False Weights Bring Amalek - Midrash Tanchuma on Honest Scales

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Ki Teitzei 8:1

Curated by Arthur·Translated by Maggid (Beta)·

R. Berekhyah, in the name of R. Abba bar Kahana, opened: "Shall I be acquitted with wicked scales, etc." (Micah 6:11). Is it possible thus, that a generation whose measures are of falsehood should be acquitted? Rather, "and with a bag of deceitful weights" (ibid.). R. Levi said: Moses too hinted it to them in the Torah: "You shall not have in your bag a weight and a weight, and you shall not have in your house an ephah and an ephah, etc." (Deuteronomy 25:13-14). If you do so, the kingdom comes and provokes you. And what is the reason? "For an abomination to the LORD [your God] is everyone who does these, etc." (ibid., ibid., 16). What is written after it? "Remember what Amalek did to you" (Deuteronomy 25:17).

Themes

Divine JusticeDeceptionHumorWitProphecy

Biblical References

Continue Reading

Da'at TevunotThe Soul Sees Through the Eyes and Hears Through EarsIt's got all these different parts – arms, legs, eyes, ears – each with its own specific job and limitations. But the soul… well, that's something else entirelyMekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelThus with Tyre and Malchah with What They VauntedThe Mekhilta adds two more names to its list of nations whose arrogance led to their precise downfall: the great city of Tyre and its ruler Malchah (identified Sifrei DevarimDoing What Is Just in the Eyes of HeavenThe Sifrei Devarim, a crucial text in Jewish tradition, offers a fascinating glimpse into this very question. It quotes the verse from Deuteronomy, instructing Book of JubileesRetelling of GenesisThere are other ancient Jewish texts that fill in the gaps, offering fascinating, sometimes startling, glimpses into what might have been. One of those is the BBook of JubileesHow to Offer a Burnt Sacrifice on the Altar in JubileesThe altar is ready, the fire is burning, and the priests are preparing the offering. Jubilees says: "offer them all together on the altar of burnt-offering; it Book of JubileesLife of JudahForget the sanitized Sunday school version for a moment. to a raw, unfiltered account from the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser G