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The Mishlei Podcast

The Mishlei Podcast
Author: Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss
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© 2025 The Mishlei Podcast
Description
My name is Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss, and this is the hub for all of my shiurim (classes) on Sefer Mishlei, a.k.a. The Book of Proverbs! Generally speaking we will follow the approach to Mishlei outlined by Saadia Gaon who views Mishlei as a guide for intelligent decision-making in everyday life with the goal of maximizing long-term pleasure and minimizing long-term pain. Each shiur will typically focus on one pasuk (verse), which we will attempt to analyze on our own before turning to the meforshim (commentators). If you have any questions feel free to email me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. Thanks for listening!
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 17:3 - The Crucible of the Heart מַצְרֵף לַכֶּסֶף וְכוּר לַזָּהָב וּבֹחֵן לִבּוֹת יְיָ: Length: 1 hour 31 minutes Synopsis: This evening (9/29/25), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we took up another pasuk that formed a core part of my high school curriculum. Like the past two weeks, this made me worried that we wouldn't discover any new ideas. And, like the last two weeks, I was pleasantly surprised! After raising 17 que...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 25:1-2 - Kavod Elohim vs. Kavod Melachim (Part 2) גַּם אֵלֶּה מִשְׁלֵי שְׁלֹמֹה אֲשֶׁר הֶעְתִּיקוּ אַנְשֵׁי חִזְקִיָּה מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה: כְּבֹד אֱלֹהִים הַסְתֵּר דָּבָר וּכְבֹד מְלָכִים חֲקֹר דָּבָר: Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/26/25), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we continued learning the first two pesukim of Mishlei Chapter 25 after a few days off. After reviewing and refining what we came up with last ti...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 25:1-2 - Kavod Elohim vs. Kavod Melachim (Part 1) גַּם אֵלֶּה מִשְׁלֵי שְׁלֹמֹה אֲשֶׁר הֶעְתִּיקוּ אַנְשֵׁי חִזְקִיָּה מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה: כְּבֹד אֱלֹהִים הַסְתֵּר דָּבָר וּכְבֹד מְלָכִים חֲקֹר דָּבָר: Length: 47 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/22/25), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began a new chapter AND a whole new section of Mishlei! After briefly getting the peshat of the introductory 25:1, we analyzed 25:2, which is...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:33 - Mishlei's Definition of Yiras Hashem (Part 2) יִרְאַת יְיָ מוּסַר חׇכְמָה וְלִפְנֵי כָבוֹד עֲנָוָה: Length: 44 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/18/25), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we ended up going in a different direction than I anticipated. As usual, we started with a review of yesterday's findings, adding some points here and there for clarification. We then took another stab at elucidating Metzudas Davi...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:33 - Mishlei's Definition of Yiras Hashem (Part 1) יִרְאַת יְיָ מוּסַר חׇכְמָה וְלִפְנֵי כָבוֹד עֲנָוָה: Length: 47 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/17/25), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we learned what I consider to be one of the most important pesukim in Sefer Mishlei. If I had to name the subject of Sefer Mishlei, I'd say it's yiras Hashem (as indicated in 1:7), and our pasuk defines yiras Hashem according to M...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 17:2 - Intelligent Servant vs. Embarrassing Son עֶבֶד מַשְׂכִּיל יִמְשֹׁל בְּבֵן מֵבִישׁ וּבְתוֹךְ אַחִים יַחֲלֹק נַחֲלָה: Length: 1 hour 42 minutes Synopsis: This evening (9/15/25), in our Monday Night Mishlei shiur, we took up a pasuk that I was worried was too obvious. We ended up raising eighteen (!) question on it, then came up with eight approaches on our own and learned four interpretations from the classical comment...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:32 - The Consequences of Loosening or Negating Mussar (Part 2) פּוֹרֵעַ מוּסָר מוֹאֵס נַפְשׁוֹ וְשׁוֹמֵעַ תּוֹכַחַת קוֹנֶה לֵּב: Length: 30 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/11/25), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began with a quick review of what we covered yesterday, including a more developed analysis of Ralbag, in which we reviewed some fundamental ideas about why perfection of middos is a prerequisite for perfection ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:32 - The Consequences of Loosening or Negating Mussar (Part 1) פּוֹרֵעַ מוּסָר מוֹאֵס נַפְשׁוֹ וְשׁוֹמֵעַ תּוֹכַחַת קוֹנֶה לֵּב: Length: 43 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/10/25), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk that was clearly connected to the theme of the local cluster. On the surface, it seemed obvious, but we soon got a foothold that led to a real chidush in mussar! We then turned to Metzudas Davi...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 17:1 - A Dry Piece of Bread vs. a House Filled with Meat טוֹב פַּת חֲרֵבָה וְשַׁלְוָה בָהּ, מִבַּיִת מָלֵא זִבְחֵי רִיב: Length: 1 hour 42 minutes Synopsis: This evening (9/8/25), in the first Monday Night Mishlei shiur of the 2025–2026 season, we began Chapter 17. The challenge was that I’ve given so many classes on so many pesukim in this chapter that I knew it would be hard to find chidushim (new ideas) I hadn’t seen bef...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:31 - How Non-Chachamim Can Get Into the Chachamim Club (Part 2) אֹזֶן שֹׁמַעַת תּוֹכַחַת חַיִּים, בְּקֶרֶב חֲכָמִים תָּלִין: Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/5/25), in our Morning Mishlei shiur, we began by reviewing the questions and approaches from yesterday, refining some and discarding others. Then we delved into the meforshim, learning a TON of fundamental ideas: from Rabbeinu Yonah, Malbim, Metzudas Dav...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:31 - How Non-Chachamim Can Get Into the Chachamim Club (Part 1) אֹזֶן שֹׁמַעַת תּוֹכַחַת חַיִּים, בְּקֶרֶב חֲכָמִים תָּלִין: Length: 30 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/4/25), in our first Morning Mishlei shiur of the 2025-2026 yeshiva year, we picked up where we left off in June. This one happens to be a favorite of my rebbi, Rabbi Moskowitz zt"l. Since my schedule this year necessitates a shorter Thursday shiur slot, ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 16:1 - From Hashem is the Tongue's Reply (Part 2) לְאָדָם מַעַרְכֵי לֵב, וּמֵיְיָ מַעֲנֵה לָשׁוֹן: Length: 1 hour 1 minutes Synopsis: This afternoon (7/24/25), we continued our analysis of the pasuk we began yesterday. After a quick review and some elaboration on Saadia Gaon, I shared my interpretation, which we examined through three sources: (1) Meiri’s commentary on Mishlei 10:3, (2) the chapter of Moreh ha’Nevuchim that...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 16:1 - From Hashem is the Tongue's Reply (Part 1) לְאָדָם מַעַרְכֵי לֵב, וּמֵיְיָ מַעֲנֵה לָשׁוֹן: Length: 1 hour 2 minutes Synopsis: This afternoon (7/23/25), in an unexpected plot twist, I was asked to give a two-part SUMMER Mishlei shiur! I chose the one pasuk from Chapter 16 that we skipped this year. Since this was a special shiur with some Mishleic neophytes, I decided to be a bit more explicit about Mishlei methodolo...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:30 - Happy Hearts and Fat Bones (Part 2) מְאוֹר עֵינַיִם יְשַׂמַּח לֵב, שְׁמוּעָה טוֹבָה תְּדַשֶּׁן עָצֶם: Length: 47 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/12/25), in our last morning Mishlei shiur of the season, we began by reviewing yesterday's approaches, then delved into the peshat approach given by Rashi (!) and the Rid (!!), supported by the Rambam (!!!). After that, we took another swing at Metzudas David, and conclud...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:30 - Happy Hearts and Fat Bones (Part 1) מְאוֹר עֵינַיִם יְשַׂמַּח לֵב, שְׁמוּעָה טוֹבָה תְּדַשֶּׁן עָצֶם: Length: 46 minutes Synopsis: This morning (6/11/25), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we took up a pasuk which I anticipated to be difficult, due to the unfamiliar (and possibly outdated) references in the pasuk. Fortunately, we were able to develop at least one nice approach. We concluded by reading Metzudas David and...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:29 - Mishlei's Advice for Getting Your Tefilah Heard (Part 2) רָחוֹק יְיָ מֵרְשָׁעִים וּתְפִלַּת צַדִּיקִים יִשְׁמָע Length: 48 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/29/25), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we began with my own take on the pasuk, which overlapped several of the explanations from yesterday. We then learned some meforshim which ALSO overlapped yesterday's explanations, before doing a somewhat deep-dive into the M...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:29 - Mishlei's Advice for Getting Your Tefilah Heard (Part 1) רָחוֹק יְיָ מֵרְשָׁעִים וּתְפִלַּת צַדִּיקִים יִשְׁמָע Length: 34 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/28/25), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we took up one of only three pesukim in Mishlei that explicitly reference tefilah. The problem with this pasuk is glaring: it seems SUPER obvious! To my surprise and delight, we came up with a ton of questions, and also mana...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:28 - The Utterances of the Tzadik and Rasha (Part 2) לֵב צַדִּיק יֶהְגֶּה לַעֲנוֹת וּפִי רְשָׁעִים יַבִּיעַ רָעוֹת: Length: 44 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/22/25), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we began by examining a "hot take" translation of our pasuk, which we ended up rejecting. After reviewing the questions and approaches from yesterday, we delved into the meforshim, taking up questions of methodology along the...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 15:28 - The Utterances of the Tzadik and Rasha (Part 1) לֵב צַדִּיק יֶהְגֶּה לַעֲנוֹת וּפִי רְשָׁעִים יַבִּיעַ רָעוֹת: Length: 47 minutes Synopsis: This morning (5/21/25), in our morning Mishlei shiur, we learned a pasuk that I've never learned before! We spent a longer-than-usual time trying to pin down the most accurate translation, especially on account of the differences between the Masoretic text and another tradition ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Mishlei 16:33 - Does Hashem Determine Who Wins the Lottery? בַּחֵיק יוּטַל אֶת הַגּוֹרָל, וּמֵיְיָ כׇּל מִשְׁפָּטוֹ: Length: 1 hour 18 minutes Synopsis: This evening (5/19/25), in the last Monday Night Mishlei shiur of the 2024-2025 season, we concluded the 16th perek of Mishlei with a whopper of a pasuk! I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one who was bothered by the anomalous and theologically difficult nature of the stateme...