1,302 related texts · 51 related myths · Page 26 of 28
The Torah has a default order. Moses before Aaron. Joshua before Caleb. Father before mother. Heaven before earth. Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 14:1 collects the quiet exceptio...
Shemot Rabbah turns to God's Existence. It gets even more interesting when we consider the world around us. According to tradition, everything God created, He created as a pair. He...
The Torah gives us a glimpse into such an experience with the story of the Ohel Mo'ed, the Tent of Meeting. The Book of Exodus describes how Moses would set up this tent "outside t...
Some traditions whisper that it’s so much more. The Red Sea is splitting, a monumental miracle unfolding before the eyes of the Israelites. According to some, at that very moment, ...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to Manasseh's Prince and the Tension of Obeying the King. The Midrash clarifies that respecting authority is crucial. After all, we read in (Deuteronomy 17:15...
In Jewish tradition, even the sequence of seemingly minor details can hold profound meaning. Take, for instance, the offerings of the princes in the Book of Numbers. Why does the p...
It might seem like a minor detail in the Book of Numbers, but Jewish tradition finds profound meaning in every nuance of the Torah. "On the twelfth day, prince of the children of N...
Even the tribe of Levi felt that way once, and their story, preserved in Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah) 15, is a powerful reminder of how God sees and values each of us, even whe...
The verse from Proverbs (26:6) sets the stage: “One who sends things by the hand of a fool cuts off his feet and drinks rancor.” Ouch. But here's the puzzle: were the spies really ...
It’s a story found within Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Numbers. The scene is set: Moses has sent out spies to scout the Land of Israel. ...
"These are the waters of dispute, where the children of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and He was sanctified through them," (Numbers 20:13) tells us. But what exactly does that me...
"Aaron will be gathered to his people," God tells Moses, "for he will not come into the land that I have given to the children of Israel, because you defied My directive at the wat...
The Israelites, fresh out of Egypt, certainly did. We find ourselves in the book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, specifically chapter 21, verse 4: “They traveled from Hor Mountain ...
The familiar reading treats about the grand miracles, the parting of the sea, the manna from heaven. But what about the gritty, day-to-day decisions, the moments of doubt and brave...
This is the complex and very human story bubbling beneath the surface of (Numbers 27:17), "that the congregation of the Lord will not be like a flock that has no shepherd." It's a ...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to Moses and the Ark of Land. Our source for this journey is Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) teachings on the Bo...
Even Shabbat, the day of rest, felt that way once. Isn't that incredible? Our sages grappled with a question: why did God specifically bless Shabbat? Bereshit Rabbah, a collection ...
The verse in Genesis (6:14) states: "Craft for you an ark of cypress wood; you shall craft the ark with compartments, and you shall coat it within and without with pitch." Now, Rab...
Bereshit Rabbah 42, a fascinating passage from the Midrash, the body of ancient rabbinic interpretations of Scripture. This passage looks at Genesis 14, specifically verses 4 throu...
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." The familiar version gives us the famous line from Ecclesiastes (3:1). But have you ever stopped to c...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Jacob Wrestled the Angel and Limped at Sunrise. Hold onto your hats, because According to Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic homilies on the Book of...
Bereshit Rabbah, that beautiful collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, dives deep into this very verse (Genesis 34:25) about Simeon and Levi avenging their ...
That feeling isn't new. Our ancestors wrestled with it too. The source explores a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of ...
The Torah is brimming with them, and Jewish tradition loves to unpack their layers of meaning. Take the dream of the chief butler in the Joseph story. In (Genesis 40:9), he recount...
Our guide? None other than Bereshit Rabbah 93, a treasure trove of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis. Specifically, Now, that word "approached"… it's loaded. What kin...
A reader can read the Torah as a collection of individual stories, but the rabbis of old saw something more: echoes, parallels, and meaningful connections woven throughout the gene...
The familiar telling remembers the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the mighty hand of God... But what about the internal processes, the spiritual shifts that paved the way for...
Take reading from the Torah, for example. The verse From this, the Rabbis ask: if someone's reading from the Torah, what's the fewest number of verses they're allowed to read? Is t...
In (Deuteronomy 31:14), God says to Moses, "Behold, your days are approaching to die; summon Joshua, and stand in the Tent of Meeting and I will command him." This verse, "Behold, ...
It sounds almost unbelievable, doesn't it? Yet, according to Devarim Rabbah, this is precisely the monumental struggle Moses faced at the end of his life. Rabbi Yoḥanan tells us th...
You're dropped right into the action, and you wonder, "Wait, shouldn't this have been explained earlier?" Well, the ancient rabbis grappled with a similar feeling about the Book of...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to Elijah — Moses at the Dawn of Creation. The first part, "What has been, already is," gets a fascinating unpacking. Imagine someone questioning if the entire...
Take the verse from Ecclesiastes (10:8): “One who digs a pit will fall into it; and one who breaches a fence, a serpent will bite him.” It's a powerful image. But what does it real...
It all starts with a verse from Ecclesiastes (12:11): "The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails well fastened are the collectors of wisdom; they are given from one shep...
Our story begins in ancient Egypt, where the Israelites are flourishing, a little too flourishing for the liking of the Pharaoh. He sees their growing numbers as a threat, and so, ...
The familiar version gives us about Moses, about the plagues, about the parting of the Red Sea. But what about the women who defied a king's cruel decree and saved countless Israel...
What exactly does that mean, "He made houses for them?" This teaching presents two perspectives, attributed to Rav and Levi. One suggests that God rewarded the midwives with priest...
"A man from the house of Levi went and he took a daughter of Levi" (Exodus 2:1). Simple enough. But the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), in Shemot Rabbah, ...
The verse But what did He see? What did He know? One interpretation, drawing on (Ezekiel 20:9), suggests that God knew it was time to redeem the Israelites for the sake of His name...
“An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed” (Exodus 3:2). ...
Our starting point is the verse "This month shall be for you" (Exodus 12:2). But Shemot Rabbah, in its characteristic way, finds a connection to (Micah 6:4): "I sent Moses, Aaron, ...
That bittersweet feeling is ancient, deeply human, and, Moses. MOSES! The guy who stood up to Pharaoh, who parted the Red Sea… he didn't get to walk into the Promised Land with the...
You'd think after all that, they'd want to get there as quickly as possible. But the Torah tells us something curious: "God led the people around, via the wilderness by the Red Sea...
The familiar version gives us about the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea.. but there's a smaller, more personal story woven into the grand narrative of the Exodus. It's a story ...
It suggests that God isn't just listening, but already knows what's in our hearts, even before we utter a word. The Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the B...
The scene unfolds like this: the Israelites are trapped between the pursuing Egyptian army and the seemingly insurmountable Red Sea. Moses, holding his staff, is their leader, thei...
It all starts with the verse, "Then Moses…sang" (Exodus 15:1). The Rabbis connect this to (Proverbs 31:26), "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her...
The story begins, as The familiar version gives us, with the parting of the Red Sea. A moment of unimaginable salvation for the Israelites, fleeing slavery in Egypt. Moses leads th...
