Modern Compilations & Folklore
76 passages1915 CEHebrew / AramaicCC0
Individual passages from Otzar Midrashim (Eisenstein), shown in source order. Page 1 of 2.
It was said before Abraham was born. Nimrod was a heretic concerning the truth of the lord blessed be he. He was conceited and he said that he himself was a God. And the people of ...
Ten decrees were decreed upon Adam, ten upon Eve, ten upon the serpent, and ten upon the earth: Ten upon man: He was clothed in garments of splendor, but God stripped them from him...
These are the generations of Aaron and Moses. [Betai Midrashot (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Third Chamber] Our rabbis taught: Brothers who are partners and who increased asse...
Midrash on the death of Aaron "I lost the three shepherds in one month" (Zecharia 11:8); and thus, in one month, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses died. Miriam died on the 1st of the month ...
Sefer HaBahir or Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Rabbi Nehunya ben HaKana, as it is attributed to him, is a profound and wondrous book of Kabbalah, and it is held in gre...
The righteous reach the Garden of Eden and refuse to begin the feast without the Host. That is the nerve of Otzar Midrashim's Feast of the Garden of Eden. In the world to come, God...
At the gate of Gehinnom, two walls of angels do not whisper. They cry, "Give! Give!" Otzar Midrashim's Book of Gehinnom opens with Rabbi Zeira reading the leech's daughters in (Pro...
Tractate Hekhalot begins with a dangerous closeness. God is called High and Exalted. His throne is called high and exalted too. The text builds the claim name by name. God is Justi...
The opening of Megilat Antiochus, known as "The Greek Scroll," sets the stage for the Hasmonean revolt by introducing its villain. It was in the days of Antiochus, king of Greece, ...
It is written (Jeremiah 50:33) "Thus said the LORD of Hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, And so too the people of Judah etc." and it is written (ibid 34) "Their Redeemer is...
It is written, "The Lord established the earth with wisdom", this is the Torah. The Torah, where was it and where will it be? Why is it called Torah? Because a teaching descended t...
On the last day of his life, Moses did something no prophet had ever done, he dressed his successor in public, with his own hands. He commanded that a golden throne be brought, alo...
Rabbi Yishmael asks Metatron a question that sounds simple. Why are you called by so many names? Otzar Midrashim's Seventy Names of Metatron answers with a flood. Metatron is calle...
Abba Gurion: This is also called 'Agadta deMegilta' or 'Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Megillah', as it is based on the Book of Esther. Rabbi Aharon Yellinek published ...
Pirkei Avot, also known as "Ethics of the Fathers," is one of the most widely studied texts in all of Jewish literature. And one of the most unusual tractates in the Talmud. Unlike...
Avot d'Rabbi Natan: One of the minor tractates in the Babylonian Talmud under the order of Nezikin. It serves as a kind of Braitot or Tosefta (supplementary teachings to the Mishna...
Avkir: This Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) is named so because of the acronym at the end of the teachings: Amen, B'yamenu, Ken, Yehi, Ratzon (in our days, so be it). Th...
"Aggadah (non-legal rabbinic narrative): A Midrash on the Five Books of the Torah, found in a unique ancient manuscript in the world brought from Aleppo (Aram Tzova). It was publis...
Agadeta: There are many Midrashim (rabbinic interpretive commentary) called by the name 'Aggadah (non-legal rabbinic narrative)' or 'Agadeta' that were composed by the early schola...
Rabbi Menachem de Lonzano, a scholar active in the land of Israel and in Italy during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, is the chief witness to a midrashic work c...
Idra Raba and Idra Zuta: Two compilations from the Zohar, the first in the portion of Naso and the second in the portion of Ha'azinu. The term "Idra" in Greek means a gathering or ...
This entry from Otzar Midrashim, the anthology of minor midrashim assembled by Judah David Eisenstein, is not a narrative but a bibliographic note tracing the existence of a lost w...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Job": This is mentioned in the Yalkut Shimoni for Job, reference 997, and in "Matnot Kehuna" on Leviticus, chapter 96. God said to Job, ...
Eikha Rabbah: A midrash (Jewish rabbinic literature) on the Book of Lamentations (Eikha). It is also called Eikha Rabati, Aggadat Eikha, or Midrash Kinot. In the Tosefta (supplemen...
"Let not the rich person glorify themselves with their wealth (Yirm 9:22)." This [refers to] Korach the Levite, who had three hundred mules just to carry the load of the keys to hi...
The "Book of the Ways of Life," attributed to Rabbi Eliezer, reads like a father's urgent final letter to his son, a distillation of everything that matters into short, unforgettab...
When God created the first man from the dust of the earth, He looked at Adam standing alone and said what the Torah itself records: "It is not good for this man to be alone" (Genes...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Esfah": This midrash is based on the verse "Gather for me seventy men" (Numbers 11:16), explaining the names of those seventy individual...
The entry titled "Orchot Tushiya," the "Paths of Resourceful Wisdom," preserves a tradition about hidden teachings said to reach back to the very beginnings of Israel. According to...
The Holy One created twenty-two good attributes in His world. All of them were nullified and in the future the Holy One will return them to Israel in the time to come. They are: fo...
"Book of Trust": This book is attributed to Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira. Rabbi Hai Gaon (a renowned Jewish sage) mentioned it in his book "The Unity", and it was also referenced by th...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Ben Shua": The author of "Seder HaDorot" in Part 3, "Names of the Books", letter Mem, cites a "Midrash Ben Shua" in the name of Mar Rav ...
Midrash HaGadol: Several manuscripts of this midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) are found in well-known libraries, and one belonged to Dr. Alexander Kohut, who used it in t...
[R. Avraham Saba] also explains the reason for the counting of the omer in Parashat Emor, and these are [his] words: And in the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) HaGalui, ...
"Devarim Zuta": This is a midrash on the Book of Deuteronomy that was known to the author of the Yalkut Shimoni, and it appears in the Yalkut Shimoni for the Book of Deuteronomy 31...
"Haggadah (non-legal rabbinic narrative)": A collection of legends and tales that was available to the ancient scholars. Rashi, of blessed memory, cites it in Sanhedrin (31b): "I f...
"And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets": This midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) is based on the verse, "And a certain woman of the wives of the sons...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Vayisu": It is based on the verse "They journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were around them, and they did not pur...
"Zohar Chadash": It consists of some esoteric Torah teachings (letters), verses, and Mishnaic teachings with a concealed Midrash on the Torah and the Song of Songs, as well as some...
This lexical note from the Otzar Midrashim explains a term that recurs across rabbinic literature. Zuta is an Aramaic and Arabic word meaning "small," and it stands in deliberate c...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Chazit": It is also called "Aggadat Chazit", and it is a comprehensive midrash on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. These midrashim be...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Chacham HaRazim" (The Sage of Secrets): A Midrash regarding angels and gematria (Jewish numerology). According to Stein Schneider, this i...
This midrash belongs to a collection that reads meaning into the unusual spellings of Scripture, where a missing or extra letter signals a hidden lesson. Here the focus falls on th...
The deeds of Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi [from the Sefer Ma'asiot of Rabbi Nissim Ga'on; Beit Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)] Rabbi Joshua ben Levi discovered something so ...
Legend from "Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Eicha Rabati" [From "Beit Akeid Haggadot" Part 1, 37] God said to Jeremiah, "Go to Anathoth," for as long as Jeremiah was in...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Yitbarach (May He Be Blessed) Blessed be the name of the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He, who lives and endures forever and eve...
A Tale of Rabbi Kahana [From Batei Midrashot (rabbinic interpretive commentary), Volume 4] (Published by S. A. Wetheimer, 1897) A Tale of Rabbi Kahana: Rabbi Kahana and his wife we...
Masechet Kallah is one of the minor tractates in the Talmud, in the Order of Damages. It consists of external beraitot and mishnayot that were compiled at the end of the Talmud by ...
