1,056 passages in Rabbinic Midrash
Individual passages from Bereshit Rabbah, shown in source order. Page 22 of 22.
The Torah tells us, "Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, and it displeased him; he supported his father’s hand, to remove it from the he...
It’s a beautiful custom, wishing them the qualities we admire in these two brothers. But there's something even more interesting hidden within that blessing, something that goes ba...
The verse in question is (Genesis 48:21): "Israel said to Joseph: Behold, I am dying, and God will be with you, and He will restore you to the land of your fathers." It seems strai...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in Jacob's Psalm. It's a treasure trove of wisdom. So, how does this verse tie into these High Holy Days? Well, the Midrash ex...
The Torah tells us, "Jacob called to his sons, and he said: Gather, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days. Assemble and hear, sons of Jacob, and listen to Isr...
The verse in (Genesis 49:2) reads, "Assemble and hear, sons of Jacob." But the Rabbis of old, wrestling with the text, saw something more. Rabbi Berekhya, sometimes quoting Rabbi Ḥ...
It's a wild ride of interpretations, isn’t it? " Now, Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi], the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law), offers a double-edged interpretation. ...
The story starts with a quote from (Genesis 49:5): "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of villainy are their heritage." But what does it really mean? Bereshit Rabbah, an ancient...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to David — Judah at the Dawn of Creation. The Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah unpack this verse, line by line, revealing layers of meaning. "Judah, you shall your b...
It's (Genesis 49:9): “Judah is a lion cub; from prey, my son, you ascended. He crouches, lies like a lion, and like a great cat, who shall rouse him?” Right away, the image of a li...
Beyond being one of the twelve tribes of Israel, it carries a unique promise, a prophecy intertwined with leadership, lineage, and ultimately, the coming of the Messiah. to a fasci...
Peel back the layers, and you'll find a fascinating pattern of interpretations woven by our sages. The Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah 98, for example, don't just see a vineyard. They se...
The verse Now, The first reading, it sounds like a blessing of abundance, of a land flowing with good things. But our sages, oh, they saw so much more. In Bereshit Rabbah, a classi...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Jonah — Zebulun at the Dawn of Creation. The verse in question is (Genesis 49:13): "Zebulun will dwell at the shore of seas, and he will be a shore for shi...
It wasn't just a simple story; it was a portal to layers of meaning, hidden connections, and profound insights. Take Jacob's blessing to his son Issachar in (Genesis 49:14-15): “Is...
The Torah gives us stories of such people again and again, and one of the most striking is Samson. Our text from Bereshit Rabbah (98) explores the strength – and the thirst! – of t...
In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, they dig deep into this verse, connecting it to the story of Samson, the legendary strongman from t...
The story begins with the tribes of Reuben and Gad. As Israel was in the process of conquering and dividing the land, these tribes, as the midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary...
The Torah, in (Genesis 49:20), says of Asher, "From Asher, his bread is rich, and he will provide royal delicacies." Simple enough. But as is often the case with sacred texts, ther...
First, "Naphtali is a doe let loose [sheluḥa]." The Rabbis connect this to the land of Naphtali being full of irrigated fields [beit hashelaḥin]. They point to (Deuteronomy 3:17), ...
The Torah describes Joseph as a "fruitful tree, a fruitful tree alongside a spring; branches run over the wall" (Genesis 49:22). But what does that really mean? The rabbis in Beres...
It’s a universal feeling, and it echoes even within the ancient texts of our tradition. The verse in question is (Genesis 49:23), part of Jacob's blessing to his sons: "They embitt...
The familiar story centers on Joseph and Potiphar's wife, but the ancient rabbis saw layers of complexity there, hints of struggle just beneath the surface. to a fascinating passag...
In Bereshit Rabbah, the classic collection of Rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, there was some serious competition involved. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive comme...
The Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) take this idea and run with it, suggesting that Jacob and Moses, in their own ways, foreshadowed the battles between th...
Sometimes, a single verse can unlock a whole world of meaning, revealing connections between different figures and events throughout Jewish history. to one such verse from (Genesis...
The sages of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), particularly in Bereshit Rabbah, that treasure trove of Genesis interpretations, weren't fond of repetition. They belie...
In Jewish tradition, there are stories about those who tried, and what happened when they did. Our story today comes from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpre...
The story of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, is a powerful illustration of just that – a tale of lost potential, impulsive actions, and the consequences that ripple through generations....
One particularly intense moment: Jacob's words about Simeon and Levi. It all starts with the verse: "Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of villainy are their heritage" (Genesis ...
It all goes back to Jacob's blessings to his sons on his deathbed, a scene fraught with emotion and anticipation. And within that scene, the blessing to Judah stands out, packed wi...
The Torah portion Vayechi gives us a glimpse into just that, through the blessings Jacob bestows upon his sons. to the unique dynamic between Zebulun and Issachar. Jacob, nearing t...
Bereshit Rabbah reads Jacob's blessing of Issachar as a portrait of labor, trade, and Torah scholarship. The verse calls Issachar "a strong-boned donkey, lying between the sheepfol...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Dan's Transgression of Samson. The text offers a few perspectives. The first compares Dan to Judah, singling out Judah as "the most special [kamyuḥad] of t...
We start with Asher. Jacob's blessing, "From Asher, his bread is rich, and he will provide royal delicacies," (Genesis 49:20) seems straightforward enough. But the rabbis in Beresh...
(Psalm 100:3) declares, "Know that the Lord is God." But it's the next part that really sparked their interest: "He made us, and we are His" (Psalm 100:3). Or is it? See, the Hebre...
The book of Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic homilies on the Book of Genesis, gives us a peek into just that, focusing on the patriarch Jacob and the sage Rabbeinu Yehuda ...
The sages grappled with this question, and their answers reveal fascinating insights into divine justice and human fallibility. Our story begins, as it often does, in the Book of G...
The verse in (Genesis 50:3) tells us, "Forty days were completed for him, as so are the days of embalming completed. Egypt wept for him for seventy days.” Then, just a verse later,...
The familiar reading treats the Torah focusing on the big picture, but sometimes, it's in the details that we find the most fascinating human drama. Take the story of Jacob's death...
The Torah portion of Vayechi recounts the death of Jacob and the journey to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah. We read in Genesis (50:10-11): “They came to the threshing floor of A...
Take mourning rituals, for example. The familiar seven-day period of intense mourning, the shivah. Where did that come from? The Rabbis of old grappled with this very question. "Th...
The story of Joseph and his brothers, as told in Genesis, is a classic example. But what happens after the happy reunion, after Jacob's death and the grand funeral procession back ...
After years of slavery in Egypt, orchestrated by his own brothers’ jealousy, Joseph rose to become second-in-command to Pharaoh. When famine struck, who should come begging for foo...
A reader can read the Torah as a collection of individual stories, but the rabbis of old saw something more: echoes, parallels, and meaningful connections woven throughout the gene...
It’s a theme that runs deep in Jewish tradition, and it surfaces in the story of Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, who rose to prominence in Egypt. We find ourselves at the end of ...
The verse in question is (Genesis 49:28): "This is what their father Jacob spoke to them." But the Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah notice something subtle. It doesn't say, "This is what ...
It’s a deep-rooted tradition, one filled with both sorrow and, surprisingly, a glimmer of hope. But what’s the connection between grief and joy? Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collecti...
