2,028 related texts · Page 37 of 43
It's not always as simple as being the oldest, especially when we delve into Jewish tradition. We’re talking about inheritance, specifically the rights of the bechor, the firstborn...
The kind of stuff that makes you scratch your head and think, "Wow, someone really thought of everything!" Well, today we’re diving into one of those corners: the laws of chalitzah...
The ritual of bringing bikkurim, the first fruits, required every Israelite farmer to recite a specific formula—a declaration of gratitude and remembrance. The Sifrei Devarim, a co...
But what about everyone else? Well, Sifrei Devarim 311 sheds some light. It interprets the verse about consulting "your elders, and they shall say it to you" (Deuteronomy 32:7) as ...
Take this passage from Sifrei Devarim, for example. It starts with the seemingly straightforward statement: "When the Most High caused nations to inherit…" But what does it really ...
But Jacob? He wrestled with angels, dreamed of ladders, and somehow became the linchpin of the entire Israelite story. What’s the deal? Well, Sifrei Devarim 312 – a passage from Si...
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 ...
Remember him? Reuven, the eldest son of Jacob, who, well, didn't exactly cover himself in glory. We're talking about the incident with Bilhah (Genesis 35:22). It's a complicated st...
The verse in question, from Deuteronomy, speaks of the tribe of Benjamin: "He shall rest securely upon Him." The Sifrei Devarim immediately connects this "security" with the idea o...
We read about her tragic death in the Torah, but the exact location... well, that's where things get interesting. The Torah tells us (Genesis 48:7) that Jacob, looking back on his ...
The text begins with a blessing: "Blessed is He that broadens Gad." What does it mean? Simply put, the passage teaches us that the territory allotted to the tribe of Gad expanded e...
The Hebrew Bible says three "men" appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:2). The Targum Jonathan tells you exactly what they were and exactly why each one came. They ...
Genesis 27 is one of the most psychologically complex chapters in the Torah—the aged Isaac, blind and dying, tricked by his own wife and son into blessing the wrong heir. The Targu...
The story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28 is one of the most famous visions in all of scripture—a ladder reaching to heaven, angels ascending and descending. But the Targum Jonatha...
Genesis 29 tells the story of Jacob arriving in Haran, meeting Rachel at a well, and being deceived by Laban into marrying Leah first. The Targum Jonathan injects dialogue, backsto...
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...
Chapter 2 Our forefather Jacob was 63 when he was blessed. Ishmael died at that time as is written, "Esau saw that Isaac had blessed...Jacob listened to his father...Esau saw [the ...
and he lay down in that place – R’ Yehudah says ‘here he lay down, but all fourteen years that he was hidden away in the land serving Ever he never laid down.’ R’ Nechemia says ‘he...
The Hebrew Bible says God "appeared" to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:1). Targum Onkelos says God "became revealed." It sounds like the same thing. It is not. Appearing ...
The Hebrew Bible says Jacob dreamed of a ladder "set up on the earth, and the top of it reached toward heaven" (Genesis 28:12). Targum Onkelos says the ladder was "planted in the e...
The Hebrew Bible says Jacob "wrestled a man" until dawn (Genesis 32:25). Targum Onkelos stays with the Hebrew here—it was "a man," not an angel, not a demon, not a divine being. Bu...
... Another reading: “Comfort, oh comfort My people” (Isaiah 40:1) Said the Holy Blessed One: Who needs to be comforted? For one whose wife died, not the husband? Thus was Zion ana...
[1] "And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, etc." (Exodus 20:1-2) Blessed is the Place, blessed is He, who chose Israel from all His handiwork and acquired ...
"Zohar Chadash": It consists of some esoteric Torah teachings (letters), verses, and Mishnaic teachings with a concealed Midrash on the Torah and the Song of Songs, as well as some...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Levanat HaSapir is a midrash on the Torah in the style of kabbalah, in Aramaic like the Zohar. It is not extant before us today. The Yuha...
(Fol. 5a) R. Levi b. Chama, in the name of Simon b. Lakish said: "At all times let man stir up his good inclination against the evil inclination), for it is said (Ps. 4:5) Tremble,...
(10) R. Isaac said: "A year which is poor (Israel appears humble) in the beginning, will be rich in the end (Israel's request will be granted). What is the reason for it? For it is...
R. Eliezer, charged with heresy, was saved from punishment by saying, “The judge knows the truth" which the Hegemon interpreted as a tribute to his justice. Tlje reason why he got ...
Two men came to pray before Rabbi Eliezer. One prayed at enormous length — pouring out his heart in elaborate, detailed petitions that stretched on and on. The other prayed briefly...
Rabban Gamliel, the head of the Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), once served food to Rabbi Yehoshua with his own hands. He stood and poured wine for his guest as though he w...
A. & B. Abraham & Nimrod. Pirke de R. Eliezer, XXVI. Midr. Hagadol, Gen. Lekh Lekha. Gen. R. 38 § 19. Gen. R. of Moses Hadar- shan to 11, 28 and 46, 28. Horowitz, Eked, I, 40. Jera...
Rabbi Ishmael ben Jose was making his way to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage when a Samaritan stopped him on the road. The Samaritans — who lived on and around Mount Gerizim and claimed ...
When the righteous multiply in the world, good things multiply with them. This is Aggadat Bereshit's reading of "When the righteous are many, the people rejoice" (Proverbs 29:2). N...
"And Jacob called unto his sons" (Genesis 49:1). The Torah records the great final blessing — all twelve sons gathered around the dying patriarch, each receiving something tailored...
I'm not talking about God, necessarily, but about the powerful figures who manage the day-to-day operations of the cosmos. Well, buckle up, because we're about to dive into the sto...
The story goes that before disaster struck, the prophet Jeremiah pleaded with the people to turn away from their wrongdoings, to repent (do teshuva) so they could avoid exile. But ...
We often think of rewards, of rest, of being in the presence of the Divine. But what does that mean, practically? What do we do? Well, imagine this: God, the ultimate teacher, pers...
Young Abraham did. And his confusion led him to a profound realization about the nature of… well, everything. Imagine being a kid, really seeing the world for the first time. Abrah...
We all know the story: Abraham and Sarah, finally blessed with a child in their old age. But what if there was more to the story than meets the eye? What if, as some ancient texts ...
You know the one – stretching all the way from earth to heaven, angels going up and down, up and down. He jolted awake and said, "In truth, the Glory of the Shekhinah (the Divine P...
The story goes that after his less-than-amicable departure from his father-in-law Laban, Jacob found himself at the River Yabbok (Yabbok, a river in the Transjordan, now part of Jo...
It's a pretty wild idea, isn't it? That Jacob, the trickster, the wrestler with angels, the father of a sometimes-fractious family, is so central to the divine plan that his image ...
The Bible, especially the Book of Genesis, grapples with this tension in some truly epic ways. And one of the most intriguing—and troubling—is the story of the "sons of God" and th...
We're diving into Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically section 2, which is like a treasure trove of rabbinic interpretations and stories drawn from the Torah and the Prophets. What's so f...
Today, we're diving deep into a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah, a midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic (interpretive) compilation on the Book of Numbers, to explo...
Why priests were priests, Levites were Levites, and the firstborn... well, what was the deal with the firstborn? Our story begins in Bamidbar Rabbah 6, a section of the great Midra...
It turns out, even ancient texts grapple with these questions, offering surprising insights into universal ethics. to Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically section 8. This isn't your typic...
And believe it or not, our ancient texts have something profound to say about it. The Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic teachings on the...
