434 related texts · 4 related myths · Page 7 of 10
"It is a sign forever", the Mekhilta derives from this phrase that the Sabbath will never be lost from Israel. No matter what happens, exile, persecution, assimilation pressures, t...
Sacrifices are offered, prayers ascend, and the Divine Presence is palpable. Then, out of nowhere, leopards break in. Not once, but repeatedly. They rampage through the sacred spac...
Did you ever think about the exile from Eden as… a divorce? It sounds a little strange, I know. We tend to think of Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden as a punishment, a seve...
Midrash Mishlei turns to Korah Beyond the Firmament. There's hope! (Proverbs 1:23) offers a chance for redemption: "Turn to my reproof." The Midrash interprets this as referring to...
That feeling, that raw emotion, is at the heart of a powerful story preserved in Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms. It's a story about faith, ...
The ancient rabbis felt it too, especially after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. They saw the world changing, and not for the better. Midrash Tehillim, a collection ...
" The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) begins by interpreting this verse in a stark, almost visceral way. "Do not gather with the sins of my soul," it says, refers to tho...
Our tradition grapples with this tension constantly, and it shows up in some surprising places. Take Midrash Tehillim, for instance, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the...
Midrash Tehillim, in its commentary on Psalm 36, offers a fascinating insight. It all boils down to fear – or rather, the lack of it, in the right place. The psalm begins, "To the ...
We've all been there. But what if that fleeting moment of envy could actually hold a deeper lesson? to a fascinating passage from Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic teachin...
That sense of urgency, of wrestling with our mortality, is something that's been contemplated for millennia. And it’s right there, at the heart of Psalm 90, which is explored in Mi...
A collection of insightful interpretations on the Book of Psalms, Adam, the first man, wasn't just plopped down anywhere. After being driven from the Garden of Eden, he settled on ...
Midrash Tehillim, a collection of homiletic interpretations on the Book of Psalms, gives us a list of ten things that are dear to the Holy One. And you might be surprised by what m...
It all boils down to this: God chastises those He loves. That might sound harsh at first. But stick with me. The idea isn't about random punishment; it's about refinement. Think of...
The familiar story centers on Jacob's dream. Fleeing his brother Esau, he rests his head on a pile of stones and dreams of a ladder stretching to heaven, angels ascending and desce...
The story starts, as so many do, with a commandment. God tells Saul, the first king of Israel, to utterly destroy Amalek. Wipe them out. Erase their memory from under heaven. A pre...
Is that really true? Is there no hope for renewal, for something truly new to break through? In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating text of Jewish legend and lore, the answer is ...
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 personal cleanliness; it was about maintaining a state of holiness, a separation from anything that could defile the sacred space. And as we read in Sifrei Bam...
In the book of Bamidbar – Numbers, in English – we find a fascinating passage that deals precisely with this: the idea of sacred space, separation, and the surprising presence of t...
Sometimes, the text seems straightforward, but a closer look reveals something deeper, a subtle nuance that shifts our understanding. Take, for instance, the case of the Nazir, the...
It wasn't just a one-day event. According to Sifrei Bamidbar, the book of Numbers, the seven days leading up to the dedication were a whirlwind of activity. Every single morning fo...
In the Book of Numbers (Bamidbar), chapter 9, verses 9 and 10, we read: "And the L-rd spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, saying: A man if he be unclean by a d...
Something that makes you wonder, "Why is that there?" Well, let's Specifically, Bamidbar 10:35: "And it was, when the ark traveled…" This verse, and the one that follows it, are ma...
It’s a fascinating topic, and The passage starts with a seemingly simple verse: "And I, behold, I have taken your brothers, the Levites, from the midst of the children of Israel, f...
This ritual, detailed in Numbers 19, is all about purification, and this passage zeroes in on the specific rules surrounding the heifer itself and its ashes. The passage starts wit...
The Book of Numbers, or Bamidbar in Hebrew, recounts a particularly troubling episode in the Israelites' wanderings. Specifically, our source today comes from Sifrei Bamidbar 131, ...
It all boils down to a delicate balance, a dance between the sacred and the serene. to a seemingly simple verse in Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, to unpack this very idea. The vers...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, offers a fascinating glimpse into this idea. It grapples with the verse speaking of "rest and ...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Where You Ate the Offering Actually Matters. The text asks a fascinating question: What exactly is Scripture trying to tell us here? Is it simply reiteratin...
Even in other years, the rules about tithing could get pretty complex. We find ourselves in the book of Sifrei Devarim, specifically section 109, diving deep into the nuances of th...
The Sifrei Devarim, a legal midrash on the Book of Deuteronomy, touches on some specific examples of legal “disputes” that might arise. It mentions the ordeal of the sotah, the wom...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Five Peoples Dwelt in the Land Before the Levites. Sifrei Devarim 165 offers a glimpse into a different kind of inheritance, one that resonates with spiritu...
The Sifrei Devarim, a legal midrash on the Book of Deuteronomy, introduces us to this shoel av. The text defines him as a necromancer – someone who attempts to communicate with the...
The ancient text, Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, grapples with this very issue. It centers on a specific passage dealing with an unsolved murder. a body i...
In fact, Jewish tradition grapples with this idea of removing evil, of cleansing the community, in some pretty direct ways. We find this in the Sifrei Devarim, a collection of lega...
The ancient rabbis grappled with this very idea when interpreting the Torah’s laws about lost objects and helping others. It all boils down to this: What level of loss compels us t...
In the Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, Rabbi Yehudah gives us a fascinating mnemonic device for remembering the ten...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Tithes and Ritual Purity - What Counts as Unclean. One phrase in particular catches our attention: "and I did not consume of it in uncleanliness (tumah)." T...
Sometimes the most famous commandment hides a quieter, stranger layer beneath it. Now, The first reading, this seems And one interpretation offered by the Sifrei is exactly that: "...
It seems like a simple question, but the answer, like so many things in Jewish tradition, is layered with meaning. The Sifrei Devarim, an ancient commentary on the Book of Deuteron...
The consecration ceremony of (Exodus 29:1-46) appears in the Hebrew Bible as a solemn ritual. The Targum Jonathan adds precise details that heighten both its gravity and its tender...
The incense altar, the half-shekel tax, and the anointing oil in (Exodus 30:1-38) all receive remarkable expansions in the Targum Jonathan. What the Hebrew text presents as ritual ...
The collection of materials for the Tabernacle in (Exodus 35:1-35) is, in the Hebrew Bible, a straightforward account of voluntary giving. The Targum Jonathan inserts miracles that...
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...
Leviticus 13 is the longest chapter in the book, a detailed medical manual for diagnosing skin diseases. The Targum Jonathan transforms it from clinical instructions into a color-c...
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...
The Torah says the Levites have no land inheritance. Targum Jonathan goes further, specifying exactly what they receive instead, twenty-four gifts of the priesthood. That number do...
