886 related texts · 4 related myths · Page 17 of 19
The Torah tells us the sun, moon, and stars are for "signs and seasons, days and years." Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 1:14) lets this sentence breathe. The luminaries, in the...
Jacob set a pillar and poured oil on it (Genesis 28:22). Then he made a promise about what that pillar would become. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan goes further than the plain verse. T...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves one of the strangest accounts in all of Jewish tradition (Genesis 32:25). Jacob was left alone across the Jabbok, and an angel wrestled him in the ...
Joseph survived the slander, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan explains why. "He returned to abide in his early strength, and would not yield himself unto sin, and subdued his inclination...
Benjamin was the youngest, and Jacob's last blessing might be the most exalted. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan reads the Hebrew "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf" (Genesis 49:27) as a declarati...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan opens one of the most astonishing passages in the entire exodus tradition. "Ye have seen what I did to the Mizraee; and how I bare you upon the clouds as...
The ancient world knew the right of sanctuary. A murderer who reached a temple's altar could cling to the horns of the altar and claim divine protection. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan...
A calf is born. A lamb is born. The farmer knows this one is destined for the altar, a firstborn male, dedicated to God from its first breath. What happens in the interval between ...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:15) sets the pilgrimage: The feast of unleavened cakes thou shalt keep. Seven days thou art to eat unleavened bread, as I have instructe...
When God commissioned the priestly wardrobe, He did not sketch a uniform. He named eight specific garments, each with a job. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:4) lists them ...
Even the best judge eventually meets a case he cannot crack. Two witnesses contradict. A motive stays buried. A theft leaves no trail. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:15) ...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:18) names the second row of the high priest's breastplate: smaragd, and sapphire and chalcedony. On them were engraved Judah, Dan, and Naph...
The shoulder stones were a memorial. The breastplate was something more intimate. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:29) insists that Aaron bore the names of the sons of Isra...
The most electric line in this chapter of the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is hidden inside a description of a priestly accessory. On (Exodus 28:30), the text explains what the Urim and ...
The robe of the high priest rang when he walked. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:34) gives a specific count: a golden bell, then a pomegranate of hyacinth and crimson, alt...
Why did the high priest's robe need bells at all? The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:35) gives the quiet, terrifying answer. Its voice shall be heard at the time that he hath...
The gold plate on the forehead of the high priest was tied to a hyacinth ribbon. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:37) names the sin it was meant to repair: it make amends f...
A worshipper brings an offering but his heart is not really in it. He makes a vow and regrets it mid-sentence. He dedicates a field and secretly hopes to walk it back. What happens...
Most translations of (Exodus 28:39) describe the weaving of the tunic and leave it there. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan refuses that minimalism. Each garment atones for something spec...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 29:30) legislates how the high priesthood is passed on. For seven full days, the son who rises after his father wears the vestments and enters...
Seven days of atonement, and then the altar was something else entirely, not a piece of furniture, not a table of stone, but kodesh kodashim, the altar of the Holy of Holies. Targu...
What happened to all those half-shekels? Targum Pseudo-Jonathan follows the Torah's answer: Moses was to gather the silver of the ransom from the sons of Israel and apply it to the...
Once the anointing oil had been compounded and the vessels of the sanctuary had been touched with it, they were no longer ordinary. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan describes what happened t...
If the anointing oil was for people and vessels, the incense was for the air itself. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the command to Moses: take spices, balsam, onycha, galbanum. A...
Where did the onyx stones for the high priest's ephod come from? The Torah does not say. But Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 35:27) tells one of the strangest mineral-supply stor...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 35:28) continues the miraculous supply chain it began in the previous verse. The clouds of heaven returned, and went to the garden of Eden, and to...
The Torah often speaks in categories, the priests, the Levites, the heads of tribes. But Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 35:29) zooms out to the widest possible frame: Every man,...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 39:37) describes the menorah and its lamps, but adds a line the Hebrew never says aloud. The lamps, the meturgeman tells us, were ordained to corr...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 40:7) takes the bronze laver, a basin of water set between the sanctuary and the altar. And turns it into a picture of teshuvah. Place the laver h...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 40:10) takes the consecration of the altar of burnt offering and turns it into a prophecy. Anoint the altar, the meturgeman says, on account of th...
When the Tabernacle stood finished in the wilderness and every board was raised into place, the Holy One turned Moses's attention from the walls to the men who would serve inside t...
Between the outer altar and the inner tent of the Tabernacle, a bronze basin sat on its foundation. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 40:30) describes what Moses poured into it, no...
Exodus 40 ends with a single line of deep significance. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders (Exodus 40:33) simply: Moses reared up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, set the...
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 Metatron isn't your average ange...
Maybe you drove past a friend's house without stopping, or forgot to say thank you to someone who deserved it. The Torah tells us that Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esau, "left B...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to Aaron and Moses of Elazar. What exactly happened to these two sons of Aaron, the High Priest? Why does the Torah repeat their fate in several places? Bamid...
It all goes back to a fascinating swap, a divine exchange, that re-shaped the spiritual landscape of ancient Israel. We find the seeds of this story in Bamidbar Rabbah, specificall...
The Book of Numbers, or Bamidbar in Hebrew, gives us some fascinating insights into this very question, particularly in the fourth chapter, as explored in Bamidbar Rabbah, a classi...
It wasn't just packing up and hitting the road. Every aspect, down to who touched what and in what order, was meticulously planned and imbued with deep meaning. to just one small p...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to David in Heaven. "On the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of sky-blue wool, and place upon it the bowls, and the saucers, and the supports, and...
It wasn't just about packing up a tent. It was about transporting the most sacred objects, ensuring their sanctity every step of the way. one small but fascinating detail: how the ...
In fact, the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bamidbar Rabbah 8, goes so far as to suggest that God has an especially strong love for gerim, or proselytes –...
It states: "Every gift of all the sacred items of the children of Israel that they will present to the priest shall be his." Sounds But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpre...
It might sound dry, but there are some real gems hidden in there. a passage from Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah) 8, a Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) (interpretive) c...
It’s a story of belonging, reward, and the enduring power of righteous action. The passage begins with a quote from Psalms: “Happy are all who fear the Lord, who follow His ways” (...
The Book of Numbers (6:6) states: “All the days of his abstinence to the Lord, he shall not approach a dead person.” Bamidbar Rabbah, a classic midrashic (rabbinic interpretive com...
(Numbers 6:14) lays it out: "He shall sacrifice his offering to the Lord: One unblemished lamb in its first year as a burnt offering, one unblemished ewe in its first year as a sin...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to Tribal Princes Bring Wagons to Serve the Tent of Meeting. " The context is the dedication of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, and the princes of the tribes are...
