10,602 related texts · Page 46 of 221
The book of Devarim, Deuteronomy, in the Sifrei Devarim, hints at a pretty profound and maybe unsettling answer: yes, it kind of does. The text speaks of exacting a price "for the ...
Sarah died at one hundred and twenty-seven years old. The Torah records the number. The Targum records the aftermath: Abraham came from "the mountain of worship"—Mount Moriah, wher...
The standard Bible tells you Rachel stole her father's household gods when Jacob fled Laban's house. The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation from roughly the 1st-2nd ce...
The manna story in (Exodus 16) raises an obvious question: where did this miracle food come from? The Hebrew Bible says God "rained bread from heaven." The Targum Jonathan gives a ...
The Targum Jonathan opens Leviticus 11 with a number the Hebrew Bible never provides: Israel must "separate on account of uncleanness eighteen kinds of food to be rejected." The st...
Leviticus 24 tells the story of a man who blasphemed God's Name and was stoned. The Targum Jonathan turns this brief account into a full courtroom drama with backstory, legal philo...
Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses. The Hebrew Bible is vague about why. The Targum Jonathan fills in the backstory with a Cushite queen, a celibate prophet, and a divine rebuke tha...
After Aaron died, the protective Cloud of Glory vanished. Amalek, who had disguised himself by taking the throne of Arad, saw his opportunity. The Targum's version of (Numbers 21) ...
The Targum's version of (Numbers 23) reveals Bileam's inner strategy. When he looked at Israel, "he knew that strange worship was among them, and rejoiced in his heart." He spotted...
Rise! Shine! For your light has come. Rebe Yochanan said: this can be compared to one who was going on his way in the evening. One comes along and kindles a candle for him, and it ...
(4) R. Joshua, however, says: "Whence do we know that the Patriarchs were born in the month of Nissan? It is said (I Kings 6, 1) In the fourth year, in the month Ziv (glory), which...
(16) (Ib. b) (Ex. 34, 6), And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed. R. Jochanan said: "Had this passage not been written, it would have been impossible to think of it, for ...
Hiram, king of Tyre made seven artificial heavens placed on pillars of iron, first of glass, sun, moon and stars. Second of iron, with a lake of water in it; third of tin with prec...
During a terrible famine, King Monobaz opened the royal treasury and distributed everything inside it to the poor. Every coin, every jewel, every stored reserve of wealth that his ...
A father prepared a wedding feast for his son. Guests arrived from distant cities. Music filled the courtyard. Wine flowed. The bride was radiant, the groom joyful, and the father'...
In a certain town, a young woman had been married for years but could not conceive. Her husband loved her, and they prayed together for a child, but month after month passed with n...
In a time of devastating drought, the people of Israel came to Honi ha-Meagel — "Honi the Circle-Drawer" — and begged him to pray for rain. Honi drew a circle in the dirt, stepped ...
The great Moses himself had such an experience. As we read in (Exodus 4:24), on the road one night, Adonai—God—encountered Moses and sought to kill him. Talk about a plot twist! Wh...
One that opens up a whole world of understanding about the special role this tribe played. Our story starts in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, which literally means "in th...
These aren't mistakes. They're invitations to delve deeper, to wrestle with the text and uncover hidden layers of meaning. Consider this: In (Hosea 2:1), we read about the children...
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...
The answer, according to our tradition, is complex, but at its heart lies a profound connection between God and Israel, a bond so strong that it influences even divine judgment. Th...
It's almost like a cosmic nudge, inviting us to dig a little deeper. Take, for example, the juxtaposition of the laws concerning lepers right before the section detailing the dutie...
Especially when we delve into the curious case of the sotah – the suspected adulteress – in Numbers chapter 5. It’s a wild ride, full of ritual, suspicion, and a whole lot of barle...
The Torah (Numbers 5:17) instructs the priest to take "sacred water in an earthenware vessel, and from the dirt that is on the floor of the Tabernacle...place it into the water." B...
The passage kicks off with a powerful image: "In an earthenware vessel." Rabbi Meir offers a striking contrast. If the woman being accused of infidelity enjoyed fine wine in fine g...
Bamidbar Rabbah 12, a section of the classic midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic text, wrestles with this very question, using the construction of the Tabernacle – the mis...
The text opens with a seemingly simple observation about the dedication offerings brought by the princes of the tribes. "On the third day, prince of the children of Zebulun, Eliav ...
It's like peeling back the layers of an onion – the deeper you go, the more you discover. Today, we're diving into Bamidbar Rabbah 14, a section of the Bamidbar Rabbah, which itsel...
It's not just about the surface story; the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) saw layers upon layers of meaning, connections between seemingly disparate verse...
to a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically section 14, which grapples with just that question, focusing on the anointing of the altar and its implications for the ...
Sometimes it feels like wading through ancient accounting ledgers. But hidden within those seemingly dry details are profound connections – whispers of cosmic harmony and echoes of...
It all starts in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar (Numbers 19:2), with the words: “This is the statute of the Torah that the Lord commanded, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, a...
It’s a question that echoes through the story of Moses and the waters of Mei Meriva – the waters of dispute. "These are the waters of dispute, where the children of Israel quarrele...
Sometimes, it really was – especially when it came to dividing the land of Israel among the tribes. But this wasn't just some random drawing. Oh no, this involved divine interventi...
Rabbi Simon, quoting Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, shares something fascinating about the letters mem, nun, tzadi, peh, and kaf. You know, those letters that have different forms depend...
We often read the opening verses of Genesis, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water," and move on. But the Rabbis saw so much more in those words! What images did they...
It’s easy to imagine grand, sweeping transformations, but sometimes, the most profound miracles are about containing the uncontainable – about fitting more into less. That’s what o...
The Rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of ancient interpretations on the Book of Genesis, dig into this very question. They offer a stunning little insight: Eret...
It’s in (Genesis 2:2): "God completed [vayechal] on the seventh day." But wait a minute! Didn't God finish creating everything on the sixth day? The sages of the Midrash (rabbinic ...
The verse in question? (Genesis 2:3): "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His labor that God created to make." But what does it mean th...
The verse we're focusing on is from (Genesis 2:7): "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground [adama], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became ...
We often picture it as a divine spark, a breath of life. But the ancient rabbis, wrestling with the very same questions millennia ago, explored some surprisingly earthy possibiliti...
We read in (Genesis 6:9), "These are the offspring of Noah; Noah was a righteous man." A pretty great opening line. But what does it really mean? The Rabbis of the Bereshit Rabbah,...
We all know the basic story: humanity, unified and speaking a single language, decides to build a tower reaching the heavens. God, not thrilled with this display of hubris, scatter...
We all know the story: humanity, united in language and ambition, dared to build a tower reaching to the heavens. God, displeased, scrambled their languages, scattering them across...
Abraham suddenly notices his wife is beautiful – like, really beautiful – and expresses concern that the Egyptians will kill him to get to her. He asks her to pretend to be his sis...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating little debate from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Specifically, we're looking at C...
