1,036 related texts · 11 related myths · Page 2 of 22
After every encounter in the Tent of Meeting, Moses came out with his face alight. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 34:35) says plainly: the sons of Israel saw the countenance of ...
The most detailed account of the lost tribes of Israel comes from Eldad the Danite, a traveler whose report is preserved in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chron...
A reader can picture Moses as the ultimate authority figure, standing atop Mount Sinai. But what about the practicalities of his rule? The elders certainly held a position of respe...
You probably know Miriam as a prophetess, a singer, a leader. But she was also human, and like all of us, she wasn't perfect. There's a story in Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg) abou...
Reached the absolute limit of what you can do to help someone, and they just... won't listen? Well, Moses knew that feeling. And the story of Korach's rebellion really brings it ho...
Miriam wasn't just Moses' sister; she was a pivotal figure in her own right. She was a prophetess, a leader, and, perhaps most importantly, she was the reason the Israelites had wa...
The Torah, in its own way, grapples with this very question. We find ourselves in the Book of Exodus, a pivotal moment in the story of the Israelites. Moses is about to ascend Moun...
For forty long years, as they wandered, they had a constant companion: a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. The Torah tells us, in (Exodus 13:21), "And Yahweh w...
Like just when you think you've made it, something... shifts? Jewish tradition has a way of acknowledging that final, often fiery, transition. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating...
It’s a recurring theme in our tradition, and each instance carries a powerful lesson.This isn't a physical descent, but a drawing near, a manifestation of the Divine presence. This...
Maybe it's because, according to our tradition, words have power. Real, tangible power. And how we use that power matters. The book of Devarim, Deuteronomy, reminds us of this in a...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 4) transforms the Sinai revelation into something far more vivid than the Hebrew original. Where the Bible says God spoke from the fire, the Tar...
[Ed. "Menorah" down below should probably be Menuda. "Chazar l'Suro", is the only time in Chazal that that form appears. It appears frequently, also in regard to converts, as Chaza...
The Hebrew Bible says Moses, Aaron, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy elders "saw the God of Israel" (Exodus 24:10). This is an extraordinary claim, direct visual perception of the divine....
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 13:21) watches a miracle change its posture. By day the "glory of the Shekinah of the Lord" went before Israel in a column of cloud to lead th...
When God told Moses that every counted Israelite must give a half-shekel, Moses did not know what a half-shekel looked like. The coin did not yet exist in any earthly mint. So, Tar...
The Second Book of Maccabees, a historical and religious text not included in the Hebrew Bible but important for understanding the Second Temple period, tells us a fascinating stor...
The period of the Judges was an era of divine intervention so direct that storms fought battles and fires executed corrupt leaders. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th...
Zerubbabel won the riddle contest, but when King Darius offered him any reward up to half the kingdom, he asked for something no treasure could buy. According to the Chronicles of ...
The story of Moses' birth is a powerful evidence of that kind of bravery, laced with faith and a touch of the miraculous. It all begins with a decree from Pharaoh, ordering the dea...
It wasn't exactly a picnic. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) paints a picture of intense anticipation, mixed with a healthy dose of terror. From the moment the Israel...
The ancient Israelites certainly did. And sometimes, loss can make that feeling even more intense. You're trekking through the desert, following a cloud that miraculously smooths t...
Legends of the Jews turns to Moses Searches for the Right Rock After Miriam's Death. In Legends of the Jews, Louis Ginzberg tells how the miraculous well that had sustained the Isr...
(Exodus 14:20) "And it (the cloud) came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and it was cloud and darkness", cloud for Israel and darkness for Egypt; Israel in the lig...
(Exodus 15:20) introduces Miriam with a curious title: "the prophetess, the sister of Aaron." The Mekhilta immediately spots the problem. Miriam was the sister of both Aaron and Mo...
Isn't it fascinating how language can be so fluid, so open to interpretation? The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) starts with a rather stark statement: "Speak differentl...
It’s a question humanity has grappled with for millennia. Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Psalms, tackles this very question head-on in it...
The mystics did, and they connected it directly to the Divine. how do we respond to new beginnings? With joy, with song, with dance! And according to the Midrash Tehillim, a collec...
The Torah portion of Bamidbar (Numbers) opens a fascinating window into exactly that, with a story about Miriam and Aaron speaking against their brother, Moses. The verse in (Numbe...
Jewish tradition certainly has, and it teaches us profound lessons about cause and effect, especially when it comes to how we treat others.It all starts with a verse from Bamidbar ...
The book of Bamidbar (Numbers), specifically chapter 18 in Sifrei Bamidbar, to examine the intense responsibilities placed on the Kohanim and Levi'im (Levites) and the consequences...
The verse from Song of Songs (7:5) reads, "Your eyes are like the pools in Cheshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim." What could this possibly mean? The text explains that "Your eyes" r...
Not in a scary, Big Brother kind of way. More like… a loving parent hoping you’ll make the right choices. This idea comes to life in the Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal inter...
"Go, and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, The Lord God of your fathers hath appeared unto me, the God of Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, saying, Remembering, I have remem...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan records God's reason for the coming theophany: "Behold, on the third day I will reveal Myself to thee in the depth of the cloud of glory, that the people...
The plain verse of (Exodus 24:18) is almost flat. Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain, and he was there forty days and forty nights. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan cannot ...
When Moses entered the tabernacle of instruction, the heavens did not stay silent. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the Aramaic paraphrase of the Torah, gives us the scene in its fullness. ...
That image, that feeling, is right at the heart of Psalm 91, and it takes center stage in a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah 12. The verse "He who dwells in the shelter of ...
The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bamidbar Rabbah 15, tells us that crafting the menorah was uniquely challenging for Moses. More so than any other objec...
Bamidbar Rabbah, in section 15, tackles this very question, and the answers are surprisingly profound. "Toward the front of the candelabrum, the seven lamps shall illuminate," the ...
The story of the menorah, the candelabrum in the Tabernacle, as told in Bamidbar Rabbah 15, is a wild ride about just that. It's a reminder that even Moses, the ultimate receiver o...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to Miriam and Divine Judgment. Our story comes from Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers (Bamidbar in Hebrew). It’s a tr...
The verse But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) weren't just interested in the visual. They wanted to understand the why behind the what. The Midrash beg...
It starts with a verse from Deuteronomy (4:25): "When you will beget children, and children’s children, and you will have been long in the land, and you will act corruptly and craf...
The Jewish tradition certainly does. In fact, it links our speech directly to our relationship with the Divine. Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homilies on the Book of Deuteronomy,...
That feeling isn’t new. In fact, it echoes through one of the most powerful stories in the Torah. The familiar story centers on Moses. Born into slavery, hidden away, destined for ...
The Torah tells us, "His sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter: ‘Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’" (Exodus 2:7). But why specifically ...
Shemot Rabbah turns to Moses Gathers the Elders With a Secret Sign. Why the elders? Shemot Rabbah emphasizes the vital role elders play in upholding Israel. It draws a parallel to ...
