562 related texts · Page 17 of 63
The Talmud, specifically Tractate Gittin 56b, recounts the horrific events surrounding the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It wasn't just a military defeat; it was a ...
Sometimes, the observations are...well, let's just say they offer a unique perspective. Imagine someone, unfamiliar with Jewish practice, trying to describe what they see. It might...
Today, let's delve into one of those: the tragic tale of Nadav and Avihu. We find it in Numbers 3:4: "Nadav and Avihu died before the Lord when they offered alien fire before the L...
It’s a tale of ambition, delusion, and a very dangerous offering. The scene is set: Moses, leading the Israelites. And then comes Koraḥ, a Levite, challenging Moses’s leadership, s...
He sees the very first verses of Genesis as a foreshadowing of the choices we all face. "The earth was emptiness (tohu vavohu)" – he says, that represents the actions of the wicked...
Even Shabbat, the day of rest, felt that way once. Isn't that incredible? Our sages grappled with a question: why did God specifically bless Shabbat? Bereshit Rabbah, a collection ...
We're looking at Chapter 42, which grapples with a seemingly simple verse: "Twelve years they served Kedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled" (Genesis 14:4). It sound...
That’s the sense I get reading Bereshit Rabbah 98, a beautiful passage from the ancient midrashic collection, which interprets a verse from Psalm 57:3: “I cry out to God on High, t...
Her story, found in Kohelet Rabbah, the commentary on Ecclesiastes, is a stark reminder that joy and sorrow can be two sides of the same coin. The verse we're looking at is from Ec...
