1,400 related texts · Page 7 of 30
Jewish tradition grapples with that very human conundrum in the laws surrounding the Hebrew slave, or eved Ivri. Specifically, we're looking at a fascinating little corner of the b...
It’s a question that rabbis have been debating for centuries, and it comes to life in a fascinating discussion about two very important observances: building a succah and waving th...
Our first stop: plowing. Deuteronomy 22 tells us, "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together" (Deuteronomy 22:10). Seems straightforward. But the rabbis of old, never one...
We're going to dive into one of those today – the fascinating world of kilayim (כלאים), the laws forbidding the mixing of certain things. Specifically, we're talking about wool and...
Let's talk about dogs. Yes, dogs. And lambs. And… well, let’s just say it involves transactions that aren’t exactly kosher, in the most literal sense. In Sifrei Devarim, a collecti...
to a fascinating corner of Halakha (Jewish Law) today, found within the ancient text of Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy. Our starting point is a rather unus...
Today, we're diving into one of those intriguing corners of Jewish law, specifically a passage from Sifrei Devarim 288. It’s all about brothers, inheritance, and a rather complex s...
The passage begins with the seemingly simple phrase, "If men strive together." But who exactly is included in this "striving"? The text asks whether this applies only to conflicts ...
It’s a question that resonates through the ages, and the Sifrei Devarim, an ancient commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, offers a fascinating perspective. The text begins with th...
It turns out, this isn't just a nice sentiment, but a deep spiritual truth, at least according to some fascinating Jewish texts. The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal and ethic...
Genesis 14 is a war chapter—four kings against five, a battle in the Valley of Siddim, Lot taken captive, Abraham riding to the rescue. The Hebrew text is spare and military. But t...
The laws of (Exodus 23) cover justice, festivals, and the conquest of Canaan. The Targum Jonathan on this chapter adds moral psychology, legal specifics, and one of the most striki...
Leviticus 12 is one of the shortest chapters in the Torah—just eight verses about purification after childbirth. The Targum Jonathan keeps it concise but adds small details that re...
The Targum Jonathan transforms the consecration of the Levites from a brief ritual into an elaborate purification involving specific quantities of water, a razor over every inch of...
The Targum's version of (Numbers 34) maps the Promised Land's borders with a level of geographic specificity that goes far beyond the Torah's terse boundary markers. The southern b...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 14) transforms a list of dietary laws into a detailed zoological manual. Where the Hebrew names animals and moves on, the Targum adds identifyin...
The impossible creatures of Rabbah bar bar Hana's voyages continue in Bava Batra 73b, each one more staggering than the last—a catalog of wonders that pushed the boundaries of the ...
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...
Alexander the Great tied two eagles together with meat in front of them, so they fly upwards with him until his eyelids dropped from the cold. He then descends in a glass box to th...
The story continues as follows:— 184— The frog, which is none other than a child of the demon Lilith teaches Johanan the knowledge of all the languages and before leaving, calls al...
A gentile once confronted Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai with a cutting observation: "Your ceremony of the red heifer looks exactly like witchcraft. You take a cow, burn it, grind it up,...
When God gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, the sages taught that He did not speak them into a void. Each commandment was connected to the covenant God had already made with...
The Talmud (Shabbat 156b) tells the story of a woman who consulted astrologers about her newborn son. They told her with certainty: "Your son will be a thief." She was devastated. ...
The birth of Moses was no ordinary event. According to the ancient chronicles preserved in Jerahmeel and the writings of Josephus, the arrival of Israel's greatest prophet was prec...
A group of pagan astrologers — men who read the stars and claimed to know the future — once came before a Jewish court. They had traveled from distant lands, driven by a question t...
Frog Princess. Eisenstein, Oser, p. 344. Maase Buch No. 143. Helvicus, Historien I, ch. 14, p. 64. Eisenmenger, I, p. 399. Tendlau, Fellmeier, No. 1. Griinbaum, Jiid. Dtsch. Chrest...
Angelology constitutes the theological branch examining "superhuman beings dwelling in heaven, who, on occasion, reveal to man God's will and execute His commands." This doctrine d...
This comprehensive article examines demons across biblical, rabbinical, and comparative religious contexts, written by Emil G. Hirsch, Richard Gottheil, Kaufmann Kohler, and Isaac ...
This comprehensive article examines cosmogony (theories of universe origin) across biblical, post-biblical, and rabbinical Jewish traditions, comparing them with Babylonian and oth...
This extensive article by Kaufmann Kohler from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia explores the Jewish doctrine of "last things"—the final destiny of the Jewish nation and humanity. Escha...
Leah was hated — or unloved, depending on the translation, but the Hebrew is harsh — and God saw it (Genesis 29:31). This is where Aggadat Bereshit begins: with the divine attentio...
"The eternal God is thy dwelling-place, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27). Jacob came to Egypt to find his son alive — the son he had grieved for twenty-...
The pattern repeats. Israel suffers, God rescues, and Israel sings. Then the singing stops, and the same behavior that caused the original suffering returns. The Holy One watches t...
His story, recounted in Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah) 18, is a wild ride of ambition, rebellion, and some seriously bad consequences. So, "Korah took…" That's how the story begi...
We usually picture temptation as a simple act, but the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) saw something far more complex, a twisted theological argument desig...
We choose them carefully, hoping they’ll embody certain qualities, or perhaps carry on a family legacy. But what if a name wasn't a blessing, but a curse? What if it foreshadowed i...
In the story of Jacob and Esau, as told in (Genesis 27:23), that sense of smell takes on a whole new, almost mystical, significance. The verse tells us, "He did not recognize him, ...
We're diving into the word ekev, which means "because" or "in consequence of." But it's not just a simple "A leads to B" kind of situation. It's layered with history, Divine promis...
That’s a feeling woven deep into the tapestry of Jewish tradition, a feeling the rabbis grappled with intensely. how they expressed it. The story begins with the passing of Ḥiyya b...
It all starts with a verse from Ecclesiastes (9:4): "For anyone who is joined to any of the living there is hope, as a living dog is better than a dead lion.” Now, that seems prett...
Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, offers a powerful image of what a synagogue, and the community within it, truly represents. It begins with the verse, "a sm...
And maybe, just maybe, that's part of the point. (Ecclesiastes 11:5) tells us, "Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of one who is pregna...
It's not just about freedom; it's about divine justice, redemption, and the messy, complicated choices people make when faced with monumental events. The ancient rabbis certainly d...
The ancient rabbis grappled with that same emotion, and their words, preserved in texts like Shir HaShirim Rabbah, offer a glimpse into how they processed grief and honored the dep...
Jewish tradition has some powerful, and frankly, pretty wild ways of thinking about sin, responsibility, and the ultimate judgment. to a fascinating passage from Vayikra Rabbah, a ...
The rabbis of old certainly did, and they painted some pretty wild pictures! One fascinating glimpse comes from Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book...
It's all about the purification process for someone healed of tzara'at, often translated as leprosy, though it likely encompassed a range of skin diseases. The verse in question co...
The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), that treasure trove of Jewish stories and interpretations, finds echoes of this universal joy in the verses about the holiday of Suk...
