320 related texts · Page 7 of 7
Rabbi Meir was known for many things — his brilliance, his sharp tongue, and his wife Beruria's even sharper one. But he was also known for his encounters with the Samaritans, the ...
A man hid his gold in a set of clay jars — the ancient equivalent of a safe deposit box — and the story of what happened to those jars became a parable about the fragility of earth...
The Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers, explores this very idea through a verse from Job: "Who preceded Me, that I should repay? Everything ...
It all starts with a seemingly simple instruction: "Send you men that they may scout the land of Canaan that I am giving to the children of Israel" (Numbers 13:2). But before we di...
It's one of those biblical tales that's just packed with odd details, and the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) had a field day unpacking it all. We find a f...
In Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah) 21, we encounter a fascinating tension. God commands the Israelites to "Assail the Midianites." Seems pretty straightforward. But then, the text...
Jewish tradition grapples with this very idea – the seeming imbalance between what we offer God and what God offers us. The passage in Bamidbar Rabbah 21, a collection of rabbinic ...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They found that very human feeling reflected in the Torah itself, specifically in the book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew. And they explore it in ...
Our sages pondered that very thing, and they found a fascinating exception. The Torah portion of Bereshit, Genesis, opens with the creation. And in (Genesis 2:1), we read, "The hea...
We find ourselves pondering this in Bereshit Rabbah 49, where Rabbi Eleazar raises a fascinating question. How do we understand instances in the Torah where individuals seem to be ...
The Torah portion Vayera, and specifically (Genesis 18:19), offers a glimpse into this very idea: "For I love him, so that he will command his children and his household after him,...
But did he just follow the big commandments, the obvious ones? Or was there something more? (Genesis 26:5) tells us that Abraham "heeded My voice, and observed My commission, My co...
Take the story of Jacob, disguised as Esau, receiving Isaac's blessing. It's a pivotal moment, full of deception and destiny. But let's zoom in on one specific detail: "And the hid...
In Devarim Rabbah, a compilation of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, we find a fascinating connection between looking after the Levites – members of the tribe of Levi...
We all have. But in Jewish tradition, the words we speak – and the intentions behind them – carry immense weight. Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Bo...
It all starts with the verse from (Ecclesiastes 5:6): "So it is with a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words; rather, fear God.” The verse seems to be saying that too muc...
Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, throws us a curveball right from the start: "A good name is better than fine oil, and the day of death than the day of one's birth" (Ecclesiastes 7:1). Whoa....
Jewish tradition teaches us that our actions, especially those involving money and compassion, carry immense weight. to a fascinating passage from Shemot Rabbah, a collection of ra...
Take the verse from the Song of Songs, Shir HaShirim, "How fair are your feet in sandals [bane’alim]," with its slightly unusual plural form, "sandals" [ne’alim]. What could that p...
Vayikra Rabbah, specifically chapter 16, dives deep into this, starting with the verse, "This shall be the law of the leper." (Leviticus 14:2). Seems strange. What does leprosy hav...
The rabbis of old grappled with this question, especially concerning the laws around building altars for sacrifice outside the designated Temple in Jerusalem. This wasn't some free...
Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Yirmeya, citing Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba, paint this incredible picture: The Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to craft shelters and canopies in the Garden of E...
It's more than just ritual; it’s a conversation with history, a dance with meaning. to one small, but potent, idea from Vayikra Rabbah, specifically section 30, and see what we can...
Take, for instance, the four species we use on Sukkot – the etrog (citron), the lulav (date palm frond), the hadass (myrtle), and the aravah (willow). They aren't just random plant...
Take the four species we use on Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles: the etrog (citron), the lulav (palm branch), the hadass (myrtle), and the aravah (willow). We wave them, we rejoic...
Rabbi Ze’eira had a fascinating idea about this, especially when it comes to the Land of Israel. He said, remarkably, that even the conversation of the people living there is Torah...
And the story, as recounted in Vayikra Rabbah 34, is It all started on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, a time for reflection and new beginnings. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai, a promi...
“The hands of merciful women cooked their children; they were food for them in the disaster of the daughter of my people” (Lamentations 4:10).“The hands of merciful women cooked th...
“One hundred and eighty days” – the last day was like the first day. There was an incident involving a certain man whose name was Barbohin. Our Sages went to him regarding matters ...
The text challenges a particular assumption: that every detail of Jewish law, every halacha (Jewish religious law), was directly given to Moses at Sinai. To illustrate this, it del...
If thou lend money to any of my people (Exod. 22:24). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: He that putteth not out his money on interest (Ps. 15:5). Come and obse...
Another explanation (of Deut. 14:22), “You shall tithe, tithe.” This is related to the verse (in Is. 24:5), “And the earth was distorted under its inhabitants, because they transgr...
