1,056 passagesc. 5th century CEHebrew / AramaicCC-BY
Individual passages from Bereshit Rabbah, shown in source order. Page 1 of 22.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." It's a statement of immense power, a foundation upon which an entire worldview is built. But what does it really mean? to t...
At the very heart of it all, there is ONE God. Absolutely eternal. Completely self-sufficient. As Rabbi Maimonides, the great medieval Jewish philosopher and legal scholar, emphasi...
Before the sun, the moon, the stars... before anything? Jewish tradition has some pretty mind-bending answers, and one of the most fascinating involves the Torah. Not just the one ...
The sages of old grappled with this very question, and their insights are captured in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis. to the very ...
It's actually a powerful argument against a very old accusation. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, quoting Rabbi Levi, starts us off with a verse from Psalms: "The power of His deeds He t...
Creation is often remembered as a solo act by the Almighty, but the ancient rabbis, wrestling with the very first verse of Genesis, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and t...
Jewish tradition, particularly in the ancient collection of Midrashim (rabbinic interpretive commentary) called Bereshit Rabbah, grapples with this very question. It's a mind-bendi...
That’s kind of the vibe we get right at the very beginning of Bereshit Rabbah, the classic rabbinic commentary on the Book of Genesis. Rav Huna, quoting Bar Kapara, invokes a verse...
Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon starts us off with a powerful verse from Daniel (2:22): "He reveals the deep and the hidden [umsatrata]." Now, what exactly is being revealed? Rabbi Yehuda c...
Rabbi Yitzchak did. He started with a verse from Psalms: “The beginning of Your word is truth…” (Psalms 119:160). And then he dove right into Genesis, the beginning itself. Rabbi Y...
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, quoting Rabbi Levi, offers a fascinating analogy in Bereshit Rabbah, the great rabbinic commentary on Genesis. He says a builder needs six things: water, d...
The philosopher's challenge cuts right to the heart of things. He essentially says, "Your God is impressive, sure, but didn't He have a little help? All that…stuff…the emptiness, t...
Jewish tradition, in its wisdom, offers a gentle, yet firm, hand on our shoulder, guiding us back to the here and now. The very first verse of the Torah, Bereshit, "In the beginnin...
Rabbi Simon, quoting Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, shares something fascinating about the letters mem, nun, tzadi, peh, and kaf. You know, those letters that have different forms depend...
Rabbi Yudan, quoting Akilas, makes a profound point: "To this One it is fitting to call God." for a second. Why this One? What makes God so unique? Rabbi Yudan uses the analogy of ...
It might seem like a simple opening, but Jewish tradition finds layers of meaning even in the placement of God’s name in the very first verse. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai, a prominent f...
They believed every single letter, every seemingly insignificant word, held profound secrets. Take the very first verse of Genesis, Bereshit (בראשית): "In the beginning, God create...
This seeming contradiction sparked quite the debate amongst our Sages. Specifically, between the schools of Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel. These two houses, or schools, were known f...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to The Deep Meaning of Tohu Vavohu in the Book of Genesis. What does "emptiness and disorder" really mean? The Hebrew there is tohu vavohu. It's a phrase that...
Our sages grappled with these questions ages ago, and in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, they offer some pretty striking analogies. A king. He...
It sees echoes of the very first moments of creation rippling through time, playing out in the lives of individuals and entire generations. Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon, in Bereshit Rabb...
The Rabbis certainly did. In Bereshit Rabbah, an expansive collection of Rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, we find a fascinating take on the very first verses, conne...
Our sages certainly did. They saw echoes of history, morality, and even the fate of the Temple itself woven into those very first verses of Genesis.They offer profound insights int...
Surprisingly, there's a bit of a debate about it, even in ancient rabbinic texts. The verse that sparks this discussion is, of course, (Genesis 1:3): “God said, ‘Let there be light...
The sages of old grappled with this very question. Rabbi Berekhya, quoting Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon, offers a stunning image. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,” from (P...
Like many profound questions in Jewish tradition, the answer isn't simple, but layered with meaning. to a fascinating discussion recorded in Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection o...
It's like the whole thing is one giant, intricate tapestry. Take the creation of light, for example. The very first "Let there be light!" in Genesis. Rabbi Simon, in Bereshit Rabba...
Genesis tells us, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). Simple enough. But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), in Bereshit ...
Worlds created, then...undone. The image is striking, isn't it? Before our familiar heaven and earth, the Infinite, utterly alone, conceived of creation. The spark of Ein Sof, the ...
If you explore the ancient texts, particularly the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), you find some truly mind-bending ideas. The tradition turns to Bereshit Rabbah, a cla...
He sees the very first verses of Genesis as a foreshadowing of the choices we all face. "The earth was emptiness (tohu vavohu)" – he says, that represents the actions of the wicked...
The Bereshit Rabbah, a classic Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) collection that expands on the Book of Genesis, dives deep into the creation story. And in Bereshit Rabb...
We look up and see blue, clouds drifting by, maybe the sun blazing down. But what's really up there? Genesis, the very first book of the Bible, begins to tackle this question. In t...
The Torah tells us God spoke, and the world came to be. But how? Jewish tradition is rich with stories filling in those gaps, painting vivid pictures of the cosmic artistry involve...
The familiar reading treats the opening verses of Genesis, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water," and move on. But the Rabbis saw so much more in those words! What i...
Our ancestors did, too. And their answers, found in texts like Bereshit Rabbah, are mind-bending. Bereshit Rabbah, a foundational Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) text ...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They grappled with questions of creation, divine presence, and the seeming paradoxes of faith. And sometimes, they used the most unexpected method...
The rakia, the firmament – that expanse we see as the sky – is like a gigantic pool of water. Above that pool, there's a dome, and because of this cosmic pool, you get condensation...
Pretty impressive. But unlike the other days, there's no resounding declaration of "that it was good." Why this omission? The rabbis of old certainly wrestled with this question, a...
Our tradition, as always, has some fascinating ideas. to Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Specifically, The verse we're unp...
A God of pure, untamed power, riding not on a cloud, but on the very wings of the wind. Fiery lights blazing all around, crimson fire swirling. Four immense storm-winds whipping ab...
We begin with the verse: "God said: Let the water under the heavens be gathered to one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so" (Genesis 1:9). But the Rabbis, masters of ...
Take the creation story in Bereshit (Genesis). We read that the waters were gathered "to one place" (Genesis 1:9), allowing dry land to appear. But... what does that mean, exactly?...
Before humans, before animals, just… water. What was that like? Our sages imagined just that, and they gave the water a voice, a purpose, a mission. Bereshit Rabbah, that incredibl...
Creation is often remembered as this grand, instantaneous act. But what if I told you that even in the very beginning, there was a sense of…guidance, even sorrow? That’s what I’ve ...
Rabbi Yoḥanan, a towering figure in the Talmudic era, offers a startling idea. He suggests that when God created the sea, He made a deal. A condition (tna’o in Hebrew) that it woul...
We drink it, we swim in it, we depend on it. But what if that life-giving force turned on us? What if it rose up and swallowed everything whole? That's the kind of question the anc...
A reader can imagine grand, sweeping transformations, but sometimes, the most profound miracles are about containing the uncontainable – about fitting more into less. That’s what o...
