1,021 related texts · Page 5 of 114
The lulav, the palm branch we wave during Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, seems simple enough. But what if that seemingly innocent branch had a dark secret? Vayikra Rabbah, a fasci...
There's a powerful, almost unsettling image in Midrash Tehillim, a collection of homiletic interpretations of the Book of Psalms. It speaks of someone being stripped bare, of havin...
It’s not quite the bodice-ripping romance novel you might (wrongly) imagine. Instead, there’s a fascinating, and frankly, surprisingly sensitive, layer of detail tucked away in the...
Our first stop: plowing. Deuteronomy 22 tells us, "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together" (Deuteronomy 22:10). Seems straightforward. But the rabbis of old, never one...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, pauses to reflect on just that. It unpacks a key verse, reminding us of the spe...
It’s a question that pops up surprisingly often in ancient texts. to one particularly vivid example from the Book of Jubilees. We’re talking about Jacob, remember him? He’s had qui...
21:1). Scripture states (elsewhere in reference to this verse): The strength also of the king who loveth justice. Thou hast established equity and righteousness in Jacob (Ps. 99:4)...
21:1). R. Abahu said in the name of R. Yosé the son of Zimra: Whenever the word eleh (“these”) is written, the lack of importance of the earlier generations is indicated, but whene...
21:1). Scripture says (elsewhere) in reference to this verse: These also are sayings of the wise. To have respect of persons in judgment is not good (Prov. 24:23). The Holy One, bl...
