508 passages in Rabbinic Midrash
Individual passages from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, shown in source order. Page 2 of 11.
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an early medieval text filled with fascinating stories and interpretations, paints a vivid picture of the moon's monthly journey. It describes the moon's ho...
The tradition I'm talking about comes from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text filled with aggadic (story-based) expansions on biblical narratives. In chapter...
For an agricultural society, it’s about knowing when to plant, when to harvest, and aligning our lives with the rhythms of the earth. In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating and sometimes enigmatic text, illuminates this very question. It tells us that the sun marks the days, and the moon the nights, their cycles a...
Like the calendar is just... off? Well, our ancestors in Egypt felt that way too. And it all ties into a fascinating, and often overlooked, concept: the Jewish calendar and the pra...
Our ancestors grappled with this too. And the way they dealt with it, according to ancient texts, is pretty darn fascinating. Think of it like a cosmic tune-up, making sure Passove...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, in chapter 8, touches on just that. It paints a picture of a world where the connection to the Holy One, blessed be He, isn't always a given. It suggests th...
One of the most fascinating pieces of that puzzle is the concept of intercalation – adding an extra month to the calendar in certain years to keep our lunar calendar aligned with t...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating and imaginative work of Jewish literature, tells us that on the fifth day, God commanded the waters to bring forth all kinds of winged fowl, b...
God is bringing forth life in abundance, filling the waters with all kinds of fish, male and female, both clean and unclean. But how do we tell the difference? How do we know what’...
Rabbi Eliezer certainly did. to one of his intriguing interpretations from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, chapter 9. It all starts with a seemingly straightforward verse from (Genesis 1:2...
In chapter 9, we find a surprisingly vivid image comparing rivers to the people of Israel. rivers, in their natural course, are a blessing. As the text says, "All rivers flowing on...
The ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of stories and interpretations, suggests that there just might be. The text draws our attention to the fifth day. ...
These are the kinds of questions the ancient rabbis loved to wrestle with. And in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer – a fascinating text that explores the secrets of creation and early biblic...
The familiar story centers on Jonah and the whale. But have you ever stopped to wonder why he ran away in the first place? It's not just simple disobedience. According to Pirkei De...
Trying to run from… God. That’s precisely the pickle Jonah found himself in. The familiar story centers on Jonah and the whale. But let's rewind a bit, because the beginning is jus...
The story picks up with Jonah fleeing God's command to preach repentance to Nineveh. He boards a ship, hoping to escape his divine assignment. But, as we quickly learn, you can run...
Jonah, told to prophesy to Nineveh, tries to flee from God's command by hopping on a ship. But a massive storm hits, threatening to sink everyone. And that's where our passage pick...
The story of Jonah is a powerful exploration of just that feeling, and how sometimes, sacrifice – even unwilling sacrifice – can bring calm to the storm. The familiar version gives...
The familiar version gives us the basic tale: prophet disobeys God, gets swallowed by a sea creature, repents, and is spit back out. But what about the details? What was it like in...
The familiar story centers on Jonah, swallowed whole for his disobedience. But what happened in the belly of the beast? Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of stories ...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Jonah's Miracle. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating and often imaginative work of aggadah – Jewish storytelling and folklore – fills in some of t...
It feels like the Bible just breezes through it: animals, done! But, of course, there's so much more to the story when you start digging. The scene. According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eli...
From the majestic lion to the tiniest insect, it's a dizzying array. But did you know that ancient Jewish texts actually categorized these creatures, drawing some pretty fascinatin...
It tells us that on the sixth day of creation, God brought forth from the earth a beast so massive it sprawls across a thousand hills. A creature so large it uses entire mountain r...
The creation story, as told in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (Chapter 11), gives us a fascinating peek behind the curtain of the divine workshop. It all starts with God, the Holy One, ble...
It asks: Why, when God formed humanity, did He gather dust from all four corners of the earth? Why not just use the local dirt? The answer, is surprisingly profound. It's about bel...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text filled with stories and interpretations, gives us a glimpse into just that. It breaks down the day of Adam's creation into...
The ancient text, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (chapter 11, to be exact), gives us a stunningly vivid picture. It describes how God formed the first human from a clod of dust. Not just a...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to All Creatures Bow Before Adam in the Garden. It all starts with Adam. You might picture Adam in the Garden, just chilling, naming animals. But Pirke...
The ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of stories and interpretations, dares to explore just that. It tells us about ten kings who, in their time, held d...
The book Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of Jewish legends and interpretations, touches on this very idea. It speaks of kings whose influence stretched to the very...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Death of Ahab. The text emphasizes the sheer scope of Ahab's dominion. It says he ruled "from one end of the world to the other." Now, that’s a pret...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval Jewish text, gives us glimpses of just such figures. It's not history in the way we think of it today, but more a tradition of ...
Jewish tradition tells us about a figure who embodied that very yearning: Alexander the Great. You might be thinking, "Alexander the Great? Isn't he, you know, Greek?" He is indeed...
Jewish tradition has a lot to say about that, and some of the most intriguing glimpses into the future come from a text called Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer. This isn't your typical bibli...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Where Was the Garden of Eden According to the Sages. That's where Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating and somewhat enigmatic text of Jewish tradit...
The familiar picture has them strolling among the trees, maybe tending to the flowers. But was there something more to their task? Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medie...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a beautiful and somewhat enigmatic work of Jewish literature, paints a picture of him almost as a divine being, "at his leisure in the Garden of Eden, like ...
There's a story in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer that might just shed some light on that. Rabbi Yehudah said that a wife would be either a great help to her husband, or, well, his opponen...
The usual narrative rushes through the creation of woman, but the ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer – a beautiful and often poetic work of aggadah (Jewish storytelling) – slows u...
Why the First Human Was Named Adam from the Earth is the question behind this passage from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Joshua ben Ḳorchah offers another perspective, a different ...
Forget the awkward toasts and questionable dance moves. Let's In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text filled with legends and interpretations, it was…well, let...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an early collection of Biblical stories and interpretations, gives us a glimpse. It paints a picture of a God deeply invested in the well-being of this new ...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text, paints a picture that's just breathtaking. Forget stuffy ceremonies; imagine this: the ministering angels, not stiff and ...
The serpent? Well, let's just say he plays a pivotal role. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating ancient Jewish text, offers a unique perspective on the events leading up to the ex...
The story of Sammael and the serpent offers a glimpse into that primal moment. A celestial being, a great prince in heaven. That was Sammael. Now, The Seraphim, even more elevated,...
Jewish tradition has explored this very idea for centuries, particularly when confronting the mystery of evil. One fascinating text, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a compilation of storie...
