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It’s a question that echoes through the ages, right back to the very beginning. In the Book of Genesis (4:17), we read: “Cain was intimate with his wife and she conceived, and gave...
We choose them carefully, hoping they’ll embody certain qualities, or perhaps carry on a family legacy. But what if a name wasn't a blessing, but a curse? What if it foreshadowed i...
The Torah gives us a glimpse into the lives of Cain's descendants, painting a picture that's not always flattering. to what Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of Rabbinic interp...
We find ourselves with Lemekh, a descendant of Cain. He's talking to his wives, Ada and Tzila, and things are… complicated. He says, "Hear my voice, wives of Lemekh, listen to my s...
Take the story of Adam and Eve after the tragic loss of Abel. We read in (Genesis 4:25), "Adam was further intimate with his wife and she gave birth to a son, and she called his na...
We're talking about way back in the beginning, just after the expulsion from Eden. We often skip ahead to the flood, but there's a fascinating, and unsettling, little passage in (G...
to a fascinating little exploration from Bereshit Rabbah 23, where they unpack the Hebrew word huḥal (הוחל), meaning "then commenced." The discussion kicks off with Rabbi Simon, wh...
Like you've pulled the wool over someone's eyes, maybe even... God's? Well, Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, has something to say...
It all begins, of course, with Adam. But did you ever imagine him… colossal? Our sages certainly did. In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Bo...
Bar Kappara, a sage from the Land of Israel who lived around the 3rd Century CE, once opened up a fascinating idea based on a verse from Psalms. He looked at the verse, "May they b...
In fact, it delves into the idea of divine restraint, of God actively preventing the world from being destroyed by, well, wind. We find this idea explored in Bereshit Rabbah 24, a ...
Our story begins with the verse, "This is the book of the descendants of Adam" (Genesis 5:1). But what does that really mean? Bereshit Rabbah 24 digs into this, offering some truly...
The verse says, "This is the book of the descendants of Adam" (Genesis 5:1). Seems straightforward. But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) – those incredi...
It’s a breathtaking thought, isn't it? Where do they get this idea? They point to the verse in (Isaiah 44:11), “And craftsmen, they are me’adam”—literally, "from Adam." The implica...
We get this cryptic verse: "Ḥanokh walked with God, and he was no longer, as God took him" (Genesis 5:24). It's intriguing! What does it mean that God "took" him? Did he die? Did h...
In the Torah, names often carry a powerful weight, hinting at a person's destiny or reflecting a significant moment. Take Noah, for example. (Genesis 5:29) tells us, "He called his...
In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, we find this idea explored through a rather unsettling lens: famine. Specifically, the ...
Take Noah, for instance. We all know the story: the ark, the flood, the animals two-by-two. But what about Noah before the flood? What kind of person was he? Well, the book of Bere...
We all know the story: the ark, the flood, the animals two by two. But have you ever stopped to wonder about the timing of it all? It's not just about the rain, but about the gener...
(Genesis 9:18). It seems straightforward. But wait a minute... Was Yefet actually the eldest? That's what some of our Sages wondered. Why does Shem get top billing? Why not list th...
In the Torah, the word heḥel (הֵחֵל), meaning "began," is one of those words. It pops up in some pretty unsettling contexts. In Bereshit Rabbah 26, a classic collection of rabbinic...
The verse says, "The children of the great men [benei haelohim] saw the daughters of man, that they were fair, and they took for themselves wives, from whomever they chose." Simple...
This week, we're diving into a passage from Bereshit Rabbah 26, a rich collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, that wrestles with this very question. The ver...
Ever read something in the Bible that just makes you stop and say, "Wait, what?" I get that feeling every time I stumble upon (Genesis 6:4): "The Nefilim were on the earth in those...
It’s a powerful, devastating verse that sets the stage for the Flood. But the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), in Bereshit Rabbah, weren't content with a s...
Specifically, in section 27, we find a powerful connection drawn between human sin and divine response, all through the lens of a verse from Ecclesiastes. The verse in question is ...
The Torah tells us, in (Genesis 6:5), that God saw the wickedness of humankind was "great" – raba in Hebrew – before the Flood. But what kind of "great" was it? Rabbi Ḥanina sugges...
The Torah tells us, in (Genesis 6:6), "The Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was saddened in His heart.” Whoa. Heavy stuff. But what does it really mean? The...
The flood narrative in Genesis is one of the most challenging passages in the Torah, wrestling as it does with divine regret and the wiping out of nearly all life. It all starts wi...
It’s not just about the rain, or the oceans. It's about something much deeper – a relationship, even a conversation, between God and the very elements of the universe. We find a fa...
The Book of Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, grapples with just that question in section 28. It all stems from God’s statement, "I will obliter...
Turns out, even God has had those thoughts about humanity. We find a fascinating glimpse into this in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genes...
Jewish tradition grapples with this very question, comparing different eras and communities that faced divine judgment. to some intense comparisons drawn from Bereshit Rabbah, a cl...
Innocent creatures caught in the wake of human sin. But the ancient rabbis grappled with this question too, offering powerful, and perhaps unsettling, explanations. In Bereshit Rab...
We often hear about its benefits, but Jewish tradition also explores its potential pitfalls, especially when it comes to spiritual well-being. Rabbi Elazar, commenting on the verse...
But the animals? Did they really deserve to be wiped out along with everyone else? Well, the rabbis of old had some thoughts on that. Rabbi Azarya, quoting Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon, ...
Rabbi Yoḥanan, a prominent Jewish sage, offers a fascinating, and perhaps surprising, perspective. He says that the sentence, the punishment, of the generation of the Flood lasted ...
That feeling, that precarious balance between merit and grace, is at the heart of a fascinating discussion about Noah in Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpret...
Jewish tradition is full of stories about individuals who stood out, who were exceptional even when surrounded by… well, less exceptional company. Rabbi Simon starts us off with a ...
We often think of God as all-knowing, all-seeing, but the Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of early Jewish interpretations of Genesis, dare to imagine a divine experience of...
In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, we find a fascinating discussion about the depth of that relationship. Rabbi Yoḥanan, R...
It’s a question that's been wrestled with for centuries, and it pops up in the most unexpected places in Jewish tradition. : Do we receive blessings because of our ancestors' good ...
It's not just filling space, but rather, like a master musician hitting a note again and again until it resonates deep within us. Take the story of Noah. (Genesis 6:9) tells us: "T...
The Torah portion Noah grapples with just that, the world after the flood. But even in this story of renewal, shadows of the past linger. The Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah, that magnif...
The ancient rabbis certainly knew it. They saw it baked right into the words of the Torah itself. Take, for instance, the opening of Parashat Noah, the portion of Genesis that tell...
And in a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, the ancient rabbinic commentary on Genesis, we find the figure of Noah held up as a source of just that: double relief. But it st...
We read in (Genesis 6:9), "These are the offspring of Noah; Noah was a righteous man." A pretty great opening line. But what does it really mean? The Rabbis of the Bereshit Rabbah,...
It's easy to imagine everyone just carrying on, oblivious, but Jewish tradition suggests otherwise. The Torah tells us, "Noah was a righteous man [ish]" (Genesis 6:9). Seems simple...
