Claim OwnershipThe Tefilah Podcast
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© 2025 The Tefilah Podcast
Description
My name is Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss, and this is the hub for all of my shiurim (classes) on Tefilah (Prayer) and related topics, such as Tehilim (Psalms) and Berachos (Blessings)! The shiurim I upload here are given in a variety of formats with different lengths and intended for different audiences. The common theme which unites all of these shiurim is our focus on strengthening our relationship with Hashem through Avodah she'ba'Lev (Service of the Heart). If you have any questions feel free to email me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. Thanks for listening!
233 Episodes
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (9/17/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we (read: I) realized that we're going to miss the next FOUR Wednesdays on account of the Moadim! Given that consideration, I decided to expedite our usual process and attempt to arrive at a main idea and practical takeaway TONIGHT instead of developing an approach with meforshim over the course of two sessions. Thankfully, I believe we succeeded! W...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (9/10/25), in our first Wednesday night Tehilim shiur of the 2025-2026 season, we began Tehilim 95, a.k.a. the first perek in Kabbalas Shabbos. I didn't choose it because of Kabbalas Shabbos (though it's always nice to learn perakim we're already somewhat familiar with), but because I noticed during Kabbalas Shabbos last week how many of the perakim deal with Malchus Hashem (God's Kingship). Since...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 1 minute Synopsis: Tonight (6/4/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we started and finished (?) an extremely short perek about an unfortunately relevant topic: How should we approach Hashem when we, the Jewish people, are held in contempt by the nations of the world in our exile? Since this perek only had four pesukim, we managed to conduct a full analysis and arrive at some beautiful and practical ideas. ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (5/28/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we concluded our experimental learn-through of Sforno and R' Elia di Nola on our perek. We began by clarifying Sforno’s nuanced take on Torah u’Mada, then explored his view of the role Moshiach will play in educating humanity. We wrapped up with a summary of the perek’s purpose, the flow of the four Bnei Korach maskilim we've studied over the ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (5/21/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we continued our experiment of learning through Sforno (and R' Elia di Nola) on Tehilim 45! After a recap and a re-pitch of the perek, we continued on, making past the pivot point into the next section. It was ... interesting! We definitely gained some ideas about how to engage in debate, as well as a unique model of Torah u'Mada that I've never see...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 30 minutes Synopsis: This Friday morning (5/16/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we finished our analysis of the first berachah! Not that anyone can truly finish it, but we completed THIS round. After a quick review, we spent the bulk of the time analyzing the penultimate clause in the berachah, and rode that momentum through the conclusion. I'll probably do one more recording to summarize ev...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 2 minutes Synopsis: This Friday morning (5/9/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we took up the entire clause: וְזוֹכֵר חַסְדֵי אָבוֹת, וּמֵבִיא גוֹאֵל לִבְנֵי בְנֵיהֶם, לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ בְּאַהֲבָה. My understanding, based largely on the Tur, is that this multi-part sentence conveys a unified idea - one I hope we managed to unpack in our analysis. All we have left in the berachah is the penultima...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (5/7/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we did something experimental. Instead of learning the next perek the way we usually do, entirely from the ground up, we started with the commentary of Sforno (and that of his student, R' Elia di Nola) and focused on THEIR approach. (I explain my reasons for doing this at the beginning of the shiur.) We finished their introduction and got a few pesuk...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 7 minutes Synopsis: This past Friday morning (5/2/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we began with a 12-minute mega-review of the main ideas for each phrase in the first berachah up until v'Koneh ha'Kol. We then analyzed that phrase and emerged with three interpretations based on three Rishonim (along with a half-baked idea from the Rambam). Next time (בג"ה), we'll move on to v'zocher chasdei ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (4/30/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we finished the perek! This was due, in part, to the fact that I didn't have my usual chavrusa this week AND didn't have time to prepare shiur. Nevertheless, we reviewed what we did last time and refined the theory I came up with, running it through the whole perek and bringing it down to the level of the practical. We found support in Saadia Gaon a...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (4/23/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we began a new chapter of Tehilim. Yeah, yeah, I know that we had STARTED Tehilim 42 last time and didn't even get to the analysis, but that was over a month ago, and most of the shiur attendees wanted to start something new. Plus, I started learning this perek over Yom Tov and I was REALLY excited to dive deeper into it! As usual, we spent most of ...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 13 minutes Synopsis: This past Friday morning (3/28/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we began with a review/relearning of our E-l Elyon analysis, which led to a nice sharpening of points. We then moved on to Gomel Chasadim Tovim and completed a fuller analysis of that. We then started our analysis of v'Koneh ha'Kol, but had to end early. Next week the analysis will continue! (בג"ה) ----- מקו...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 12 minutes Synopsis: This past Friday morning (3/21/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we began with a review of the ideas we've learned for each phrase in the first berachah up until now. We re-learned the two explanations of "ha'E-l ha'Gadol ha'Gibor ve'ha'Nora" that we did last time, then learned one more explanation of E-l Elyon, and then began analyzing "gomel chasadim tovim." Since we en...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (3/19/25), in our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we began learning the perek before the one we did last time. We had seen opinions that 43 is part of 42, and the proof definitely seems to be in the pudding, so we're going to proceed on that assumption. The translation was a bit quicker than usual, since so many phrases were familiar. We only got a little bit into our analysis, noticing the difficu...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (3/12/25), in lieu of our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we took up a Purim-related tefilah topic: Esther’s tefilah! "But wait," you might object, "where in the Megillah does it say that Esther davened?" The answer: it doesn’t—at least not explicitly. But the Midrashim and midrashic Targumim contain several references to her tefilah, and we analyzed the Targum Rishon on Esther 5:1, where her tefil...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 4 minutes Synopsis: This Friday morning (3/7/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we resumed our analysis of berachos. After reviewing and slightly expanding upon our explanation of what kavanah to have when we say Hashem's name, we delved into a question that tends to escape the notice of many Jews: that throughout davening and in many berachos, we switch back and forth between talking to Hashe...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 56 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (3/5/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we successfully and SMOOTHLY "landed the plane"! Not only did we get the main idea and purpose of the perek, but we explained nearly every phrase in the perek - except for the very last phrase, which we decided we can't fully understand without learning the previous perek. This short perek proved to be HIGHLY relevant to our current situation, and is...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 59 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (2/26/24), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we continued our analysis of the short perek we began last time. After reviewing our translation, our pivot point theories, and our questions, we came up with a few ideas and approaches. I presented the findings that my chavrusa and I came up with, which I think carry real promise. The central idea we developed today is fundamental in our relationsh...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 7 minutes Synopsis: This morning (2/21/25), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we resumed our analysis of the first berachah of the shemoneh esrei ... well, of ALL berachos! We began by reviewing what we covered last time - namely, what we mean by "Hashem" - which we reinforced with additional sources. We then learned through several sources about the word "Baruch," which we ALMOST finished, but no...
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (2/19/24), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we began a new and (to us) unknown chapter towards the beginning of Book II. I chose it because it was unfamiliar, short, and looked like it might help us to cope with the current situation Israel is in, and the despondent feelings of many Jews around the world. We spent much of the time going over various translations, then discussed where the pivo...
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