270 passages in Rabbinic Midrash
Individual passages from Kohelet Rabbah, shown in source order. Page 5 of 6.
In fact, it's echoed in ancient texts that speak to the timeless struggle between humanity and… well, something much bigger than ourselves. The tradition turns to Kohelet Rabbah, a...
Even Moses, the great lawgiver himself, apparently had that problem! The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, a book known for its philosophical musings, contains the line, "The fool ...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, as it’s known in Hebrew, ends with this rather stark line: "For every action God will bring to judgment, for every unknown, whether good or ev...
Our tradition offers some powerful, and perhaps surprising, answers. Consider the interpretation offered by Rabbi Tanhum bar Ḥiyya on a verse dealing with the poor and the rich. He...
One minute you're soaring, the next you're... well, not. Jewish tradition understands this ebb and flow, this dance between joy and sorrow, and offers wisdom on how to navigate it....
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, touches on this very feeling. Specifically, there's a line in (Ecclesiastes 1:15) that says, "That which is warped can...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, wrestles with these very feelings. And Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Ecclesiastes, dives...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to Elijah — Moses at the Dawn of Creation. The first part, "What has been, already is," gets a fascinating unpacking. Imagine someone questioning if the entire...
Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, certainly does. And Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, really digs into the layers of meaning within its ver...
The Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, certainly does. And the ancient rabbis weren't afraid to confront that feeling either. Kohelet 5:15 laments, "This too...
It’s a timeless question, one that’s echoed in the Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) itself: "I have seen everything in the days of my vanity; there is a righteous person who perishes...
You're not alone. King Solomon, the wisest of men, grappled with this too. In (Ecclesiastes 8:15), he declares, "I praised joy, as there is nothing better for man under the sun tha...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to Noah's Greatest Failure Was Not Rebuking His Generation. This teaching connects this verse to Noah based on (Genesis 7:1), where God says, "For I have seen ...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to The Fool's Toil Exhausts Him Because He Cannot Find the Way. The first interpretation presented is They don’t seek help, they don’t try to understand. And “...
Our tradition wrestles with this very feeling. The book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, famously explores the futility of life, that "all is vanity." But within the rabbinic expansion...
That feeling of existential dread isn't new. In fact, it’s wrestled with in some of our most ancient texts. to a passage from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretatio...
Kohelet Rabbah turns a small city's forgotten rescuer into Joseph, the man who saved Egypt and was nearly erased from memory. The passage starts with a familiar scenario: "There wa...
That fear, that nagging doubt, echoes in the ancient words of Kohelet Rabbah, a rabbinic commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes. It grapples with the seeming unfairness of life, th...
It starts with a small city, a vulnerable one. “There was a small city,” the text says, and the rabbis interpret this city as none other than Egypt. “And few men in it” – these, re...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, grapples with these very questions. And the ancient Rabbis, in their commentary on Kohelet, called Kohelet Rabbah, really dig into t...
Take this one, from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes. It's a powerful allegory, and one we can all relate to. The story begins: ...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, dives into this very idea, using the verse "The wise man, his eyes are in his head, but the fo...
Kohelet Rabbah looks at a small city with few men and sees Sinai, with Moses standing against everything that threatens Torah. The passage starts with an allegory, a little parable...
It's part of the human condition. But have you ever considered that this struggle might be… a cosmic drama playing out on a miniature scale, right inside of you? That’s the kind of...
Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, offers a powerful image of what a synagogue, and the community within it, truly represents. It begins with the verse, "a sm...
Kohelet Rabbah, a midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) compilation on the Book of Ecclesiastes, uses a powerful allegory to describe this very struggle. It speaks of a "sma...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to The Heart's Many Roles According to the Sages. The ancient rabbis certainly pondered this. In Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on th...
The book of Ecclesiastes, Kohelet in Hebrew, certainly grapples with that feeling. "I hated life," it says, "because the actions performed under the sun were distressing to me; as ...
The verse from Ecclesiastes (3:16) sets the stage: “Moreover, I have seen, under the sun, in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of justice there is wickedn...
Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, really digs into that feeling. Our focus today is on a single verse, (Ecclesiastes 4:16): "There is no end to all the peopl...
Ecclesiastes has a way of naming the ache of a miserable life in language so spare it stops you cold. The rabbis of Kohelet Rabbah zeroed in on (Ecclesiastes 5:16): "In addition, a...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. And they wrestled with this tension in some fascinating ways. to a passage from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Bo...
(Ecclesiastes 8:16) says, "When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the matters that are performed on the earth, as both during the day and during the night, one does not...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this very feeling. "I said: Wisdom is better than courage, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, ...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, grapples with this very question, using the famous story of King Solomon and the two mothers t...
The Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it’s known in Hebrew, tackles this head-on. There's this passage that really hits home: "I hated all my toil that I toiled under the sun, as...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, grapples with this very question, stating, "I said in my heart: The righteous and the wicked, God will judge, as there is a time for every pur...
It all starts with a verse from Ecclesiastes (4:17): “Guard your feet when you go to the house of God, and draw near to heed. This is better than fools giving an offering, as they ...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, grapples with these questions. One verse in particular catches our attention: "Behold what I have seen to be good: That it is fine t...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as we know it in Hebrew, is full of those moments. And one verse in particular, 7:17, gives us a real head-scratcher: "Do not be overly wicked ...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this very feeling. "I saw all the work of God, as man is unable to discover the work that is performed ...
That idea is right at the heart of a beautiful passage from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes. The verse in question is (Ecclesia...
Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's called in Hebrew, is full of his reflections, and one line in particular always gets me: "For with much wisdom is much vexation; and one who increa...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to Are Humans Really Better Than Animals. First, the text considers the wicked. It suggests that the "speech of the sons of man" refers to the curses and blasp...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to The Gift of Enjoying What God Has Given You. Specifically, (Ecclesiastes 5:18) states: “Also any man to whom God has given wealth and property, and granted ...
The ancient sages felt that too, and they offered some pretty timeless advice on how to prioritize what truly matters. Our starting point is a verse from (Ecclesiastes 7:18): "It i...
Our sages grappled with it too, and one place where they explore this idea is in Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes. The verse in ...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, is part of the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible. Kohelet Rabbah, a Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) commentary on ...
