12,014 related texts · Page 191 of 251
It was in the days of Antiochus, king of Greece, he was a great and mighty king, he was powerful in his governance, and all kings listened to him. He conquered many countries and m...
It is written (Jeremiah 50:33) "Thus said the LORD of Hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, And so too the people of Judah etc." and it is written (ibid 34) "Their Redeemer is...
On the last day of his life, Moses did something no prophet had ever done — he dressed his successor in public, with his own hands. He commanded that a golden throne be brought, al...
Seventy Names of Metatron: The book "Seventy Names of Metatron", which Rabbi Yishmael revealed, 23 of which he received when he ascended on high. The book was brought to print by R...
Idra Raba and Idra Zuta: Two compilations from the Zohar, the first in the portion of Naso and the second in the portion of Ha'azinu. The term "Idra" in Greek means a gathering or ...
The "Book of the Ways of Life," attributed to Rabbi Eliezer, reads like a father's urgent final letter to his son — a distillation of everything that matters into short, unforgetta...
The Holy One created twenty-two good attributes in His world. All of them were nullified and in the future the Holy One will return them to Israel in the time to come. They are: fo...
Midrash HaGadol: Several manuscripts of this midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) are found in well-known libraries, and one belonged to Dr. Alexander Kohut, who used it in t...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Chazit": It is also called "Aggadat Chazit", and it is a comprehensive midrash on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. These midrashim be...
A Tale of Rabbi Kahana [From Batei Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ot, Volume 4] (Published by S. A. Wetheimer, 1897) A Tale of Rabbi Kahana: Rabbi Kahana and his wife we...
“And of Benjamin he said, The Lord's beloved…” (Devarim 33:12) One verse says “As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out…” (...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Read-but-not-Written I) But [the children of] Benjamin would not yield (Judges 20:13). The word the children of is missing, for they did ...
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai boarded a ship bound for Rome on a mission to the emperor. That night, on the water, a figure appeared in his dream. It was Ashmedai, king of the demons. "A...
These are the ten questions that Rabbi Eliezer asked regarding the resurrection of the dead: The first one is - will God resurrect some of Israel or all of them? The answer is that...
(Gemara) Let us see: when do the priests enter to eat the Terumah? Is it not when the stars appear? Let then the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) say: "From the time the...
(Ib. b) We are taught: The sages made a fence to their words [to protect their ordinances], lest a man coming from the field in the evening, would say: "I will go home, eat a littl...
(1) ROSH HASHANAH (Fol. 2b) "When Aaron died, Sichon was still living (Fol. 3), as it is written (Num. 21, 1) And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, heard. What did he hear? He heard...
It was taught in the school of R. Ishmael that He pardons one sin after the other before they are put on the scales; and this is the divine custom." "Nevertheless," remarked Raba, ...
(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 ...
It is taught (in a baraita (a teaching from outside the Mishnah)): Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Yosei, said: "All acts of charity and kindness that Jews perform in this world make gr...
Hiram, king of Tyre made seven artificial heavens placed on pillars of iron, first of glass, sun, moon and stars. Second of iron, with a lake of water in it; third of tin with prec...
The wicked kingdom once decreed that the Jews should not keep the Sabbath, nor circumcise their children, nor keep the law of purification according to the Bible. Reuben the son of...
Simeon b. Kamhith, a high priest, walked about with a heathen king and got his clothes defiled and was incapacitated from acting on the day of atonement. His place was taken by his...
When King Ptolemy of Egypt ordered the Hebrew Bible translated into Greek, the sages of Israel did not celebrate. They mourned. The day the Torah was rendered in a foreign tongue, ...
Rabbi Akiva was locked in a Roman prison, cut off from his students and colleagues. But the study of Torah does not stop for prison walls. Rabbi Johanan ben Nuri had an urgent ques...
In the dark years of Roman persecution, when teaching Torah was a crime punishable by death, two students of Rabbi Joshua went into hiding. They disguised themselves and moved care...
When the Roman siege tightened around Jerusalem, starvation became a weapon more terrible than any sword. Doeg ben Josef was a man of means — he offered a full measure of gold for ...
Ankelos ben Kalinikos, nephew of the Roman Emperor Titus, was searching for truth. Despite being born into the most powerful family in the world, he felt a spiritual hunger that Ro...
A young man and woman who were betrothed to one another were seized by raiders and sold into slavery. By cruel coincidence — or perhaps by providence — they were sold to the same m...
A man decided to divorce his wife. On paper, this was his right — Jewish law permitted a husband to initiate divorce proceedings under certain circumstances. But this man had a pro...
When the prophet Isaiah prayed for a sign to confirm that King Hezekiah would recover from his illness, God performed one of the most spectacular miracles in all of scripture: the ...
The tribe of Asher received its inheritance in a strip of land along the northern coast of the Land of Israel, and the blessing that Moses gave them proved spectacularly true: "Let...
The story of the weasel and the well. Once a young girl, beautifully dressed, lost herself in the desert on her way home. Getting very thirsty and seeing a well with a rope and a b...
Eleazar, the son of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, inherited more than his father's wisdom. He inherited superhuman strength. One day, Eleazar was sitting at a lavish meal — and when Ele...
Rabbi Judah took upon himself the education of the daughter of Rabbi Tarfon, raising her in Torah and wisdom. It was an act of extraordinary devotion — accepting responsibility for...
Rabbi Shimon ben Antipatros had a reputation that troubled the sages of Israel. Travelers who stayed at his house reported something alarming: their host beat his guests. Not robbe...
A man with two heads appeared before King Solomon with an unusual legal claim. He was part of a family dividing an inheritance, and he demanded a double portion — one share for eac...
The throne of Solomon was entirely made of gold, having 33 steps upon which were various animals. 12 golden lions, and 2 golden bears stood on each step and over the throne was a k...
A man entrusted his money to another who appeared extremely pious and who afterwards denied having received it. Elijah appeared and told the first man to go to the wife of the othe...
The death and leave-taking of R. Eliezar the Great. He foretold to every one the manner of his death as well as the martyrdom of R. Akiba. He used the parable of the seas being ink...
Story of the son of R. Reuben the Libellarius to whom the angel of death appeared in the form of an old man at the wedding festivities. He was treated with great respect on the adv...
A Greek bought a young Jewish girl as a slave. He brought her up in his house. When she grew up, the Master of Dreams ordered him to send her away,. Threatened with death in case o...
Rav Hisda used to hang an open purse at his doorpost so that anyone who needed money could take some without being seen. This detail, preserved in the Exempla of the Rabbis (compil...
There was an inn on a certain road where travelers learned, too late, that the hospitality was a trap. The innkeeper welcomed his guests warmly, fed them well, and showed them to c...
Rabbi Judah HaNasi needed to send a teacher to the town of Simonia. The community there required a sage who could teach Torah, render legal decisions, and guide the people. He chos...
The respect that Dama ben Netina showed his father was legendary among the sages of Israel — and Dama was not even Jewish. He was a gentile merchant in Ashkelon, and his story beca...
Rabbi Hananya made a statement that puzzled his students: "Some people feed their parents badly and yet inherit Paradise. Others feed their parents well and yet inherit Gehinnom (t...
Two men stand before the heavenly court. Both honored their fathers. Both are judged. One goes to Paradise. The other to Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death)....
