1,870 related texts · 10 related myths · Page 1 of 39
The rabbis once overruled God. And God laughed. According to Bava Metzia 59b, the incident began with an argument about an oven. Rabbi Eliezer declared a certain oven ritually pure...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan opens the civil law section of Exodus with an astonishing clarification. "If thou shalt have bought a son of Israel, on account of his theft, six years h...
(Exodus 23:14) commands: "Three festivals shall you celebrate for Me in the year." The Mekhilta asks why this verse is needed when (Exodus 23:17) already says "Three times shall ev...
(Exodus 22:21) commands: "Every widow and orphan you shall not afflict." The Mekhilta immediately pushes beyond the literal categories. This verse mentions only widows and orphans....
It would have been enough to say: rest on the seventh day. That alone would have been a radical gift in the ancient world. But the Torah cannot stop there. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan o...
Take the phrase, "to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow." It appears in Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy. But it also sho...
One of the most interpretively rich laws in the Torah is the difference between stealing an ox and stealing a sheep. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan does not leave the puzzle unsolved. ...
The Torah gives one of its most peculiar laws. If a Hebrew slave, after six years of service, chooses to stay with his master rather than go free, his ear is brought to the doorpos...
The goring ox is one of the oldest cases in legal literature, it appears in Hammurabi's code from the 18th century BCE. But the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders the Torah's version w...
There is a warning at the heart of the covenant that has nothing to do with courts. It has to do with a woman weeping in a small room, and a child watching her weep, and no one els...
Rabbi Yishmael noticed something crucial in the opening words of the Torah's civil law code (Exodus 21:1): "And these are the judgments." The key word is "and", in Hebrew, the conj...
The Mekhilta examines how the Torah's laws governing Hebrew servants apply equally to men and women. The verse states "the Hebrew man or the Hebrew woman" (Deuteronomy 15:12), and ...
(Exodus 22:29) commands: "Thus shall you do with your ox", referring to the first-born of animals. The Mekhilta draws a comparison between the first-born of animals and the first-b...
The wicked kingdom once sent two officers to the sages of Israel with a curious assignment: teach us your Torah. The manuscript was put into their hands, and three times over they ...
Karaite Literature turns to The Angel Who Created The World. This idea wasn't just some random thought. There was a Jewish sect called the Magharians – the "cave dwellers" – who st...
God is sending an angel to lead Israel through the wilderness. But this is no ordinary angel. The Targum's warning is severe and strange at the same time. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on...
Adam was created in twelve hours. According to Sanhedrin 38b, Rabbi Yohanan bar Hanina mapped each hour of the first man's first day onto a specific stage of formation. In the firs...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan spells out one of the most practical laws in the Torah, what a man owes his victim when the victim does not die. "If he rise again from his illness, and ...
There's more to it than you might imagine, especially when we peek into the ancient Jewish agricultural laws. to a fascinating little verse from Devarim, Deuteronomy, specifically ...
The Mekhilta addresses the legal status of a Hebrew maid-servant in relation to the laws of bodily injury. The general rule in Torah law is that a servant who loses an "organ promi...
(Exodus 21:29) introduces the mued, the habitual goring ox: "And if it were a goring ox." The Mekhilta explains that this verse exists to draw clear distinctions between the tam (f...
When the voice stopped speaking, Abraham looked in every direction. No one. No breath of a man anywhere. His spirit was seized with terror. His soul fled from him. He became like a...
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that the pursuit of honor is a spiritual trap, and the only escape is through silence in the face of humiliation. When a person chases honor, they n...
"And if an ox gore", the Torah mentions only an ox. But what about other animals? If a donkey kicks someone, or a camel bites, do the same laws apply? The Mekhilta says yes, and de...
(Exodus 21:28) states: "The ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten." The Mekhilta asks: why is the prohibition against eating the flesh necessary? If the ox has been s...
(Exodus 21:32) addresses the case of an ox that gores a bondservant: "If the ox gore a man-servant or a maid-servant." The Mekhilta explains that bondservants were already included...
Beloved are the strangers, the converts to Judaism. The Mekhilta emphasizes how many times the Torah exhorts Israel to treat them well. "And a stranger you shall not afflict" (Exod...
(Exodus 23:4) commands: "If you encounter the ox of your foe, or his donkey, straying, return shall you return it to him." The Mekhilta asks: does "encounter" mean literal physical...
When Moses ascended to heaven to receive the Torah, the angels were furious. According to Shabbat 88b, they confronted God directly: "What is a human being doing among us?" God tol...
There is a kind of cruelty that is not visible in the moment. It lives in a tone of voice. A dismissive glance. A pressing of advantage against someone who has no one to defend him...
There is a moment when a poor person walks up to a wealthier neighbor and asks for a loan. The wealthier neighbor has a choice. He can treat the moment as a market opportunity. Or ...
This verse is among the strangest in the Torah, because it seems to contradict everything else the Torah says about the poor. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:3) is blun...
You are walking along a road. Across the field you see an ox. It is the ox of a man you cannot stand. You know, privately, he has done wicked things. Your dislike is not petty, it ...
What about the power of words, the weight of oaths, and the ripple effect of our actions, intended or not? The ancient rabbis wrestled with these questions, and their insights, pre...
It's justice. That’s why, as Shemot Rabbah tells us, God gave us laws after the Ten Commandments. If justice is perverted, everything crumbles. God, in his ultimate justice, brings...
They walked together for forty days and forty nights. Abraham ate no bread and drank no water. His food was the sight of the angel beside him. His drink was Iaoel's speech. This wa...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael examines the Shabbat (the Sabbath) commandment's reference to "your man-servant and your maid-servant," asking a pointed question: which servants does...
(Exodus 21:20) introduces the law of a master who strikes his bondservant: "And if a man strike his man-servant or his maid-servant." The Mekhilta explains why this verse is necess...
The Torah states: "And if an ox gore a man or a woman and they die, the ox shall surely be stoned" (Exodus 21:28). The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael asks: why does the Torah need this ...
(Exodus 21:37) introduces the severe penalty for livestock theft: "If a man steal an ox or a lamb and slaughter it or sell it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Yishmael on the laws governing an unpaid bailee who is entrusted with livestock. The verse states: "If a man give to his n...
The Torah says, "Six days shall you do your work" (Exodus 23:12), a commandment to labor for six days and rest on the seventh, the Shabbat (the Sabbath). But the Mekhilta noticed s...
Rabbi Meir tackled one of the trickiest problems in the Torah's laws of damages: how do you classify a dangerous ox? The Torah distinguishes between a tam, an ox with no history of...
This is one of the greatest trickster stories in all of Jewish literature. According to the Alphabet of Ben Sira, composed between 700 and 1000 CE, every land animal has a correspo...
"and your wives will be widows, and your children, orphans": From "and I shall kill you by the sword," do I not know that your wives will be widows, and your children, orphans? Why...
It might seem obvious – they're in need of help! But the Rabbis, those masters of interpretation, saw something deeper at play. Consider the verse in Exodus (22:21): "You shall not...
The story begins with God convening His celestial court, His "family" of angels. He's about to make a case, and He wants their input. As we learn in Legends of the Jews, God addres...
Joseph's sale into slavery is one of the most dramatic episodes in Genesis. But the Targum Jonathan adds details that the Hebrew original never mentions, turning a family tragedy i...
