389 related texts · 22 related myths · Page 4 of 9
Sifrei Devarim turns to Tale of Shavuot. The passage from Sifrei Devarim 297 opens with a surprisingly generous statement: "of the first": even one cluster, even one fig, (there be...
It wasn't just about plowing and planting. It was a system of sacred sharing, a way of life woven into the very fabric of their calendar. a little corner of that system today, a pa...
Specifically, (Deuteronomy 26:12). It’s a short verse, but it’s packed with meaning: "then you shall give to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow." Sounds simple, do...
R. ‘Aḳiba said: He who takes a peruṭah from charity when not in need of it will not depart from this world before he falls in need of his fellow-men. He also said: He who wraps rag...
The shofar on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) was not just a call to repentance. According to the Targum's version of (Numbers 29), the trumpets served a cosmic combat function...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 13) confronts one of the most dangerous problems in ancient Israelite religion: the prophet whose miracles actually work. The Hebrew text warns ...
The story of the false prophets Ahab ben Kolaya and Zidkia b. Maaseya. They went to the daughter of Nebuchad- nezar and by false prophecies tried to induce her to sin, The king kno...
Nahum of Gamzu, the sage whose name became a proverb, because to every misfortune he would say "Gam zu l'tovah," "This too is for the good", learned the cost of delayed charity thr...
The rabbis taught a stark warning: reduce your tithes, and God will reduce your harvests. The Talmud and Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) preserve the story of a family t...
A prosperous farmer in the land of Israel had fields that yielded abundantly, orchting, and vineyard heavy with fruit. Year after year, God blessed his harvests. But the farmer gre...
Bar Kappara was walking along the seashore when he encountered the survivors of a shipwreck, strangers, soaked and shivering, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They had ...
A single verse in Proverbs sparked one of the most unsettling debates in Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 2:5. "Tzedakah -- righteousness -- elevates a people; and chesed to the nations is a ...
A man in need entrusted his entire savings to a neighbor who was famous for piety. The neighbor wore his observance on his sleeve; his neighbors spoke of him with admiration. The m...
A man left a dinar, a single silver coin, with a woman for safekeeping. She didn't want to forget where she had put it. She dropped it into a jar of flour and went about her day. L...
Two men in the Babylonian exile claimed to prophesy in the name of the Lord. Their names were Ahab ben Kolayah and Zidkiah ben Ma'aseyah. Their false oracles are mentioned with dis...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan does not let Rebekah's instruction pass as a simple culinary request. She tells Jacob, "Go now to the house of the flock, and take me from thence two fat...
When Jacob returned to Bethel, the very stones where he had dreamed of the ladder decades earlier, he did not simply set up a marker and move on. He raised a pillar of stone on the...
The book of Genesis tells us, almost in passing, "Jacob traveled to Sukot, and built him a house, and established booths [sukot] for his livestock. Therefore, he called the name of...
The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), that treasure trove of Jewish stories and interpretations, finds echoes of this universal joy in the verses about the holiday of Suk...
The arba minim, the "four species" used during the Jewish festival of Sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles), carry a meaning far deeper than ritual. These four species – the etrog, ...
Vayikra Rabbah turns to Twenty-Four Curses Descend When You Ignore Tzedakah. In Rabbi Simon, in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, in Vayikra Rabbah 34, we can't afford to take l...
The Wars of God turns to Can Elijah Really Appear to Someone After Death. In some, that person might be peddling falsehoods, and the stakes are incredibly high. Maimonides, in his ...
(Numb. 22:28:) “Then the Lord opened the mouth of the she-ass,” in order to make known to him that the mouth and the tongue are under His (i.e., God's) control, so that if he desir...
The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis, is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters, considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Isr...
God wouldn’t have redeemed Israel, wouldn’t have pulled them out of Egypt, if they hadn’t turned away from idol worship. That's powerful. The key? The paschal lamb itself. God comm...
"Draw forth and take for yourselves": "Draw forth", he who possesses his own; "and take" (i.e., acquire), he who does not possess his own. R. Yossi Haglili says (The meaning is:) "...
"It is a sign forever", the Mekhilta derives from this phrase that the Sabbath will never be lost from Israel. No matter what happens, exile, persecution, assimilation pressures, t...
It might sound a little unusual, but Jewish tradition is rich with symbolism, and this particular image is incredibly powerful. It's the sixth of Sivan, the day appointed by God. G...
Some prayers aren't polite. Midrash Tehillim 42 preserves one that reads more like a plea, a challenge, almost a demand, directed straight at God. The speaker in this Midrash (rabb...
The verse in question comes from (Leviticus 17:15): "And every soul that eats neveilah (carcass) or treifah (what is "torn")… he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water…” Okay, E...
Our guide here is Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Numbers. It wrestles with a verse in Numbers (8:25): "And from the age of fifty he shall ret...
Seems like a prime opportunity for spiritual growth. But Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Numbers, pulls no punches. It points out a rather gla...
Our ancestors certainly did. The story begins in (Numbers 9:6): "And there were men who were unclean by the body of a man, and they could not offer the Pesach (Passover) [Passover ...
A passage from Sifrei Bamidbar, specifically focusing on (Numbers 18:30-32), which deals with the Levites and their portion of the tithes. The verse states, "And you shall say to t...
" Va'ethchanan is a term loaded with entreaty, a heartfelt plea. Moshe isn't just asking; he's begging. The text then throws us a little curveball: "Let 'to say' not be written." W...
The word atzeret (עצרת) appears in Bamidbar, or the Book of Numbers (29:35), in the context of Shmini Atzeret, the "eighth day" that follows the seven days of Sukkot, the Festival ...
The ancient rabbis certainly considered the importance of order, especially when it came to sacred rituals. to a fascinating little corner of Jewish law, specifically from Sifrei D...
A disciple recited before R. Jochanan: "Whoever occupies himself with the study of the Torah and with the practice of loving kindness and (Ib. b.) buries his children [during his l...
The Passover sacrifice in the Temple had an exact choreography, and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 34:25) preserves its two ironclad rules. First: you may not slaughter the korb...
Bamidbar Rabbah (5) dives deep into this, using the verse "Do not rob the impoverished as he is impoverished..." (Proverbs 22:22) as a springboard for profound ethical reflection. ...
It’s a story rich with symbolism, divine presence, and, In Bamidbar Rabbah, 13, it all began on the 23rd of Adar, and culminated on the first of Nisan. Rabbi Yosei tells us that fo...
Because sometimes, the universe has a funny way of showing us that insight isn't exclusive to the scholars and sages. We find a perfect example in Bereshit Rabbah, specifically sec...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Nebuchadnezzar and Creation of Shinar. Our journey starts with (Genesis 10:10): “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erekh, and Akad, and Kalne, in...
Our tradition is filled with stories that suggest it might. a few tales from Devarim Rabbah, a compilation of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, that explore just that....
A very special box, – the Ark of the Covenant. The Torah tells us, "They shall craft an Ark of acacia wood: its length shall be two and a half cubits, and its width a cubit and a h...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. This week, It all starts with a verse The familiar version gives us: "He gave to Moses, as He concluded speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two ...
It's like tossing a pebble into a pond, the ripples go far beyond what you can see. Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Exodus, explores this ver...
“I called to my lovers, they deceived me; my priests and my elders perished in the city while they sought food for themselves to restore their souls” (Lamentations 1:19).“I called ...
