2,435 related texts · 25 related myths · Page 51 of 51
“See, Lord, for I am in distress, my innards burn, my heart overturned within me, for I have been defiant. Outside the sword bereaves; in the house, it is like death” (Lamentations...
“He wore away my flesh and my skin, broke my bones” (Lamentations 3:4).“He wore away my flesh” – this is the community. “And my skin” – this is the Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic ...
“May You pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:66).“May You pursue them in wrath and destroy them” – Jeremiah said: “May you pur...
“It was during the days of Aḥashverosh; that [hu] Aḥashverosh who reigned from India to Kush, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces” (Esther 1:1). Hu [appears] five [times] for ev...
“Many days” – days of suffering, and similarly: “It was during those many days…the children of Israel sighed due to the work, and they cried out, and their plea rose to God from th...
“He sent scrolls to all the king’s provinces, to each province in its script, and to each people in its language; for every man to be the ruler in his house, and speak the language...
“The young woman who will please the king will reign in place of Vashti. The proposal pleased the king and he did so” (Esther 2:4).“The young woman who will please the king” – who ...
Rabbi Levi said: Accursed are the wicked who are engaged in evil counsel against Israel, and each one of them counsels in his way and says: ‘My counsel is better than your counsel....
“Esther summoned Hatakh, one of the king’s chamberlains whom he had set before her, and commanded him to go to Mordekhai to know what this is and why this is” (Esther 4:5).“Esther ...
God told Israel three separate times: do not go back to Egypt. According to Esther Rabbah, they violated every single warning and paid for every single one. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai ...
He consulted with them. He asked them if they wanted to be made. The text During those six days, God established the foundations and roots of everything that would exist. But more ...
that every detail of Jewish law, every halacha (Jewish religious law), was directly given to Moses at Sinai. To illustrate this, it explores a fascinating debate surrounding the in...
That’s kind of what we're doing today, diving into some pretty deep Kabbalistic concepts about the nature of the Divine. It's a complex topic, and there are…let’s just say opinions...
A dove, sure, feels right. But a raven? What's that all about?Philo wasn't just interested in the surface-level story; he was all about digging deeper, finding the hidden meanings ...
The answer, again and again, comes back to this: God is everywhere. It's right there in the scriptures. As it says, "His presence fills all the earth" (Isaiah 6:3). He fills the he...
There's one particular story that throws this idea into sharp relief: the Giving of the Torah. At the very beginning, when the Creator shaped the cosmos, there was a clear line in ...
Midrash Tanchuma turns to The Parting Of The Red Sea. The story, as we find it in Exodus 14, begins with God telling Moses, "Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go for...
Midrash Tanchuma turns to The Quarrel Of The Sea And The Earth. Wait a minute. Did they drown, or were they swallowed? That seeming contradiction sparked a fascinating story, a sor...
And he called his son Joseph (Gen. 47:29). Why did he not summon Reuben or Judah? After all, Reuben was the firstborn, while Judah was a king. He ignored them and called Joseph ins...
For He is highly exalted (Exod. 15:1). He exalted me and I exalted Him. He exalted me in Egypt, saying: Israel is My son, My firstborn (Exod. 4:22), and I exalted him in Egypt, say...
And God spoke all these words (Exod. 20:1). He spoke them all simultaneously. He causes death and restores life at the same time; He wounds and He heals simultaneously; He answers ...
This they shall give, everyone that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel (Exod. 30:13). Because they had sinned at the sixth hour,16Word-play reading the word boshet...
And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights (Exod. 34:28). How did Moses know when it was day? When the Holy One, blessed be He, taught him the Written Law he knew i...
Midrash Tanchuma reads the eighth day of the Tabernacle service through Aaron, the righteous one who flourishes like a palm. The verse says, "The righteous one shall flourish like ...
"And it was on the day that Moses had finished to erect the tabernacle" (Numbers 7:1). Our rabbis taught (Avot 1:2),"On three things the world stands: On the Torah, on the service ...
"And it was on the day that Moses had finished" (Numbers 7:1). This is [the meaning of] that which was stated by the verse (Ecclesiastes 2:21), "there is a person whose fortune was...
"And it was on the day that Moses had finished" (Numbers 7:1). So did Rabbi Tanchuma bar Abba open [his discourse from] (Proverbs 30:4), "Who has ascended heaven and come down": Th...
(Numb. 16:5:) “In the morning [the Lord will make known those who belong to him].” What reason did he have for saying, “In the morning He will make known?”23Numb. R. 18:7. Moses sa...
"To these apportion the land" (Numbers 26:53). And who are they? The ones standing on the Plains of Moav. And was the land not apportioned to those that left Egypt? As it is writte...
(Deut. 1:1:) “These are the words (elleh hadevarim).” May the name [of the Holy One, blessed be He,] be blessed and may His memory be exalted. All the miracles that he did for Isra...
"Lord God, You have begun" (Deuteronomy 3:24): There is a [relevant] parable: To what is this comparable? To a king that saw an orphaned woman and sought to marry her. He sent to p...
At that time, the Lord said to me, "Carve out two tablets of stone like the first ones" (Deuteronomy 10:1): This is what the verse stated (Jeremiah 2:20), "For long ago you broke y...
That you smashed (Deuteronomy 10:2): Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael [differed on the matter]. One said, "[God was saying,] 'Take this here from Me which you broke, Moshe.'" And one...
Judges and officials (Deuteronomy 16:18): The judges need to be men of strength through good deeds. As this is what Moshe did: "And Moshe chose men of valor" (Exodus 18:25), in Tor...
You shall offer it terms of peace (Deuteronomy 20:10): Rabbi Levi said, "Moshe did three things and the Holy One, blessed be He, agreed with him. And these are them: It is written ...
