The Stoic Jew
My name is Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss. I am, first and foremost, an Orthodox Jew. I am also a student of the Stoic masters: Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. This podcast is dedicated to exploring the relationship between Judaism and Stoicism - where they overlap, where they differ, and how they complement each other. I also use this podcast to think out loud about how to apply the principles of Judaism and Stoicism to my own life, with all its ups and downs.
Episodes
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Length: 1 hour 19 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (7/24/24), in our Stoic Jew Shiur, we learned the third entry in Meditations Book II, which deals with some weighty topics: God, the universe, hashgachah (providence), and theodicy (the question of evil in the world). We began by underscoring the fundamental differences between the Stoic view of God and the teachings of J...
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Length: 1 hour 28 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (7/17/24), in our Stoic Jew Shiur, we learned and discussed the second chapter in Book II, which had a markedly different tone than the first chapter. Here we see Marcus reminding - or rebuking himself - in order not to lose sight of who he really is. We raised a TON of questions and emerged with a nice, unified understan...
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Length: 15 minutes 31 seconds
Synopsis: I can't believe it, but this past Friday marked three YEARS of gratitude journaling! In this episode, as I usually do in these "gratitude milestone episodes," I recap my gratitude journal practice and identify the benefit or level-up that currently stands out the most in my mind since my last milestone. And in this ...
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Length: 1 hour 10 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (7/10/24), in our Stoic Jew Shiur, we achieved our goal of finishing our analysis of the opening entry of Book II. After reviewing and continuing what we did last time, we raised a question that has bothered me for years: Judaism has a clear statement about what our ultimate value system is, but what is the underlying val...
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Length: 1 hour 32 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (7/3/24), in our Stoic Jew Shiur, we attempted to do an orderly review of what we covered last time, but instead, we slipped right into a fresh analysis of some of the most fundamental questions in ethics: What do we mean by good and bad? We debated whether and to what extent Marcus Aurelius's answer to this question...
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Length: 1 hour 37 minutes
Synopsis: This evening (6/26/24) was our inaugural "Stoic Jew Shiur"! After a brief overview of who Marcus Aurelius was and what his Meditations are, we dove RIGHT into the text of Book 2 Chapter 1. We quickly discovered that this opening paragraph was rich in ideas and fruitful in providing insights into how we - or at least, how I -...
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I should have made this announcement more than an hour before the first shiur, but better late than never! 😅
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The Torah content for this week has been sponsored by Meir Areman, l'zeicher nishmas Zelda bas Ziesel, his grandmother, whose yahrzeit is on the 21st of Sivan.
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If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider...
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Length: 25 minutes even
Synopsis: You might have heard of Bruce Lee's "Be Water, My Friend" analogy, and if you're a listener of this podcast, you might have also heard of Marcus Aurelius's fire analogy, but have you heard of Seneca's BEE analogy? I know I hadn't! In this episode we review all three analogies, discussing how they integ...
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Length: 19 minutes even (Steven)
Synopsis: This episode was inspired by four occurrences that recently befell me, each of which involved what we'll dub "a minor monetary fluctuation." The rest of the episode is devoted to unpacking the insights from these occurrences, using Epictetus as our guide, Jerry Seinfeld as our role model, and Rambam as the teache...
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Length: 17 minutes 48 seconds
Synopsis: Yesterday I walked into a swarm of bees. In this episode, I reflect on that experience and follow my musings to the writings of Epictetus, to the bee reference in Tehilim 118, to musings about Israel's present war, and to yesterday's commemoration of the Holocaust.
Sources:
- Epictetus, Enchiridion (The Han...
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Length: 21 minutes
Synopsis: And The Stoic Jew Podcast is BACK! Or is it? Well, it's back for at least this episode, in which I reflect on 1000 days of gratitude and muse on the relationship between my gratitude accountability practice and the mitzvah of recounting the Exodus from Egypt. Whether this marks the return of regular TSJ episodes is up to my listeners!
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Length: 22 minutes
Synopsis: And we're back! By "we" I mean The Stoic Jew Podcast AND my insomnia! :D I've been up since 3:35am this morning, and I decided to make a podcast episode about my latest Stoic Jew take on my situation, based on the words of Marcus Aurelius and Koheles (Ecclesiastes), as explained by Ralbag (Gersonides).
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Length: 34 minutes 10 seconds
Synopsis: What will you do or say in your last moments, when (God willing) you are on your deathbed? In this episode I reflect on the final words of U.S. presidents, the death poems of Zen monks and Japanese haiku poets, the statements and attitudes of the Sages of the Talmud about the particular circumstances in which we die, the final mom...
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Length: 8 minutes 11 seconds
Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2.5-page article I published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 11/17/23, entitled: God of Time or Dog Eating Its Own Vomit? I wrote this in lieu of a parashah article because I needed to write it for myself. If I don't write for myself, who will write for me? And if not now, when? (parashah...
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Length: 29 minutes 47 seconds
Synopsis: In today's unscripted "Stoic self-talk workshop" episode, I reflect aloud on a mistake I caught myself making, in which I fell victim to the "God fantasy" of living life as though I were outside of time.
Related Content:
- for my most recent shiur on the phrase "b'Shem Hashem El Ola...
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Length: 18 minutes 28 seconds
Synopsis: My morning reading of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, combined with my review of the Rambam's Hilchos Teshuvah and my reading of the most recent issue of The Imperfectionist (by Oliver Burkeman, author of my current favorite non-fiction book: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals), led me to a more effective wa...
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Length: 16 minutes 9 seconds
Synopsis: This morning I read a passage in Meditations which answered a question I've had about the formulation of vidui (confession) for many years. This answer is similar to answer I happened to reread from the Rav (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik) this morning. In this episode I compare and contrast these two answers, which complement e...
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Length: 29 minutes 44 seconds
Synopsis: Seven days ago I made an episode about my thoughts and feelings about starting this new teaching job. In this episode I talk how four Stoic principles from Epictetus helped me to have the best first week imaginable.
Related Content:
- 8/28/23: Stoic Jew Thoughts on the First Day at a New School
- 8/23/23: Two MAJO...
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Length: 9 minutes 25 seconds
Synopsis: I recorded this while sitting in the parking lot before entering my new school on Day 1 in the few minutes before school started. I wanted to preserve my thoughts and feelings in a manner untainted by hindsight. (If you missed the life update, check out the previous episode.)
Sources:
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2:1...
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Length of audio: 47 minutes
Synopsis: Have you been what I'll be up to this coming year? Have you heard me allude to a MAJOR update that I said I'd announce about my professional life in the near future? Are you aware of one of these updates, but not the other? Well, if none of this interests you, then by all means, feel free to skip this. But if you are at a...
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