712 related texts · 8 related myths · Page 6 of 15
(Exodus 16:35) "And the children of Israel ate the manna for forty years": R. Yehoshua says: for forty days they ate the manna after the death of Moses. How so? Moses died on the s...
Rabbi Eliezer claimed that a single Hebrew word in the Torah contained an entire military history encoded as an acronym. The word is "vayachalosh," which appears in the account of ...
It is often remembered as a calm, orderly process, but some stories hint at a bit more… chaos. What if I told you the very waters that give life once rose up in rebellion against G...
When Rabbi Joshua's time on this earth was drawing to a close, God, in His infinite wisdom, instructed the Malach HaMavet – the Angel of Death – to visit him. But this wasn't just ...
If you had something that could smooth out those bumps, flatten those peaks, and make the journey a little easier. Well, according to Jewish tradition, the Israelites had just such...
" And perhaps no holiday embodies this more beautifully than Sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles). Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles. It's a time we build temporary shelt...
Our exploration begins with a verse from the Song of Songs (7:3): "Your navel is like a round goblet... Your belly is a heap of wheat." The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentar...
It’s like a spiritual echo chamber, where actions reverberate through generations. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) opens with a stark statement: "The arrogance of th...
The verse "day by day he utters speech" (Psalm 19:3) isn't just about the sun rising and setting. It's about each day possessing its own individual character, its own set of wonder...
Jewish tradition, in its infinite wisdom, offers a resounding "No!" Let's This isn't your average "sinned a little" kind of guy. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, in chapter 43, recounts a t...
The Israelites certainly did, wandering in the wilderness after the incredible Exodus from Egypt. And their doubts, as we'll see, had serious consequences. Rabbi Jochanan, son of N...
One that even Moses, the great lawgiver, wrestled with. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, in chapter 44, tells a story that illuminates this very struggle. Rabbi Phineas shares a fascinating...
Rabbi Joshua, son of Ḳorchah, gives us a powerful image in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 46. He recounts the story of Moses on Mount Sinai. Forty days and nights, he was there, absorbing ...
The Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), shares this fascinating perspective. It recounts a dialogue between God and the Torah bef...
Why Satiety Leads to Rebellion Against God is the question behind this passage from Sifrei Devarim. It’s a fascinating idea, isn’t it? It suggests that it’s not hardship that neces...
"When you cross the Jordan." Just six words, really. "Ki ta'avrun et ha-Yarden." But packed inside is a promise, a destiny, and a whole lot of hope. What's it all about? Well, it c...
Would you be allowed to pluck a few as you worked? The Torah actually addresses this very question, and like so many things in Jewish law, the answer isn't quite as simple as it fi...
What happens to those grapes? Who do they belong to? It seems like a simple question, but like so many things in Jewish tradition, it opens up a fascinating window into our values....
Not just any song, but the song. The kind of song that echoes through eternity? Sifrei Devarim, in section 334, gives us a glimpse into this profound idea. It states, "Great is 'so...
The verse says, Benjamin was uniquely blessed; he "merited that the Shechinah reside in his portion." That’s quite an honor. Now, after Joshua led the Israelites into Eretz Yisrael...
The tradition turns to the ancient text of Sifrei Devarim to unpack this a bit. It speaks of Joshua, Moses' successor, in rather poetic terms, saying, "and the horns of a re'em are...
JOSHUA B. PERAḤIAH AND NITTAI THE ARBELITE RECEIVED THE TRADITION FROM THE PRECEDING. JOSHUA B. PERAḤIAH SAID: PROVIDE YOURSELF WITH A TEACHER, AND GET YOURSELF A COMPANION, AND JU...
Genesis 40 tells a straightforward story: two prisoners dream, Joseph interprets, one lives, one dies. The Targum Jonathan transforms this episode into a prophetic vision of Israel...
Genesis 42 tells how Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to buy grain during the famine and failed to recognize him. Targum Jonathan turns this reunion into something far more calculat...
After Aaron died, the protective Cloud of Glory vanished. Amalek, who had disguised himself by taking the throne of Arad, saw his opportunity. The Targum's version of (Numbers 21) ...
Eli led Israel for forty years, and the day Eli died, he forsook his tabernacle, as it is said, “He rejected the tent of Joseph” (Psalm 78:67), and “He gave His strength into capti...
Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said t...
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Great is peace for all blessings are sealed with peace: The reading of the Shema, "spreads the shelter of peace." The [sta...
The deeds of Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi [from the Sefer Ma'asiot of Rabbi Nissim Ga'on; Beit Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)] Rabbi Joshua ben Levi discovered something so ...
In conclusion: Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin (Riv"l) in his book 'Yehoshafat' (page 59) says in the name of Rigevo that the Yalkut brings teachings on the verse 'All my bones shall sa...
Our Rabbis have taught: "The night has four watches," so says Rabbi. R. Nathan says "Three." What is R. Nathan's reason? It is written (Judges 6:19) "And Gidon, and the hundred men...
(8) With whose opinion does our Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) agree? Neither with that of R. Maier, nor with that of R. Juda, nor with that of R. Jose, nor with that ...
It was taught in the school of R. Ishmael that He pardons one sin after the other before they are put on the scales; and this is the divine custom." "Nevertheless," remarked Raba, ...
The Emperor asked Rabbi Joshua whether the dead came to life and being dust, how could dust live ? The daughter of the Emperor replied: “There are two makers of things in our place...
A Matrona asked Rabbi Joshua what God has been doing since Creation. The reply was: “He pairs people.” The Ma- trona then ordered a number of male slaves to marry female slaves, th...
In the dark years of Roman persecution, when teaching Torah was a crime punishable by death, two students of Rabbi Joshua went into hiding. They disguised themselves and moved care...
The Romans were not fools. They knew that the Jewish sages wielded enormous influence over their people, more than any general or governor could match. So when the empire wanted to...
The students of Rabbi Joshua were traveling between cities when night overtook them. They found lodging at an inn run by a man whose appearance was deeply off-putting, ugly, unkemp...
Joshua v. Levi & Prophet Elijah. Pesikta, f. 36 a. Nissim, f. 4 b. Maase Hashem, f. 41a to 43 a. Eliah Cohen, Meil Se- daka §439. Heilperin, Seder Hado- rot, s. v. Joshua b. Levi. ...
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, a third-century sage famous in the Talmud for his conversations with the prophet Elijah and with the Angel of Death, once asked a question only a very confid...
The Torah is blunt: An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the congregation of the Lord, even to the tenth generation (Deuteronomy 23:4). The verse has stood for a thousand years. ...
Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania, one of the greatest sages of the first and second century CE, used to say: In my whole life, no one has ever bested me in argument, except a widow, a chi...
Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh and Rabbi Joshua ben Chanania were once traveling together by ship on a long voyage. Gamliel was the head of the Sanhedrin, the recognized leader of Palest...
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, a third-century sage of the Land of Israel, was granted a companion on the road that no one else in his generation was offered. Elijah the prophet, the tirel...
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi was one of the great Sages of the third-century Land of Israel, and the Talmud reports that he had a personal acquaintance with the Angel of Death, a rarity e...
Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah did something in Rome that no Jewish sage was supposed to do. He entered the house of a Roman matron, locked the door behind him, spent time alone with he...
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...
During a season of Roman persecution, two disciples of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah disguised themselves in Gentile dress and tried to pass unnoticed through dangerous territory. T...
