4,193 related texts · Page 79 of 88
We often think of it as pure power-grabbing, but the ancient texts suggest a more nuanced, almost heartbreaking, story of ambition, family, and perceived injustice. The Book of Num...
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...
That feeling, that potent brew of envy and ambition, is at the heart of the story of Korah. But the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bamidbar Rabbah, doesn'...
And what do these four seemingly disparate things have in common? They're all described as chukim – decrees or statutes – things we do simply because God commanded them, even if th...
Jewish tradition is full of these moments, and one of the most famous revolves around the parah adumah, the red heifer. In Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, we find the commandment: "...
Specifically, Bamidbar Rabbah 19. The passage wrestles with a pretty tough question: Why was Moses punished so severely for what seems like a relatively minor offense – striking th...
That's kind of what's going on in this fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Numbers. The verse in question is from (Num...
It’s a question that echoes through the ages, a bittersweet note in a saga of triumph. The Torah tells us he saw it from afar, but never crossed over. But why? The answer, like so ...
Jewish tradition certainly thinks so. Take a look at the story surrounding the death of Aaron in the book of Numbers, specifically as it's illuminated by Bamidbar Rabbah 19. The ve...
"Aaron will be gathered to his people," God tells Moses, "for he will not come into the land that I have given to the children of Israel, because you defied My directive at the wat...
Our story centers around the verses in (Numbers 20:25-28): "Take Aaron and Elazar his son, and take them up Hor Mountain… Strip Aaron of his vestments, and dress Elazar his son in ...
The Israelites, fresh out of Egypt, certainly did. We find ourselves in the book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, specifically chapter 21, verse 4: “They traveled from Hor Mountain ...
The Book of Numbers, in the Bamidbar Rabbah, grapples with this very question when describing the plague of fiery serpents. "The Lord sent the fiery serpents against the people, an...
The text opens with a quote from (Numbers 22:2): "Balak son of Tzipor saw all that Israel had done to the Emorites." This sets the stage for a larger discussion about divine justic...
It's all about Bilam, the non-Jewish prophet, and his less-than-holy intentions. The story kicks off with God approaching Bilam and asking, "Who are these men with you?" (Numbers 2...
Why the darkness? The passage opens by connecting God’s encounters with Bilam, the non-Israelite prophet, specifically noting that God "came to Bilam at night." This links back to ...
The Torah gives us a fascinating glimpse of such a moment in the story of Bilam, the non-Jewish prophet hired to curse the Israelites. In Numbers, chapter 22, verse 31, we read: “T...
It's one of those biblical tales that's just packed with odd details, and the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) had a field day unpacking it all. We find a f...
The scene is set in (Numbers 25:6): “Behold, a man from the children of Israel came and brought near to his brethren the Midyanite woman, before the eyes of Moses, and before the e...
The Torah gives us some pretty strong clues, and it all boils down to how they chose to attack us. Think about the story of Balaam and Balak. Remember that? Balak, the King of Moab...
Today, let's talk about counting, specifically, the census in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew. We find ourselves in Numbers 26, right after a devastating plague. God tells ...
The story of the daughters of Tzelofḥad challenges that assumption in a profound way. It all starts in (Numbers 27:1): “The daughters of Tzelofḥad, son of Ḥefer, son of Gilad, son ...
And as we'll see, it's a feeling that resonates profoundly within Jewish tradition. Our journey begins with the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar (במדבר), specifically (Numbers 33:1): "The...
When the Torah says, “Command the children of Israel, and say to them: For you are coming to the land of Canaan; this will be the land that will fall to you as an inheritance” (Num...
The Torah is full of promises, both of blessings and of curses. And sometimes, it seems like things don't quite line up. In Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on t...
It all revolves around the verse, "For you are coming to the land of Canaan." Seemingly straightforward. But the Rabbis, with their insatiable curiosity and profound insights, dig ...
Rabbi Yitzchak did. He started with a verse from Psalms: “The beginning of Your word is truth…” (Psalms 119:160). And then he dove right into Genesis, the beginning itself. Rabbi Y...
The Rabbis certainly did. In Bereshit Rabbah, an expansive collection of Rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, we find a fascinating take on the very first verses, conne...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They grappled with questions of creation, divine presence, and the seeming paradoxes of faith. And sometimes, they used the most unexpected method...
We often think of creation as this grand, instantaneous act. But what if I told you that even in the very beginning, there was a sense of…guidance, even sorrow? That’s what I’ve be...
Jewish tradition is full of these moments, and they often happen in the most unexpected ways. Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of r...
The passage opens with that foundational verse, (Genesis 1:26): "And God said: Let us make Man in our image, in our likeness, and let them dominate…” But what does it mean? Rabbi Y...
Our tradition acknowledges that feeling, especially when we consider the mysteries of creation. What was it like before the Big Bang of Genesis? What was God "doing"? The Rabbis of...
It sounds shocking, I know. The story starts with a curious discovery. In Rabbi Meir's personal Torah scroll, a peculiar reading was found in the verse “And, behold, it was very [m...
The scene: Rabbi Akiva, a towering figure of Jewish wisdom, is being interrogated by the wicked governor, Tinneus Rufus. Rufus, dripping with imperial arrogance, poses a deceptivel...
Specifically, we're looking at Bereshit Rabbah 12. Rabbi Nehemya of Kefar Sihon starts us off by referencing (Exodus 20:11): "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the eart...
We take it for granted, but the ancient rabbis saw something profound in that simple act of nature, something deeply connected to humanity's purpose. Bereshit Rabbah, that incredib...
We all know the story: paradise, temptation, the apple, the fall. But before all that went down, there's this single verse in (Genesis 2:15): "The Lord God took the man and placed ...
It seems simple enough on the surface: "From every tree of the garden you may eat." But, like with so much in Torah, the rabbis saw layers upon layers of meaning hidden beneath the...
We all do it, usually for about a third of our lives. But what's going on when we drift off? Our sages pondered this deeply. In Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic commentari...
The Torah, in the book of Genesis (Bereshit), gives us a glimpse of just how fleeting paradise can be. The verse says, "They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were no...
No. The text from Bereshit Rabbah 19 offers some fascinating insights into this pivotal moment in the Garden of Eden. Rabbi Yudan, quoting Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, and Rabbi Berek...
There's a fascinating passage in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, that dives right into this feeling. It starts with the verse, "In...
We know the story: the first murder, a brother turned against brother. But what about Cain's reaction to his punishment? It's more complex than you might think. The Torah tells us ...
The Torah tells us, "Cain departed from the presence of the Lord, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden" (Genesis 4:16). But where did he really go? The Rabbis of the Bereshit...
In the book of Bereshit, Genesis, we find two such words used to describe key figures: tamim and haya. What do they really mean? , because the Rabbis of old sure had some fascinati...
The Torah tells us he was "righteous in his generation" (Genesis 6:9). But what does that really mean? Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis,...
We all know the story: the flood, the ark, two of every animal… but the logistics! How did he feed them all? What did he eat? The Torah tells us, "And you, take for you from all fo...
