12,014 related texts · Page 131 of 251
A woman was weeping and mourning over the grave of her dead husband for a long time. Close by stood a gallows and a watchman was appointed by the king to see that none of the bodie...
When Jacob fled from his brother Esau and set out on the long road to Haran, he stopped at a place called Bethel and made a vow to God. "If God will be with me and guard me on this...
A Jewish child had learned the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis — just the beginning, nothing more — before he was captured and thrown into a Roman prison. He was young, alo...
A min (מין) — the rabbinic term for a heretic or sectarian — once confronted Gaboha with a challenge that strikes at the heart of Jewish faith. "You claim that God will raise the d...
Miriam [Hannah) & Her Seven Sons Martyr*. II Bk. Maccabees, ch. VII. IV Bk. Maccabees ch. VIII, ff. Ketubot, f. 64. J. Ketubot, V, II. Gittin, f. 56 b. Pesik. R. Rabati,XLIII. Tana...
Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha was captured as a child during the destruction of Jerusalem. He was sold into slavery, separated from his family, and taken far from the Land of Israel. Hi...
The martyrdom of Rabbi Hananya ben Teradyon is one of the most searing stories in all of rabbinic literature. The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 18a) records that the Romans found him sittin...
Destruction of Bet Tur. Gittin, f. 57 a. Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), f. 17 b. Rosh Hashana, f. 18 b. Taanit, 26 b, 29 a. Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) Taa...
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 ...
Weasel & Well. Taanit, f. 8. Rashi ad loc. Tosafot ad loc. Midr. Hagadol, Gen. Lekh Lekha. Nathan, Arukh, s. v.hld. Gedalyah, Shalshelet, f. 17. Luzzatto, Kaftor, f. 99 a. Farhi, O...
The Talmud (Bava Batra 11a) records a teaching that transformed how the sages understood the mechanics of divine reward: charity does not merely help the recipient — it literally s...
The most dramatic dispute in the history of Jewish law ended with a voice from heaven — and the sages overruled it. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 59b) records the famous argument between...
King Shapur of Persia once asked the sage Shmuel: "Tell me what I will see in my dream tonight." It was a test — could a Jewish sage truly predict what a foreign king would dream? ...
The sages taught that even when tragedy strikes at a moment of celebration, the celebration must not be disrupted. The Midrash (Pesikta 169b, Tanhuma Shemini) records an extraordin...
Frog Princess. Eisenstein, Oser, p. 344. Maase Buch No. 143. Helvicus, Historien I, ch. 14, p. 64. Eisenmenger, I, p. 399. Tendlau, Fellmeier, No. 1. Griinbaum, Jiid. Dtsch. Chrest...
King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, was once brought a legal case so subtle that its resolution required the full depth of his legendary understanding. The dispute centere...
Burial of Scholar & Taxgather. Shimeonh. Shetah&W itches m of Ascalon. J. Hagigah, II, 2. Sifre, Deut. § 221, f. 114 b. Midr. Decalogue, IX, ib. Nissim, f. 3 b. Rashi to Sanhedrin ...
A king fell gravely ill, and none of his physicians could cure him. They tried every medicine, every herb, every treatment known to the medical science of the age. Nothing worked. ...
Blood Test. Baba Batra, f. 58 a. Parables of Solomon, I. Zabara, Shaashuim, LXII. ed. Davidson. Simhat Hanefesh (the vital soul), p. 12. Sef. Hasidim, ed. Hil- desheimer § 291. Far...
Joshua v. Levi & Prophet Elijah. Pesikta, f. 36 a. Nissim, f. 4 b. Maase Hashem, f. 41a to 43 a. Eliah Cohen, Meil Se- daka §439. Heilperin, Seder Hado- rot, s. v. Joshua b. Levi. ...
A wealthy man grew so weary of his riches that he decided to give them away — but not to the poor. He wandered outside the city and found a beggar sitting in the dust, dressed in r...
God’s Justice. Meg. Esther (Yiddish) *593- Griinbaum, Jiid. Deutsch. Chrest. p. 215—18. Behrnauer, ZDMG. XVI, p. 762. Brockhaus, ZDMG., XIV, p. 7o6f. Gellert, Das Schicksal. Gesta ...
Three Questions. Anderson, Kaiser &Abt. Apollodor, III, 7, 1. Antigone. Basile, Pen tarn. No. 35. cf. Behrnauer, 40 Veziere, p. noff. Birlinger, Aus Schwa- ben II, 370—371. Eisel, ...
Grateful Dead. Farhi, O. P. Ill, f. 11 to 1 7. Burton, Supplemental Nights, IV, p. 325. Wife making Tapestry. cf. Gas ter, Gypsy Tales. Scala Celi, s. v. Clema- sina. Simrock, Gute...
A star fell from heaven — and its fall marked the beginning of a corruption that would lead to the great Flood. The Midrash (Genesis Rabbah of Rabbi Moses HaDarshan, Midrash Abkhir...
"And it shall come to pass in all the land, declares the Lord, that two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive" (Zechariah 13:8). Rabbi Berachiah sai...
When Sarah died, Abraham aged overnight. The midrash says it plainly: old age came upon him the moment he buried her, as the verse notes — "Abraham was old, coming with days" (Gene...
When Israel does the will of the Almighty, they rise like ministering angels. This is Aggadat Bereshit's boldest claim about obedience — not that it earns reward, but that it trans...
When the righteous multiply in the world, good things multiply with them. This is Aggadat Bereshit's reading of "When the righteous are many, the people rejoice" (Proverbs 29:2). N...
"And the El Shaddai grant you mercy" (Genesis 43:14). Jacob is sending Benjamin to Egypt — his youngest, his only remaining connection to Rachel, the son he can least afford to los...
God is known in this world by bringing judgment upon those who need it. This is Aggadat Bereshit's uncomfortable claim: "The Lord is known for executing judgment; the wicked are en...
"Listen to Me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He — I am the first, and I am the last as well" (Isaiah 48:12). God speaks with the full weight of eternity — before everyt...
That’s what we’re talking about when we talk about God. famous verse from Exodus (3:14), where God tells Moses, "I shall be what I shall be." It’s so much more than just a name. It...
We tend to picture Him as all-powerful, which He is, but the ancient texts sometimes paint a more… visceral picture. A picture of YAHWEH, the Warrior God. Think about the Exodus st...
The story goes that before disaster struck, the prophet Jeremiah pleaded with the people to turn away from their wrongdoings, to repent (do teshuva) so they could avoid exile. But ...
Jewish tradition gives us a pretty vivid, and frankly terrifying, answer: Gehenna. Now, Gehenna – sometimes also called Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death) –...
Not just any mountain, but Mount Sinai itself, the very place where God met Moses. It’s a mind-bending image, isn't it? That's how some of our tradition describes the moment of rev...
Before the sun, the moon, the stars... before anything? Jewish tradition has some pretty mind-bending answers, and one of the most fascinating involves the Torah. Not just the one ...
We all know the story: Abraham and Sarah, finally blessed with a child in their old age. But what if there was more to the story than meets the eye? What if, as some ancient texts ...
We usually think of it as a given, part of the grand, sweeping narrative of the Exodus. But what if the waters had their own say? According to some fascinating midrash (rabbinic in...
What happens to the abandoned? What happens to the children left to the elements, victims of cruelty and fear? Sometimes, stories offer us the most profound answers. Think about th...
Yet, Jewish tradition whispers of just such a mystery: that the Messiah himself will descend from the side of evil. How can this be? Well, the story starts with King David, the anc...
It's not just random geography. It's a lesson in humility and the power of inner space. The Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, opens with the famous line: "The Lord spoke to Mose...
We read in the book of Numbers that "all those counted were six hundred three thousand, five hundred and fifty" (Numbers 1:46). But numbers in the Torah are never just numbers, are...
One that opens up a whole world of understanding about the special role this tribe played. Our story starts in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, which literally means "in th...
In the book of Numbers, Bamidbar, we find a census being taken. But there's a twist. "However, the tribe of Levi you shall not count" (Numbers 1:49). Why this exclusion? Bamidbar R...
In the desert, the Israelites found that strength, not just in their faith, but also in their organization, in their very banners. "Each at his banner, with the insignias," says th...
Our tradition teaches us that the world itself was once like that, a desolate and empty space, until something truly remarkable happened. Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic ...
