The teacher behind The Shmuz
Rabbi Bentzion Shafier is best known for The Shmuz, the talk series that gives many of his recordings their name and number, such as the "Shmuz" entries in this library. The Shmuz is a practical hashkafa talk: it takes one idea about how a person is meant to live and develops it start to finish, usually in a single sitting.
That format explains why the collection here reaches more than 800 recordings. Each Shmuz is complete on its own, which lets a listener drop into any subject without back-material. The titles range from the mishnaic image of "Heaven's system of judgment" to blunt, personal prompts like "Getting Up After Falling."
The subjects he returns to
The recordings cluster around Torah thought, the Jewish holidays, dating and marriage, and self-improvement. Around the Yamim Noraim he speaks directly to teshuvah and to the discomfort of knowing "our whole year really gets decided on Rosh Hashanah," while pre-Pesach talks prepare a listener for the season ahead.
A second, steady thread is the work of building a marriage and a self. Talks on dating and marriage sit beside talks on character and change, and Rabbi Shafier tends to frame them as practical projects rather than abstractions, asking what a person can do this week rather than in theory.
Why the format travels well
Because a Shmuz is built as one continuous line of thought, it holds up well as audio for a drive or a walk, and it repeats well. Many listeners return to the same Rosh Hashanah or teshuvah talk year after year as a way of re-entering the season.
The collection also lends itself to sharing. A single talk on a middah or on shalom bayis can open a conversation at the Shabbos table, which is part of why this kind of self-contained, subject-driven recording has stayed popular in frum homes.
Finding kosher Torah video for your family
FilteredTube is a kosher video service built for Jewish families — every single video is approved against one written standard before it can appear, with no open feed, no comments, and no surprises. It is a calm, safe place to look for the Torah and Jewish music you love.
If your family enjoys teachers like Rabbi Bentzion Shafier, search FilteredTube for the speakers and topics that matter most to you. With a daf yomi shelf, a weekly parsha shelf, topic shelves, audio-only listening for the car, and a kids mode with a PIN, kosher Jewish video is easy to reach — and the approved catalog keeps growing every day.
At a glance
Key takeaways
- Rabbi Bentzion Shafier is the teacher behind The Shmuz, a practical hashkafa talk built around a single idea per class.
- The recorded library runs to more than 800 classes, each complete on its own.
- Core subjects include Torah thought, the holidays, dating and marriage, and self-improvement.
- The Yamim Noraim and teshuvah talks are ones many listeners return to each year.
- Search FilteredTube for kosher, approved Torah video — the catalog grows every day.