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The answer, again and again, comes back to this: God is everywhere. It's right there in the scriptures. As it says, "His presence fills all the earth" (Isaiah 6:3). He fills the he...
Because the eyes of God, It's a powerful image, isn't it? From His throne in Heaven, God's eyes observe absolutely everything that takes place in the world. The Midrash (rabbinic i...
Honestly, some of the answers are. Take, for instance, the idea of God's hand. We find in (Isaiah 40:12), "Who measured the waters with the hollow of His hand?" The tradition takes...
The mystics imagined it, and what they saw is The story goes that when God decided to create Adam, it wasn't a snap of the fingers. It was a process. A cosmic sculpting project, if...
The creation story, as we know it, unfolds over six days. But have you ever noticed how God seems to be balancing things? Like a cosmic choreographer, making sure everything is jus...
The Tree of Souls tells us that these souls resided in the Garden of Eden, up above. And get this: they were all present at the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai! How do we know t...
Like there's someone... or something... watching over you? Well, Jewish tradition has a fascinating answer for that feeling: guardian angels. These aren't the cherubic, winged figu...
What does it mean to say something is "angelic?" We usually mean beautiful, kind, maybe a little ethereal. But in Jewish mysticism, angels aren't just gentle spirits. They're force...
Midrash Tanchuma turns to Creation By Word. Can you imagine? According to Midrash Tehillim, if God hadn't intervened, if God hadn't spoken another word – "Enough!" – the heavens wo...
A time long, long before time as we know it. Before the sun, the moon, the stars… before even the very Earth beneath our feet. What existed then? Well, according to some mystical t...
You'd expect a pretty epic location. But did you know there was a whole competition to be that mountain? The story goes that when the mountains caught wind that God was planning a ...
There's one particular story that throws this idea into sharp relief: the Giving of the Torah. At the very beginning, when the Creator shaped the cosmos, there was a clear line in ...
The story of Abraham and Isaac, the Akeidah (the binding), grapples with these very questions. Abraham and Sarah, living in the Land of Israel, yearned for a child. Their lives wer...
Midrash Tanchuma turns to The Parting Of The Red Sea. The story, as we find it in Exodus 14, begins with God telling Moses, "Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go for...
Midrash Tanchuma turns to The Quarrel Of The Sea And The Earth. Wait a minute. Did they drown, or were they swallowed? That seeming contradiction sparked a fascinating story, a sor...
Midrash Tanchuma turns to The Center Of The World. Wait, there's one more layer. Before the Ark stands the Foundation Stone, and the entire world, according to tradition, was found...
The very concept of the Temple in Jerusalem, that sacred place, was envisioned at the dawn of creation itself. As Howard Schwartz recounts in Tree of Souls, God, in His infinite wi...
With1The prefix bet in the first word of the Torah can be translated as “with,” “in,”, “by means of,” etc. the beginning (Gen. 1:1). This is what Scripture means when it says: The ...
A Question.9Sections 2 and 3 of “In the Beginning” and the fourth section of “Noah” were taken from the She’iltot of R. Ahai, a distinguished Babylonian scholar who left Palestine ...
A response to an inquiry from the Academy.13Probably a reference to the Academy at Pumbeditha. R. Ahai, who wrote this in his She’iltot, expected to be appointed head of the Academ...
In the beginning God created (Gen. 1:1). May it please our master16Many yelammedenu (“may our master teach us”) passages are included in Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) ...
In the beginning God created (Gen. 1:1). It is written elsewhere in reference to this verse: Blessings are upon the head of the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked c...
These are the generations (Toledot) of the heaven and the earth when they were created (Gen. 2:4). R. Berechiah and R. Helbo said in the name of R. Samuel the son of Nahmani: The w...
And the Lord said: Behold, man has become one of us (Gen. 3:22). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Behold, this only have I found, that God made man upright (Ec...
And the Lord said: Behold, man has become like one of us (Gen. 3:22). May our master teach us the punishment inflicted upon one who speaks evil?29Speaking evil (slander) is conside...
And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground (Gen. 4:3). The process of time (lit. “end of days”) may imply either the end of a year, the end...
Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the land … and the Lord said unto him: “Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” and...
And the Lord said unto him: “Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” and the Lord set a sign for Cain (Gen. 4:15). The Holy One, blessed be H...
And the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth (Gen. 6:5). Our sages taught: As punishment for lewdness (in the world) androlepsia41Reprisal taken against all m...
It happened that one of R. Akiba’s disciples heard the following in a dream: “You will die in the month of Adar, you will not see the month of Nisan; and what you sow you shall not...
[These are the generations of Noah (Gen. 6:9).] May it please our master to instruct us concerning the number of transgressions for which women die during childbirth. Thus have our...
These are the generations of Noah (Gen. 6:9). R. Tanhuma the son of Abba began the discussion of this subject with the verse: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he t...
These are the generations of Noah. Blessed be the name of the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who chose Israel from among the seventy nations of the world, as it is wri...
A question. An Israelite is forbidden to steal from a fellow human being. No punishment for the performance of any prohibited act mentioned in the Torah is harsher than that admini...
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man … Noah walked with God (Gen. 6:9). Why is Noah’s name repeated three times in this single verse? Because he was one of t...
And God remembered Noah (Gen. 8:1). May it please our master to teach us the benediction recited upon witnessing a rainbow. Thus did our masters teach us: Upon seeing a rainbow, on...
And God remembered Noah (Gen. 8:1). Scripture says elsewhere in reference to this verse: A righteous man regardeth the life of his beasts; but the tender mercies of the wicked are ...
And God spoke to Noah, saying: “Go forth from the ark” (Gen. 8:15). May our master instruct us whether one is permitted to place saliva upon an ailing eye on the Sabbath. R. Hiyya ...
Go forth from the ark (Gen. 8:16). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to Thy name; the righteous shall crown th...
Go forth from the ark (Gen. 8:16). Scripture says elsewhere in reference to this verse: I counsel thee: keep the king’s command, and that in regard of the oath of God. Be not hasty...
Another explanation of go forth from the ark. David said: Bring my soul out of prison (Ps. 142:8). Noah, while in the ark, prayed continually: Bring my soul out of prison, and it i...
And the sons of Noah left the ark (Gen. 9:18). May it please our master to instruct us whether man or woman is enjoined to fulfill the commandment to Increase and multiply (Gen. 1:...
And Noah, the husbandman, began and planted a vineyard (Gen. 9:20). Noah degraded himself when he began to till the soil. R. Judah the son of R. Shalum said: At first Noah was call...
And he planted a vineyard (Gen. 9:20). Noah was one of four men who introduced four things. Noah introduced planting, as it is written: And he planted a vineyard; cursing when he s...
And he planted a vineyard (Gen. 9:20). Where did he obtain the shoots for the vineyard? He obtained them from the grape seeds he had brought into the ark.24See Pesikta Rabbati 23. ...
And the whole earth was of one language (Gen. 11:1). May it please our master to teach us why a house with an eruv27A legal fiction which establishes the continuity of a community ...
And the whole earth was of one language (Gen. 11:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Slay them not, lest my people forget, make them wander to and fro by Thy ...
And the whole earth was of one language (Gen. 11:1). What is written in Scripture before this verse? These are the families of the sons of Noah … and of these were the nations divi...
