3,279 texts · Page 13 of 69
We get glimpses, little whispers, from our tradition that paint a picture far grander than we might imagine. The Torah tells us, plainly enough, "God blessed them" (Genesis 1:28). ...
We get a glimpse, a tiny peek behind the curtain, in (Genesis 1:31): “God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. It was evening and it was morning, the six...
All the beauty, all the challenges... could it have been any other way? The rabbis of old certainly pondered this. They wrestled with the very notion of creation, asking whether th...
It’s a pretty mind-boggling thought, isn’t it? Well, in Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, the rabbis grapple with this very ...
A moment of pure creation, bringing something from absolutely nothing. What was that feeling like? What was God's immediate reaction? Well, our tradition grapples with this very qu...
It sounds shocking, I know. The story starts with a curious discovery. In Rabbi Meir's personal Torah scroll, a peculiar reading was found in the verse “And, behold, it was very [m...
But Jewish tradition, in its beautiful, often paradoxical way, has some fascinating answers. to Bereshit Rabbah, one of the oldest and most important commentaries on the Book of Ge...
But what if I told you that suffering, that very thing we try so hard to avoid, might actually be… good? That's what the ancient rabbis were debating in Bereshit Rabbah, a collecti...
I know, it sounds crazy. But Jewish tradition often holds a mirror up to our assumptions, challenging us to see things from a different angle. Take Gehenna, for example. That’s oft...
We often grapple with the existence of suffering in a world supposedly created by a benevolent God. Jewish tradition certainly doesn’t shy away from this question. In fact, there's...
It's easy to read the phrase "and God saw that it was good" as a simple pat on the back, a divine seal of approval. But Jewish tradition often finds layers of meaning beneath the s...
But sometimes, the smallest details hold the biggest secrets. The Rabbis, in their infinite wisdom, picked up on something fascinating in the very first chapter of Bereshit, Genesi...
(Genesis 1:31-2):1 tells us, "It was evening and it was morning, the sixth day, [and heaven and earth were finished...]" Seems straightforward. But Rabbi Yudan, in Bereshit Rabbah ...
Our sages pondered that very thing, and they found a fascinating exception. The Torah portion of Bereshit, Genesis, opens with the creation. And in (Genesis 2:1), we read, "The hea...
It's more than just setting the scene; it's about revealing the beauty hidden within creation itself. Rabbi Ḥama kicks things off with a powerful image, quoting (Proverbs 25:4): “R...
We’re talking about the primordial stuff, the ingredients God used when He, blessed be He, created everything. It’s a question that’s captivated mystics and philosophers for millen...
Specifically, in Bereshit Rabbah 10, we find some pretty wild thoughts about the impact of Adam's sin. Rabbi Hoshaya, relaying an idea that Rabbi Afes expounded in Antioch, suggest...
The rabbis of old certainly did. In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, they wrestle with the details of creation, offering us...
According to ancient Jewish wisdom, the answer is a resounding yes! Take Bar Sira, for example. He taught that God created medicines from the earth, empowering physicians to heal a...
We might swat them away without a second thought, but according to the Rabbis, even these creatures have a purpose. As we find in Bereshit Rabbah, even these so-called "superfluous...
It turns out, that feeling might be older – and trickier – than you think. The Torah tells us, "God completed on the seventh day His labor that He had made; He rested on the sevent...
It’s in (Genesis 2:2): "God completed [vayechal] on the seventh day." But wait a minute! Didn't God finish creating everything on the sixth day? The sages of the Midrash (rabbinic ...
The verse in question? (Genesis 2:3): "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His labor that God created to make." But what does it mean th...
It's more than just a day off; it's a taste of something truly divine. Bereshit Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, offers some bea...
Because the answer, as is often the case with these things, is layered and lovely. We find a fascinating clue in Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of rabbinic interpretations...
It’s more than just a day off. It's a taste of paradise, a hint of the World to Come, a weekly reset button for the soul. And according to our sages, even the food tastes better! R...
The scene: Rabbi Akiva, a towering figure of Jewish wisdom, is being interrogated by the wicked governor, Tinneus Rufus. Rufus, dripping with imperial arrogance, poses a deceptivel...
It's a loaded question. The philosopher is implying that circumcision isn’t a divine command at all, but just… pointless. (Bereshit Rabbah 11). Rabbi Hoshaya, being the wise person...
to a fascinating comparison between Abraham and Jacob, two of our patriarchs, and see what Bereshit Rabbah 11 has to tell us. The key? Shabbat (the Sabbath). Yes, that's right, the...
Even Shabbat, the day of rest, felt that way once. Isn't that incredible? Our sages grappled with a question: why did God specifically bless Shabbat? Bereshit Rabbah, a collection ...
And they left us some fascinating insights in the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of ...
The Torah tells us, "Because on it He rested from all His labor" (Genesis 2:3). But what does that really mean? Rabbi Pinḥas, quoting Rabbi Hoshaya in Bereshit Rabbah 11, offers a ...
That feeling, that’s something the ancient rabbis wrestled with too. Our story begins with a seemingly simple verse from (Genesis 2:4): “These are the toledot (outgrowths, generati...
There's a fascinating discussion in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, that tackles this very question. It all starts with the verse ...
Before (Genesis 1:1), when "the earth was without form and void?" Jewish tradition grapples with this very question. It's a question about origins, about chaos, and about the very ...
Specifically, we're looking at Bereshit Rabbah 12. Rabbi Nehemya of Kefar Sihon starts us off by referencing (Exodus 20:11): "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the eart...
The book of Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of Rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, dives deep into this very idea, and it’s wild. Our entry point is a seemingly minor deta...
Our sages pondered this question deeply, and one fascinating exploration comes from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic text—a collection of rab...
It might just be written in our origin story. Think about the very beginning. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Bereshit Rabbah, that incredib...
And in Bereshit Rabbah, one of our most beloved collections of Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) – stories that expand upon the Hebrew Bible – we find a fascinating perspe...
It turns out, even the shapes of the letters themselves can hold profound secrets about creation. to a fascinating interpretation from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabb...
The ancient rabbis grappled with this question, diving deep into the creation story. And as we find in Bereshit Rabbah, the classic midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic com...
Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of rabbinic interpretations on the book of Genesis, offers us a fascinating glimpse into their perspective. Specifically, in section 12, we ...
This particular section, Bereshit Rabbah 12, explores the lasting impact of creation. Rabbi Yitzḥak and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish—two prominent voices of their time—offer us contrast...
We find a fascinating discussion about this in Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. The passage focuses on the verse, "On the d...
The sages of old grappled with this very question. How could a benevolent God create a world so full of suffering? The answer, according to Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of...
And their answer, as we find it in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, is surprisingly poetic. Imagine a king. A newly crowned king, b...
Turns out, the very beginning of creation might have felt the same way. (Genesis 2:5). It's a verse that seems simple enough, but it's packed with layers. "All the shrubs of the fi...
