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 implica...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length: 1 hour 17 minutes
Synopsis: 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 f...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!
Length of the article: 4 pages
Length of the audio: 15 minutes 3 seconds
Synopsis: 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 w...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.