12,014 related texts · Page 189 of 251
The passage we're looking at focuses on the phrase "until the western sea." Now, on the surface, it sounds like a geographical marker. But the Rabbis, in their infinite wisdom, saw...
R. ‘Aḳiba said: He who takes a peruṭah from charity when not in need of it will not depart from this world before he falls in need of his fellow-men. He also said: He who wraps rag...
ANTIGONOS OF SOCHO RECEIVED THE TRADITION FROM SIMON THE JUST. HE USED TO SAY: BE NOT [20b] LIKE SERVANTS WHO SERVE THE MASTER FOR THE SAKE OF RECEIVING A REWARD,1Or, ‘gratuity’; s...
JOSE B. JOEZER SAID: LET YOUR HOUSE BE A MEETING-HOUSE FOR THE WISE. What is meant by this? It teaches that a man’s house should be available to the wise, their disciples, and the ...
JUDAH B. ṬABBAI AND SIMEON B. SHEṬAḤ RECEIVED THE TRADITION FROM THE PRECEDING. JUDAH B. ṬABBAI SAID: ACT NOT AS THOSE THAT WOULD INFLUENCE THE JUDGES; AND WHEN THE SUITORS STAND B...
Hillel taught: "Be of the disciples of Aaron — loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and drawing them near to the Torah." But what did Aaron actually do? Rabbi Meir explai...
SHAMMAI SAID: MAKE YOUR STUDY OF THE TORAH A FIXED HABIT; SAY LITTLE AND DO MUCH; AND RECEIVE ALL MEN WITH A CHEERFUL COUNTENANCE. MAKE YOUR STUDY OF THE TORAH A FIXED HABIT. What ...
RABBAN JOḤANAN B. ZAKKAI RECEIVED THE TRADITION FROM HILLEL AND SHAMMAI.Hillel the Elder had eighty disciples:1Cf. the parallel passage in Suk. 28a (Sonc. ed., p. 123) and B.B. 134...
R. ḤANINA B. DOSA SAID: HE WHOSE FEAR OF SIN COMES BEFORE HIS WISDOM, HIS WISDOM SHALL ENDURE; [BUT HE WHOSE WISDOM COMES BEFORE HIS FEAR OF SIN, HIS WISDOM SHALL NOT ENDURE,] as i...
R. ‘Aḳiba said: A fence1The ‘fence’ is here taken in the sense of a safeguard or an aid to. With this paragraph, cf. Aboth 3:17. to honour is [the avoidance of] jesting,2That this ...
THERE WERE TEN GENERATIONS FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM. What need is there for mankind to [know] this? It is to teach that all those generations were provoking Him, and there was not one ...
There are seven creations [in the universe] in ascending degrees of importance. High above everything God created the firmament. Above1i.e. of greater importance and usefulness. th...
There are four acts that a man performs, the fruits of which he enjoys in this world, while the capital is laid up for him in the world to come. They are: honouring father and moth...
R. SIMEON SAID: THERE ARE THREE CROWNS: THE CROWN OF THE TORAH, THE CROWN OF THE PRIESTHOOD, AND THE CROWN OF ROYALTY; BUT THE CROWN OF A GOOD NAME EXCELS THEM ALL.1Aboth 4:17 (Son...
The Hebrew Bible says God "came down" to see the Tower of Babel and confused humanity's language (Genesis 11:7). But the ancient Aramaic translators of Targum Jonathan told a radic...
The destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19 is swift and merciless. Fire and brimstone rain down, and the city is gone. But the Targum Jonathan inserts a detail that changes everything:...
The story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife in Genesis 39 is already tense. The Targum Jonathan ratchets the tension higher by adding theological motives, divine intervention, and a tr...
When Joseph's brothers return to Egypt with Benjamin in Genesis 43, the Hebrew text describes a tense meal. Targum Jonathan transforms it into a scene loaded with hidden signals, p...
When Moses and Aaron first confronted Pharaoh and demanded he release Israel, the Hebrew Bible records Pharaoh's defiant reply: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?" (Ex...
Exodus chapter 6 is mostly genealogy—the kind of passage readers skim. The Targum Jonathan turns it into a minefield of hidden revelations. The chapter opens with God revealing the...
The plague of hail in Exodus chapter 9 comes with a warning: anyone who fears God's word should bring their livestock inside. The Hebrew Bible says some of Pharaoh's servants feare...
The standard Exodus text says God promised one final plague against Egypt. The Targum Jonathan transforms this announcement into something far more personal and humiliating for Pha...
The splitting of the Red Sea is dramatic enough in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan on (Exodus 14) turns it into something almost mythological, adding details about the Garden...
The manna story in (Exodus 16) raises an obvious question: where did this miracle food come from? The Hebrew Bible says God "rained bread from heaven." The Targum Jonathan gives a ...
Amalek's attack on Israel at Rephidim is only a few verses in (Exodus 17). The Targum Jonathan expands it into an epic confrontation with backstory, supernatural geography, and a w...
The laws of (Exodus 23) cover justice, festivals, and the conquest of Canaan. The Targum Jonathan on this chapter adds moral psychology, legal specifics, and one of the most striki...
The golden calf episode in (Exodus 32:1-35) is already one of the Torah's most dramatic stories. The Targum Jonathan makes it wilder, stranger, and more theologically loaded than a...
Bezalel built the Ark, the Table, the Candelabrum, and the Incense Altar in (Exodus 37:1-29). The Hebrew text describes each object's dimensions. The Targum Jonathan explains how a...
The construction inventory in (Exodus 38:1-31) is mostly numbers and measurements. But the Targum Jonathan inserts one of the most beautiful and surprising details in its entire tr...
When the entire community of Israel sinned by accident, who took responsibility? The Hebrew Bible says "the elders of the congregation" laid their hands on the bull (Leviticus 4:15...
God told Moses to "bring near Aaron" for the priestly consecration—and the Targum Jonathan adds three devastating words the Hebrew Bible does not contain: "who is afar off on accou...
Leviticus 18 lists the prohibited sexual relationships. The Targum Jonathan frames the entire chapter with a promise and a threat that go far beyond the Hebrew text. The promise co...
The Hebrew Bible says the Israelites camped by their tribal standards (Numbers 2:2). It never describes what was on them. The Targum Jonathan fills that silence with a riot of colo...
In the standard Hebrew text, God takes the Levites instead of Israel's firstborn sons. The Targum Jonathan adds details that transform this administrative swap into a high-stakes t...
Transporting the Tabernacle was the most dangerous job in ancient Israel. The Targum Jonathan makes clear that one wrong glance at the sacred vessels meant death by divine fire. Wh...
Numbers 7 is the longest chapter in the Torah, listing identical offerings from twelve tribal princes across twelve days. It is famously repetitive. The Targum Jonathan rescues it ...
The Hebrew Bible records that Moses invited Hobab his father-in-law to travel with Israel, and Hobab refused. The Targum Jonathan expands this exchange into a deeply personal plea ...
Numbers 11 tells the story of Israel complaining about food in the wilderness. The Targum Jonathan adds a graven image in the camp of Dan, a wind that nearly destroyed the world, a...
Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses. The Hebrew Bible is vague about why. The Targum Jonathan fills in the backstory with a Cushite queen, a celibate prophet, and a divine rebuke tha...
A man gathered wood on the Sabbath and was executed for it. The Hebrew Bible tells this story in three verses. The Targum Jonathan expands it into a legal precedent about judicial ...
Every tribe in Israel received land. The Levites received cities. Aaron and his sons received something stranger: God told them their inheritance was God Himself. The Targum Jonath...
When Miriam died on the tenth day of the month Nisan, the well that had sustained Israel throughout their desert wanderings vanished. The Targum makes this connection explicit in a...
The Targum's version of (Numbers 28) transforms a dry sacrificial calendar into a theology of continuous atonement. Where the Torah simply lists the daily offerings, the Targum exp...
The Targum's version of (Numbers 30) adds specific ages to the Torah's vow laws, transforming abstract principles into concrete legal thresholds. A male becomes bound by his vows a...
The standard text of (Deuteronomy 1) opens with Moses speaking to Israel "beyond the Jordan." But the Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation composed between the 1st and 4...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 6) contains one of the most beloved stories in all of rabbinic literature—and it appears right in the middle of the most sacred prayer in Judais...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 7) contains one of the most theologically radical statements in all of ancient Aramaic literature. God did not choose Israel because they were t...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 8) transforms a description of the Promised Land's natural resources into a prophecy about its intellectual future. The Hebrew says the land has...
