4,564 related texts · 28 related myths · Page 4 of 96
The question hung in the beit midrash: what happened to the ten tribes exiled by Assyria, and will they ever come home? The sages opened (Deuteronomy 29:28) and read: And the Lord ...
The Torah says (Deuteronomy 21:23), His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God. The M...
Rabbi Meir was traveling and stopped for Shabbat at an inn. The innkeeper's name was Kidor. Meir did not like the name. It reminded him of a verse in (Deuteronomy 32:20), where God...
One verse can hide two entire storylines. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 36:12) takes a bare genealogical note and cracks it open to reveal both. The Torah tells us that Timna ...
A single verse from Deuteronomy captured the entire emotional arc of Jewish exile. "In the morning you will say: Would that it were evening, and in the evening you will say: Would ...
Not just any giant, but the giant. The one with a bed. well, you won't believe it. In Ginzberg's retelling in, Legends of the Jews, Og had this bed, fashioned out of ivory, no less...
The Israelites weren’t exactly waging war on Moab, but their very presence – a kind of “hostile, though not warlike, attitude” as Ginzberg phrases it in Legends of the Jews – was e...
In (Deuteronomy 1:4), we read about Moses recounting how God helped them defeat Sichon, king of the Amorites. But what does that seemingly simple historical detail really tell us? ...
The chapter opens with a change of leadership in Edom. Baal Channan, son of Achbor, dies and the Edomites reach out to find a new king. They settle on a man named Hadad. He reigns ...
It involves a divine tour, some hard "nos," and a resounding "yes" that changed everything. The story goes that before God presented the Torah to Israel, He offered it to all the n...
I'm not just talking metaphorically big, but physically, impossibly huge. Let's Og wasn't just tall; he was…unwieldy, let's say. Imagine someone so massive that a regular wooden ch...
Moses, knowing his time is near, addresses the Israelites. He's not just giving a farewell speech; he's ensuring the continuity of the sacred knowledge. "To explain this Torah," he...
In the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), specifically chapter 3, verse 24, we find Moses pleading with God. He says, "Your greatness (gadlecha).." But what exactly does that gadlecha ...
The ancient rabbis certainly understood that feeling. And they weren't afraid to address it head-on. In Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal commentaries on the Boo...
This question sits at the heart of a beautiful passage from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal midrashim (rabbinic interpretive commentary) on the Book of Deuteronomy. It revolv...
When you approach a friend, do you immediately launch into your requests, or do you begin with a little connection, a little appreciation? Our prayers, especially the Amidah, that ...
The story, as you might recall, is…well, let’s just say it’s complicated. After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters are living in a cave. The daughters, be...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, tackles this very question. It starts with a verse from Proverbs (2:1): "My son, if you take my sayin...
(Exodus 15:26) "And He said: If pay heed, you shall pay heed": From here it was derived: If a man paid heed to one mitzvah, he is caused to pay heed to many mitzvoth (commandments)...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal midrashim (rabbinic interpretive commentary) on the Book of Deuteronomy, tackles this very feeling in a fascinating way. It starts with th...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan records one of the most consequential sentences ever spoken by a people: "All the people responded together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we w...
A classic example surfaces in Bamidbar Rabbah 19 as it grapples with a seemingly simple verse: "Israel sent messengers to Siḥon, king of the Emorites, saying…" (Numbers 21:21). The...
Consider the story of sending messengers. In one place, it says Israel sent them. In another, it says Moses did. So, which is it? Did the whole nation get together and write a stro...
The verse from Hosea (14:3) says, "Take words with you and return to the Lord." The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) asks: What does that mean? Are we supposed to bring s...
It pulls no punches in its call for humility and divine justice. Ben Sira, a sage writing in Hebrew around 200 BCE, gives us these powerful words: "Make an end of the head of the p...
Our story begins with the Moabites, watching with growing unease as Israel triumphs over their enemies. But they knew it wasn't just military might at play. It was. something else....
When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, the news sent shockwaves through the ancient world. The Mekhilta examines the verse "Then the chiefs of Edom were confounded" (Exodus 15:15...
The rabbis in Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal midrashim (rabbinic interpretive commentary) on the Book of Deuteronomy, ask a crucial question: Is that verse… subtly dissing E...
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...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Trading a Lamb for a Dog and the Temple Ban. In Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations connected to the Book of Deuteronomy, we find a fascin...
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 scenario involving yibum. ...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Edom Before the Altar. So, what's going on when we read, as we do in Sifrei Devarim, "and My sword shall eat flesh"? The text immediately acknowledges the s...
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...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to Og in David's Court. Israel wasn't looking for a fight. They sent messengers to Siḥon, just as they had to the king of Edom, asking for safe passage. "Plea...
The Temple Scroll does something no other Dead Sea Scroll attempts, it rewrites biblical law. And one of its most striking revisions concerns the Israelite king. (Deuteronomy 17:14...
A donkey saw an angel before the greatest prophet of the ancient Near East did. That detail alone tells you everything about the story of Balaam. Balak, the king of Moab, was terri...
Moses spent his final days doing what he had done since Sinai: giving laws. But these were different. These were the laws of a man who knew he would never cross the Jordan. The mil...
The prophet Ezekiel delivered an oracle of terrifying certainty: "Behold, it has come; it has arrived, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I spoke" (Ezekiel 39:8). But when...
Moses certainly did. In the Book of Numbers – Bamidbar in Hebrew – we find him at a breaking point. The Israelites are complaining, constantly. He’s exhausted. He cries out to God,...
It turns out, quite a bit. The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, gives us a peek into the anxieties of Moses himself....
Sifrei Devarim turns to Moses and the King of Sanhedrin. Sifrei Devarim, in section 41, opens our minds to this very idea, taking us on a fascinating chain of transmission. It all ...
Did Moses, standing there on Mount Sinai, suddenly become a zoologist specializing in every creature under the sun? We read in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 14:9, "This may you eat… and th...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Bilaam Remembered. The passage focuses on (Deuteronomy 23:4), which states that descendants of Ammon and Moab, even to the tenth generation, shall not be ad...
Because "you were a stranger in his land." It sounds simple enough, but Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah digs deeper. The Egyptians, let's be real, weren’t exactly acting out of pure altru...
Our tradition is full of fascinating interpretations of seemingly simple phrases. Take, for instance, the verse in Deuteronomy (32:2), "Let my teaching drop as the rain." The Sifre...
Sifrei Devarim turns to God Came from Sinai and Shone Forth from Seir. It’s in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 33:2, part of Moses' final blessing to the tribes. The verse says, "The L-rd ca...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Seir Among the Fathers. That's not all. The Sifrei Devarim then presents a compelling analogy to explain why the Torah was given specifically to the descend...
That feeling, that's what (Think of "midrash" as the Jewish art of interpreting scripture to unlock deeper meaning). The verse (Deuteronomy 33:4) states, "Torah was commanded lanu ...
