502 related texts · Page 3 of 11
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Exod. 25:8). On which day did He relate to Moses the portion relating to the Temple? It was on the Day of Atonement. ...
And thou shalt make the altar of acacia-wood (Exod. 27:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Tell them to erect an altar for burnt offerings so that it may atone for the ...
And thou shalt overlay it with brass (Exod. 27:2). R. Judah the son of Shalum stated: Moses had said to the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, You told me to make an ...
(Numb. 16:1:) “Now Korah […] took.” What is written above the matter (in Numb. 15:38)?5Numb. R. 18:3. “Speak unto the Children of Israel and tell them to make tassels (zizit) for t...
(Numb. 16:1:) “[Korah who is] the son of Izhar [who is] the son of Kohath [who is] the son of Levi betook himself.” But there is not written "the son of Jacob" [or] "the son of Isr...
(Numb. 16:5:) “In the morning [the Lord will make known those who belong to him].” What reason did he have for saying, “In the morning He will make known?”23Numb. R. 18:7. Moses sa...
(Numb. 16:7-8:) “You Levites have gone too far! So Moses said unto Korah, ‘Please listen, you Children of Levi.” Do you have someone speaking with Joseph, who tells Simon to listen...
(Numb. 16:1:) “And On ben Peleth.” Why was he named On (which means "sorrow")?45Numb. R. 18:20; Sanh. 109b-110a. Because he remained in sorrow all his days. (Ibid.:) “Ben Peleth (p...
That’s the wisdom we find woven into Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic teachings that delve deep into the Book of Psalms. Specifically, let’s look at Midrash Tehillim 32, ...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 11) turns the promise of rain into a precisely timed agricultural calendar. The Hebrew says God will give "the early rain and the late rain." Th...
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that in the future, all suffering will be revealed as good. Not philosophically. Experientially. You will bless God for your pain the same way you b...
"The entire world was created only for my sake" (Sanhedrin 37a). Rabbi Nachman of Breslov takes this teaching at face value: if the world exists for you, then you are responsible f...
The Torah mentions redeeming "the first-born of the unclean beast" in (Numbers 18:15), which could suggest that every unclean animal's firstborn must be redeemed. Camels, horses, d...
If only a donkey's firstborn is redeemed, what does the Torah mean when it says in (Numbers 18:15), "but redeem shall you redeem the first-born of the unclean beast"? The Mekhilta ...
"among your sons shall you redeem": What is the intent of this? It is written (Numbers 18:16) "And redemption from one month"—general. "according to the monetary valuation, five sh...
The generation of the Flood earned their destruction through arrogance. According to Sanhedrin 108a, God gave them 120 years of warning. They spent those years mocking Noah. The Sa...
The Book of Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death) [Reishit Chochmah: Gate of Fear: Chapter 12; Beit haMidrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary): Section 1] It...
“Haman said: ‘Indeed, Queen Esther gave a feast and besides the king she did not bring anyone but me. And tomorrow too I am invited by her along with the king” (Esther 5:12).“Haman...
Ben Sira, in his wisdom, reminds us of something fundamental: "If they were not, you would not have come to the world." Your parents, your ancestors... they paved the way. And what...
Jacob certainly did. Imagine this: you've just wrestled with an angel (or at least, a really tough guy who might as well have been an angel!), you're about to face your estranged b...
We’re diving into a snippet from the Book of Jubilees. Now, the Book of Jubilees isn’t part of the canonical Hebrew Bible that most people know. Think of it as a fascinating, sligh...
We all know the story: the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the Israelites' triumphant escape from Egypt. But what about the behind-the-scenes cosmic drama? The Book of Jubilee...
While God was still speaking, Abraham suddenly found himself back upon the earth. "O Eternal, Mighty One," he said, "I am no longer in the glory in which I was while on high, and w...
Levi, third son of Jacob and Leah, called his sons together when he knew his death was near. It had been revealed to him that he would die. When they gathered, he told them everyth...
It wasn't just a simple "Okay, God, I'll go." According to the Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, Moses' agreement came with conditions. He wanted assurances that his requ...
We often think of him as this revered figure, almost from birth. But what about his younger days? Did he always believe? to a fascinating, and somewhat irreverent, story about his ...
We’re talking about Jacob, of course, and his son Levi. Jacob, nearing the end of his life, was deeply concerned about the future of his family, his tribe, his legacy. According to...
We all know the story of the ten plagues. God unleashing a series of devastating blows against Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. But there's often more than meets...
Ancient Jewish texts grapple with that very question, often framing it as divine retribution – a cosmic balancing of the scales. And there's no better place to see this play out th...
The stakes might be higher than we imagine. Imagine this: you’re wandering in the desert, sustained only by miraculous bread falling from the sky – manna. God gives very specific i...
The Talmud, in Tractate Chullin 60b, quotes God as saying, "Dead things come before Me and leave Me imbued with life." Powerful. But what does it really mean? The Sages, in their i...
It goes deeper than just a census. The tribe of Levi carried a weighty burden: atoning for the sin of the firstborn sons of Israel. Now, to understand that, we have to rewind a bit...
The story of Korah is a chilling example. We find it in the Book of Numbers (Numbers 16), but the Rabbis and storytellers throughout the ages have embellished it, explored it, and ...
We often think of the destruction of Korah and his followers as the end of a chapter, a moment of divine justice that should have brought peace. But according to Ginzberg's retelli...
Moses, desperate, remembers a secret he learned during his time on Mount Sinai, when he ascended to receive the Torah. It's a pretty wild story, actually. Each angel he encountered...
It was a matter of utmost importance, a sacred duty meticulously observed. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, gives us a fascinating glimpse into this world. He explains that our...
David made one mistake that cost seventy thousand lives. He counted his people. The Torah had been explicit: if you number Israel, every person counted must pay a half-shekel to Go...
We often hear about the benevolent angels, the messengers, the healers. But what about the ones who fall from grace? Let's talk about Dumah. According to Jewish tradition, Dumah wa...
The boundary between medicine and magic barely existed in medieval Jewish life. Physicians recited psalms over patients. Rabbis prescribed amulets alongside herbal remedies. And th...
When God told Moses to take the staff that had struck the Nile, the Mekhilta explains the reason: it was because of Israel's "murmurings." The people had been complaining, and now ...
(Exodus 22:28) "Your fullness and your dema (terumah) you shall not delay": "Your fullness"—bikkurim (first-fruits, which are taken from fully ripened grain). "you shall not delay"...
We often think of it as a calm, orderly process, but some stories hint at a bit more… chaos. What if I told you the very waters that give life once rose up in rebellion against God...
The story goes that when God desired to create the world, He turned to Rahab, who was the angel or prince of the sea. God commanded Rahab to "Open your mouth and swallow all the wa...
There's a story in the Torah, a rather unsettling one, about two brothers, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, and it's been echoing through Jewish tradition for millennia. We find...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They saw it playing out in the story of the Israelites in the desert, a story brimming with lessons for us today. Our jumping-off point is Psalm 1...
King David knew that feeling, and he gave voice to it in the Psalms. Psalm 141, to be exact. It begins, "I call upon you, O Lord; make haste to me; give ear to my voice when I call...
Jewish tradition, in its beautiful complexity, actually has something to say about that feeling – about being an outcast, and even more surprisingly, about the possibility of retur...
to a fascinating passage from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, specifically chapter 37, that wrestles with this very issue, focusing on the complex relationship between Jacob and Esau. The ...
