2,435 related texts · 25 related myths · Page 3 of 51
Most translations of (Exodus 12:21) render Moses's words to the elders as a simple instruction: go and take a lamb. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan sharpens it into a rebuke. "Withdraw your...
One of the most tender details in the Exodus is hidden in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 12:34). As Israel fled Mizraim, the people carried their unleavened dough on their heads...
The obligation to tell the Pesach story to the next generation is compressed into a single sentence in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 13:8). The Aramaic reads: "thou shalt instr...
The Torah's instructions for eating the Passover lamb include a phrase that seems straightforward but contains a legal depth charge: "with matzoth and maror shall they eat it" (Exo...
Rabbi Yitzchak enters the debate about burning Passover leftovers with yet another angle of attack, proving the same conclusion through a different logical comparison. His argument...
Rabbi Yossi raised a deceptively simple question about the Passover laws that reveals how carefully the rabbis read every word of the Torah. The commandment says, "Seven days shall...
The Rabbis of the Talmud never take anything at face value. They immediately ask: Why does the Torah even need to say this? Isn't it obvious? R. Yoshiyah starts with a powerful que...
It turns out, the seeds of their monumental freedom were sown not under the blazing sun, but under the cloak of night. We read in Sifrei Devarim – a collection of early Jewish lega...
That’s kind of the world of the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a mystical text that explores the deepest secrets of creation and redemption. And sometimes, it all hinges on…lea...
Having established that the Pesach (Passover) sacrifice could be eaten "in two places" by a single group, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai was asked the obvious follow-up question: how exac...
The prohibition against breaking the bones of the Pesach (Passover) sacrifice includes two seemingly small words that carry enormous legal weight: "in it." The Mekhilta zeroes in o...
The ancient sages understood that yearning, and they left us clues, breadcrumbs on a path. And according to Sifrei Devarim, an early rabbinic commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy,...
Why the darkness? " This links back to (Exodus 12:42), which describes the night of the Exodus from Egypt as "a night of vigilance of the Lord…it is this night…for all the children...
The Book of Exodus tells us, "Moses extended his staff toward the heavens and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the ground, and the Lord rained hail upon the lan...
It’s a story etched in blood and freedom, a tale not just of liberation, but of divine protection. And it’s a story that gets even richer when we explore texts beyond the familiar ...
It wasn't just random suffering; each plague, according to our sages, mirrored the cruelty the Egyptians inflicted upon the Israelites. It's a concept called middah k'neged middah,...
Maybe your parents didn't sign you up for piano lessons, or you never got that trip to Disney World. But what about something more fundamental, something tied to your very identity...
The plagues are not only punishment. They are curriculum. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 10:2) records the Holy One's own reason: "In the hearing of thy sons and of thy chil...
A reader can see them as simply divine punishments, but Jewish tradition often delves deeper, searching for layers of meaning and nuance. the story turns to the plague of darkness,...
Specifically, What does "song" mean here? According to this Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), it's not necessarily a happy tune. Instead, "song" can refer to disaster, to...
The Torah itself calls it a "night of vigil" – leil shimurim (Exodus 12:42). But what exactly does that mean? What is God watching over? In Shemot Rabbah, a classic collection of M...
It goes way beyond just family lineage. In fact, according to Shemot Rabbah, it points to something truly messianic. The verse in (Exodus 13:2) commands us to "Consecrate to Me eve...
" around the Passover table, I promise you that. Our Sages understood that the Exodus wasn't just a one-time event; it was a template for all future salvations. And music? Well, mu...
It's considered apocryphal by some, pseudepigraphal by others (meaning, falsely attributed to a biblical figure), but no matter what you call it, it's a fascinating window into a w...
As the time approached for the Israelites' redemption from Egyptian slavery, a dilemma arose. They hadn't accumulated enough good deeds to merit their freedom! So, what did God do?...
The familiar story centers on the Exodus, the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt. But the tenth plague, the slaying of the firstborn, wasn't just a targeted strike, a surgica...
What's happening on high? Well, according to a beautiful passage in the Zohar (2:40b-41a), the foundational text of Jewish mysticism, God isn't just observing. God's hosting a cele...
In Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar 99, we find a fascinating idea: the left side is associated with Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, a time of judgment and introspection. The right s...
Tikkunei Zohar turns to Divine Presence of Passover. It starts by saying "And She is Passover from the right-hand side. And She is the New Year from the left-hand side." Intriguing...
Take tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer), those leather boxes containing sacred scrolls that observant Jews bind to their arm and forehead during morning prayer. Eve...
The true tzaddik (a righteous person), Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches, is the one who looks at every detail of creation and asks: why did God make it this way? Why does a lion ha...
The Torah instructs that when preparing for the Paschal lamb, if a household is too small to consume the entire animal, they should share it with "the neighbor near his house" (Exo...
R. Eliezer says: What is the intent of "toshav and sachir"? (i.e. Is it not already written [(Exodus 12:43)] "No stranger may eat of it"?) To reason from Pesach (Passover) to terum...
Conversion raises a tricky legal puzzle when it happens at the wrong time of year. Rabbi Shimon, quoted in the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael (a halakhic midrash (rabbinic interpretive ...
Rabbi Eliezer agreed that the tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) belong on the upper arm rather than the palm, but he arrived at the conclusion through entirely dif...
The verse (Exodus 13:9) states, "And it shall be to you as a sign upon your hand and as a memorial between your eyes." The Mekhilta derived from the sequence of this verse a precis...
(Exodus 13:10) states, "from day to day", miyamim yamimah. The Mekhilta asked why this phrase was necessary. After all, the previous verse already established that the account of t...
That, my friends, is the heart of a beautiful tradition linked to Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks). We know Passover commemorates the Exodus, specifically the parting of the Red Sea...
The familiar story centers on Passover, the Korban (a sacrificial offering) Pesach, the Paschal lamb. But there's a layer to the story that adds so much depth, a detail that speaks...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Are the Ten Commandments Included in the Tefillin. The question? Whether the Ten Commandments are included in the commandment to bind the words of Torah on ...
They’re called tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer), or phylacteries, and they’re more than just ritual objects – they’re a powerful connection to our history and our...
Jewish law sometimes deals with similar dilemmas, where doing one good thing might unintentionally lead to a less-than-ideal outcome. the Pesach (Passover) offering, that central e...
For the Jewish people, the Exodus from Egypt is that moment. And it echoes even in the details of how we celebrate Passover, Pesach, the festival commemorating that liberation. Our...
The plague of darkness in Exodus chapter 10 is three days of impenetrable blackness across Egypt. The Hebrew Bible says simply that no one could see anyone else and no one rose fro...
There's a problem. A big one. Sacrifices, especially the Passover sacrifice, the korban (a sacrificial offering) Pesach (Passover), can only be eaten within the boundaries of the H...
Darkness, locusts, boils… you name it, they got it. And now, finally, Pharaoh is ready to let the Israelites go. But it wasn't exactly a gracious departure. In Ginzberg's, Legends ...
(Exodus 12:1) "in the land of Egypt":(He spoke to them) outside the city. But perhaps in the city itself? (This cannot be, for it is written (Exodus 9:29) "When I leave the city" (...
Rabbi Akiva found a hidden message in a single word from (Exodus 12:1), the word "saying." When God spoke to Moses, the instruction included "saying," which Akiva interpreted as a ...
