2,273 related texts · Page 26 of 48
The Torah portion of Terumah introduces us to Betzalel, the artisan chosen to construct the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. But where did he get all that skill? Shemot Rabbah, a classical...
That feeling, that sting of inner circle treachery, echoes through the ancient words of Shir HaShirim Rabbah, the collection of Rabbinic teachings on the Song of Songs. Today, we'r...
Our exploration begins with a seemingly simple verse from Leviticus (1:2): "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When a man among you sacrifices an offering to the Lor...
That feeling, that ache of separation, is what this week’s portion of Vayikra Rabbah (Leviticus Rabbah) touches upon. It centers around a seemingly simple phrase in (Leviticus 16:2...
It turns out the Talmud and Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) are full of stories about them. And, interestingly, God seems to have taken special notice of their actions. ...
And, wouldn't you know it, the Rabbis of old had some pretty interesting ideas! In Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic homilies on the Book of Leviticus, we find a fascinating...
Take, for instance, the four species we use on Sukkot – the etrog (citron), the lulav (date palm frond), the hadass (myrtle), and the aravah (willow). They aren't just random plant...
to one such tale, found in Vayikra Rabbah 32, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Leviticus. The passage begins with a seemingly simple statement: "And he was t...
And Joseph was brought down into Egypt (Gen. 39:1). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: Come and see the works of God; he acts circuitously in His doings toward ...
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine (Gen. 41:2) After he (Pharaoh) had his dream, he summoned all his magicians. Whereupon the Holy Spirit called out: Where are ...
And Moses took the bones of Joseph (Exod. 13:19). How did Moses know where Joseph’s grave was to be found? They say that only Serah the daughter of Asher had survived from that gen...
Jewish tradition holds that a handful of people never died. They walked into Gan Eden - the Garden of Eden - while still alive, bypassing death entirely. The Alphabet of Ben Sira, ...
The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, preserves an unusual parallel timeline linking the rise of Rome with the suffering ...
Why did God Himself attend to the burial of Moses? Because of what Moses had done decades earlier in Egypt, when everyone else was busy loading up silver and gold for the exodus. W...
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...
Family dynamics are always in play. to a lesser-known tale, a sort of epilogue to the Joseph story, found in Ginzberg's fascinating Legends of the Jews. The story picks up on the t...
According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Moses encountered seven maidens at a well. One of them, Zipporah, caught his eye with her modesty. He proposed marriage, b...
Ten times Pharaoh promised to free the Hebrews. Ten times he broke his word. Each broken promise brought something worse than the last, and according to Josephus, the plagues that ...
The kingdom that Josiah rebuilt fell apart the moment he died. Josephus records that when Pharaoh Neco marched through Judah on his way to fight the Babylonians at the Euphrates, J...
"He blessed them on that day, saying: may God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh" (Genesis 48:20). Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev uses Jacob's blessing to explain a peculiar tea...
Why was the Temple — the dwelling place of the Divine Presence on earth — built specifically on the tribal territory of Benjamin? The Mekhilta provides two remarkable reasons, both...
From Ephraim, who wrote in Amalek after you, Benjamin (Judges 5:14). May our Rabbis teach us what a person should say when he reads the Book of Esther. The Talmud teaches us that o...
"And the El Shaddai grant you mercy" (Genesis 43:14). Jacob is sending Benjamin to Egypt — his youngest, his only remaining connection to Rachel, the son he can least afford to los...
Serah, daughter of Asher, one of Jacob's sons. We find her name nestled in the list of those who went down to Egypt with Jacob to escape the famine. You can find it in (Genesis 46:...
“Even now, our eyes fail toward futile help. In our waiting, we awaited a nation that cannot save” (Lamentations 4:17).“Even now, our eyes fail.” What would the Ten Tribes do? They...
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...
And God remembered Rachel (Gen. 30:22). May it please our master to teach us the blessing that is recited upon observing a handsome person? Thus do our masters teach us: Upon obser...
Another comment on Then Judah drew near unto him. He came near him and said huskily; “Oh, my lord, do not transgress the laws of justice because of us. Let thy servant, I pray thee...
When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel according to their number (Exod. 30:12).14Pesikta de Rav Kahana, Shekalim, p. 156. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Ta...
These are the accounts of the tabernacle … and the bronze of the offering (Exod. 38:21, 29). The bronze of the offering (tenufah) refers to the bronze vessels given to a bride, for...
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that the Torah is not just a text to study. It is a key that unlocks every prayer and opens every closed door. When a person engages deeply with Tor...
A person trapped on a low spiritual level might assume that deep Torah understanding is beyond their reach. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov says the opposite is true: the pathway from the...
The true tzaddik (a righteous person), Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches, is the one who looks at every detail of creation and asks: why did God make it this way? Why does a lion ha...
The Torah tells us, "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3). But what was that light? Jewish tradition answers with something truly special: the primordial light. And it wasn't just any li...
The question of whether Moses wrote the last eight verses of the Torah—the ones describing his own death—provoked one of the most poignant debates in the Talmud. Bava Batra 15a pre...
Zechariah saw a horseman in a vision of the night (Zechariah 1:8). The rabbis identified this figure as the prince of Edom — the heavenly guardian angel of the nation that had rule...
A certain woman came to Rabbi Elazar. She said to him: ‘I saw that the rafter in the house snapped.’ He said to her: ‘This woman will bear a male child.’ She went, and so it was fo...
“Was [haya] [a Judean man in the Shushan citadel]….” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Everyone about whom “haya” is stated, it is he at the beginning and it is he at the end.9 He was righteous ...
“The king said to her: What troubles you, Queen Esther, and what is your request… Esther said: If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet… The king sa...
According to tradition, after Pharaoh's daughter discovered the infant Moses nestled among the bulrushes, she brought him back to the palace. She presented him to her father, claim...
That’s the feeling I get whenever I read the story of Jacob’s dream in the Book of Jubilees. Here’s the scene: Jacob, all alone on a journey. The sun is setting, and he’s far from ...
He wasn’t just tired and looking for a place to rest his head. He stumbled upon something truly extraordinary. After a long journey, Jacob uses a stone as a pillow. He falls asleep...
We find ourselves in the thick of it, with Jacob still working for his wily father-in-law, Laban. Leah, already the mother of many, conceives again. And the Book of Jubilees, ever ...
The birth of a child, for instance, can be a moment of overwhelming happiness tinged with the pain of labor, the worry for their future. The story of Benjamin's birth, as recounted...
The scene is set: the seven kings of the Amorites—ancient inhabitants of Canaan—are plotting against Jacob and his sons. They're lurking, hiding under trees, with less than noble i...
That’s the kind of feeling that permeates the Book of Jubilees when it describes a devastating famine. A famine that wasn't just about empty stomachs, but about a land itself refus...
We all know the broad strokes – the decree, the basket, the river. But have you ever stopped to consider the details, the near-miraculous chain of events that had to unfold just so...
It's more than just packing a lunch! The Book of Judith, a captivating story of courage and faith, gives us a glimpse into the logistics of ancient warfare. : it wasn't just swords...
