An in-depth look into Tefilah: the Siddur, its history, halacha, and perspective. Delivered in Netivot Israel Congregation, Wednesdays at 8:30PM
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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 t ...
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In this shiur we dive into how Keriat HaTorah evolved through the Middle Ages, and we focus on 3 major changes: the Baal Koreh, the Targum, and the Triennial cycle.
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Amidah Analysis: Avos (Part 2)
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 16 minutes Synopsis: This morning (1/10/24), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we continued our analysis of the first berachah of the Amidah. Due to personal circumstances and a reconsideration of halachic priorities, we deviated from our original plan o…
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In this shiur we explore the earliest examples of Keriat HaTorah from Tanach, and how they may have shaped the ritual into Talmudic times.
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In this shiur we discuss how Tachanun and Nefilat Apayim evolved between the years 1500-2024 in Halacha, in practice, and in the Siddurim.
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Does Hashem Love Us Unconditionally? (Part 2)
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour Synopsis: Tonight (1/8/24), in our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we continued our analysis of what we mean when we say that Hashem loves us. We began by reviewing the essence of what we covered last time, but in a much slower, clearer, and thought-out manner than last time. …
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Amidah Analysis: Avos (Part 1)
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 17 minutes Synopsis: This morning (1/3/24), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we began a new series: an analysis of the berachos in the amidah! What, exactly, does this entail? That's what we spent the first 20 minutes of shiur discussing: how can we get…
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Chanukah Sameach!
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Does Hashem Love Us Unconditionally? (Part 1)
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour Synopsis: Tonight (1/1/24), in our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we took up a question that was sparked by a debate I had on Facebook about whether Hashem loves us unconditionally which, itself, was sparked by the popular Israeli song "Tamid Ohev Oti." We began with a surfac…
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Chanukah Sameach!
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In this shiur we focus on the medieval history of Tachanun, with an emphasis on histories that are often overlooked.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (12/18/24), in our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we attempted to "land the plane" - or at least, to tie up some loose ends. After a brief review of last time, I tried yet again to say over the idea that my chavrusa and I came up with. Yet again, I don't…
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The Nature of Nusach (Liturgy) Part 3: Rambam's Position (WARNING: Highly Technical)
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 14 minutes Synopsis: This morning (12/13/24), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we attempted to understand the Rambam's view, as expressed in a pair of seemingly contradictory halachos. We learned through two commentaries on the Rambam who offered explan…
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In this shiur we learn about Nefilat Apayim and Tachanun, two aspects of the same ancient liturgy that is commonly said after the Chazarat Ha-Shatz. We trace what we know about it's early development by studying the relevant Sugyot.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Whoops! I forgot to upload last week's tefilah shiur. Last Wednesday (12/11/24), in our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we continued our analysis Modim. After reviewing and refining what we covered last time, we attempted to understand the midrash cited by the Ab…
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The Nature of Nusach (Liturgy) Part 2: The Big Nusach Myth vs. the Historical and Halachic Truth
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 13 minutes Synopsis: This morning (12/6/24), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we continued our exploration of the nusach ha'tefilah. After reviewing what we covered in Part 1, we busted what I call "The Big Nusach Myth" about "the original nusach" and h…
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In this shiur we examine the origins of Chazarat Ha-Sha"tz, the Chazan's repetition of the Amidah. We also investigate some early and rare customs of the Chazara, such as the Chazara for Arvit.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: This evening (12/4/24), in our Wednesday night tefilah shiur, we continued our analysis Modim. After reviewing our updated translation, going over a few insights I accrued since last week, and examining three ancient nuschaos, we delved into the Abudarham's comm…
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In this shiur we examine the final Beracha of the Amidah. We explore the history of its composition, the variant texts, and its close relation to Birkat Kohanim.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: This evening (11/27/24), in our Wednesday night Tehilim/Tefilah shiur on Erev Thanksgiving, we commenced our in-depth analysis of the blessing of thanksgiving: Modim! We began with a 15-minute review of my "MMMMMMM!" method of tefilah analysis. After that, we sp…
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In this class we finish up our previous topic of Modim and Modim Derabanan, and then continue with the history of Birkat Kohanim. My apologies for the lack of video after a webcam failure.
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In this shiur we discuss Modim, the Beracha of 'Hodaah' (thanksgiving), and I present the argument that it was originally the last Beracha of the Amidah in the consciousness of the Tannaim.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (11/13/24), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we successfully "landed the plane"! Last time we ran through the Radak to get the big picture and I shared the core of my theory. This time we read through him at a more deliberate pace and then brought i…
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 46 minutes Synopsis: This morning (11/8/24), in our tefilah-focused Machshavah Lab series for women, we began a new topic: the nusach ha'tefilah (liturgy). We began by reviewing the relevant facts: what the mitzvah of tefilah from the Torah entailed, how Ezra and his Beis Din change…
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 26 minutes Synopsis: This morning (11/8/24), in the "Tefilah Reexamined" series of our Machshavah Lab for women, I decided to start with a review of the three models of tefilah we've learned in Parts 1-4, followed by a quick overview of my "go to" model of tefilah that has been the …
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In this shiur we study the history of the Beracha "Ritzeh" through its medieval development. We also attempt to reconstruct some of the earliest versions of the Beracha, and we briefly touch upon Yaaleh v'Yavo.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (11/6/24), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we quickly reviewed the perek and all the questions from last time. After exploring an approach from one of the shiur attendees, we learned the Radak's commentary which I attempted to elucidate with a litt…
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In this shiur we discuss the early history of the Beracha of Ritzeh, and we explore its history before its inclusion into the Amidah.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (10/30/24), in our Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we began (re)learning what I believe is the most well-known psalm of them all. The last time I gave shiur on this was WAAAY back in November 2020, and I figured it was time to revisit it, especially now t…
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In this holiday class we explore the origins of the Ashkenazic custom to recite Yizkor on the last day of Yom Tov.
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In this class we study the early history and later development of the 16th Beracha of the Amidah which was an early staple of petitionary prayer and a hotbed for embellishment in medieval times.
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In this shiur we take a quick look at u'Nesaneh Tokef by explaining what it is, where it came from, and why it became so important to the Rosh HaShana liturgy.
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Tefilah Reexamined: Part 4 - Six Ways of Understanding Ramban on Tefilah
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 27 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/27/24), in our NEW Machshavah Lab series for women called "Tefilah Reexamined," we began with a grand review of the essential ideas in parts 1-3, focusing on the mitzvah de'oraisa of tefilah as explained by Ralbag, Rambam, and Ramban. Pick…
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In this class we study the 15th Beracha of the Amidah, which prays for the "sprout of David" ie. the Messiah from the house of King David. We study the earliest evidence for this Beracha and its development, and the many controversies regarding its aurthorship.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (9/25/24), in Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, our goal was "to land the plane" - to distill all of our insights and observations into a unified theory - and land the plane we did! Thanks to Sforno and R' Elia di Nola, we emerged with a powerful understand…
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Tefilah Reexamined: Part 3 - Ramban's Alternative View of Tefilah
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 22 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/20/24), in our NEW Machshavah Lab series for women called "Tefilah Reexamined," we began with a comprehensive review of Parts 1 and 2, then delved into the Ramban's critiques of the Rambam's stance on tefilah. After reading through the Ram…
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In this class we explore the earliest evidence for Berachot regarding Jerusalem, and why the development of this Beracha in particular is so central to the controversy surrounding the origins of the Amidah.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 58 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (9/18/24), in Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, I decided not to review and refine the approaches we came up with last time, but instead, to jump right into the Sforno. We learned through his commentary at a leisurely pace, with lots of help from R' Moshe K…
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Tefilah Reexamined: Part 2 - Rambam on "Avodah" (and the Allegory of the Palace)
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 38 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/13/24), in our NEW Machshavah Lab series for women called "Tefilah Reexamined," we began by reviewing our questions on the Rambam's initial presentation of the mitzvah of tefilah and the Ralbag's answer. We then delved into the Rambam's Al…
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In this shiur we discuss the limited data we have about this early Beracha, and the history of its evolution from ancient times until the modern era. We also discuss the concept of using liturgy for sociopolitical gains.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (9/11/24), in Wednesday night Tehilim shiur, we reviewed our cleaned-up translation of the perek from last time, went over all our questions (raising some new ones in the process), and then we opened the floor for approaches. There were a LOT of great id…
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Tefilah Reexamined: Part 1 - Questions and a First Step
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 1 hour 28 minutes Synopsis: This morning (9/6/24), in the first shiur of our NEW Machshavah Lab series for women called "Tefilah Reexamined." Since I'm designing and teaching a year-long course on tefilah for high school students, I decided this summer to investigate the whole subje…
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In this class we discuss the Beracha directed against the "heretics", which historically developed a tremendous set of controversies and instances of censorship, both internal and external.
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Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Length: 57 minutes Synopsis: Tonight (9/4/24), in our first Wednesday night Tehilim shiur of the 2024-2025 season, we began our re-analysis of Sunday's Shir Shel Yom. We learned through this in shiur two years ago (10/26/22, 11/2/22), but found it to be difficult. I don't remember what we s…
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In this shiur we discuss the complex ancient history of the Beracha of Mishpat, and how variants of Talmud Bavli cast doubt on our conventional understanding of the Beracha.
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In this class we learn 10 facts about the Kinnot to hopefully make the experience of using the Sefer HaKinnot more meaningful for everyone. I also provide some tips as to how to read them constructively.
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In this class we discuss the 10th blessing of the Amidah and how and why it was the first blessing to be modified by Liberal and Progressive Jews in Europe.
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In this shiur we study "Barech Aleinu" (Birchat HaShanim). Being one of the most material petitionary prayers, we review some of the enormous corpus of thought about Tefilah and it's role in the fundamentals of any religion.
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In this shiur we learn about the blessing for health, and we study the effects of Rabbinic attempts to safeguard the Nusach of Tefilah.
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In this class we study the Beracha of Redemption/Salvation, and we also discuss the concept of classification.
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In this class we study the blessing of Selicha, the 6th Beracha of the Amidah. We also study how the genre 'Selichot' evolved from Piyyutim designed for this Beracha.
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