1,056 passages in Rabbinic Midrash
Individual passages from Bereshit Rabbah, shown in source order. Page 8 of 22.
The verse at the heart of this discussion is (Genesis 9:6): "One who sheds the blood of man, by man his blood shall be shed, as He made man in the image of God." Simple enough The ...
It all starts with a verse in Genesis. "And you, be fruitful, and multiply; [teem on the earth, and multiply upon it]" (Genesis 9:7). Sounds But Reish Lakish, a prominent scholar o...
The story of Noah, after the flood, grapples with this very question. The familiar story is this: the world drowned in sin, Noah builds an ark, saves his family and the animals. Bu...
The Torah tells us that the rainbow is a sign of the covenant between God and humanity after the flood, a promise that the world will never again be destroyed in that way. As it sa...
In fact, according to Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of Rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, the rainbow holds profound meaning, a glimpse, perhaps, into the ver...
Instead of simply moving on, the midrash connects this verse to a seemingly unrelated one from the Book of Job: "He is silent, and who can condemn? He conceals His face; who can se...
The Book of Job (34:24) tells us that God "shatters [yaroa] the powerful without number." What does that even mean? Well, Midrash Rabbah, specifically Bereshit Rabbah 36, interpret...
The Rabbis certainly wondered. Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, dives deep into this seemingly simple verse. It asks, why a viney...
The familiar picture has Noah releasing the dove, seeing the rainbow, and rebuilding the world. But the Torah tells us a less rosy story, a story of wine, exposure, and consequence...
There's a curious incident involving Noah's son, Ḥam, that raises some eyebrows and leads to some pretty profound interpretations. (Genesis 9:22) tells us, "Ḥam, father of Canaan, ...
The Torah gives us a glimpse in the story of Noah and his sons after the flood (Genesis 9:20-27). It's a tale of nakedness, shame, and ultimately, divine reward and retribution. to...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Noah's Transgression of Canaan. First, the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) clarifies that "Noah awoke from his wine" means simply that the wine'...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Noah's Transgression of Shem. “Blessed be the Lord, God of Shem, and Canaan shall be their servant… May God expand Yefet, and he shall dwell in the tents o...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to The Descendants of Yefet and the Nations They Became. The text dives right in, identifying Gomer, Magog, and Madai with Africa, Germania, and Madai (which,...
Consider the sons of Ḥam (חָם), Noah's son: "Kush, and Mitzrayim, and Put, and Canaan" (Genesis 10:6). We see the names that echo through history – Mitzrayim, which is Egypt, and C...
It's like a chameleon, shifting its color to match the background. Take the Hebrew word hu, meaning "he is" or "he was." It But in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpr...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Nebuchadnezzar and Creation of Shinar. Our journey starts with (Genesis 10:10): “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erekh, and Akad, and Kalne, in...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Kingdom of Mitzrayim. The really interesting thing, as the Rabbis point out in Bereshit Rabbah, is that all these names seem to have a connection to the ya...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Birth of Ham. "And Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Ḥet," the Torah tells us (Genesis 10:15). Then comes a whole string of "ites": "And the Yevusites,...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Birth of Shem. The text teases out this question, drawing on other verses. (Genesis 11:10) tells us that Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arpakhshad...
Bereshit Rabbah 37 explores the lineage of Noah's descendants. The verse It's that name, Ḥatzarmavet, that really caught the rabbis' attention. Rabbi Huna offers a rather grim inte...
The familiar version gives us the basic narrative: humanity, united by a single language, decided to build a tower reaching to the heavens. God, displeased with their ambition, con...
That frustration, that sense of futility, echoes through a powerful passage in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Rabbi Abba kicks th...
It turns out, our sages have been wrestling with that feeling for centuries. Rabbi Yoḥanan opens with a powerful proverb: "One who repays good with evil, evil will not move from hi...
Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, explores this concept with a powerful verse from Isaiah: "They do not know and they do not underst...
(Genesis 11:1) tells us, "Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words." Imagine the possibilities! With this miraculous language, some say, anything could be accompl...
Rabbi Azarya opens with a striking verse from Jeremiah (51:9): “We sought to heal Babylon, but it was not healed; forsake it, and let us go, each to his land, as its judgment reach...
The familiar version gives us the basic plot: humanity, united and speaking one language, decides to build a tower so tall it reaches the heavens. God, not thrilled with this ambit...
The familiar version gives us the basic story: humanity, unified and speaking a single language, decides to build a tower reaching the heavens. God, not thrilled with this display ...
The familiar version gives us the basics: humanity, united by a single language, attempts to build a tower reaching the heavens. God, seeing this as a threat, scatters them and con...
The familiar story is this: humanity, united in language and ambition, dared to build a tower reaching to the heavens. God, displeased, scrambled their languages, scattering them a...
It happens to the best of us. And sometimes, the reason is more profound than just a lack of sleep or a complicated explanation. Our story begins with the Tower of Babel. Remember ...
Take Terah, for example, the father of Abraham. The Torah introduces him with a doubled name: "These are the descendants of Teraḥ. Teraḥ begot Abram, Naḥor, and Haran, and Haran be...
Young Abraham did. And his confusion led him to a profound realization about the nature of… well, everything. Being a kid, really seeing the world for the first time. Abraham, not ...
The Torah gives us glimpses, but it's in the rabbinic stories, the aggadah (non-legal rabbinic narrative), that we really get a sense of the spiritual climate. One story, found in ...
The Torah gives us hints, but it's in the rabbinic tradition where things get really interesting, where they piece together the ages and relationships to illuminate the story. (Gen...
The story of Abraham begins with just such a call. (Genesis 12:1), a verse etched into the heart of Jewish tradition, tells us: "The Lord said to Abram: Go you, from your land, and...
Bereshit Rabbah, a classic compilation of Rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, offers a stunningly beautiful image to explain Abraham’s rise to greatness. It all starts...
Our guide? The ancient Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Specifically, "The Lord said to...
Our ancestors certainly did. And in the story of Abraham, we find the ultimate tale of answering that call. God speaks to Abraham, then still Abram, and says, "Lekh lekha" – "Go yo...
Rabbi Azarya, quoting Rabbi Aḥa, starts with a verse from Psalms (45:8): "You love righteousness and abhor wickedness. Because of this, God, your God, has anointed you over your co...
Sometimes, the most sacred journeys require us to confront the most difficult of family ties. Our story begins with Avram, later Abraham, and a seemingly simple command from God: "...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to The Double Command of Lekh Lekha to Abraham. Our source is Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. In sec...
Jewish tradition certainly has something to say about that, especially when it comes to the story of Abraham and his monumental tests of faith. to Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collec...
Take this story from Bereshit Rabbah 39, a midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) – that is, an interpretive commentary – on the Book of Genesis. Rabbi Berekhya, quoting Rabbi ...
The Torah portion Lekh Lekha begins with God's instructions to Abraham, "Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show y...
A powerful promise from God to Abraham: "I will bless those who bless you, and one who curses you, I will curse, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you" (Genesis...
Our ancestors dealt with that too, as we see in the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot. The book of Genesis (12:4) tells us, "Abram went, as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot we...
