A teacher of practical halacha
Rabbi Meir Gavriel Elbaz has built one of the larger recorded libraries in this collection, close to nine hundred classes, and much of it is practical halacha: the kind of real-life question a person actually runs into. One shiur asks whether you may use a hammer to crack a walnut on Shabbos when a nutcracker is sitting right there, a classic muktzeh question that turns an abstract rule into a kitchen-table decision. His strength is taking a fine halachic point and making it something you can picture and act on.
A second theme running through his shiurim is the halacha of the spoken word, such as the principle of shomea k'oneh, that one who listens attentively to a bracha or a reading is credited as if he said it himself. Rather than leave that as a slogan, he works through when it applies and what it asks of the listener. The result is halacha you can carry into shul and into the day, explained clearly enough to use.
The Jewish calendar, month by month
Elbaz returns often to the rhythm of the Jewish year. He teaches the laws and customs of the holidays, the meaning of Rosh Chodesh, and the quieter days that are easy to overlook. His Tu B'Shevat shiurim, for instance, ask what the day's halachic significance actually is and walk through its customs, rather than treating it as a footnote in the calendar.
He gives similar attention to the month of Elul, its themes of teshuvah, and the laws and customs of Selichos that lead into the Yamim Noraim. Taken together, these shiurim work almost as a companion to the calendar: whatever season a family is in, there is a class explaining what the day asks of them and why. It is a practical way to enter each holiday prepared rather than rushed.
Why families find him useful
What makes this library valuable for a household is breadth joined to practicality. A parent preparing for a chag, or wondering about a specific halacha that came up at home, can usually find a focused shiur that speaks to exactly that. Because so many classes begin from a concrete question, they are easy to learn from and easy to talk over at the table.
The topics lean toward what every observant family faces, Shabbos, holidays, prayer, everyday Jewish law, rather than abstract scholarship for its own sake. That makes the collection a steady resource for ongoing learning: not a single course to finish, but a deep shelf to return to whenever a halachic question or an approaching holiday makes the answer suddenly matter.
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 Meir Gavriel Elbaz, 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
- Close to 900 recorded shiurim, weighted heavily toward practical, real-life halacha.
- Known for turning fine halachic questions, like muktzeh on Shabbos, into decisions you can picture.
- Teaches the laws and customs of the holidays, Rosh Chodesh, Elul and Selichos across the year.
- A useful shelf for a family preparing for a chag or checking a specific halacha at home.
- Search FilteredTube for kosher, approved Torah video — the catalog grows every day.