Parshat Chukat

985 related texts · Page 60 of 110

The red heifer purification ritual, the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, Moses strikes the rock, and the bronze serpent. Numbers 19:1-22:1.

Moses and the Heavenly Realms of Presence

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 2:25

Their answer is both clever and chilling: The wilderness of Sinai was where they received their death sentence. How could that be? The key, it seems, lies in Exodus 24:11: “Against...

HeavenMosesSolomonTorah

Moses's Transgression and Presence

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 3:9

Every. Single. One. Think about the logistics! As it says in Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah), Moses was understandably a little… hesitant. "You want me to go into every courtyard,...

HeavenMosesShekhinah

Levi: Kehat and the Origins of the World

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 3:12

It wasn't a random free-for-all. The Book of Numbers gives us a fascinating glimpse into a highly structured encampment around the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. And Bamidbar Rabbah, a c...

CreationHell/GehennaNoah & FloodMoses

Aram: Jacob at the Dawn of Creation

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 4:1

The text opens with a seemingly straightforward instruction: "The Lord said to Moses: Count every firstborn male of the children of Israel from one month old and above, and take th...

CreationHeavenAngelsPatriarchs

Moses's Journey and Levites

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 4:7

We find ourselves in just such a situation in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew. Specifically, in Bamidbar Rabbah, a Midrashic compilation – that is, a collection of interpre...

MosesHoly Land

Aaron and Moses and the Firstborn

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 4:11

Let’s talk about shekels. Not just any shekels, but sacred shekels. Specifically, we’re looking at Numbers 3:50, which tells us about the silver taken from the firstborn of Israel:...

MosesMessiahHoly Land

Aaron and the Ark of Kehat

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 4:12

The Book of Numbers, or Bamidbar in Hebrew, gives us some fascinating insights into this very question, particularly in the fourth chapter, as explored in Bamidbar Rabbah, a classi...

Noah & FloodMosesTemple

Aaron and Noah of Tabernacle

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 4:18

It wasn't just a matter of tossing everything into a wagon. There was a precise order, a sacred choreography, and it all begs the question: Why this order? Bamidbar Rabbah, specifi...

Noah & FloodMosesTempleEgypt

Jacob: Kehat and the Origins of the World

Midrash Rabbah Bamidbar Rabbah 6:2

Why priests were priests, Levites were Levites, and the firstborn... well, what was the deal with the firstborn? Our story begins in Bamidbar Rabbah 6, a section of the great Midra...

CreationHeavenNoah & FloodPatriarchs