560 related texts · 2 related myths · Page 5 of 12
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an early medieval text filled with fascinating stories and interpretations, paints a vivid picture of the moon's monthly journey. It describes the moon's ho...
Adam, the first human, is sitting there, maybe a little anxious. He's thinking about that serpent, the one who tricked him. "Maybe," he worries, "that snake will come back tonight ...
The Israelites are wandering in the desert, fresh from their miraculous escape from Egypt. They’re under divine protection. A pillar of cloud surrounds their camp, shielding them. ...
A fascinating and somewhat enigmatic text of Jewish tradition, fire isn't just fire. It’s something… else. Rabbi Judah paints a vivid picture, one that starts with a fiery descent....
It’s a recurring theme in our tradition, and each instance carries a powerful lesson.This isn't a physical descent, but a drawing near, a manifestation of the Divine presence. This...
In a beautiful passage in the, Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Bible, there’s a deeper, cosmic reason. The story begins with the Mishkan, the Tabernacle...
The prophet Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) pulls no punches. He declares, in Yirmiyahu 32:31, that Jerusalem has aroused God's anger and wrath "since the day they built it until this day, to...
It's rarely an accident. Often, these repetitions are clues, hints that there's something deeper going on, something we need to pay close attention to. Consider the inauguration of...
It tells us that "the cloud of the L-rd was above them by day when they set forth from the encampment" – and this protection wasn't just for the healthy and able-bodied. The text s...
It’s a seeming contradiction that the ancient rabbis grappled with. How do we reconcile these verses? The Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal and narrative interpretations on th...
One of those intriguing corners of Jewish law, specifically a passage from Sifrei Devarim 288. It’s all about brothers, inheritance, and a rather complex scenario involving yibum. ...
In Jewish tradition, especially when it comes to fulfilling mitzvot (commandments), the answer is a resounding yes.It’s a fascinating glimpse into the meticulous nature of ancient ...
God told Moses to "bring near Aaron" for the priestly consecration. And the Targum Jonathan adds three devastating words the Hebrew Bible does not contain: "who is afar off on acco...
Numbers 7 is the longest chapter in the Torah, listing identical offerings from twelve tribal princes across twelve days. It is famously repetitive. The Targum Jonathan rescues it ...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 16) transforms the three pilgrimage festivals into richly detailed celebrations. The Hebrew describes Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot (the Festiva...
On the seventh day after the Ten Commandments Moshe went up on the mountain, as it says "The Presence of the LORD abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days..." (Shemo...
Akabyah ben Mahalalel said: mark well three things and you will not come into the power of sin: know from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined ...
When they went out of Egypt, Moses said ‘and the cloud of God was on them by day’ (Numbers 10:34); and when they went out of Jerusalem, Jeremiah said ‘[You have screened Yourself o...
A drought had settled on the land. The sages, running out of options, remembered the legend that Abba Hilkiah, the grandson of the famous rainmaker Honi ha-Me'aggel, had inherited ...
The prophet Isaiah promised a strange future (Isaiah 66:23): It shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worsh...
There were fifteen steps in the Temple that led down from the Court of Israel to the Court of the Women. The rabbis said they matched the fifteen Shir HaMa’alot, the Songs of...
The Torah's "a mist went up from the earth" becomes, in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 2:6), something far grander. "A cloud of glory descended from the throne of glory, and wa...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 9:16) sharpens the promise one more time. The bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between th...
When Isaac draws Jacob close and breathes him in, the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan tells us what the patriarch actually smells. It is not the field. It is not the goats. It is the incens...
"And he built there an altar, and named that place, To God, who made His Shekhinah to dwell in Bethel, because there had been revealed to him the angels of the Lord, in his flight ...
The most famous number in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan's account of the Exodus is seven. On (Exodus 12:37), as Israel moves from Pilusin (Pelusium) toward Succoth, one hundred thirty tho...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:20) describes the strangest cloud in the Torah. It comes between the camp of Israel and the camp of the Mizraee, and it has two sides simul...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 15:13) translates the end of the Song of the Sea not as a geographical promise but as a spiritual homecoming: Thou hast led in Thy mercy the peopl...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan records God's reason for the coming theophany: "Behold, on the third day I will reveal Myself to thee in the depth of the cloud of glory, that the people...
The plain verse of (Exodus 24:18) is almost flat. Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain, and he was there forty days and forty nights. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan cannot ...
If the anointing oil was for people and vessels, the incense was for the air itself. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the command to Moses: take spices, balsam, onycha, galbanum. A...
The Lord's answer to Moses after the calf contains a quiet threat wrapped in a promise. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the Aramaic paraphrase of the Torah, renders the divine response thi...
After the calf, Moses pitched his personal tent far from the people. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the Aramaic paraphrase of the Torah, gives us the exact distance and what happened ther...
Jewish tradition, particularly in esoteric texts, grapples with this very question. Imagine a cosmic courtroom, a beth din, in the time to come. God, seated on His Throne of Justic...
The verse Seems straightforward. But as is often the case with sacred texts, there's so much more lurking beneath the surface. Our Sages weren't content with a simple reading. They...
We can see this theme beautifully illustrated in Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah) 4, which draws a powerful lesson from the seemingly straightforward verse, “The charge of Elazar, ...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to Jacob Blessed Pharaoh and Outshone God's Own Generosity. Rabbi Berekhya HaKohen (a priest) offers an example. He recalls the story of Jacob’s encounter wit...
We begin with a beautiful verse from Numbers (24:5): "How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings [mishkenotekha], Israel!" The first reading, it's a simple expression of admi...
The core of the discussion revolves around the verse, “This was the dedication of the altar” (Numbers 7:88). The midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) asks, is this a one-time...
Bamidbar Rabbah, that incredible collection of Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) teachings on the Book of Numbers, dives deep into this very question. It’s not just a ma...
Rabbi Yoḥanan starts us off with a verse from Psalms (139:5): "Back and front [ahor vakedem], You shaped me…" Ahor vakedem, it's a phrase that hints at so much. Rabbi Yoḥanan sugge...
Even the great rabbis of old disagreed about the answer! In fact, Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish – two towering figures of Jewish tradition – had a fascinating debate ab...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to How Bribery and Corruption Cloud Even the Wisest Mind. So, what's the connection? The text suggests that even disagreements amongst Torah scholars can muddl...
Shemot Rabbah turns to Yours O Lord Is the Greatness and the Might. It's a mirror, of sorts. Everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, created above, He also created below. the ...
In Shemot Rabbah, it’s a lesson in mindful living, a gentle nudge towards respecting the natural world. Imagine wanting to build your own house, and eyeing that beautiful, fruit-be...
This week, It all starts with God choosing Betzalel to build the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. “The Lord spoke to Moses saying: See, I have called by name Betzalel, son of Uri, son of H...
Who do we trust? Why do we trust them? And what happens when that trust is broken? In Jewish tradition, the concept of trust, of being a ne'eman, a trustworthy person, is incredibl...
Boards, bars, meticulously woven fabrics… everything perfect in its own right. But when it came to assembling it all? Nothing. They were stumped. Shemot Rabbah 52 vividly paints th...
