Podcast
Iyun Lemachshava English
Hosted by Yitzchok Lowy · EN
Classes by Yitzchok Lowy on jewish thought and philosophy
18episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Shavuos, Harvest, and the value and danger of belief in torah from heaven
YesterdayTap to summarizeThis lecture examines Shavuot's true meaning as an agricultural festival celebrating the wheat harvest and economic prosperity, rather than simply commemorating the giving of the Torah. The speaker argues that Torah law should be read as utopian social blueprints for creating a just, prosperous society—where following divine economic principles (like leaving gleanings for the poor) leads to tangible material success—not merely as abstract religious obligations. The discussion concludes by challenging the concept of "Torah from Heaven," suggesting that prophets spoke in the normal rhetorical conventions of their time to address real human problems, and that modern distance from this context creates a false impression that ancient revelation was categorically different from rational moral teaching.
Transcribe →Stop beating your torah rock! Rambam and Mekubalim on shells and fruit in Torah
1w agoTap to summarizeThis shiur examines the fundamental distinction between virtues (character excellences) and mitzvos (commandments), arguing that mitzvos function as teachers for those who lack proper virtues rather than as ends in themselves. The Rambam and Kabbalistic sources converge on the view that Torah has both an external, utilitarian dimension—guiding people toward virtue through law—and an inner, true dimension concerning knowledge of God and reality. The discussion addresses why the Mekubalim insisted every mitzvah must have metaphysical meaning beyond its practical purpose, leading to interpretive methods like letter permutation, while the Rambam maintained that most mitzvos serve as preparation for the few that directly concern ultimate truth.
Transcribe →Talmidei Chachamim as elite investors – The Rambamist way of supporting Torah
1w agoTap to summarizeThe Rambam's approach to supporting Torah scholars is not a prohibition on fundraising but a specific economic model based on business partnership. According to Maimonides, Torah scholars should function as investors who provide capital while others conduct business and share profits, receiving the same preferential treatment friends give each other in commerce. This framework maintains the dignity of Torah study while creating a sustainable support system grounded in mutual benefit rather than charity.
Transcribe →Do you want the truth and ways to list the virtues
3w agoTap to summarizeThis lesson examines why character development (middos) must precede Torah learning and investigates the fundamental question of which virtues are most essential. The discussion reveals that creating a definitive list of virtues is both practically difficult and theoretically problematic, since any single virtue pursued correctly necessarily implies and requires all others—you cannot have complete kindness, humility, or truth-seeking without the full complement of other virtues. The unity of virtues means that while naming specific character traits helps us notice and cultivate them, genuine virtue exists only in the context of the whole person, not as isolated qualities that can be developed independently.
Transcribe →Avrohom Avinu didn’t care for his children
4w agoTap to summarizeThis lecture addresses the question of why Jews should remain Jewish rather than assimilate, examining Leo Strauss's argument that assimilation fails because one can only be a "Jewish Jew" or a "Gentile-ish Jew." The instructor challenges the counter-argument that multi-generational assimilation could eventually succeed, introducing the concept that parental influence naturally extends only four generations and exploring how Abraham's covenant and the Akeidah (binding of Isaac) represent a commitment to transcend this natural limit by accepting exile and suffering for the sake of a messianic future beyond one's great-grandchildren. The discussion grapples with whether one should sacrifice present well-being for distant descendants and how Abraham's choice established the Jewish pattern of non-assimilation despite persecution.
Transcribe →Remember you were OTD in Egypt too – The night of apikorses
Mar 26Tap to summarizeReligious questioning follows predictable stages: initial rejection of obvious absurdities, attempts to connect with those who've left observance, and eventual recognition that the "simple" religious person may understand something deeper than both the skeptic and the one who left. The fundamental challenge is that meaning-systems are built in layers over time—like technology built from sand to silicon to AI—and cannot be reconstructed through rational argument alone. Most people who leave Orthodox Judaism get stuck asking surface-level questions about dinosaurs or biblical criticism, while the real philosophical work requires years of lived experience that can't be compressed into a single conversation or apologetic argument.
Transcribe →The Chazon Ish’s struggle to explain the ancient kind of good jew
Mar 12Tap to summarizeThis lecture examines the fundamental shift in Jewish ideals from the classical emphasis on Torah study and mitzvah observance (the Talmid Chacham ideal) to modern movements that prioritize internal states—Chassidus's focus on dveykus (cleaving to God) and the Mussar movement's emphasis on middos (character traits). The Chazon Ish emerges as a rare modern thinker who recognized that halacha contains far more sophisticated understanding of human nature and reality than simplistic ethical frameworks, though he struggled to articulate this insight without resorting to divine command theory. The core argument is that traditional Jewish law accounts for vastly more complexity and variables in human behavior than contemporary approaches that reduce everything to feelings, biases, or therapeutic categories—making halacha more intellectually serious than modern alternatives, not because of its divine origin, but because it represents millennia of careful thinking about actual human situations.
Transcribe →Why everyone started to think internal intention is the only good thing
Feb 26Tap to summarizeThe modern split between "inner" and "outer" goodness stems from the loss of natural teleology — once you deny that things in the world have inherent purposes, goodness can no longer reside in actions themselves and gets trapped entirely in human intention, producing the familiar but incoherent idea that being "good on the inside" is what really matters. This shift generated both utilitarianism (goodness as subjective feeling) and deontology (goodness as obedience to moral law), and stands behind the Tanya vs. Nefesh HaChaim dispute, the modern reinterpretation of kavana as a mental state rather than a description of what you're actually doing, and the strange claim that Torah lishma is about your headspace rather than your learning. Purim embodies the corrective: chitzoniyus IS pnimiyus — happiness is not a feeling but a fact, realized through concrete action like matanos l'evyonim, not through interior emotional states.
Transcribe →Contrasting two theories s of Lo Sachmod
Feb 19Tap to summarizeThis shiur examines the prohibition of Lo Tachmod (do not covet) through two competing readings: one that treats desire itself as the root of all evil and calls for its suppression, and another that insists goodness is defined by external moral reality—knowing what actually belongs to you and what doesn't—rather than by internal emotional refinement. The discussion opens with how the mazal of Chodesh Adar and the thirteenth month illustrate that celestial influences reach humans only through human mediation and the decisions of Beis Din, then applies this principle of channeling to argue that real moral progress requires detailed knowledge of obligations and property rights (Choshen Mishpat), not just the squashing of desire, since a person free of passion but ignorant of what he owes others remains a thief.
Transcribe →Lo Sachmod is the Midda for Lo Tignov Tirtzach Tinaf Taane
Feb 12Tap to summarizeThis lecture explores the distinction between authentic and false interiority in Jewish ethics, arguing that true inner virtue must always be directed toward external action rather than being self-focused. Using the commandment of Lo Tachmod (don’t covet) as a case study, the instructor demonstrates how this final commandment of the Ten Commandments represents the internal […]
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