Claim OwnershipMachshavah Lab
Subscribed: 9Played: 365
Subscribe
© 2026 Machshavah Lab
Description
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.
608 Episodes
Reverse
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 3/11/26 titled: Post-Purim 5786: Operation Growling Bear. This began as a recap of a Mishlei/Megilah/Midrash crossover shiur I gave before Purim. Then Operation Roaring Lion, which commenced on Shabbos Zachor, added another dimension. Better late than never! ----- This week’s Torah content is sponsored by Rabbi Dr. Ben ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 3/9/26 titled: What Modern Orthodoxy Means to Me (or Rabbi Fox’s 2007 NYHS Commencement Address). Since NYHS’s annual fundraising campaign is in full swing, I figured this would be a good time to share the educational philosophy of the school, as articulated by former head of school R. Bernie Fox. ----- This week’s Tora...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 40 minutes Synopsis: This evening (3/5/25), in our Thursday night women’s shiur, we continued our exploration of Rabbeinu Yonah on bitachon. The bad news is that I didn't have a chance to prepare. The good news is that our review went SO far in-depth that we ended up covering a whole lot that I hadn't planned. In the text of Rabbeinu Yonah, we only read one additional sentence, but our understanding of bitachon was shar...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 1-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 3/5/26 titled: Ki Tisa: Is Shabbos a Day of Simchah? If so, why isn't it presented this way in the Torah and in halacha? And if not, then why are there so many references to Shabbos joy in the songs we sing on Shabbos? ----- The Torah content for the month of February is sponsored by the Koffsky family in memory of...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 31 minutes Synopsis: This morning (3/5/26), in lieu of our usual morning Mishlei, we had a Q&A session! We discussed four questions: (1) What's the nature of the halacha of "learning the halachos of the chag 30 days before the chag"? (2) How necessary is it for people to read and understand every line of the Haggadah? (3) Why do I prefer Mishlei over Gemara b'iyun? (4) Is there any idea of having a recurring seudas hodaah ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 26 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/27/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we capped off our series of shiurim on malachim with a midrash on Megilas Esther about a malach (in preparation for Purim, of course). This is a well-known midrash, but the version in the Gemara differs markedly from the version in the popular imagination. After raising questions and problems, we took a detour into the topic ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 46 minutes Synopsis: This evening (2/26/25), in our Thursday night women’s shiur, we continued our exploration of Rabbeinu Yonah on bitachon. After a lengthy, in-depth review of what we covered last time on Mishlei 3:5, we began learning his commentary on Mishlei 3:6. If Part 1 focused on the theoretical aspects of bitachon, Part 2 shifted to the practical. We had to examine several premises about how Hashem runs the wo...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 2 hours Synopsis: Back in 2022, I gave a shiur on the extremely niche topic of avunculate marriage, that is, an uncle marrying his niece. Two years later, I received an email titled “Avunculate Marriage: Need Some Spiritual Guidance” from an aunt and nephew who were in love and seeking rabbinic guidance about whether their relationship would meet with Divine approval. I responded to the best of my ability. This morning (2/22/2...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 26 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/20/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we continued our exploration of the Rambam’s view of angels. After a brief review, a question led us on an unplanned detour through his presentation of angels in the Mishneh Torah. We then returned to the central question: Why are angels depicted as physical, and why are those depictions sometimes so wacky? We offered three a...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 2-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 2/20/26 titled: Terumah – The “Where?” “What?” and “Why?” of Shechinah. I typically rely on the Rambam's explanation of shechinah in the Moreh 1:25. This time, I'd like to showcase the explanations of two Italian chachamim which I believe are consistent with Rambam. ----- The Torah content for the month of February...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/13/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, I had planned to continue our analysis of the Rambam's view of angels. Instead, we did something more important: review and clarification! We did a complete review of all the main points from last time, and raised additional questions which resulted in greater clarity. Given my preface of this shiur, which underscored the importance...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 3-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 2/13/26 titled: Mishpatim – Is there a Conflict Between Trusting in Hashem and Trusting in Doctors? The Torah unequivocally allows us to rely on physicians for healing, but should we regard that allowance as reluctant or as an endorsement? Ibn Ezra and Ibn Kaspi disagree. I side with Rabbeinu Yonah. ----- The Torah cont...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 30 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/6/26), in our Friday morning Sefer Iyov series for women, we initiated the next phase: decoding the allegory of the satan. After reviewing and raising questions about the first few pesukim of the allegory, we turned to the Rambam’s primary treatment of angels in the Moreh, summarizing and analyzing along the way. By the end, we had a clear “Maimonidean” definition of an angel, in sev...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 59 minutes Synopsis: This evening (2/5/25), in our Thursday night women's shiur, we embarked toward an unknown destination, though in very specific waters. Our goal was to understand Rabbeinu Yonah’s take on bitachon (trust, or security, in God). Our journey began with his essay-like commentaries on Mishlei, chapter 3. Tonight, we learned his beautifully nuanced interpretation of Mishlei 3:5, which, in an unplanned deto...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 2/5/26 titled: Yisro – Ralbag: On Drafting an AI Policy for a Jewish Day School. Is this a dvar Torah on the parashah, an overview of Ralbag’s theory of Torah, or a set of guidelines for drafting AI policy? The answer is: YES! I’m especially curious to hear from educators. ----- The Torah content for the month of Februa...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 7 minutes Synopsis: Last night (2/1/26), I was honored to give a shiur at Congregation Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park (West Hempstead, NY) in memory of my dear student Adira a"h, on the occasion of her third yahrzeit. As I mention in the disclaimers toward the beginning, a friend of mine was worried that it might come across as "a wackadoodle shiur," on account of its eclectically ambitious scope and agenda. I didn't care....
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 13 minutes Synopsis: This morning (1/30/26), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we began with a comprehensive review of the facts, questions, and steps we took last time. Then I presented my approach, which we developed with our own insights supplemented by ideas from Rabbi Chait's shiur (which I hadn't listened to, but others said was along remarkably similar lines). In the end, we emerged with a RE...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the audio version of the 4-page article I wrote and published on rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/ on 1/28/26 titled: Bo/Beshalach: How Many Israelites Died in the Plague of Darkness? This article spotlights a highly problematic midrash on a pasuk in Beshalach about an event in Bo which has bothered me for over a decade. Thankfully, I finally found a satisfying explanation. ----- The Torah content for the month of ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 26 minutes Synopsis: This morning (1/23/26), in our Friday morning Machshavah Lab series for women, we took a brief interlude from our learning of Sefer Iyov to analyze the well-known slogan of Nachum Ish Gam Zu, as well as the similar but lesser known slogan of his student, R. Akiva. We went through all the facts, raised a ton of questions, and took four solid steps, developing a general approach but stopping before de...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 17 minutes 53 seconds Synopsis: Last week (1/14/26), I published an article on my Substack titled Rav Kook: First Impressions of a New Chapter in My Learning. This was a surprisingly challenging article to write, but I’m proud of how it turned out, and I’ve received great feedback on it so far. However, I chose to keep most of it behind a paywall, for reasons I explain in the free introduction to the article. Fast ...
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States
Mendelssohn has nothing to do with Reform. The association is pure defamatory fantasy.