Vayishlach: Does Hashem Always Keep His Promises and Should We Follow His Lead?

Length: 1 hour 15 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (12/1/23), in our Machshavah Lab series for women, we took up a "classic" question in the first aliyah of this week's parashah: If Hashem promised to protect Yaakov, why was he afraid? After reviewing the "classic" answer, we raised a major problem which touches upon the fundamental principles of prophecy and providence. Towards the end of the shiur, we drew out some of the ethical implications for our own conduct. This shiur is truly worthy of the title "Machshavah Lab" because it's an experimental theory which is still in progress!
-----
מקורות:
בראשית כח:י-טו; לא:ג; לב:ד-יג
רש"י - בראשית לב:יא
ברכות דף ד עמוד א
תורה תמימה - בראשית לב:ח
ירמיהו יח:ה-י
רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות יסודי התורה י:ד
רמב"ם - הקדמה לפירוש המשניות
דרשות הר"ן - הדרוש הב'
רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות דעות א:ה-ו
ר' יוסף בכור שור - שמות לד:ו
דעת זקנים שם
-----
This week's Torah Content is dedicated to all my generous friends and students who chipped in to get me a new laptop to replace my current one, which has been slowly getting slower and slower. Thank you SO MUCH for this Chanukah gift which literally makes it possible for me to continue giving free shiurim, writing articles, and making podcast episodes for all of you!
-----
If you've gained from what you've learned here, please consider contributing to my Patreon at www.patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss. Alternatively, if you would like to make a direct contribution to the "Rabbi Schneeweiss Torah Content Fund," my Venmo is @Matt-Schneeweiss, and my Zelle and PayPal are mattschneeweiss at gmail. Even a small contribution goes a long way to covering the costs of my podcasts, and will provide me with the financial freedom to produce even more Torah content for you.

If you would like to sponsor a day's or a week's worth of content, or if you are interested in enlisting my services as a teacher or tutor, you can reach me at rabbischneeweiss at gmail. Thank you to my listeners for listening, thank you to my readers for reading, and thank you to my supporters for supporting my efforts to make Torah ideas available and accessible to everyone.
-----
Substack: rabbischneeweiss.substack.com/
Patreon: patreon.com/rabbischneeweiss
YouTube: youtube.com/rabbischneeweiss
Instagram: instagram.com/rabbischneeweiss/
"The Stoic Jew" Podcast: thestoicjew.buzzsprout.com
"Machshavah Lab" Podcast: machshavahlab.buzzsprout.com
"The Mishlei Podcast": mishlei.buzzsprout.com
"Rambam Bekius" Podcast: rambambekius.buzzsprout.com
"The Tefilah Podcast": tefilah.buzzsprout.com
Old Blog: kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/
WhatsApp Content Hub (where I post all my content and announce my public classes): https://chat.whatsapp.com/GEB1EPIAarsELfHWuI2k0H
Amazon Wishlist: amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Y72CSP86S24W?ref_=wl_sharel