429 related texts · Page 1 of 9
The Mekhilta asks a question about Kazbi (also known as Cozbi), the Midianite woman who played a central role in the sin at Baal Peor. The verse calls her "the daughter of a prince...
"But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me'" (Isaiah 49:14). And God answers — not with proof of presence but with a reminder of what "remembering" actual...
Your father has died, leaving no sons. Now, under the laws of inheritance, you and your sisters are facing a grim future: no land, no security, no real place in the community. What...
This verse speaks of Phinehas (Pinchas), the grandson of Aaron, and the covenant G-d makes with him. It’s a verse packed with meaning, a testament to the enduring power of zealotry...
(Numb. 25:11) “Phinehas ben Elazar […].” What reason did the Holy One, blessed be He, have for tracing the lineage of Phinehas after this act (of slaying Zimri in Numb. 25:8)?1Numb...
We find their story tucked away in the book of Numbers (Numbers 27:1-11), but the aggadah, the rich tapestry of Jewish storytelling, really brings them to life. I'm talking about t...
The five daughters of Zelophehad—Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah—heard that the Promised Land would be divided only among males and immediately went to the court. The Targ...
The Book of Jubilees, a text revered by some but not included in the standard biblical canon, offers a fascinating answer, connecting the earthly and the divine in a truly profound...
According to tradition, in the year 1569 after creation, Noah himself, guided by an angel, divided the world among his three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Imagine the scene – a wor...
Our story today explores just that, a cautionary tale woven from the threads of ancient Israel. We find ourselves in Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, specifically chapter 25, verse 1...
It might sound like a stretch, but our sages saw profound links between generations, commandments, and even the offerings brought by the princes of Israel. The Book of Numbers, Bam...
The Torah commands: "the one lamb shall you offer in the morning, and the other lamb shall you offer in the afternoon" (Numbers 28:4). This is the tamid, the daily perpetual offeri...
The Torah tells us that Tzelofchad died without sons (Numbers 27:3). Now, in the ancient world, inheritance laws heavily favored male heirs. But Tzelofchad had five daughters: Mach...
Rabbi Akiva taught that there were three things Moses could not visualize on his own, no matter how great his prophetic power. God had to physically point them out to him. The firs...
(Ibid. 20:8) "Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it": "Remember" and "Keep" (the Sabbath day to sanctify it [Devarim 5:12]) were both stated in one pronouncement. (Exodus 31:14) ...
Specifically, the scapegoat for Azazel. The book of Leviticus (16:5-10) describes a fascinating, and frankly bizarre, ritual performed by Aaron, the High Priest, on Yom Kippur, the...
See [Hen], God is beyond reach in His power (Job 36:22): Rav Berakhiah said, "It is in the Greek language [as hen means one]. It is as you say, One is our God: Exalted in His power...
The Small Letters and their Purposes The ALEPH in ויקרא And He called (Leviticus 1:1) is small, to teach that the Holy Blessed One is only revealed to the nations of the earth thro...
“The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, are silent. They have placed dust on their heads, have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem have lowere...
Rabbi Yitzḥak began: “But you did not call Me, Jacob, for you wearied of Me, Israel” (Isaiah 43:22). Rabbi Yoḥanan understood it [the verse in (Isaiah 43:22)] from this, as it is w...
Sometimes, it's about being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes, it's about something more... something divinely ordained. Let's look at a couple of figures who stepped...
We find a fascinating, and perhaps surprising, answer in the Book of Jubilees. Now, the Book of Jubilees isn’t part of the Tanakh. It's a Jewish religious writing of the Hellenisti...
How did they decide who got what? Well, the Book of Jubilees, a fascinating ancient Jewish text considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, gives us a glimpse into that ...
It’s a question that’s echoed through generations. According to the Book of Jubilees, it was Noah himself who laid out the boundaries. Imagine Noah, fresh off the Ark, surveying a ...
The Book of Jubilees, a text considered canonical by some but relegated to the Apocrypha by others, offers a fascinating, detailed account. It's like a divine property survey, layi...
It’s a story of inheritance, of boundaries, and of the ancient world taking shape. The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis, isn't afraid to get specific. It paints a ...
Legends of the Jews tells us that the south fell to the lot of Ham. Think scorching deserts, sweltering jungles... that kind of heat. The north? That became the inheritance of Japh...
It’s a question that’s haunted scholars and storytellers for centuries. But the answer, as is often the case in Jewish tradition, is layered with meaning and moral complexity. The ...
But the story doesn't end there. According to Legends of the Jews, compiled by Ginzberg, Phinehas wasn't satisfied with simply punishing the offenders. He felt compelled to reconci...
Phinehas, you might recall, was the grandson of Aaron, the High Priest. He's known for his decisive action against those who brazenly defied God’s laws (Numbers 25). But the story ...
The story of Joshua preparing to conquer Jericho, as told in Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg), throws us headfirst into that shadowy world. Before a single soldier marched, Joshua ne...
The Talmudic sages certainly did, wrestling with these questions in their interpretations of scripture. Take the story of Phinehas and the eleven tribes, for instance. Imagine this...
Did they just... fade away? Well, let's talk about Phinehas. Phinehas, remember him? The zealous grandson of Aaron who, in Numbers 25, took decisive action to stop a plague and was...
The rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), those brilliant interpreters of scripture, have a lot to say about this verse. Specifically, Midrash Tehillim, the col...
Our ancestors grappled with this too. And Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Psalms, offers some fascinating perspectives on why, and what we...
Take, for example, the story of the oath to Noah after the flood. Why do our sages, according to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, institute that we should mention the oath to Noah every sin...
(Numb. 25:14:) “And the name of the slain man of Israel...” Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is concerned with the praise of the righteous to publicize3Rt.: PRSM. Cf. Gk.: parr...
"But with a lot, etc." (Numbers 26:55). This is [the meaning of] that which is stated (Proverbs 18:18), "The lot puts an end to strife." Since a sign was written for each and every...
(Numb. 27:1:) “Then came forward the daughters of Zelophehad.” In that generation the women were fencing11On raising a fence about the Law, see Avot 1:1. that which the men were br...
Another interpretation (of Numb. 27:5), “Moses brought their cause [before the Lord]”: R. Simeon ben Laqish said, “Our master Moses knew this judgment, but they first came before c...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text that expands on the stories in Genesis, gives us a fascinating, detailed timeline of those pivotal moments. It's like having a cosmic c...
After all that devastation, how did Noah make things right again, not just with God, but with the very earth itself? Well, the Book of Jubilees, a fascinating ancient Jewish text, ...
This book, considered scripture by some and a valuable historical source by others, gives us a detailed look into the life of figures from the Hebrew Bible. Today, we’re focusing o...
We get a fascinating, if slightly scandalous, glimpse in the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and Exo...
The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis, is an ancient Jewish religious work of 2nd century BC origin. It retells parts of Genesis and Exodus, but with a unique spin,...
We're talking about a time when the Seleucid Empire, under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, was in full swing, trying to Hellenize, or make Greek, everyone under its rule. It wasn't ju...
We find ourselves in a time of great upheaval. The story unfolds in the First Book of Maccabees (I Maccabees 2), a historical account, not part of the Hebrew Bible itself, but deep...
The Hebrew Bible names Adam's famous sons. But the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, names the ones you have never heard ...
