3,887 related texts · Page 81 of 81
The passage opens with a quote from the Book of Job: “Does the eagle ascend at your directive?” (Job 39:27). Rabbi Yudan of Gaul uses this verse to ask a powerful question about Aa...
What would you bring with you? What could possibly prepare you for such an encounter? Well, Rabbi Yudan, in Vayikra Rabbah 21, offers a fascinating perspective. He interprets the v...
This feeling isn’t new. In fact, the ancient rabbis grappled with it, too, and found profound meaning in it. Rav Ḥanan of Tzippori offers a beautiful interpretation of doing acts o...
In Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Leviticus, we find a powerful exploration of this idea. It all starts with a seemingly simple verse: "You shall...
It all starts with a verse from the Song of Songs (5:15): “His calves [shokav] are pillars of marble [amudei shesh].” But what do calves and marble pillars have to do with… well, a...
This week, we're diving into Vayikra Rabbah 27, a fascinating exploration of these very questions, sparked by a seemingly simple verse from Leviticus: "A bull, or a sheep, or a goa...
In the book of Vayikra, Leviticus, we read a troubling story about the "son of an Israelite woman" who, as the verse says, "went out" (Leviticus 24:10). But...went out from where? ...
We often take these things for granted, but Jewish tradition suggests there's a deeper, more profound answer than just physics. It's all about ḥukim (חקים), statutes. But not just ...
Today, we’re diving into a fascinating passage from Vayikra Rabbah 36 that grapples with the legacy of King Ahaz. The verse from Proverbs sets the stage: “One hand to another will ...
In Vayikra Rabbah 37, the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) explores this idea through a fascinating lens: vows. Specifically, it looks at instances where individuals made...
There was an incident involving the two children of Tzadok the priest, who were taken captive, one male and one female. This one fell to a certain officer and that one fell to a ce...
It sounds radical, I know. According to some accounts, God bestowed immense honor upon Moses, gifting him dominion over the entire earth, the seas, the rivers – all the elements th...
It’s a question that has echoes through Jewish tradition, and one that comes up in a fascinating discussion about bowing down, prostration, and the very nature of God’s glory. The ...
Are we, heaven forbid, idolaters, bowing down to wood and parchment? Rabbi Menasheh ben Yisrael, of blessed memory, addressed this very concern in his book, Teshuat Yisrael. He fel...
The story goes that when the seventy-two elders presented it to him, he didn't just nod politely. He rose from his throne, and prostrated himself before it not once, but seven time...
Our tradition teaches us a vital principle: we don't prostrate ourselves before the Sefer Torah, the Torah scroll itself. It's not about worshipping parchment and ink. Instead, as ...
We call Him by names like YHWH and Adonai, and our sages, may their memory be a blessing, refer to Him as HaKadosh Baruch Hu, "The Holy One, Blessed be He." But what does it all me...
This comes from the story of Cain, right after, well, you know. He's just murdered his brother Abel, and God confronts him. The earth itself is now cursed because of the spilled bl...
Philo, in his exploration of the Torah, grapples with this very idea. He's looking at the verse in Genesis (6:12) that describes the corruption of the world before the flood: "all ...
The sheer scale of devastation... it's almost too much to comprehend. And that brings us to a fascinating little puzzle tucked away within the text of Genesis, a question that the ...
The verse in question, from (Genesis 6:13), states that "all things which existed upon the earth shall be consumed." But why? The text grapples with this apparent injustice. One ex...
Take, for instance, the verse in (Genesis 7:4): "I will destroy every living substance that I have made from off the face of the earth." (Genesis 7:4) Doesn't that phrasing strike ...
That's precisely the question posed in The Midrash of Philo, a collection of interpretations and expansions on the Torah attributed to Philo of Alexandria, the great Jewish philoso...
The passage focuses on how the sacred writers—think of the authors of the Torah—refer to God in different ways, depending on the context. It's not arbitrary; it's deliberate and de...
That struggle, that internal tug-of-war, is something ancient thinkers grappled with too. And one place we find it explored is in the writings attributed to Philo of Alexandria. In...
Because the eyes of God, we're told, are everywhere. It's a powerful image, isn't it? From His throne in Heaven, God's eyes observe absolutely everything that takes place in the wo...
We're told, in no uncertain terms, that the Land of Israel is the heart of it all. But it doesn't stop there. Jerusalem, we learn, is the heart of the Land of Israel. And within Je...
A question. An Israelite is forbidden to steal from a fellow human being. No punishment for the performance of any prohibited act mentioned in the Torah is harsher than that admini...
And God remembered Noah (Gen. 8:1). Scripture says elsewhere in reference to this verse: A righteous man regardeth the life of his beasts; but the tender mercies of the wicked are ...
Go forth from the ark (Gen. 8:16). Scripture says elsewhere in reference to this verse: I counsel thee: keep the king’s command, and that in regard of the oath of God. Be not hasty...
And the whole earth was of one language (Gen. 11:1). May it please our master to teach us why a house with an eruv27A legal fiction which establishes the continuity of a community ...
And the Lord said unto Moses: “stretch out thy hand toward the heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt” (Exod. 10:21). Scripture ...
Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness (Exod. 10:21). Where did the darkness come from? R. Judah and R. Nehemiah discussed this question. R. Judah held: It ...
And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days (Exod. 10:22). Our sages maintained: There were seven days of d...
And they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water (Exod. 15:22). Some say that the water they had taken with them, from between the rocks, was exhausted by that time. ...
And Moses said unto Aaron: “Take a jar and put an omerful of manna therein” (Exod. 16:33). I would not know of what substance the jar was fashioned, whether of silver or of gold or...
And thou shalt command (Exod. 27:20). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair (Song 1:15). R. Akiba said: The e...
Pure olive oil beaten for the light (Exod. 27:20). You find that a person standing in the dark can observe what is transpiring in a lighted place. However, anyone standing in a lig...
And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights (Exod. 34:28). How did Moses know when it was day? When the Holy One, blessed be He, taught him the Written Law he knew i...
And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood (Exod. 37:1). Scripture states elsewhere: The opening of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple (Ps. 119:130). When...
And Bezalel made the ark (Exod. 37:1). You do not find Bezalel’s name associated with any vessel made for the Sanctuary other than the ark. All the other work and all the other imp...
And Bezalel made the ark of acacia-wood (Exod. 37:1). Because it was known to Him-who-spoke-and-the-world-came into-being that Israel will sin at Shittim, the Holy One, blessed be ...
And Bezalel made the ark (Exod. 37:1). You find that everything constructed for the Tabernacle was made in its proper order. First he made the boards and joined them together. Afte...
(Numb. 27:5:) “Moses brought their cause [before the Lord].” Some say that [God] made this become too hard for Moses, as there are righteous people that become [overly] proud in ma...
(Numb. 27:15-16:), “And Moses spoke […], ‘Let the Lord, [the God of the spirits of all flesh], appoint….’” Let our master instruct us: What blessing does one say on seeing a human ...
And you say, "I shall eat meat" (Deuteronomy 12:20): Rabbi Eliezer beRabbi Yehoshua said, "From here you learn that a man should not acquire a litra of meat until he consults with ...
(Deut. 25:17:) “Remember what Amalek did to you.” R. Tanhum bar Hanila'i opened [his discourse] (with (Job 13:1)2), “Your remembrances are proverbs of ashes; your responses are res...
