683 related texts · Page 7 of 15
The covenant at Moab in (Deuteronomy 29) is addressed to the Israelites standing there. Targum Jonathan expands the audience to infinity: "all the generations which have arisen fro...
Every Friday night, two angels follow you home from the synagogue. One is good. One is not. According to Shabbat 119b, what they find when they arrive determines what happens next....
Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair owned a donkey with a conscience. The Talmud in Tractate Taanit tells the story: some thieves stole the donkey and hid it in their cave for three days. They ...
The Hebrew Bible makes one of its most radical claims in (Deuteronomy 30:12-14): "It is not in heaven... nor is it overseas... for the matter is extremely close to you, in your mou...
How does one invite [others to recite a blessing]? With three [people], one says "let us bless [God]". With three and himself, he says "bless [God]". Gemara (the rabbinic commentar...
Translation: What is the law regarding the blessings of a non-Jew, whether he is a Torah scholar or not? Rabbi says: "If he blesses with enthusiasm, he is a Torah scholar, and if n...
Eleazar, the son of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai, inherited more than his father's brilliance in Torah. He was endowed with staggering physical strength — the kind of strength that seeme...
Blessing of Sabbath. Gen. R. 10 §4. Midr. Hagadol, Exod. Jithro. Krauss, Antoninus, p. 37. 121a. Money in Stick. Nedarim, f. 25 a. Shebuot, f. 29 a. Pesikta R. ed. Fried- mann, f. ...
That feeling, that raw, unfair sting, is at the heart of the story of Jacob and Esau, and the stolen blessing. The scene is set: Isaac, now old and with failing eyesight, calls for...
Take, for instance, the ritual of the sotah, the suspected adulteress, described in the Book of Numbers (Bamidbar). It’s… complicated. The priest writes curses on a scroll and then...
Take, for example, the strange and solemn ritual described in the Book of Numbers, chapter 5, concerning a woman suspected of infidelity. It’s a fascinating, and frankly unsettling...
It all starts with the line: “Moav was very alarmed by the nation because they were numerous, and Moav was dreaded by the children of Israel” (Numbers 22:3). But what does it reall...
He was a non-Israelite diviner, a kind of prophet, hired to curse the Israelites as they approached Moab. But the story takes a twist, doesn't it? Let's look at the moment when God...
to the story as told in Bamidbar Rabbah 20, a fascinating peek behind the curtain of this dramatic encounter. “Balak heard that Bilam had come,” the verse tells us. But Bamidbar Ra...
The scene is set in (Numbers 25:6): “Behold, a man from the children of Israel came and brought near to his brethren the Midyanite woman, before the eyes of Moses, and before the e...
God Himself steps in to clarify Pinḥas's lineage. But why now? What did God see that prompted this? The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bamidbar Rabbah 21,...
Jewish tradition grapples with this very question, particularly when it comes to the Land of Israel. The Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, presents a fascinating puzzle in chapt...
Because the answer, as is often the case with these things, is layered and lovely. We find a fascinating clue in Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of rabbinic interpretations...
(Genesis 3:14) tells us, "The Lord God said to the serpent: Because you did this, cursed are you from all the animals, and from all the beasts of the field; on your belly you shall...
No discussion, no back-and-forth, just BAM – the hammer drops. Well, Jewish tradition offers a fascinating glimpse into a moment just like that, right after the infamous episode in...
The Torah portion Lekh Lekha begins with God's instructions to Abraham, "Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show y...
The verse in question is (Genesis 14:19): "He blessed him, and he said: Blessed is Abram to God, the Most High, Maker of heavens and earth." But another way to read it is "Acquirer...
But the Rabbis, in their infinite wisdom, saw so much more. The Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, dedicates a whole section to unp...
The story, as you might recall, is…well, let’s just say it’s complicated. After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters are living in a cave. The daughters, be...
to a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, specifically section 55, and see what wisdom we can unearth. The pas...
The Torah tells us Avimelekh went to him "from Gerar, and a group of his associates, and Fikhol the captain of his guard" (Genesis 26:26). Simple enough. But the Rabbis, bless thei...
The Torah, and the wisdom of our Sages, are deeply concerned with justice, with making sure the scales are balanced. And the story of Isaac and his sons, Jacob and Esau, is a power...
We’re looking at section 66, and it all starts with the phrase, "And may God give you from the dew of the heavens." What’s so special about dew, anyway? The rabbis, masters of clos...
The passage revolves around the blessing, "May [God] give you" – in Hebrew, veyiten lekha. But it’s not just a simple wish. The rabbis see layers of meaning, built right into the g...
"Isaac summoned Jacob and he blessed him. He commanded him and said to him: Do not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan" (Genesis 28:1). Simple enough. But Rabbi Abahu sees som...
Rabbi Ḥanina, quoting Rabbi Pinḥas, makes a striking observation in Bereshit Rabbah. He points out that the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – are mentioned eighteen times in...
Seems straightforward. But a curious question arises, a question that leads us into a fascinating rabbinic debate found in Bereshit Rabbah 70. The scene opens with an idolater tryi...
We're in chapter 97, diving into Jacob's blessing of Joseph. The scene: Jacob, nearing the end of his life, blesses Joseph, saying, "The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isa...
The Torah portion Vayechi, at the very end of Genesis, gives us a glimpse into that very idea. Jacob, on his deathbed, blesses his sons. And when he blesses Joseph, it says, "He bl...
It's a wild ride of interpretations, isn’t it? The passage opens with Jacob's words: "Reuben, you are my firstborn." Now, Rabbi [Yehuda HaNasi], the compiler of the Mishnah (the ea...
We find ourselves in Bereshit Rabbah, a treasure trove of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, wrestling with Jacob's final blessings to his sons. And when he gets to D...
The story of Esau and Jacob is a classic example, and the Rabbis in Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homiletic interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, unpack it with incredible ...
We make choices every day about who or what we'll put our faith in. But what if the best choice wasn't about picking the flashiest option, but choosing the source of all blessings ...
It's like a subtle wink, inviting us to dig deeper and uncover hidden connections. Take this verse from Deuteronomy (7:13): "He will love you, bless you, and multiply you; He will ...
But as is so often the case with Torah, the rabbis unpack layers upon layers of meaning. What did it really mean when it says "he saw that there was no man"? The ancient rabbis of ...
(Exodus 4:20) tells us, "Moses took his wife and his sons, and mounted them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand." Simple enou...
It all revolves around Yitro, Moses' father-in-law. The verse we're looking at is “Yitro…heard” (Exodus 18:1), which is the start of the portion where Yitro comes to visit Moses in...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. In Shir HaShirim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Song of Songs, we find a powerful, poignant lesson woven into the seeming...
The Rabbis certainly did. one fascinating interpretation from Vayikra Rabbah, specifically Vayikra Rabbah 4, that unlocks layers of meaning in King David's timeless words. Rabbi Yo...
The Book of Esther opens with a single verse that the rabbis of Esther Rabbah read as a cry of anguish: "It was during the days of Ahasuerus" (Esther 1:1). But to understand why th...
to this a bit. The esteemed Rabbi Tam, of blessed memory, as we learn, was deeply troubled by these developments. He saw these new approaches to Kabbalah as a breach, a violation o...
Jewish mysticism offers us a glimpse, a whisper of understanding, and some of the most fascinating insights come from the Zohar, the foundational text of Kabbalah. And within the Z...
to what some of our sages have said about it. The verse reads, “Unto the woman He said: ‘I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy travail; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; ...
