886 related texts · 4 related myths · Page 16 of 19
Like you're reading something and thinking, "Wait, didn't we already cover this?" You're not wrong. There are layers upon layers of meaning embedded in what might seem like redunda...
What Happens to Redeemed Temple Offerings is the question behind this passage from Sifrei Devarim. The passage It tackles a question about these redeemed offerings and whether the ...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Rules for Holy of Holies and Lesser Offerings. In section 71, we encounter a fascinating discussion about the rules surrounding offerings brought to the Tem...
Rabbi Shimon, a sage whose insights continue to resonate, offers a fascinating perspective. He suggests that the verse in question isn’t just about listing rules, but about establi...
Sifrei Devarim turns to How Sacrificial Blood Was Applied at the Altar. The passage Specifically, it's trying to answer the question: what are the rules? The passage starts with a ...
Sometimes, seemingly simple words unlock entire worlds of understanding. Take the word "abomination," for example. What does it really mean in the context of our relationship with ...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Knowledge and Innocence of Jerusalem. That’s where the concept of a fortiori argument comes in. It's a method of logical inference, a way of saying, "If thi...
The verse in Deuteronomy (16:4) is pretty clear: "And there shall not be seen unto you leaven in all of your border for seven days." Seems straightforward. No chametz for you! But ...
It all starts with the verse, "and there shall not remain of the flesh that you sacrifice in the evening on the first day until the morning." (Deuteronomy 16:4). Okay, straightforw...
It wasn't just a difference of opinion, a harmless cultural practice. Oh no. According to them, idolatry was a spiritual cancer, a plague on the soul. Sifrei Devarim, one of the ea...
You might be surprised. Forget the crown jewels and the royal chef. According to one fascinating interpretation in Sifrei Devarim 161, it's a scroll. Specifically, a megillah, a sc...
Sifrei Devarim turns to The Levites Inherit Fire-Offerings Instead of Land. The verse It sounds straightforward. The priests, the Levites, they get to eat from the offerings brough...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Five Peoples Dwelt in the Land Before the Levites. Sifrei Devarim 165 offers a glimpse into a different kind of inheritance, one that resonates with spiritu...
Jewish law, Halakha, is famous (or maybe infamous!) for diving deep into the nitty-gritty. And sometimes, it's in those tiny details that we find the bigger picture. Consider a see...
It's fascinating to consider how seemingly disparate aspects of life were connected, and Sifrei Devarim 208 offers us a tantalizing glimpse into this very connection. " What's stri...
In the Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, Rabbi Yehudah gives us a fascinating mnemonic device for remembering the ten...
The ancient text, Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, opens up a fascinating perspective. In it, the verse referring to God as "your Owner" (kanecha) sparks a ...
The Torah touches on this, not directly, but in subtle glimpses. the story turns to how the death of Aaron, the High Priest, is described, and what Moses thought of it. We find thi...
The answer is a resounding "no." There's a fascinating story in Sifrei Devarim that illuminates this very idea. It all begins with a question from Agnitis, a Roman general, to Rabb...
The bronze altar described in (Exodus 27:1-21) gets a practical upgrade in the Targum Jonathan. Where the Hebrew text simply says to build a grate of bronze netting, the Targum exp...
When the entire community of Israel sinned by accident, who took responsibility? The Hebrew Bible says "the elders of the congregation" laid their hands on the bull (Leviticus 4:15...
The Targum Jonathan opens Leviticus 6 with a line that does not exist in the Hebrew Bible: the burnt offering "is brought to make atonement for the thoughts of the heart." Standard...
On the eighth day of consecration, the first of Nisan, Aaron was about to offer his first sacrifice as high priest. Then he froze. The Targum Jonathan says he "saw at the corner of...
Transporting the Tabernacle was the most dangerous job in ancient Israel. The Targum Jonathan makes clear that one wrong glance at the sacred vessels meant death by divine fire. Wh...
Every tribe in Israel received land. The Levites received cities. Aaron and his sons received something stranger: God told them their inheritance was God Himself. The Targum Jonath...
Teach us, oh master – may one light a lamp for personal use from the Channukah lights? Our masters taught us – R’ Acha said in the name of Rav ‘it is forbidden to light a lamp to u...
They have built the shrines of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom: Our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said that even though all the houses of idolatry were in Jerusalem, the...
Story of Eldad the Danite, Narrative B In the name of the LORD God of Israel, blessed be His name, of our God the King, King of kings, Who chose Israel from among all nations and g...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Ezra": Mentioned in the introduction of Rabbi Tam ben Yehiya to the Book of Josippon, and he states there: "Indeed, Joseph [ben Gurion] ...
Berachoth: Chapter One From what time on may we read the Sh'm'a of the evening? "From the time the priests enter to eat their Terumah until the end of the first watch," said R. Eli...
(2) (Fol. 3b) R. Abahu said: "Cyrus was a worthy king, and therefore were his royal years counted in accordance with those of the kings of Israel [beginning with Nissan]." R. Josep...
In the days when the Israelites brought their first fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem, a remarkable custom prevailed. The wealthy arrived with their offerings displayed in baskets ...
In the distant lands of Persia, where fire altars burned day and night in honor of the elements, the Jewish communities faced a peculiar danger that was not from human persecutors ...
At the most joyful festival in the Jewish year, the Simchat Beit HaShoevah, the Rejoicing of the House of the Water Drawing, held on the nights of Sukkot, the Sages did things you ...
The Roman-appointed Jewish king Agrippa II, who reigned over parts of Judea in the first century CE, once tried to count the male population of Israel. Because a direct census of I...
When Alexander of Macedon marched east, the Samaritans, called in the Talmud the Kutim, saw a political opening. They sent word to Alexander asking him to destroy the Temple in Jer...
The First Temple, the sages taught, held five tokens of God's nearness that the Second Temple lacked: the Ark and its cover, the sacred fire that came down from heaven, the Shekhin...
The verse says Rejoice with trembling (Psalm 2:11). The rabbis took that seriously. If joy goes unchecked, they feared, it becomes carelessness, and carelessness forgets that the T...
How far must a person go to honor a parent? Rav Ulla was asked this question, and instead of answering with a verse, he told a story. There was a man in Ashkelon named Dammah ben N...
When Solomon set out to build the Temple, he faced a strange obstacle hidden in plain sight in the Torah. Scripture says that "the house, when it was in building, was built of ston...
Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Korcha, heard the story from an old man of Jerusalem who had lived through the Babylonian destruction. In the valley below the city, Nebuzaradan, captain...
In the Temple service, everyone bowed thirteen times, corresponding to the thirteen shofar-shaped collection boxes and the thirteen tables arrayed in the sanctuary. But those who b...
Midrash Rabbah on Deuteronomy preserves a strange detail about the fall of the First Temple. When the Babylonian conquerors carried away the holy vessels, they did not carry away t...
In the days of the Mishnah the rabbis regulated even the meals of mourning. At a funeral feast they ordered ten cups of wine to be drunk in the house of the bereaved, three before ...
When Solomon completed the First Temple and prepared to carry the Ark of the Covenant through the main gates, he opened his mouth to sing the words of Psalm 24: Lift up your heads,...
The Holy One has often worked wonders in the lives of His children at the hour of their greatest need. These miracles are recorded not for spectacle but as a brake against disbelie...
Every year, in the dark weeks of winter, Jewish homes kindle flames for eight nights — the Chag HaChanukah, the Feast of Dedication. The festival commemorates the purifying o...
When Israel went up to Jerusalem for one of the three pilgrimage festivals (Exodus 34:23-24), a season came in which the wells ran dry. There was no water for the pilgrims to drink...
