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The Tefilah Podcast

Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss

236 episodes

23 hours ago

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 2 hours 6 minutes Synopsis: The halachah states: “One who davens must have kavanah during all the berachos, but if one is unable to have kavanah in all of them, one should at least have kavanah in Avos” (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 101:1). Last year, in my Machshavah Lab tefilah shiurim for women, I gave an eleven-part series aimed at elucidating each word of the berachah of Avos based on the classical meforshim (1/3/25–5/16...

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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 2 hours 6 minutes Synopsis: The halachah states: “One who davens must have kavanah during all the berachos, but if one is unable to have kavanah in all of them, one should at least have kavanah in Avos” (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 101:1). Last year, in my Machshavah Lab tefilah shiurim for women, I gave an eleven-part series aimed at elucidating each word of the berachah of Avos based on the classical meforshim (1/3/25–5/16...

Show more...

Religion & Spirituality,

Society & Culture,

Episodes (20/236)

The Tefilah Podcast

Kavanah Primer: Avos (1st Berachah of the Amidah)

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 2 hours 6 minutes Synopsis: The halachah states: “One who davens must have kavanah during all the berachos, but if one is unable to have kavanah in all of them, one should at least have kavanah in Avos” (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 101:1). Last year, in my Machshavah Lab tefilah shiurim for women, I gave an eleven-part series aimed at elucidating each word of the berachah of Avos based on the classical meforshim (1/3/25–5/16...

1 week ago

2 hours 6 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Tehilim 96: Shiru la'Shem Shir Chadash (Part 1: Translation and Questions)

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 2 minutes Synopsis: This evening (10/22/25), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we began the next perek in our "Tehilim we say at Kabbalas Shabbos" series. This one was very ... "Tehilimmy"! As usual, we spent the bulk of the first session translating the perek with all its nuances. I couldn't help but add my commentary as to why this part of the process is so important. We then began our analysis and identified som...

1 week ago

1 hour 3 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

How to Use the Preface to the Vidui Yom ha'Kippurim

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 45 minutes Synopsis: This morning (10/1/25), in place of our Morning Mishlei shiur, we attempted to understand the preface to the Vidui Yom ha'Kippurim: what are we saying, and why? Drawing on the Rambam's framework for teshuvah, we developed an approach that will unlock a new level of functionality in the vidui, for those who follow through. --- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תשובה א:א; ב:ח; ג:א; ו:ג-ד; ז:ז רמב"ם...

1 month ago

48 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Tehilim 95: Lechu Neranena (Part 2)

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...

1 month ago

58 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Tehilim 95: Lechu Neranena (Part 1)

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...

1 month ago

57 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Tehilim 123: Shir ha'Maalos for When We're Scorned by the Nations

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. ...

5 months ago

1 hour 2 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Sforno on Tehilim 45: Philosophy as the Ticket Out of Galus (Part 3)

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 ...

5 months ago

57 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Sforno on Tehilim 45: Philosophy as the Ticket Out of Galus (Part 2)

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...

5 months ago

57 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Amidah Analysis: Avos (Part 11) Melech, Ozer, u'Moshia, u'Magen. Baruch Atoh Hashem, Magein Avraham

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...

5 months ago

1 hour 30 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Amidah Analysis: Avos (Part 10) v'Zocher Chasdei Avos etc.

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...

5 months ago

1 hour 2 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Sforno on Tehilim 45: Philosophy as the Ticket Out of Galus (Part 1)

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...

5 months ago

58 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Amidah Analysis: Avos (Part 9) MEGA REVIEW plus v'Koneh ha'Kol

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 ...

6 months ago

1 hour 8 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Tehilim 44: Lamnatzeiach li'Vnei Korach Maskil (Part 2 - Refining of the Theory)

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...

6 months ago

59 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Tehilim 44: Lamnatzeiach li'Vnei Korach Maskil (Part 1 - Translation and Theory Bombshell)

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 ...

6 months ago

58 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Amidah Analysis: Avos (Part 8) E-l Elyon, Gomel Chasadim Tovim, v'Koneh ha'Kol

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...

7 months ago

1 hour 14 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Amidah Analysis: Avos (Part 7) Review + Gomel Chasadim Tovim

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...

7 months ago

1 hour 12 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Tehilim 42: Maskil li'Bnei Korach (Part 1 - Translation)

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...

7 months ago

58 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Insights from Esther's Tefilah (Targum Rishon to Esther 5:1)

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...

7 months ago

57 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Amidah Analysis: Avos (Part 6) Atoh

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...

8 months ago

1 hour 4 minutes

The Tefilah Podcast

Tehilim 43: Shofteini Hashem ve'Rivah Rivi (Part 3)

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...

8 months ago

56 minutes