13,298 related texts · Page 270 of 278
And in Jewish tradition, the answer might surprise you: it's the Torah. Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homilies on the Book of Deuteronomy, offers a powerful idea: God says that i...
That’s the feeling Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Naḥman evokes in his teaching on the verse, "Rather the matter is very near to you" (Deuteronomy 30:14). It's a beautiful passage about the ...
It’s a question that’s echoed throughout Jewish tradition, and Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, offers a pretty amazing perspective. I...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, gives us a glimpse into that incredible scene, a cosmic struggle between life and death, between Mose...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the book of Deuteronomy, opens up this very question for us. It begins with the verse, "This is the blessing," and then delves...
The answer, according to Devarim Rabbah, isn't what you might immediately think. It's not just about Moses being a great prophet; it's about a specific act of kindness and dedicati...
That question, that nagging feeling, is at the heart of the Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew. And it’s a question the Rabbis grappled with deeply. The opening verse of Ko...
We look back with nostalgia, imagining that the giants of the past held all the answers. But Jewish tradition challenges that very notion. The idea that each generation has its own...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, grapples with this very question. And in Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of Rabbinic interpretations on Ecclesiastes, we find some fasc...
That feeling resonates deeply within Jewish tradition. We see it reflected in the ancient text of Kohelet Rabbah, specifically in its interpretation of the verse "all the rivers go...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the book of Ecclesiastes, wrestles with this very question, offering us some pretty intense stories. One tale recounts a...
The Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this very feeling. It's a wisdom text, a philosophical exploration of life's meaning, or sometimes, its ...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this very feeling. "I have seen all the actions that were performed under the sun; and, behold, everythi...
Our tradition wrestles with this very feeling. The book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, famously explores the futility of life, that "all is vanity." But within the rabbinic expansion...
Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's called in Hebrew, is full of his reflections, and one line in particular always gets me: "For with much wisdom is much vexation; and one who increa...
The verse in question: "I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted in them trees of every fruit" (Ecclesiastes 2:5). The rabbis weren't content with a simple reading. They w...
The verse in question is (Ecclesiastes 2:6): “I made myself pools of water to irrigate from them a forest which grows trees.” Sounds straightforward enough. But what does it really...
Kohelet, the book of Ecclesiastes traditionally attributed to Solomon, wrestles with just that. And Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, digs even deeper. Let's...
Kohelet Rabbah, a rabbinic commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, grapples with this very question, using the verse, "The wise man, his eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in...
But what does it really mean? Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, digs into this very question, using the verse from (Ecclesiastes...
The ancient rabbis, in Kohelet Rabbah, that treasure trove of commentary on Ecclesiastes, dive deep into this verse. Rabbi Tanhuma suggests a simple, elegant idea: the world came i...
The verse from Ecclesiastes (3:16) sets the stage: “Moreover, I have seen, under the sun, in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of justice there is wickedn...
It all starts with the verse from (Ecclesiastes 5:6): "So it is with a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words; rather, fear God.” The verse seems to be saying that too muc...
The Book of Ecclesiastes – or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew – grapples with this very feeling. It asks us: what do we do when we see injustice seemingly rewarded? Specifically, K...
Like that perfect cup of coffee, or maybe... mitzvot (commandments)? That’s the question bubbling up from Kohelet Rabbah, a fascinating exploration of the book of Ecclesiastes. In ...
Jewish tradition has some fascinating, layered answers. to one, found in Kohelet Rabbah, a midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) (interpretive) commentary on the Book of Ecc...
That’s a feeling woven deep into the tapestry of Jewish tradition, a feeling the rabbis grappled with intensely. how they expressed it. The story begins with the passing of Ḥiyya b...
The story begins with a loss. When Rabbi Bon ben Rabbi Ḥiyya passed away, Rabbi Zeira rose to eulogize him, choosing the verse: “Sweet is the sleep of the laborer.” (Ecclesiastes 5...
Ecclesiastes has a way of naming the ache of a miserable life in language so spare it stops you cold. The rabbis of Kohelet Rabbah zeroed in on (Ecclesiastes 5:16): "In addition, a...
The Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, certainly grapples with this very human feeling. And within Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, w...
And the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), in Kohelet Rabbah, take this even further, using stories and interpretations to unpack the weight of those feeling...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, wrestles with these very feelings. One verse in particular, (Ecclesiastes 6:10), really gets to the heart of it: "What...
to a fascinating discussion from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Ecclesiastes, about the appointment of Aaron as the High Priest. The Rabbis...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, tackles this very question, and it does it in such a wonderfully human way. It all starts with...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, certainly does. And the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), in Kohelet Rabbah, wrestled with it too. Specifica...
The grief is so intense that the townspeople declare a ban: anyone who dares announce the Rabbi's death will face dire consequences. Can you imagine the tension? The air thick with...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of Rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, explores this very human experience with the verse, "There is an evil that I have seen under t...
We find one such sentence in (Ecclesiastes 10:13): "The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his mouth is evil debauchery." Ouch. But who is this vers...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, grapples with this very question, using the famous story of King Solomon and the two mothers t...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, is part of the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible. Kohelet Rabbah, a Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) commentary on ...
The story of Ruth is all about that, about choosing a people, a faith, a destiny. And it begins with those famous words: "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." (Rut...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They saw layers of meaning, hidden connections, and prophecies woven into the very fabric of the Torah. Take the beginning of the Book of Exodus, ...
"He said to his people: Behold, the nation of the children of Israel is more numerous and mighty than us" (Exodus 1:9). This is Pharaoh, setting the stage for oppression. But Shemo...
"A man from the house of Levi went and he took a daughter of Levi" (Exodus 2:1). Simple enough. But the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), in Shemot Rabbah, ...
The Torah tells us, "The woman conceived and bore a son; she saw that he was good and she hid him for three months" (Exodus 2:2). But what lies beneath that simple verse? The ancie...
That feeling isn’t new. In fact, it echoes through one of the most powerful stories in the Torah. We all know the story of Moses. Born into slavery, hidden away, destined for great...
Take this one from (Exodus 2:6), describing Pharaoh’s daughter discovering the infant Moses adrift in the Nile: "She opened it and saw the child [yeled], and behold, a boy [na’ar] ...
But as is so often the case with Torah, the rabbis unpack layers upon layers of meaning. What did it really mean when it says "he saw that there was no man"? The ancient rabbis of ...
