12,014 related texts · Page 16 of 251
R. Eliezer says: They journeyed by the word, for thus do we find in two or three places. What, then, is the intent of "And Moses made Israel journey?" He did so against their will,...
"All of the illness which I placed in Egypt I will not place upon you" — God promised the Israelites immunity from the plagues that devastated their former oppressors. But then the...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai offered a surprising claim about what life was actually like for the Israelites in Egypt. Contrary to what one might expect from a nation of slaves, Israel liv...
Three men climbed to the top of the hill before the battle against Amalek: Moses, Aaron, and Chur (Exodus 17:10). The Mekhilta explains that their ascent was not a military decisio...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) — declared that circumcision was so great that all of Moses' accumulated merits could n...
God commanded the Israelites to "wash their garments" in preparation for receiving the Torah at Sinai (Exodus 19:10). The Mekhilta asks a follow-up question that the Torah itself d...
Why is it written? It is deliberately superfluous to signal a gezeirah shavah (i.e., "identity"), viz.: It is written here (in Exodus) "Hebrew," and there (in Devarim) "Hebrew." Ju...
R. Yishmael says: Come and see the mercies of the One who spoke and brought the world into being, for flesh and blood. For a man acquires himself with money from the hands of Heave...
In Jewish tradition, Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, is one of those days. It's a day of fasting and mourning, remembering immense loss and tragedy throughout our history. But where d...
The Torah tells us a story about just that. It's a scorching day, and Abraham is sitting at the entrance to his tent, near the terebinths of Mamre. Suddenly, he looks up and sees t...
We all know the triumphant tale of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, escaping Pharaoh's clutches. But what about the Egyptians swallowed by the waves? It turns out, Jewish tradi...
The opening of Psalm 1, "Blessed is the man," seems simple enough, but according to Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Psalms, it's packed wi...
It turns out, you're in good company. Or, perhaps, bad company. Midrash Tehillim, a fascinating collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms, dives deep into the hidden thou...
It poses a fascinating question: Did everyone in the nation really know they were eating bread? I know, it sounds strange. But it's not about the physical act of eating, is it? It'...
But it's a question that ancient Jewish texts grapple with, revealing profound insights into justice, repentance, and the ultimate fate of our souls. to a passage from Midrash Tehi...
That feeling, that tension, it's not new. In fact, the ancient text of Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Book of Psalms, wrestles with this very idea. ...
We often focus on the wonder of divine intervention, but sometimes the small details reveal a much deeper story. Take the plague of blood in Egypt, for example. We all know the sto...
Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Psalms, uses a vivid analogy to explore exactly that feeling, focusing on the Exodus from Egypt. It hangs ...
It's a theme beautifully explored in Midrash Tehillim, specifically in its interpretation of Psalm 118. This isn't just about ancient history; it's about a relationship – a dialogu...
Psalm 124, a song from the collection known as Shir Hama'alot, the Songs of Ascent, dives deep into that feeling. It's raw, visceral, and speaks directly to the heart of anyone who...
Today, let's talk about Eliezer, Abraham's trusted steward. But who was this Eliezer, really? The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early collection of biblical stories and exp...
Abraham knew that feeling. The story of the Tower of Babel – you know, that ambitious, maybe even arrogant, attempt to build a tower that would reach the heavens – it's more than j...
Is it power? Is it armies? Is it wealth? Well, according to Jewish tradition, the answer might surprise you. It all boils down to righteousness. We find this idea beautifully illus...
The ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a collection of stories and interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, gives us a glimpse into just such a moment. Specifically, it focuses on Ab...
We often think of trials as personal, internal struggles. But what happens when those trials come from the outside, from the world itself? to one chapter, chapter 27, of Pirkei DeR...
We often think of it as a formal obligation, a percentage we owe. But its roots, according to some fascinating ancient texts, are surprisingly personal, filled with gratitude and r...
to a fascinating passage from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a non-canonical yet beloved collection of stories and interpretations of the Torah. Here, Rabbi Joshua offers a powerful insig...
It's all there in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, chapter 29. This ancient text uses the image of a vine to teach us about growth, potential, and the transformative power of commitment. Ra...
We're talking about Abraham and Isaac on their journey to Mount Moriah, a story that echoes through millennia and still has the power to shake us. The scene is stark. Abraham, havi...
Rabbi Ẓe'era, a sage of the Talmudic era, shared a powerful image: When we pass from this world, our souls don't simply float off into the void. Instead, they gather together, "eac...
That's the pickle Isaac found himself in with the Philistines. We find the story in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (Chapter 36), a fascinating text that retells and expands upon biblical n...
It wasn't just about interpreting dreams, you know. It was also about how he handled a massive food crisis. : a famine grips the land, and everyone is flocking to Egypt to buy grai...
That's exactly where the Israelites found themselves, cornered at the edge of the Yam Suf, the Reed Sea. Rabban Gamaliel, in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 42, paints a vivid picture of th...
to a fascinating moment from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, specifically chapter 42, where Moses himself is in conversation with the Holy One, blessed be He. The Israelites are on the cus...
We all know the verse: "And they shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years" (Gen. 15:18). But how does that square with other timelines we find in the Torah?...
It might surprise you to learn that, according to one tradition, it wasn't always this way. Imagine a world where everyone's hair stayed the same color their whole lives. A world w...
But sometimes, when we slow down and focus on a specific period, the stories that emerge are absolutely captivating. Today, we're diving into a fascinating, turbulent era of Jewish...
The story of Haman, the villain of the Purim story, is full of them. And according to the Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Bible, Haman's plot to annihil...
It wasn't just about Pharaoh's decree to throw baby boys into the Nile. It was also about something seemingly mundane: bricks. to a fascinating interpretation from the Yalkut Shimo...
It deals with a rather specific scenario: what happens when someone steals from a convert to Judaism, a ger, and then that convert dies? The verse in question is Bamidbar 5:8: "And...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating, and admittedly unsettling, passage from Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal interpretations related to the Book of Numbers. It deals with...
In the book of Bamidbar (Numbers), we find ourselves wrestling with just that: Who gets a share of the Promised Land? The verse in Bamidbar 26:53 states: "To these shall the land b...
It turns out, quite a bit. The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, gives us a peek into the anxieties of Moses himself....
That’s the raw, human core of this passage from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal commentaries on the Book of Deuteronomy. It centers around Moses, and his despe...
The text starts by pondering the phrase "who can do as Your deeds" (Deuteronomy 3:24). Sifrei Devarim finds echoes of God's power in two pivotal moments of our history: the Exodus ...
Our tradition certainly understands that feeling. And it finds a powerful voice in the prayer of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes. We find this prayer tucked away in Sifrei D...
Let me tell you, they were masters of textual jujitsu, turning verses inside out to reveal hidden meanings. And sometimes, they got into arguments that sound, well, a little… stran...
The Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, paints a fascinating picture – one filled with divine preparation and perhaps, a little bit of ancient real estate mane...
