The Tefilah Podcast

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/23/21 at YBT) we took up a question based on the Rambam's statement about the theme(s) of Purim. At first glance he seems to be suggesting that the theme is tefilah, based on a pasuk in Devarim. This reading is borne out by many of the commentators on the megilah. However, he explains this pasuk differently in the Moreh ha'Nevuchim, and in light of that, the theme seems to include tefilah, but is much broader. In this shiur we set out to formulate our question, but we did not venture an answer. Perhaps we'll have one by next Purim!

Please feel free to leave your questions, insights, and feedback in the comments!
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מקורות:
רמב"ם – משנה תורה: הקדמה, מנין המצוות, סיום
תלמוד בבלי – מגילה דף יא עמוד א
תרגום אונקלוס – דברים ד:ז
אסתר ד:טז
סעדיה גאון - אסתר ד:טז
רלב"ג – אסתר ד:טז
רלב"ג – אסתר פרק ד (תועלות)
רלב"ג – דברים ד:ז
רמב"ם – משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה ב:ו
רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים א:יח
דברים ד:ה-ט
מהרש"א חדושי אגדות – מגילה דף יא עמוד א
ספורנו – דברים ד:ו-ח
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Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com 
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/18/20 at YBT) we continued our analysis of the difficult Tehilim 90. Thankfully, we were able to arrive at an understanding of the main idea and the purpose of the perek! Granted, there are still some details to be worked out and some clarity to be gained, but I feel like we're on a good path. We also started learning the commentary of the Sforno, and might continue next week unless we end up doing something related to Purim.

Click here for Tehilim 90: "Tefilah l"moshe" (Part 1).
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מקורות:
תהלים פרק צ
ספורנו - תהלים צ
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If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version.

Here's another article I wrote entitled How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life.

Lastly, here's an article I wrote entitled How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha.
----------
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/16/20 at YBT) we began working our way through the difficult Tehilim 90. Finding the pivot point was easy, but getting a sense of what was being said was quite difficult. Fortunately, we ended up just feeling our way through by talking it out, and we arrived at a pretty solid approach to the first half. The second half proved to be much more difficult. Next time we'll turn to the meforshim for help.
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מקורות:
תהלים פרק צ
רד"ק - תהלים צ:א
אבן עזרא - תהלים צ:א
מאירי - תהלים צ:א
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If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version.

Here's another article I wrote entitled How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life.

Lastly, here's an article I wrote entitled How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha.
----------
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com 
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/9/20 at YBT) we continued (concluded?) our analysis of Tehilim 8. After a brief review of what we did last time, we learned through the rest of the Radak, discussing various ideas and nuances along the way. We ended by attempting to solidify our answer to Adler's first question ("What is this perek about as a whole?") and fourth question ("What of it?"). Our plan is to move on to a new perek next shiur, but we might begin by attempting to refine our answers a bit. We shall see!
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מקורות:
תהלים פרק ח
רד"ק - תהלים פרק ח
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If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version.

Here's another article I wrote entitled How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life.

Lastly, here's an article I wrote entitled How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha.
----------
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com 
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

This morning's Sunday Shiur (2/7/21 at YBT) focused on the berachah Chazal instituted to be said immediately upon waking: Elohai Neshamah. After reviewing our "MMMMMM!" method of tefilah analysis and going over the halachic history of this berachah, we set out to answer a single question: "What do we mean by 'neshamah' in this berachah?" The deeper we delve into our analysis of the text, with the aid of the Abudirham's commentary, the more difficult this question becomes to answer. Ultimately, we posit a Grand Theory of Elohai Neshamah which not only answers our question, but enables us to identify specific ideas to have in mind when saying every word of the berachah.
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מקורות:
רמב"ם - משנה תורה: הקדמה - חלוקת הספרים, ספר אהבה
רמב"ם - משנה תורה: הלכות ברכות א:ג-ד
תלמוד בבלי ברכות דף ס עמוד ב
ערוך השולחן או"ח מו:ט
נוסח התפילה - אלהי נשמה
אבודרהם - אלהי נשמה
רמב"ם - משנה תורה, ספר המדע, הלכות יסודי התורה ד:ז-ט
רמב"ם - משנה תורה, ספר אהבה, סדר התפלה
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If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

In tonight's Tehilim shiur (2/4/20 at YBT) we began Tehilim 8. Unlike some of the other chapters we did, it was fairly easy to identify the pivot point and theorize about the main idea. We began learning through the Radak, whose commentary contained some "gold dust" (you'll have to listen to the shiur to get that reference). We stopped halfway through his commentary on the third pasuk and officially ended shiur there, but there was a post-shiur discussion which featured an important methodology point about learning Tehilim, an important perspective on learning the classical sources vs. learning new sources, and a movie recommendation.
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מקורות:
תהלים פרק ח
רד"ק - תהלים פרק ח
רד"ק - תהלים ל:ה
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If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version.

Here's another article I wrote entitled How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life.

Lastly, here's an article I wrote entitled How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha.
----------
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com 
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

Since tonight's Tehilim shiur (1/12/20 at YBT) will be the last Tehilim shiur before winter break, we attempted to wrap up our analysis of Tehilim 6. First we clarified some points from last time, and then we attempted to answer Adler's Four Questions. We answered Questions #1 (What is the main idea?), #4 (What of it?), and #3 (Is it true?), but we didn't full answer #2 (What is each part saying?). Specifically, we didn't come up with a satisfactory explanation of what the last four pesukim are doing there. At least we'll have something to work on for next time!
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מקורות:
תהלים פרק ו
רד"ק - תהלים פרק ו
רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ג:לב
ספר החינוך - מצוה תקיב
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If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version.

Here's another article I wrote entitled How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life.

Lastly, here's an article I wrote entitled How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha.
----------
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com 
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

In tonight's tefilah shiur (1/11/21 at YBT) we revisited the actual text of the berachah. We reviewed what we came up with in Part 1 (since Part 2 focused on the text of the kedushah from Yeshayahu Chapter 6), looked up the remaining pesukim cited by the Abudirham in their original context, and then came up with a theory of a Main Idea for the berachah. I don't want to oversell it, but let me say for myself that it was VERY eye-opening! Completely changed the way I understand the berachah, and - I hope - the way I daven the entire shemoneh esrei. Let me know what you think! There's still some work to be done, but we definitely got the main idea.
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מקורות:
נוסח התפילה - קדושת השם
אבודרהם - שמונה עשרה
עיון תפילה (סידור אוצר התפילות) - קדושת השם
ישעיהו ו:א-ה עם פירוש הרד"ק
ישעיהו נז:טו עם פירוש הרד"ק
ויקרא יט:ב עם פירוש הרלב"ג
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If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com 
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

I am pleased to announce the launch of my fifth and final podcast (for the time being): The Tefilah Podcast! In this short episode I explain what you can expect to find here. With Hashem's help, this will be the vehicle for a lot of learning and growth for all of us!
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Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com 
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text!

In tonight's Tehilim shiur (1/7/20 at YBT) we continued learning Tehilim Chapter 6. After reviewing what we did last time, we finished reading the Radak on the rest of the perek, raising numerous additional questions along the way. We then started working on the second pasuk, trying to understand what David meant when he framed his illness as "Hashem's rebuke" and spoke of Hashem's anger. These two topics ended up being the focus of this evening's shiur and left us with lots of fundamental ideas to think about which will undoubtedly come up throughout Sefer Tehilim.
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מקורות:
תהלים פרק ו
רד"ק - תהלים פרק ו
ספר החינוך - מצוה קעא
רמב"ם - מורה הנבוכים ג:כח
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If you missed the crash-course on "How to Learn Tehilim," here are links to the YouTube video, the podcast episode, and the written version.

Here's another article I wrote entitled How TO and How NOT to Apply Tehilim to Your Life.

Lastly, here's an article I wrote entitled How to Say Tehilim for the Sick Without Violating Halacha.
----------
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail.
----------
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rabbischneeweiss
Blog: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmschneeweiss
"The Mishlei Podcast": https://mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: https://thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: https://rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: https://machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com 
"The Tefilah Podcast": https://tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Our Yeshiva: https://www.yeshivabneitorah.org/
Our Women's Program: https://www.lomdeha.org/