Fast halacha for serious seasonal questions.
Rabbi Moshe Walter's Podcast turns practical Jewish-law questions into dense, energetic source study. Recent episodes move from Sefirah customs and Pesach rentals to Haggadah commentaries, piyutim, and the prohibition against returning to Egypt.
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Rabbi Moshe Walter's Podcast works like a high-speed beis midrash session organized around practical Jewish life. It starts with a shayla and refuses to leave it flat. Recent episodes ask whether Shehechiyanu, shopping, home improvement, and moving during Sefirah should be treated like the restrictions of the Three Weeks. Another episode takes a very modern Pesach problem, a rental home that was not cleaned of chametz, and turns it into a layered question of responsibility, cost, stress, and preparation for Bedikas Chametz. The show is strongest when ordinary pressure meets classical law. It can move from an Orlando rental scenario to halachic categories without losing urgency. Pesach receives especially close attention. The Seder becomes a field of numbers, symbols, beginnings, and competing structures, with four cups, four questions, four sons, and the challenge of a fifth language of redemption all placed under scrutiny. Haggadah commentaries are treated as windows into the people who wrote them. The Vilna Gaon is approached through pshat, remez, drash, and sod, while Rav Yitzchak Ha'ez HaKhavar is introduced through biography, scarcity of sources, and the deliberate modesty reflected in his matzeva. Liturgy also gets serious treatment. A Shabbos HaGadol episode traces piyutim through halachic, grammatical, philosophical, and historical objections before focusing on Rav Yosef Tuvelim. The pacing is intense. Hebrew and Aramaic terms often arrive without slowing the argument for newcomers. That density is part of the appeal. The show assumes that minhag is not a soft custom but a claim that needs evidence, boundaries, and context. It also treats contemporary events with gravity, as in the episode on returning to Egypt during a time of war and between Purim and Pesach. The recurring pattern is question, source, dispute, distinction, practical shape. It is learned, animated, and unapologetically textual. Listeners looking for light inspiration may find it demanding. Listeners who want halacha argued from the inside will find a deep seasonal archive.
Made for: For listeners already comfortable with halachic language, Jewish texts, and rapid source-based shiurim. It especially fits those who want seasonal practice explained through authorities, minhagim, and practical cases.
What sets it apart: The show connects everyday shaylos to long chains of rabbinic sources without flattening the complexity. Its edge is the movement from contemporary scenarios, like Pesach rentals, into precise halachic and historical analysis.
Rabbi Walter's podcast is rooted in Halachah, Minhagim, and Mitzvos based upon classical Rabbinic sources, blended with a strong emphasis on the philosophy, history, and background of each of the above.Rabbi Walter is the Rav of Woodside Synagogue Ahavas Torah, is the executive director of the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington, and is the author of the three works of Jewish Law.This podcast has covered Pirkei Avos, the Positive Mitzvos from The Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatazar of the Chafetz Chaim, and is curentlly going through the halachos and mitzvos of the seasons of the year.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Rabbi Moshe Walter connects classical Jewish legal debate to the concrete decisions that shape prayer, holiday observance, ritual practice, and daily life.
Rabbi Moshe Walter turns questions of Jewish law into carefully constructed lessons, moving from foundational texts through competing interpretations and into practical judgment.
An unclean Pesach rental becomes a contract question; Rabbi Moshe Walter gives your holiday panic a source trail.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A compact tour of piyutim that links Shabbos HaGadol to tefillah, history, and Pesach preparation.
This talk uses Shabbos HaGadol to frame the world of piyutim, beginning with why many Ashkenaz communities do not recite them and moving into why the weeks before Pesach fill siddurim with added liturgy in Shachris and Musaf.
The Gra's Haggadah reads exile as both spiritual and physical.
As Pesach nears, the episode returns to the Vilna Gaon's Haggadah after last year's attention to the Netziv, the Malbim, and the Beis Bresk, while also offering a brief biographical sketch to set the frame.
The Rambam's life in Egypt sharpens a Torah prohibition into a practical halachic discussion.
Egypt gives this episode its central tension: the Torah's ban on returning after the Exodus sits beside the later reality of Jewish life there, most pointedly the Rambam's own residence.
A focused Purim episode on why Megillahs vary in lines, lettering, and column layout.
This episode follows a precise Purim question: why a Megillah is governed by Sefer Torah standards yet can still appear in different formats. It starts with the Shulchan Aruch's ruling that Ksivas HaMegillah follows Ksivas Sefer Torah for essentials like ink, klaf, and sirtut,…
A careful, source-led review of how shul kedushah guides communal use and celebration.
The episode traces what belongs inside a shul, Beis Medrash, or Beis HaKnesses, and where everyday communal needs run into the boundaries of kedushah.
A clear, practical look at how shorter days affect the proper window for Mincha.
The episode follows a practical shift many regular daveners feel as summer gives way to fall and winter: Mincha no longer sits in a wide, easy afternoon window.
Daily halacha, case by case.
Parsha questions carried into serious Torah argument.
Rabbi Moshe Walter analyzes a modern Halachic dilemma: who is responsible when a rented Airbnb for Passover in Orlando arrives unclean and full of chametz.
Rabbi Moshe Walter analyzes the halachic intricacies of praying Mincha during the transition from daylight saving to standard time.
Rabbi Moshe Walter traces the Hoshanos custom to the Mishnah in Maseches Sukkah, which describes circling the Mizbeach once daily and seven times on the seventh day.
This episode addresses whether the mourning practices and prohibitions of the Three Weeks apply during the Sefirah period, exploring questions about reciting Shechianu, shopping, and home activities based on historical rabbinic sources.
This episode discusses the legal and practical responsibilities when a rental property is not properly cleaned of chametz before Pesach, focusing on Airbnb situations in Orlando.
This episode explores the symbolic significance of the numbers four and five in the Pesach Seder, challenging the traditional emphasis on four by arguing that five may be more central.
This episode explores the life and work of Rabbi Yitzchak Ha'ez HaKhavar, focusing on his Haggadah Yad Mitzrayim and his enigmatic legacy in Jewish scholarship.
This episode explores the debated Jewish custom of reciting part of the Haggadah on Shabbos HaGadol, examining the differing opinions of the Ramah and the Gra.
The speaker opens with Shabbos HaGadol and the piyut of Rav Yosef Tuvelim.
He opens with Pesach approaching.
Rabbi Moshe Walter's Shayla of the Week #191 examines the Torah's repeated prohibition on returning to Egypt, tying Parshas Beshalach, Shoftim, and Ki Savo to a halachic question about travel.
The episode opens with the laws of Ksivas HaMegillah.
Rabbi Moshe Walter asks whether a main sanctuary, not a social hall or basement, can host kiddush, simchah, meetings, and youth programming under Orach Chaim 151.
This episode explains the significant differences in timing and importance of the Minchah prayer between summer and winter months, focusing on Jewish law and practical considerations.
This episode explores the Jewish tradition that Mashiach (the Messiah) will be born on Tisha B'Av, examining its sources in Chazal and historical examples like Bar-Kochva, Yeshu HaNotzri, and the Messiah of Yemen to distinguish between true and false messiahs.
This episode discusses the religious and ethical responsibilities of civilians during the Israel-Iran war, focusing on Torah-based guidance for non-combatants to support and protect soldiers through prayer and mitzvot.
This episode explores the significance of music in Jewish law and philosophy, comparing Jewish and secular music while discussing its power, dangers, and prohibitions.
This episode explores the historical and religious controversy surrounding the celebration of Lag B'Omer in Meron, contrasting traditional Talmudic explanations with later Kabbalistic interpretations.