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It starts with a poignant observation: "and you were faint and weary"... This, the text tells us, refers to Israel. Why is this weariness important? Because right after, it says, "...
The ancient rabbis grappled with this feeling too, and they found ways to understand it through the lens of Torah. We find a powerful example of this in Sifrei Devarim, a collectio...
It’s a question that’s plagued humanity for millennia, and it’s a question that even Moses himself wrestled with. Imagine being Moses, the man who led the Israelites out of slavery...
It’s a profound question, one that our tradition grapples with in beautiful and surprising ways. Let's turn to the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), specifically Sifrei Devarim 346, f...
It’s not just brute strength, or flashy charisma, but something more… nuanced. Let’s turn to the ancient text of Sifrei Devarim to unpack this a bit. It speaks of Joshua, Moses' su...
When Esau and Jacob finally reunited after twenty years of separation, the Bible says Esau ran to his brother, embraced him, kissed him, and they wept (Genesis 33:4). It sounds lik...
The splitting of the Red Sea is dramatic enough in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan on (Exodus 14) turns it into something almost mythological, adding details about the Garden...
The golden calf episode in (Exodus 32:1-35) is already one of the Torah's most dramatic stories. The Targum Jonathan makes it wilder, stranger, and more theologically loaded than a...
The Sotah ritual—the ordeal of the woman accused of adultery—is already one of the strangest passages in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan makes it stranger, adding psychologic...
The Torah's divorce law in (Deuteronomy 24) states that a second husband may dislike the wife. Targum Jonathan adds something astonishing: "should they proclaim from the heavens ab...
(8) With whose opinion does our Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) agree? Neither with that of R. Maier, nor with that of R. Juda, nor with that of R. Jose, nor with that ...
It was taught in the school of R. Ishmael that He pardons one sin after the other before they are put on the scales; and this is the divine custom." "Nevertheless," remarked Raba, ...
The daughter of the Emperor said to Rabbi Joshua: “Your God is a builder, so let Him build a tent here." She became leprous and had to be placed in a tent as they do in Rome. She a...
The Emperor asked Rabbi Joshua whether the dead came to life and being dust, how could dust live ? The daughter of the Emperor replied: “There are two makers of things in our place...
A Matrona asked Rabbi Joshua what God has been doing since Creation. The reply was: “He pairs people.” The Ma- trona then ordered a number of male slaves to marry female slaves, th...
Miriam and her seven sons died as martyrs for their holy faith. Each of her sons refused to worship idols quoting the appropriate passages from the Bible. When the last boy was cal...
In the dark years of Roman persecution, when teaching Torah was a crime punishable by death, two students of Rabbi Joshua went into hiding. They disguised themselves and moved care...
Miriam [Hannah) & Her Seven Sons Martyr*. II Bk. Maccabees, ch. VII. IV Bk. Maccabees ch. VIII, ff. Ketubot, f. 64. J. Ketubot, V, II. Gittin, f. 56 b. Pesik. R. Rabati,XLIII. Tana...
The students of Rabbi Joshua were traveling between cities when night overtook them. They found lodging at an inn run by a man whose appearance was deeply off-putting — ugly, unkem...
Joshua v. Levi & Prophet Elijah. Pesikta, f. 36 a. Nissim, f. 4 b. Maase Hashem, f. 41a to 43 a. Eliah Cohen, Meil Se- daka §439. Heilperin, Seder Hado- rot, s. v. Joshua b. Levi. ...
The Torah tells us they wandered, but the rabbinic imagination really kicks it up a notch. This wasn't just any desert. We're talking serpents, lizards, scorpions – the whole terri...
We find ourselves delving into just that, specifically in Bamidbar Rabbah 9, a section of the great Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic compilation on the Book of Numbers....
It all starts with a seemingly simple verse: “Amalek dwells in the region of the south” (Numbers 13:29). But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) ask a poin...
The Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers, sheds light on this very question. It tells us that the well, a miraculous source of water that acco...
We often read the Creation story in Genesis and think we understand it. But what if there's a deeper layer, a secret code waiting to be unlocked? Let's look at the verse, "And to r...
The Torah tells us that Abraham was old, zaken (Genesis 24:1). But the rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah 59 ask, what does that really signify? The rabbis dig deep, finding layers of meani...
Our ancestors did. (Genesis 35:13) tells us, "God ascended from upon him, in the place where He had spoken with him." It’s a simple sentence, but it opens a window into a profound ...
Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Ilai points out that there were actually three commandments the Israelites received upon entering the land: to wipe out the memory of Amalek, to appoint a ki...
Turns out, there was a surprising amount of "calling for peace" involved. (Deuteronomy 20:10) tells us, "When you approach a city to wage war against it, you shall call to it for p...
Jewish tradition teaches us that this feeling might be more than just a lucky coincidence. It might be the very presence of the Divine. Shemot Rabbah, a classic compilation of rabb...
A single event, a powerful moment, that resonates far beyond its origin. The Book of Exodus, or Shemot in Hebrew, tells us that "Yitro heard..." (Exodus 18:1). But what exactly did...
Ever read Song of Songs and wondered, "Where on earth did this passionate love poem even come from?" It's a question that's occupied Jewish thought for centuries, and the Rabbis of...
Forget the sanitized Sunday school version. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), that incredible collection of rabbinic interpretations, offers a glimpse into a world of...
Sometimes, the most unexpected things can lead us to hidden riches. Take leprosy, for example. Yes, leprosy. Now, I know what you're thinking. Leprosy? Good tidings? Seems impossib...
There was an incident involving Miriam daughter of Nakdimon for whom the Sages alloted five hundred gold dinars for a basket of perfume each day. She nonetheless stood and cursed t...
There was an incident involving Miriam bat Baitus, the baker, who was taken captive and redeemed in Akko. They purchased a mantle for her.180The local Jewish community ransomed her...
“The king said to Haman: Hurry, take the garments and the horse; as you have said, do so to Mordekhai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Do not omit anything that you spoke of. H...
And he went out on the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together (Exod. 2:13). Who were these men? They were Dathan and Abiram, who later said: Let us m...
And he led the flock to the farthest end of the wilderness (Exod. 3:1). In answer to the query Why did he go into the wilderness? R. Johanan said: He went into the wilderness becau...
And Moses said unto Joshua: “Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek” (Exod. 17:9). From this verse it is apparent that Moses treated his disciple Joshua as his equal. Thi...
And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun (Exod. 17:12). Since time was calculated by means of the stars, what did Moses do? He stopped the revolution of the sun, t...
In the third month (Exod. 19:1). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Have I not written unto thee excellent things (shilshom) of counsels and knowledge (Prov. 22:20...
The Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), fills in some of those gaps. It's like a behind-the-scenes look at the...
We all know the highlights – the Nile turning to blood, the frogs, the darkness. But some sources really dial up the intensity, giving us a truly nightmarish vision of divine retri...
Jewish tradition has always been rich with layered realities, and the concept of multiple heavens is no exception. Forget one sky; imagine seven! Each with its own purpose, its own...
You know, those moments where you think, "Wait, how did that happen?" Jewish tradition is rich with stories filling in those blanks, offering glimpses into the hidden corners of cr...
Their water is gone. Facing death by dehydration, Ishmael turns to God, pleading, "O Lord of the world! If it be Thy will that I shall perish, then let me die in some other way, no...
We all know the big picture: slavery, plagues, the parting of the Red Sea. But what about the individual choices, the moral dilemmas, the moments of despair and resilience that sha...
