4,543 related texts · 51 related myths · Page 4 of 95
Why was Pharaoh's daughter in the river that morning? The Hebrew says simply: "to bathe." The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (2:5) has a different answer. And it is startling. "A...
The third sign at the burning bush is the one that rehearses the first plague. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves it with bare clarity: thou shalt take of the water of the river and ...
Moses stands at the water with the rod lifted, and God's words are simple and total: By this sign thou shalt know that I am the Lord (Exodus 7:17). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodu...
Some of the geographic details in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan are staggering. On (Exodus 12:31), the Targum pauses to describe the map. The border of Mizraim extended four hundred phars...
Few lines in the Torah are as unexpectedly tender as the one the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves at the moment of Jethro's arrival. He sends a message to Moses: "I, thy father-in-...
The familiar story is this: Pharaoh, gripped by fear of the Israelites' growing numbers, decrees that all newborn Hebrew boys be cast into the Nile. A brutal, heartbreaking command...
The familiar story centers on his dramatic rescue as a baby, floating down the Nile in a basket. But what happened next, after he was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter? The Book of Jas...
The Torah portion of Shmot – Exodus – introduces us to Moses, arguably the greatest prophet in Judaism. But even before the burning bush, before the plagues, before the parting of ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Job Advised Pharaoh to Use Midwives to Kill Hebrew Babies. Chilling advice. Job suggested that instead of the Egyptians directly killing the Israelite ...
"What! Is our sorrow not great enough, burdened as we are by those who have suffered in Egypt from the very beginning? Must you add more to the land?" Can you imagine Aaron saying ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Pharaoh — Moses and Divine Judgment. Moses, chosen by God to lead his people out of slavery, invites the elders of Israel to join him in approaching Ph...
That feeling, that impossible tension, isn’t new. The Israelites felt it acutely during their enslavement in Egypt, and their frustration boiled over in a truly heartbreaking way. ...
It all started with a walk by the river. Pharaoh, had a little… problem. He fancied himself a god. Not just any god, but the god of Egypt. The problem? Gods aren't supposed to, wel...
Really trapped. Centuries of slavery, your identity almost erased. Then, a glimmer of hope appears: MOSES. But even after plagues and miracles, freedom seems just out of reach. Wha...
Legends of the Jews turns to Moses Begs God to Remember the Burning Bush. The familiar story is this: Moses, the reluctant prophet, the stuttering leader, the man who faced down Ph...
That feeling…that’s almost the heart of the story of Hallelujah. What is Hallelujah, really? It's more than just a word; it's an expression, a moment in time. Midrash Tehillim, in ...
That feeling, that sense of profound loss, isn't just a modern phenomenon. Our Sages wrestled with it too. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating and often imaginative work of Jewis...
The story begins with Moses, standing before God, asking for a sign, a mofet, to prove his divine mission. "Sovereign of all worlds!" he pleads, "Give me a wonder or a sign!" And G...
The familiar version gives us the basics: baby Moses in a basket, found by Pharaoh's daughter. But what if I told you there's a whole world of interpretation swirling around just a...
His reaction to Moses and Aaron's miracles in Egypt, as described in Shemot Rabbah, is a masterclass in insecure overcompensation. The familiar story is this: Moses and Aaron come ...
Shemot Rabbah turns to Birth of Pharaoh of Moses. Let’s zero in on one of those moments, found in Shemot Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Exo...
(Exodus 12:1) "saying": Go and say it to them immediately. These are the words of R. Yishmael. As it is written (Exodus 34:34) "And he went out and spoke to the children of Israel ...
When the Torah says "tomorrow," does it mean the next day or some distant point in the future? The Mekhilta demonstrates that the word carries both meanings, depending on context. ...
(Exodus 13:17) "And it was, when G–d sent ("shalach") the people": "sending" in all places is accompaniment, viz. (Genesis 18:16) "And Abraham went with them to send them," (Ibid. ...
Rebbi says: Last night you said (i.e., you complained to Me) (Exodus 5:23) "And from the time I came to Pharaoh, etc." And now you stand and wax long in prayer? "Why do you cry out...
(Exodus 15:1) "Az yashir Mosheh": Az ("then") sometimes signals the past and sometimes signals the future. The past: (Genesis 4:26) "Az men began", (Exodus 4:26) "Az she said", (Ex...
The opening verse of Deuteronomy lists a string of place names, "in the wilderness, in the Arabah, over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zaha...
Each prophet saw God differently. Amos saw Him standing, "I saw the Lord standing beside the altar" (Amos 9:1). Isaiah saw Him sitting, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high an...
David lifts his eyes to the mountains and prays, "A song of ascents". And God answers him through a text he might not have expected: Moses's blessing of Judah. "And this is the ble...
"I will assemble Jacob, all of you; I will bring together the remnant of Israel" (Micah 2:12). The end of Aggadat Bereshit's prophetic arc arrives here: not the death of Jacob, not...
The opening verse of Numbers 7 says a single thing twice. Moses "anointed the Tabernacle and sanctified it," and then the verse adds, "and he anointed them and sanctified them." Wh...
The rabbis of Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer chapter 48 imagined the hand of God as a kind of cosmic instrument, each finger doing its own piece of sacred work. With the little finger, th...
The month of Elul, in Jewish tradition, is the month of return. The shofar is blown every morning in synagogues around the world, and propitiatory prayers, selichot, are recited tw...
Sanhedrin 91a preserves a courtroom drama from the age of Alexander of Macedon. The people of Egypt appeared before the conqueror to lodge a complaint against Israel. Their argumen...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan records one of the most consequential sentences ever spoken by a people: "All the people responded together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we w...
When the Holy One commanded Israel to contribute materials for the Mishkan, the Tabernacle in the wilderness, the instruction could have been simple taxation. Every household owes ...
When Moses came down from Sinai, he was carrying something that did not come from earth. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the tradition with striking specificity: God gave to Moses...
When Moses came down Sinai and saw the calf, he did not only smash it. He burned it, ground it finer than any mortar should grind gold, and then he did something stranger. He scatt...
Three thousand men fell that day at the hands of the Levites. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the Aramaic paraphrase of the Torah, wants you to know exactly who died. "The sons of Levi did...
After the intercession, the mercy, and the glimpse of the tefillin knot, the Lord gave Moses a practical command that would take him back up Sinai a second time. Targum Pseudo-Jona...
There is a moment on Sinai when God tells Moses to write. Not to remember, not to transmit orally, not to carve into stone alone. But to write. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 34...
The number forty runs through the Torah like a drumbeat. Forty days of flood in Noah's time. Forty years in the wilderness. And here, in (Exodus 34:28) as preserved by Targum Pseud...
“I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His fury” (Lamentations 3:1).“I am the man” – Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina began: “Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Barukh s...
“The young woman who will please the king will reign in place of Vashti. The proposal pleased the king and he did so” (Esther 2:4).“The young woman who will please the king” – who ...
Three miraculous gifts sustained Israel in the wilderness, and each one was tied to a specific leader. Rabbi Yehoshua teaches that when Miriam died, the well that had followed the ...
The Mekhilta notices something peculiar about how the Torah identifies Yithro. In the beginning of the story, Moses is the one who boasts about the relationship. When Moses returns...
"And the child grew, and was brought to Pharaoh's daughter, and he was beloved by her as a son; and she called his name Mosheh, Because, said she, I drew him out of the water of th...
After Moses grasps the serpent by the tail and it becomes a rod, the Holy One explains the purpose of the miracle. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan puts it plainly: In order that they may be...
