886 related texts · 4 related myths · Page 2 of 19
The story of Samuel is a powerful example. We find him, in Legends of the Jews, already displaying wisdom beyond his years as just a two-year-old. Two years old! His mother, Hannah...
Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world by age thirty, but Josephus tells a story about the one city he did not need to take by force. When Alexander marched on Jerus...
Zohar turns to The High Priest Enters The Holy Of Holies. Our focus? The High Priest, his heart pounding, preparing to enter the Kodesh HaKodashim, the Holy of Holies, the innermos...
The Mekhilta extends the previous argument about festival labor restrictions to Shabbat (the Sabbath) itself, using an elegant reversal of the kal va-chomer, the argument from less...
Our tradition has a lot to say about that, especially when it comes to prayer and redemption. to a powerful passage from Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the...
Religious laws is often remembered as strict commandments, but sometimes, the texts reveal a surprising amount of individual agency. Take, for instance, this passage from Sifrei Ba...
What seems like a simple act is actually steeped in tradition, detail, and a whole lot of meaning. The Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, gives us the source for the Priestly Ble...
The book of Bamidbar (Numbers), specifically chapter 18 in Sifrei Bamidbar, to examine the intense responsibilities placed on the Kohanim and Levi'im (Levites) and the consequences...
For the Jewish people, the Exodus from Egypt is that moment. And it echoes even in the details of how we celebrate Passover, Pesach, the festival commemorating that liberation. Our...
The Sifrei Devarim, a legal commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, gives us a fascinating glimpse into just that. It’s like a backstage pass to the inner workings of the Temple. Ou...
They saw layers of connection, echoes of stories past, and whispers of divine intent in every word. Take, for instance, a passage from Sifrei Devarim, a legal midrash on the Book o...
The completion of all the Tabernacle's furnishings and garments in (Exodus 39:1-43) should feel repetitive. The craftsmen were building exactly what God commanded. But the Targum J...
Leviticus 21 restricts which priests may serve at the altar. The Targum Jonathan expands the list of disqualifying blemishes with clinical precision that goes well beyond the Hebre...
Rabbi Yehuda said, "Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) before the Holy One, Blessed be He: One of wholly righteous people; and they are immediately writt...
(20) MISHNAH (the earliest code of rabbinic law): For the proclamation of six New Moon days, messengers are sent out: for Nissan, on account of the Passover; for Ab, on account of ...
Her name was Tzafnat, daughter of Peniel, and her father had been high priest of Israel. She had grown up in the holiest household in the land, with the aroma of incense in her clo...
There were fifteen steps in the Temple that led down from the Court of Israel to the Court of the Women. The rabbis said they matched the fifteen Shir HaMa’alot, the Songs of...
The Torah says God made the midwives "houses." The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (1:21) tells us exactly what those houses were. "And forasmuch as the midwives feared before the...
Between the altar of sacrifice and the Tent of Meeting stood a basin, not of gold, not of silver, but of bronze. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan names its purpose simply: the kiyor was for ...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 40:4) turns a floor plan into a theology. Moshe is instructed to place the table of showbread on the north side of the sanctuary and the menorah o...
It comes from Numbers, Chapter 5, verse 26. The verse reads: "The priest shall take a handful from the meal offering, its memorial portion, and burn it upon the altar, and then he ...
It's not about being stingy, but about creating a sense of progression, a journey. Why, it asks, did God command a diminishing number of bulls to be sacrificed each day? What did H...
It’s a fascinating subject, and one that the ancient Rabbis pondered deeply. In fact, Shemot Rabbah, a classic collection of Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) interpreta...
It all starts with the verse, "You shall take for you on the first day.." (Leviticus 23:40) – referring to the lulav, the palm branch, used during the festival of Sukkot (the Festi...
Scripture specified it (the fourteenth day) as mandatory. It is not the second assumption, then, that is to be accepted, but the first. "And it shall be to you for a keeping": Scri...
R. Yitzchak says: "an eye for an eye": I understand this to mean that whether or not he intends (to blind him), he pays only money. And, indeed, Scripture limits one who intends to...
What is the intent of (Exodus, Ibid. 150 "And the seventh day, a Sabbath of resting, holy to the L–rd"? From (Leviticus 23:4) "These are the festivals of the L–rd, callings of holi...
There’s so much more to it than just a spiritual "reset" button. on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, tradition tells us that God sits in judgment of everyone. Then, on Yom Kippu...
Which brings up an interesting comparison: who had the better deal? In Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Numbers, the covenant forged with Aaron...
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). The holiest day. The most dangerous ritual in the entire Torah. And the Targum Jonathan adds details that turn Leviticus 16 into a thriller. Firs...
The sages taught that forty years before the Second Temple burned, its destruction had already begun to show in the quiet details only the priests could read. On Yom Kippur, the lo...
Before he walks down the mountain, Abraham offers one more prayer. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 22:14), the Aramaic paraphrase turns the Hebrew's terse place-naming into a...
Once a year, only once, Aaron approached the golden incense altar with a different purpose. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the command that on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, t...
Take, for instance, the four species we use on Sukkot – the etrog (citron), the lulav (date palm frond), the hadass (myrtle), and the aravah (willow). They aren't just random plant...
The Sages once captured the yetzer hara (יצר הרע), the evil inclination itself. According to Yoma 69b, they prayed for three days, and it was delivered into their hands. A fiery li...
The Small Letters and their Purposes The ALEPH in ויקרא And He called (Leviticus 1:1) is small, to teach that the Holy Blessed One is only revealed to the nations of the earth thro...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Sheni Ketuvim In the beginning God created etc. - To declare the might of the acts of creation to creatures, and to make it known to them...
In the mystical world of the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, even the most mundane object can be a gateway to profound understanding. Here, we find ourselves contemplating…shoes...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a mystical expansion on the Zohar itself, gives us a glimpse into just that – a cosmic tapestry woven with the threads of our festivals. In T...
This feeling, this longing, is actually a call to connect with the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence)? The Shekhinah. What is that, exactly? In Kabbalah, it's often described as the f...
That feeling isn't new. Our ancestors wrestled with it too, especially when it came to learning and observing mitzvot (commandments), commandments. to a passage from Sifrei Devarim...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 16) transforms the three pilgrimage festivals into richly detailed celebrations. The Hebrew describes Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot (the Festiva...
That feeling resonates deeply within Jewish tradition. We see it reflected in the ancient text of Kohelet Rabbah, specifically in its interpretation of the verse "all the rivers go...
The Torah is often remembered as the ultimate source, and of course, it is foundational. But there are other ancient texts, bubbling with stories and traditions, that shed even mor...
Herod had the throne, but the Hasmonean family still haunted him. His wife Mariamne was a Hasmonean princess. Her mother Alexandra was relentless in promoting Hasmonean claims. And...
Tikkunei Zohar turns to Divine Presence of Passover. It starts by saying "And She is Passover from the right-hand side. And She is the New Year from the left-hand side." Intriguing...
It seems straightforward enough, counting seven weeks from Passover until we receive the Torah. But as always with Jewish tradition, there's so much more shimmering beneath the sur...
Rabbi Yishmael confronted a puzzle in (Deuteronomy 16:2), which says: "And you shall slaughter the Passover to your God, sheep and cattle." But the Passover offering is supposed to...
