1,629 related texts · Page 14 of 34
The Torah prescribes a vivid ritual for a Hebrew servant who refuses to go free after six years of service: "Then his master shall bore his ear" with an awl against a doorpost (Exo...
The Mekhilta continues its rigorous legal analysis of who can be sold into servitude. Having established that a daughter cannot sell herself, a new question arises. Should a daught...
Rabbi Eliezer tackles a textual ambiguity in the Torah's laws of servitude that has real legal consequences. The verse under discussion deals with the acquisition of servants, and ...
Rabbi Eliezer employs one of the most powerful tools in the rabbinic interpretive arsenal: the gezeirah shavah, a comparison of two passages that share a common word. The word in q...
"and the owner of the ox is absolved": R. Yehudah says: He is absolved by Heaven. For it would follow (otherwise), viz.: Since a mued is stoned and a tam is stoned, then if we have...
"and the ox shall be stoned": Why is this stated? (i.e., it was stated already.) For if it were not stated, I would say (otherwise), viz.: Since he is put to death for killing his ...
"and there fall there an ox or an ass": He is liable for each in itself. "an ox": and not an ox and its trappings. "an ass": and not an ass and its trapping. For it would follow (o...
"Then they shall sell the living ox" — when one person's ox kills another person's ox, the Torah prescribes a specific remedy. But the Mekhilta specifies: this verse assumes the tw...
An ox worth two hundred which gored an ox worth two hundred, and the carcass is worth nothing—R. Meir said: Of this it is written "then they shall sell the living ox, etc." R. Yehu...
R. Akiva says: "tachath ('in place of') the ox; "tachath the sheep"—to exclude (from "four and five" payment an animal [as opposed to a beast]). For it would follow (otherwise), vi...
The laws of theft in the Torah are not one-size-fits-all. Different stolen objects carry different penalties, and the Mekhilta works through a particularly tricky case: what happen...
The Mekhilta draws a legal principle from a seemingly mundane phrase about safekeeping. When the Torah discusses items entrusted to a guardian, it mentions "money or vessels." A si...
Variantly: "for an ox, for an ass": Why is this stated? Because it is written (earlier [6]) "If a man give to his neighbor money or vessels, etc." and (later 9]) "If a man give to ...
Beloved are the strangers, for by every epithet that Israel is called, the strangers are called. Israelites are called "servants," as it is written (Leviticus 25:55) "For unto Me t...
Abraham called himself a stranger. (Genesis 23:4): "A stranger and a sojourner am I with you." David called himself a stranger. (Psalms 119:19): "I am a stranger in the land." And ...
Beloved are the converts, and the Mekhilta offers a stunning proof: God delayed Abraham's circumcision until the age of ninety-nine specifically to keep the door open for future co...
To teach that a dog is of higher station than a slave, a treifah being relegated to a dog, but only neveilah, to a slave, and to teach that the Holy One Blessed be He does not with...
The Mekhilta raises a fascinating question about the relationship between laws that existed before the giving of the Torah at Sinai and those that were introduced at Sinai itself. ...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi — examines one of the most famous dietary laws in the Torah: "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19). This prohibition appears t...
Did God have help when creating the world? It’s a question that’s sparked debate and wonder for centuries. Most traditions emphasize that God alone brought the universe into being,...
We often think of it as a place of eternal rest, but Jewish tradition paints a far more dynamic picture, especially when it comes to the Celestial Academy. Imagine a place where Go...
The most common tradition identifies Metatron as the angel who was once Enoch, the mortal man who "walked with God" (Genesis 5:24) and was transformed into the mightiest angel in h...
Jewish tradition offers a beautiful and powerful image: they're gathered by an angel named Sandalphon and transformed into crowns for God. Every word, every intention, every heartf...
The Bible tells us, in (2 (Kings 2:1)1), "A fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared . . . and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind!" But what happened after that whirl...
One intriguing answer involves a rather obscure, but incredibly important angel: Gallizur. Now, Gallizur isn't exactly a household name like Michael or Gabriel. But according to so...
Where did the Angel of Death come from? It’s a question that’s haunted humanity for millennia. Was it there from the very beginning, a shadow lurking in the nascent universe? Or di...
When Rabbi Joshua's time on this earth was drawing to a close, God, in His infinite wisdom, instructed the Malach HaMavet – the Angel of Death – to visit him. But this wasn't just ...
Jewish tradition suggests we're constantly surrounded by unseen forces, especially on Shabbat, the Sabbath. And some of those forces? Well, they’re angels. The Talmud, specifically...
That’s the feeling this ancient story evokes. Imagine Jerusalem, poised on the brink of annihilation. God, in his wrath, sends an angel to destroy it. Can you picture it? A city ab...
We often think of angels as perfect messengers, but Jewish tradition sometimes paints a more complex picture. to a tale of angelic disobedience, punishment, and eventual redemption...
But that's exactly the kind of potent imagery we find swirling through the ancient Jewish texts. Today, we’re diving into Midrash Tehillim 9, a section of commentary on the Book of...
It’s not always what you think. Midrash Tehillim, a collection of homiletic interpretations on the Book of Psalms, offers a glimpse into this very question, and it's wild. The pass...
We’ve all been there. It’s a feeling as old as time, and it's something that the ancient sages grappled with too. Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of P...
Take Psalm 88, for instance. "And to You, O Lord, is my cry for help." Simple words. But the Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Psalms, unpac...
The verse we're looking at is "Let a thousand fall from your side." Now, what does that even mean? Rabbi Yitzhak offers a compelling idea: He connects this verse to the mitzvah (co...
One that echoes even in the ancient words of Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Book of Psalms. Specifically, we're looking at interpretations of Psalm ...
Ever hear a story so wild, so larger-than-life, that you just have to lean in and ask, "Wait, really?" Well, buckle up, because we're diving into one of those tales today, straight...
That’s the feeling this midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), this interpretive story, from Midrash Tehillim (a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Book of Psalms) rea...
It all comes down to this idea: God loves the stranger. But why? What's so special about the stranger? Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Psalms, o...
According to the Pesikta DeRav Kahana, a collection of rabbinic teachings, there's so much more to it than meets the eye. Rabbi Acha delves into the verse from Isaiah (42:8): "I am...
Like the calendar is just... off? Well, our ancestors in Egypt felt that way too. And it all ties into a fascinating, and often overlooked, concept: the Jewish calendar and the pra...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a beautiful and somewhat enigmatic work of Jewish literature, paints a picture of him almost as a divine being, "at his leisure in the Garden of Eden, like ...
Jewish tradition, with its layers upon layers of interpretation, gives us some pretty incredible insights. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text, paints a pictu...
Those little acts of kindness, those traditions that bind us together… sometimes, the answer is more surprising than you think. Let's talk about weddings, and a divine precedent fo...
Our sages certainly thought so, and they had some amazing stories to illustrate just that. to one, found in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, specifically chapter 16. It tells of Eliezer, Ab...
The story of the Tower of Babel, found in Genesis, offers a powerful explanation, but it's in texts like Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer – a fascinating collection of stories and interpreta...
Sometimes, the answer is far more insidious, far more…internal. Let’s turn our gaze to the story of Sodom, a name that has become synonymous with wickedness. But what really happen...
Our story starts with Abraham. Remember when he learns that his nephew Lot has been captured? (Genesis 14:13) tells us, "And there came one who had escaped, and told Abram the Hebr...
