4,670 related texts · Page 47 of 98
The parable of the blind man and the lame man in the orchard, told by Antoninus to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi in Sanhedrin 91b, establishes one of the Talmud's most important doctrines: b...
The future Jerusalem will be built from precious stones so massive they defy imagination. According to Bava Batra 75a, God will take gems thirty cubits by thirty cubits, carve gate...
The Romans wrapped Rabbi Chanina ben Teradion in a Torah scroll, piled bundles of vine branches around him, and set him on fire. To prolong his agony, they placed wet wool over his...
The Hebrew Bible says God "shut him in" the ark (Genesis 7:16)—a strangely intimate image of the Creator personally closing Noah's door. Targum Onkelos renders this as "God protect...
The Hebrew Bible says Jacob dreamed of a ladder "set up on the earth, and the top of it reached toward heaven" (Genesis 28:12). Targum Onkelos says the ladder was "planted in the e...
And David arose, and fled that day from before Saul: This is [the meaning of] the verse, He has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11), everything that the Holy ...
Our Rabbis taught: At the time that the anointed king comes, he [will] stand on the roof of the temple and announce to Israel and say "Humble ones! The time of your redemption has ...
But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back" (Ruth 1:8): Why did she send them back? In order not to be embarrassed by them. For so did we find that in Jerusalem there wer...
3 The Staff of Your Strength G-d shall send forth from Zion. Which staff is this? This is the staff of Jacob about which it is said: "Because with my staff I crossed this Jordan." ...
The Holy One of Blessing is High and Exalted, His throne is [also] High and Exalted. And from where do we know that the Holy One of Blessing is called "High and Exalted"? From (Isa...
"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] ...
"Until the end of the first watch," said R. Eliezer. Let us see: with whom does R. Eliezer agree? If he hold that the night is divided into three watches, then let him say "until t...
[It is written] (Ps. 66:1) A prayer of David, preserve my soul, for I am pious. R. Levi and R. Isaac both explain this passage. One said : "Thus said David before the Holy One, pra...
(13) Raba expounded what is meant by the passage (Ps. 116, 1) It is lovely to me that the Lord heareth my voice. Thus said the congregation of Israel unto the Holy One, praised be ...
(15) It is said above that the school of Hillel said: "He who abounds in kindness inclines [the scale of justice] towards the side of kindness." How does He do it? R. Eliezer said:...
(16) (Ib. b) (Ex. 34, 6), And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed. R. Jochanan said: "Had this passage not been written, it would have been impossible to think of it, for ...
Two Jews were carried away captive from Mount Carmel. The captor following them overheard one saying to the other “A she -camel has passed before us, she is blind of one eye and on...
A laborer worked for his master for three full years, faithfully performing every task assigned to him. When the work was finally done, he approached his master and asked for his w...
Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa was deep in prayer, standing perfectly still, his eyes closed, his lips moving in silent communion with God. He did not notice the venomous adder that had sli...
Rabbi Akiba heard that one of his students had fallen gravely ill. The young man was bedridden, burning with fever, and growing weaker by the day. No one expected him to survive. B...
Rabban Gamliel, the head of the Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), once served food to Rabbi Yehoshua with his own hands. He stood and poured wine for his guest as though he w...
Rabbi Akiba laughed when everyone else wept — and his laughter changed the course of Jewish faith. The first time was in Rome. Rabbi Akiba and his colleagues walked through the str...
V. A beautiful woman, persecuted by the governor, put her gold in jars and covered it on the top with honey. She left them with a friend and went away. After the death of the goxer...
A Roman emperor — the Talmud does not always specify which one — once summoned the Jewish sages to answer a question that he believed would expose their faith as foolishness. "You ...
Old Man Planting Charub Tree. Yebamot, f. 63a. Tanh. and B to Levit. Kedoshim, § 8. Midr. Hagadol, Gen. f. 56d—57a. Exod. R., ch. 2. Levit. R., 25 §5. Eccles. R., 2 § 16. Yalk. § 6...
Kimhit was a woman whose modesty was so complete that, according to the Talmud (Yoma 47a), even the beams of her house never saw her hair uncovered. The sages said this was the rea...
The Talmud (Shabbat 127b) tells of a man who worked for an employer in the north of Israel for three years. When his contract ended, he went to collect his wages on the eve of Yom ...
Nahum of Gamzu — the sage whose name became a proverb, because to every misfortune he would say "Gam zu l'tovah," "This too is for the good" — learned the cost of delayed charity t...
If neglecting to wash hands before meals could lead to disaster, the Talmud teaches that neglecting to wash after meals was equally dangerous — and one story proved why. A man's fa...
Rabbi Ishmael ben Jose was making his way to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage when a Samaritan stopped him on the road. The Samaritans — who lived on and around Mount Gerizim and claimed ...
A merchant from one town traveled to a neighboring city to sell his goods. He set up his stall in the marketplace, offered fair prices, and began to attract customers. But the loca...
The rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) debated endlessly over the mystery of how God created the world — and what existed before creation began. According to ...
After Abraham sent Ishmael away into the wilderness with his mother Hagar, the patriarch did not forget his firstborn son. According to Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer and the Midrash Haga...
The sage known for his extraordinary carefulness was Rav, and his caution extended even to the smallest details of daily life. The Talmud in Hullin (95b) preserves a teaching about...
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 ...
Bar Kappara was walking along the seashore when he encountered the survivors of a shipwreck — strangers, soaked and shivering, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They had...
There was once a man so wicked that the entire town avoided him. He cheated in business, spoke cruelty to strangers, and mocked the sages when they tried to rebuke him. Everyone ag...
A young boy discovered that he could understand the language of birds. When sparrows chattered on the rooftops, he heard gossip. When ravens called from the treetops, he heard warn...
Rabbi Akiba and the pearl — a story about how the greatest treasures are sometimes hidden in the most unlikely places. The tale is preserved in medieval collections including the M...
The birth of Ben Batira — or more precisely, the circumstances that led to his birth — is preserved in the Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin 7:13) as one of the stranger stories in rabbi...
Korah's riches were legendary — and his fall was proportional to his wealth. The Talmud (Pesahim 119a, Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 10:1) and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer describe a fortun...
A bird served as a witness in a case of justice — and its testimony was accepted because God uses all of creation, even the smallest creatures, to ensure that truth is revealed. Th...
"Cast your bread upon the waters, for you shall find it after many days" (Ecclesiastes 11:1). This verse became the foundation for one of the most frequently told stories in the Je...
Gog makes his plans in secret. He thinks his strategies are hidden — the alliance-building, the schemes against Israel, the invasions planned in quiet rooms. "On that day, thoughts...
Israel in Egypt — fruitful and multiplying, a thousand thousand and myriad myriads — and still, in God's eyes, like a single beloved child. That's the paradox this section of Aggad...
Israel in exile speaks like a child who has finally stopped lying. "Master of the Universe, at first I said 'I have not sinned,' and You brought suffering upon me. Now I say: I hav...
Three days after his circumcision, Abraham sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day — sore, exhausted, ninety-nine years old. And God appeared to him (Genesis 18:1). ...
"Far be it from You to do such a thing!" Abraham said it to God's face. He was standing between Sodom and heaven, and he was arguing (Genesis 18:25). The Hebrew word is chalilah — ...
