Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: In this episode we take a look at a sharper formulation of a familiar and fundamental concept in Stoic decision-making, Mishleic thinking, and gaming strategy. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - Keanu Reeves, Free Will, and Results-Oriented Thinking Sources: - Epictetus, Enchiridion (The Handbook) 1 - Koheles 11:1-6 - Julia Galef, cited in Tim Ferriss’s Tribe of Mentors ---------- This week's Torah content has been sponsored ...
Mar 03, 2022•10 min•Season 7Ep. 10
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: Lately the numbers of attendees in my shiurim have been fluctuating, and that fluctuation has given rise to … feelings. In this episode I put those feelings into perspective by reflecting on why I teach, drawing upon one of my favorite Seneca quotations, a halacha in the Rambam, and a mishnah in Pirkei Avos. Sources: - Seneca, Letter #7: On Crowds - Rambam: Mishneh Torah, Sefer ha’Mada, Hilchos Talmud Torah 5:13 - Avos 3:6 - Ra...
Mar 02, 2022•16 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: In this episode I share two “experiments” I conducted this February which were aimed at creating more time in my busy schedule. This may be viewed as a sequel to the episode I made last year with a similar name, which I recap at the beginning of this one. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - My February 2021 Experiments in the Art of Creating Time - Reflection on a Year of COVID and the Sanctification of Time Sources: - Seneca,...
Mar 01, 2022•13 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: In an effort to break my “podcaster’s block,” I’m going to attempt to make five episodes this week, and I’m going to do my best to make them closer to 10 minutes than to 20. We’ll begin by returning to where we left off in Meditations , with a meditation on death which pairs nicely with a Rambam in the Moreh ha’Nevuchim. Sources: - Aurelius, Meditations 5:4 - Rambam, Moreh ha’Nevuchim 3:12 - Bereishis 2:7; 3:19 ---------- The T...
Feb 28, 2022•12 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This episode is another attempt on my part to articulate a problem I have with Epictetus’s presentation of Stoicism. I’d like to believe that it’s less a critique of the content of his teachings and more a critique of Epictetus’s presentation – or, to be more accurate, the presentation of his student, Arrian – but I still believe that Epictetus’s Stoicism lends itself to this criticism than that of Marcus Aurelius or Seneca. Re...
Feb 22, 2022•15 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: I had planned on updating you about my Gratitude Journal when I reached 200 days, but since that fell out during my winter break, I decided to update you at 225 days instead. In Part 1 of today's episode I speculate about why gratitude is a more central theme in Judaism than in Stoicism. In Part 2 I reflect on the three positive changes I've noticed in my Gratitude Journal Practice over the past 125 days. Related Rabbi Schneewe...
Feb 18, 2022•22 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: I recorded this episode in conjunction with a review I wrote (and shared on Facebook and in my WhatsApp Book Review group) of Philip Lister’s A Short Good Life: Her Father Tells Liza’s Story of Facing Death . I initially intended to share ONLY new thoughts in this episode, but I ended up recapping much of what I wrote in the review. I’ve included a link to purchase the book in the shownotes below. Let me know if you buy it, and...
Feb 17, 2022•19 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: We're putting our "Seneca on Hashgachah" plans on hold for now in order to address a time-sensitive topic: my insomnia. This was a hastily planned episode that I decided to make this morning, after two consecutive nights of my chronic insomnia. In this episode I articulate what I hope will be a strategy for combatting this persistent problem of mine. Sources: - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 6:31 - Epictetus, Enchiridion (The Han...
Feb 15, 2022•13 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: Since my last episode was about hashgachah (Divine providence), I thought it would be interesting to examine the Stoic view of hashgachah , as expounded by Seneca. In today’s episode we compare Seneca’s tacit rebuke of his student’s impatient inquiry of this lofty topic with the challenges I faced when I was asked to teach Sefer Iyov (The Book of Job) to my high school students. A harsh remark by the Ramban in the Shaar ha’Gemu...
Feb 11, 2022•16 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: On Day #5 of my January 2022 solo cabin retreat, I got a call from my Rosh ha’Yeshiva. The subject? Hashgachah pratis. This longer-than-normal episode is my recollection of that conversation, supplemented by my own extensive footnotes and reflections. I’m posting this as an episode of The Stoic Jew Podcast AND the Machshavah Lab podcast for reasons that are explained therein. מקורות: ברכת הגומל אסתר ד:יד דברים לא:יז-יח עם פירוש...
Feb 09, 2022•37 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the second installment of a two-part reflection on my upcoming Winter Break 2022. In today’s episode, we revisit the excerpts from Seneca and Marcus Aurelius which I reflected on after Winter Break 2021, and reexamine them in light of the tools I’ve gained since then. Next, we discuss my discovery of avodah zarah thinking in my application of premeditation malorum. Finally, I reflect on another pitfall that workaholics ...
Jan 14, 2022•18 min•Season 6Ep. 34
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This is the first installment of a two-part reflection on my upcoming Winter Break 2022. In today’s episode, Seneca and the Meiri join forces to give me permission – within the framework of my own psychological drives – to take this winter break, and actually use it to relax and recharge. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - Thank Iron Archer (and IFS) for Today’s Non-Episode Episode - 38th Birthday Reflections: On Self-Harm an...
Jan 13, 2022•16 min•Season 6Ep. 33
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: What does it mean to "live an authentic life" or to "be an authentic person"? In this episode I argue that the answers given by Judaism and Stoicism are closely related, if not identical - in contrast to the popular conception. I then apply this idea to a rather amusing experience that happened to me a few months ago. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - Mishlei 21:1 Mishleic Fatalism Sources: - Aurelius, Meditations 5:3 - Rabb...
Jan 12, 2022•17 min•Season 6Ep. 32
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This episode begins with a review of what I think of as the three stages of Stoic development. I then share a new way of conceptualizing these stages as three ways we relate to fate (i.e. to those things we cannot control), which I apply to a situation of uncertainty I am currently facing in my life. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - The Medallion Experiment - The Obstacle is the Way to Knowledge of Hashem - The Obstacle is ...
Jan 11, 2022•17 min•Season 6Ep. 31
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: Today is my 38th birthday! In this episode I reflect on where I was last year at this time, what happened in between, and where I hope I’m going. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - TSJ Interlude - 37th Birthday Reflections: On the Allegory of the Soldier - Torah as Melachah (Craft) - Simone Biles is My Hero Sources: - Aurelius, Meditations 2:6 - Ralbag, Vayikra 23 - Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less ...
Jan 10, 2022•16 min•Season 6Ep. 30
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: I recently attended the wedding of a dear friend. It would be accurate to say that the dancing at the wedding started out the same as at any Orthodox Jewish wedding and ended as a rave. In this episode I argue that this was a GOOD thing, and that it reflects a concept I suspect is unique to Judaism: simchah shel mitzvah . The episode concludes with a reflection on how the melody of the popular song “Hashem Melech” was taken fro...
Dec 30, 2021•19 min•Season 6Ep. 29
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: In today’s (short!) episode we compare Epictetus’s unrealistic and inhuman standards of grieving (or lack thereof) with the tempered and realistic alternative taught by Seneca, as codified by the Rambam in the Mishneh Torah. The explanation Seneca provides for why people grieve excessively raises an interesting question about the psychodynamic forces behind our own experiences of suffering and loss. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Co...
Dec 23, 2021•11 min•Season 6Ep. 28
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: I came across a quotation from Thoreau which resonated with me, thanks to my “Counting the Weeks of My Life” experiment. In this episode we expand upon Thoreau’s thoughts with excerpts from Epictetus, du Lair, and Pirkei Avos. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - Remember that You're ALREADY Dead - How to Shower Like You're Dying - Counting the Weeks of My Life Sources: - Thoreau, Walden - Epictetus, Enchiridion 12:2; 25:4-5; D...
Dec 21, 2021•15 min•Season 6Ep. 27
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: I recently started reading a book called The Anatomy of Peace . This morning’s reading triggered an insight into another critique I have of Epictetus’s Stoicism, beyond what I’ve expressed in the past. In my opinion, Marcus Aurelius’s Stoicism doesn’t partake of this flaw in the same way, and Judaism’s ethics actively opposes it. This is a new and developing insight, but I wanted to capture it in its nascent stage. Related Rabb...
Dec 16, 2021•15 min•Season 6Ep. 26
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: Since today is the 10th of Teves, I decided to devote the episode to a reflection on how the very existence of The Stoic Jew Podcast is directly related to one of the three events we commemorate on this day – namely, the translation of the Torah into Greek. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - TSJ Interlude: A Defense of This Podcast - Asarah b'Teves 5781: A Live Prophecy About an Ongoing Tragedy Sources: - Rambam: Mishneh Tora...
Dec 14, 2021•21 min•Season 6Ep. 25
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: Last night I gave a Chumash shiur on the brief and bizarre conversation between Yaakov Avinu and Paroh in Parashas Vayigash. Three of the interpretations we learned featured Stoic ideas: two from Shadal (one in the name of Rav Reggio and Gesenius, and the other in the name of his late son, Filosseno), and another from Rav Hirsch. I decided to repackage those three interpretations as today’s episode, and to release it on Thursda...
Dec 09, 2021•23 min•Season 6Ep. 24
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: I seem to be on a memento mori kick as of late. In today’s episode I discuss the biggest impact (thus far) of my “Counting the Weeks of My Life” experiment, which I spoke about in one of last week’s episodes. For those who are turned off to memento mori practices because they see them as overly negative or morbid might find Marcus Aurelius’s alternative approach to be more appealing. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - Countin...
Dec 08, 2021•16 min•Season 6Ep. 23
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: Today we return to a familiar theme: how to live like it’s your last day. In past episodes we’ve discussed the challenges to implementing this in practice. Thanks to some insights from Mark Nepo and Steve Jobs, I think I’ve found another piece to the puzzle. This is one of those “thinking aloud” episodes in which I explore how these ideas can apply to my own life. I hope that listening to my own musings helps you to adapt these...
Dec 03, 2021•17 min•Season 6Ep. 22
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: In today’s episode I reflect on the unique experience I had in which I counted every single week of my life. Like, I physically marked off each of my 1,977 weeks on the “Weeks of My Life” calendar I bought on Amazon. Will this help me to internalize the ideas in Tehilim 90:12, Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life , and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town: Act III ? Only the future weeks will tell, if Hashem grants me the time. This week's ...
Dec 01, 2021•20 min•Season 6Ep. 21
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: In today’s episode I muse out loud about some thoughts I had on and about Thanksgiving in light of my Thanksgiving meal and my reflections on my 21st geriversary (i.e. anniversary of converting to Judaism). This week's Torah content has been sponsored in memory of Rabbi Dr Leon & Frances Gersten. Related Rabbi Schneeweiss Content: - TSJ Interlude - A Stoic Pep Talk on My Mild Anxiety About Meeting Up With My Dad's Family fo...
Nov 29, 2021•17 min•Season 6Ep. 20
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This Thanksgiving (i.e. tomorrow) I'll be meeting up with my dad's family. Some I haven't seen in a few years; others, in a decade; others in two decades; still others, I've never met. I thought I wasn't nervous about this reunion, but the fact that I woke up this morning at 3:30am and couldn't stop thinking about it would suggest otherwise. I figured: What better way to process my mild anxiety than by recording an episode of T...
Nov 24, 2021•27 min•Season 6Ep. 19
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: In my Rambam Bekius Chavurah we’ve been learning Hilchos Talmud Torah Chapter 3, in which the Rambam prescribes guidelines for attaining the Crown of Torah. I recently came across a letter from Seneca in which he tells his pupil, Lucilius, what he’ll need to do in order to succeed in the life of philosophy. I couldn’t help but notice the parallels between these two exhortations, and I decided to make an episode about them. This...
Nov 19, 2021•17 min•Season 6Ep. 18
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: This morning we attempt to understand Marcus Aurelius’s nonchalant statement about how easy it is to instantly attain inner peace, which is reminiscent of Moshe Rabbeinu’s nonchalant statement about how easy it is to fear Hashem. The question that prompted this episode is the question in the title: is it really THAT easy? This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Shirley, and since she didn't specify a dedicatory message,...
Nov 17, 2021•11 min•Season 6Ep. 17
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: In this episode we explore the parallels between the halachic and Stoic approaches to kibud u’mora av v’eim (honoring and revering one’s parents), in light of an observation made by Moshe Halbertal in his biography of the Rambam. This week's Torah content has been sponsored by Shirley, and since she didn't specify a dedicatory message, then I'm going to dedicate this to the entire Sinclair family - Shirley, David, and Ken. Sour...
Nov 15, 2021•17 min•Season 6Ep. 16
Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Synopsis: The first instance of a neder (vow) in the Torah in Parashas Vayeitzei, when Yaakov Avinu makes a neder upon waking up from his dream about the ladder. Rav Hirsch provides a beautiful exposition on the folly of making nedarim. Ironically, his comments contain far more Stoicism than the actual writings of the Stoics on this topic! This week's Torah content has been sponsored anonymously. May Hashem send a refuah shleimah to Marg...
Nov 12, 2021•18 min•Season 6Ep. 15
