508 passagesc. 8th–9th century CEHebrew / AramaicCC-BY
Individual passages from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, shown in source order. Page 1 of 11.
His father, Hyrkanos, a wealthy landowner, has him toiling away on a rocky, unproductive patch of land. Eliezer sits down and weeps. "Why are you crying, my son?" Hyrkanos asks. "A...
The story begins with a simple question. Rabbi Jochanan, noticing something amiss, asks Eliezer if he knows the Shema' (the central Jewish prayer affirming God's oneness), the Teph...
There's this story in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early collection of Jewish stories and traditions, that gives us a glimpse into his life and the esteem in which he was ...
Their lives, intertwined with the political and spiritual currents of their time, offer fascinating glimpses into a world both familiar and profoundly different from our own. One s...
The tradition turns to the Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating work of Jewish literature that blends biblical narrative with folklore and homiletics. It tells us of a powerful en...
The story centers on Rabbi Eliezer, a renowned sage, and his father, Hyrkanos. Now, Hyrkanos overheard Rabbi Jochanan, a respected figure, praising young Eliezer's wisdom. But Hyrk...
The great sage Eliezer once found himself in a similar situation. We find this story in the Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating text that explores the lives and teachings of prom...
The tradition says before the Throne of Glory, before angels, before even the stars themselves, there was an ethereal essence, a primordial light. This light, this divine spark, is...
When God set about creating the world as we know it, what did God have to work with? The tradition tells us that God drew upon six primordial elements: light, darkness, chaos, void...
One of the most beautiful ideas is that God created the heavens by wrapping Himself in a prayer shawl – a tallit – of pure light. That for a moment: a tallit, but instead of wool o...
Jewish tradition has a way of making the immense feel intimate. Take the idea of heaven itself. It’s not some distant, cold abstraction. Instead, picture this: Heaven, according to...
Jewish tradition holds a fascinating idea: that God, in creating the world, deliberately left one small part of it unfinished. I know. Why would God do that? Well, according to Pir...
The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text that blends Biblical narrative with aggadic expansions, dares to explore this very question. It’s attributed to Rabbi ...
The ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating work of aggadah (Jewish storytelling and folklore), dives right into that very question. It's a bold move, isn't it? To try a...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an early medieval collection of biblical narratives and expansions, dives headfirst into this very question. It proposes that seven things were created befo...
In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text filled with stories and interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, God actually took counsel. With whom? With the Torah itsel...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to What Existed Before God Created Heaven and Earth. So, what exactly burst into existence on Day One? Well, according to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, it wa...
Creation is often remembered as this grand, almost industrial process, but Jewish tradition sometimes paints a far more intimate, almost…artistic picture. to one of those beautiful...
It paints a picture of creation that's both poetic and, well, So, where does the earth begin? According to this text, God took snow. Or ice, depending on the translation, from bene...
That feeling isn't new. Our ancestors grappled with the very same sense of being inside the universe, and ancient texts tried to make sense of that feeling in very tangible terms. ...
The ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating work of aggadah (storytelling) and biblical interpretation, offers a compelling explanation. It speaks of four quarters of th...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an ancient Jewish text, has a pretty unsettling answer: the north. Specifically, it tells us that the north is "the abode of the destroying spirits, earthqu...
It speaks of three incredible gifts that the Holy One, blessed be He, will bestow upon Israel in the days to come. What are these gifts, you ask? They're not material things, not g...
Did God have help when creating the world? It’s a question that’s sparked debate and wonder for centuries. Most traditions emphasize that God alone brought the universe into being,...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text, gives us a deeper dive. On the second day, this text tells us, the Holy One, blessed be He, didn't just create the firmam...
A fascinating and imaginative work of Jewish literature, the angels created on the second day of creation are quite the versatile bunch. When they're sent as messengers, they trans...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating ancient text, gives us a glimpse. It tells us that when He speaks westward, His voice resonates between the Cherubim – those powerful angelic ...
It paints a picture of the divine court, a place of unimaginable power and awe. It's a scene that's both terrifying and breathtaking. Right next to the very throne of God's glory s...
It tells us that the Chajjôth – these powerful, celestial beings that stand beside God’s throne – are constantly declaring, "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place" (Ezeki...
Jewish tradition, in its rich and imaginative way, offers some truly breathtaking answers. In the fifth chapter of Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text that ex...
Ancient Jewish texts are full of fascinating cosmologies, attempts to understand the workings of the universe, often blending science, poetry, and a deep sense of the divine. And o...
The ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating work of Jewish tradition, offers a powerful image. It speaks of clouds drawing water from the very depths – "He causeth the v...
In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) text, the sun and the moon weren’t always so different. Initially, they were cr...
There's a fascinating story in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a collection of stories and interpretations from the Talmudic period, about a celestial disagreement. Originally, the sun and...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer treats sacred time like a measured wheel, with the sun marking cycles inside cycles. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a remarkable work of Jewish tradition, dedicates...
This teaching might seem a little dense At first, but bear with me. It's like unlocking a secret code to understanding how the rabbis understood the rhythm of the year. We start wi...
It's a fascinating work, filled with stories and interpretations that blend biblical narratives with folklore and early scientific understanding. This particular passage, found in ...
They didn't have astrophysics, but they had something just as powerful: a tradition of stories and observations. It paints a picture of the sun's path, not as a simple arc, but as ...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an ancient and fascinating Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) text, gives us a glimpse into a truly remarkable cosmology. It paints a picture of t...
Ishmael, R. Elazar ben 'Arakh, R. Eliezer ben Hyrḳanos, and R. 'Aḳiba, a veritable dream team of Jewish scholars, all gathered together, deep in discussion about the Molad, the bir...
A fascinating early medieval text, it all happened with incredible precision. The scene: the fourth day of creation, night is falling. Suddenly, the stars and constellations burst ...
It’s no accident. For millennia, Jewish tradition has seen the moon not just as a celestial body, but as a living symbol of renewal, of cycles, and of profound connection to the di...
Here, in Chapter 7, we find ourselves amidst a rather involved astronomical discussion. The time it takes to move from one molad, or new moon, to the next is 13 days and 2619 "part...
This fascinating work, often abbreviated as PDR El., is a collection of stories, legends, and interpretations of the Torah, all attributed to Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, a prominen...
There's a bit of a mismatch, isn't there? According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text, that "bit" amounts to 10 days, 21 hours, and 204 parts! So, what h...
It seems so simple, but when you peek behind the curtain, you find a world of intricate detail. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an early medieval text filled with fascinating traditions, o...
You're not alone. Our ancestors, too, gazed at the stars, seeking meaning and guidance in their celestial dance. And according to ancient Jewish wisdom, that dance holds profound s...
This text, a beautiful pattern of biblical narrative, legend, and ethical teachings from around the 8th century CE, touches on something truly profound: the relationship between Is...
