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Meekness of Tar f on. cf. Nedarim, f. 62. J. Shebiit, IV, 2. Kallah, f. 5 b. Lonzano, Maarikh, No. 6. Maase Buch No. 72. - 206— no. Dead Women in Cemetery Foretell Future. Berakhot...
Blessing of Sabbath. Gen. R. 10 §4. Midr. Hagadol, Exod. Jithro. Krauss, Antoninus, p. 37. 121a. Money in Stick. Nedarim, f. 25 a. Shebuot, f. 29 a. Pesikta R. ed. Fried- mann, f. ...
"A little that the righteous have is better than the abundance of many wicked" (Psalm 37:16). The rabbis of Aggadat Bereshit loved this verse because it turned ordinary logic on it...
At the end of days, the prophet Malachi says, you will be able to tell the righteous from the wicked at a glance: "You shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked...
"I will assemble Jacob, all of you; I will bring together the remnant of Israel" (Micah 2:12). The end of Aggadat Bereshit's prophetic arc arrives here: not the death of Jacob, not...
Specifically, Bamidbar Rabbah – a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers – gives us a vibrant picture. It tells us that each of the twelve tribes had its own uniqu...
The Torah portion describes the offerings brought by the leaders of the tribes of Israel at the dedication of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. Each day, a different leader brought the ...
And the Lord said unto him: “Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” and the Lord set a sign for Cain (Gen. 4:15). The Holy One, blessed be H...
And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba (Gen. 28:10). May it please our master to teach us where a man who has unintentionally taken the life of another man may take refuge. Thus do our...
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen. 49:28). Elsewhere it is written: Twelve princes shall he beget (Gen. 17:20). These are the number of the tribes, and the world is ar...
Who came into Egypt with Jacob (Exod. 1:1). Did they actually enter Egypt on that very day? Had not many days passed by since their arrival? (This informs us that) as long as Josep...
When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel (Exod. 30:12). R. Yosé the son of Hanina said: This verse indicated to him that in the future he would bring the first of the tri...
Bezalel the son of Uri (Exod. 31:2). He was one of the seven descendants of Adam called by various names. Jesse was called by four names, Bezalel by six, Joshua by eight, Elijah by...
Another interpretation (of Lev. 27:2) “When anyone explicitly vows […]”: This text is related (to Prov. 11:30), “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but a wise person acq...
It pulls no punches in its call for humility and divine justice. Ben Sira, a sage writing in Hebrew around 200 BCE, gives us these powerful words: "Make an end of the head of the p...
We know him as Moses' successor, the one who led the Israelites into the Promised Land. But did you ever stop to consider the sheer scale of the battles he faced? Ben Sira, in his ...
Ben Sira doesn't mince words, does he? He calls him "wide in stupidity and lacking in wisdom." Ouch! Reḥov'am, was the son of King Solomon, a hard act to follow to begin with. But ...
Ben Sira, in his wisdom, paints a vivid picture of this powerful figure. He writes, "Who was written truly for the time, to stop anger before the rage of God; to return the hearts ...
Think of it as a really old "director's cut" of the Bible. Specifically, we're looking at Jubilees 6. The passage is talking about a particular festival. What festival? Well, that’...
The Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and Exodus, but with a fascinating emphasis on chronology and the observan...
The famine in the land was brutal. The people were starving. Desperate, Jacob turned to his sons: "Go again," he pleaded, "and procure food for us, that we die not." But his sons w...
We're diving into the Book of Jubilees, specifically chapter 46. Now, the Book of Jubilees isn't part of the standard Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, that you'd find in most synagogues. ...
We all know the story of the plagues visited upon Egypt. Blood, frogs, locusts… a greatest hits album of divine retribution. But what about the behind-the-scenes details? What abou...
It's easy to think of him as simply a messenger, a conduit for God's will. But the Book of Jubilees, a fascinating text from around the 2nd century BCE, paints a picture of Moses t...
It's considered apocryphal by some, pseudepigraphal by others (meaning, falsely attributed to a biblical figure), but no matter what you call it, it's a fascinating window into a w...
This isn't your typical biblical story, mind you. It’s a tale of courage, faith, and a woman who dared to stand against a seemingly unstoppable force. So, who's the villain in our ...
That’s the vibe Judith gives off in the Book of Judith, Chapter 9. She’s just laid out her audacious plan to the elders of Bethulia, this besieged city. They're desperate, right on...
That’s the feeling that practically leaps off the page in the Book of Judith after the tyrant Holofernes is defeated. So, what happens after Judith, this incredible woman, saves he...
The Letter of Aristeas tells us all about it. Our story involves Ptolemy Philadelphus, the King of Egypt in the 3rd century BCE, and his grand plan to include Jewish law in his fam...
That’s the essence of what we find in the Book of Maccabees, and specifically here in 1 Maccabees 5. Imagine the scene: Judas Maccabeus, the hammer of God, the leader of the rebell...
The ancient Israelites knew that feeling all too well. to a story from The Book of Maccabees I, a historical account not found in the Hebrew Bible but considered scripture by some....
It’s a powerful feeling, one that can drive us to great heights... or lead us to stumble. Our story today comes from The Book of Maccabees I, a historical account filled with brave...
Oaths! These weren't just casual promises; they were serious, binding agreements. People were released from a stronghold, probably feeling a sense of relief and maybe even a little...
Bacchides, a Syrian general, having installed Alcimus in charge, heads back to the king. It seems like a moment of relative calm, but beneath the surface, things are far from peace...
That's the situation Simon Maccabeus faced. The story unfolds in the First Book of Maccabees, chapter 14. We're stepping back into a turbulent time for the Jewish people, a time of...
To recap, the brothers have already journeyed to Egypt to buy food during a brutal famine, encountering the powerful and mysterious Egyptian viceroy– who is secretly their long-los...
Remember Joseph, the favored son sold into slavery in Egypt? He's now a powerful figure, and his brothers, unknowingly standing before him, are begging for the release of their you...
We read about the conquest of Canaan in the Book of Joshua, but the story doesn't quite end there. The Book of Jasher, a non-canonical Jewish text that fills in some of the gaps in...
According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, the angels who were sent to destroy these cities didn't rush in with fiery vengeance. No, these were angels of mercy. They ...
The Bible is full of them, but sometimes the stories between the lines are even more fascinating. to the tale of Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban, a story ripe with tension, accu...
It all revolves around Joseph’s coat – that infamous coat of many colors. The story goes that after selling Joseph into slavery, Jacob's sons were immediately overcome with regret....
We find this story elaborated upon in Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg. The brothers hadn't even cleared the city gates when Joseph, eager to spring his trap but also wary of lettin...
The traditional texts give us some fascinating, and sometimes surprising, details. So, picture this: Jacob, having blessed each of his sons individually, gathers them all together ...
It’s a powerful emotion, one that can lead us down paths we never thought we’d tread. The Torah, our sacred text, is full of stories that explore these complex human emotions, and ...
What if the very people meant to lead us to freedom are born into the darkest of times? Times so bleak, even love itself seems impossible. That's the story of Amram and Jochebed, t...
(Yes, that's the title of the whole collection.) It's a wild ride through the aggadah – the stories, the embellishments, the "filling in the blanks" that surrounds the more straigh...
The story of Simon and Levi's vengeance upon the city of Shechem, after the rape of their sister Dinah, is one such tale. We’ve talked before about how their actions were, shall we...
Sometimes, their stories are tucked away in unexpected places, waiting to be discovered. Take Asher, for instance, one of Jacob's sons. We know he founded one of the twelve tribes,...
