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But what if there's more to the story than we usually hear? to a fascinating piece of Jewish lore found in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, chapter 45, which offers a unique perspective. Th...
It’s a question that echoes through the ages, and the Torah, specifically the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), gives us a powerful glimpse. The verse states, "and he became there a n...
The Book of Exodus opens with a list of names and a king who "knew not Joseph." Targum Jonathan transforms this into something far more vivid—adding a prophetic dream, naming Phara...
When Moses and Aaron first confronted Pharaoh and demanded he release Israel, the Hebrew Bible records Pharaoh's defiant reply: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?" (Ex...
The Hebrew Bible says God "passed before" Moses and proclaimed the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exodus 34:6). Targum Onkelos renders this as God "made His Shechinah pass" before M...
When Israel went out of Egypt, Moses said: ‘and God delivered Israel that day’ (Exodus 14:30); and when Israel went out of Jerusalem Jeremiah said: ‘God has put me into the hands o...
Rachel had watched her sister enter the wedding canopy and had not envied her — not then. But when the children came, one after another from Leah's womb, Rachel's patience broke. "...
That raw, visceral feeling is at the heart of a powerful story about Moses and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Imagine Moses, our leader, the one who brought us out of ...
This week, we're diving into a story from Bamidbar Rabbah – a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers – that explores just that feeling. It centers on Moses, and a ...
The story of Joseph, sold into slavery, gives us a dramatic answer. "The Medanites sold him to Egypt, to Potifar, an official of Pharaoh, the chief executioner" (Genesis 37:36). Bu...
They’re more than just tales; they're lenses through which we understand ourselves and the world. Today, let’s peer through one of those lenses, focusing on the biblical figure of ...
Take this one from (Exodus 2:6), describing Pharaoh’s daughter discovering the infant Moses adrift in the Nile: "She opened it and saw the child [yeled], and behold, a boy [na’ar] ...
It's easy to picture the pyramids, the scorching sun, and the relentless labor. But what about the small acts of defiance, the glimmers of hope that hinted at a future redemption? ...
Something that makes you think, "Surely, there's someone better suited for this!" Well, you're not alone. Even Moses, the great lawgiver himself, had a moment of reluctance. to a f...
(Besides driving us crazy, of course!) Well, Jewish tradition has a fascinating answer, one that goes all the way back to the plagues in Egypt. The Book of Exodus recounts God's co...
Sometimes, it's not about luck at all, but about seizing the moment. And in Jewish tradition, the story of Moses and Pharaoh offers a powerful lesson in just that. In (Exodus 8:16)...
The scene: Moses is tasked with confronting Pharaoh yet again. God tells Moses, "Rise early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him: So said the Lord, God of the H...
The Book of Exodus tells us, "Moses extended his staff toward the heavens and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the ground, and the Lord rained hail upon the lan...
We often think of him as this monolithic, unyielding villain. But what if there were moments of genuine, albeit fleeting, remorse? The Book of Exodus tells us that after the devast...
The verse we're looking at is (Exodus 12:21): “Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them: Draw, and take for yourselves lambs for your families, and slaughter the pas...
We often think of Moses, armed with divine authority, as the driving force behind the Israelites' liberation. But what about Pharaoh? Did he simply cave to the plagues, or was ther...
The scene unfolds like this: the Israelites are trapped between the pursuing Egyptian army and the seemingly insurmountable Red Sea. Moses, holding his staff, is their leader, thei...
We’re diving into Shemot Rabbah today, specifically section 23, which explores the verse, “Then Moses…sang” (Exodus 15:1). But this isn’t just about a song after crossing the Sea o...
The text suggests that these three actions originated from Moses' own reasoning, and, remarkably, his reasoning turned out to be in sync with God's own. The first instance involves...
It's like a cosmic echo, a recurring theme of the powerful and the hungry, of oppression and redemption. Vayikra Rabbah 28, a section of the ancient Midrash Rabbah, explores just t...
God told Moses: "Do not speak to Me on this matter again" (Deuteronomy 3:26). The decree was final. But Moses argued anyway. Rabbi Abbahu offered a parable. A nobleman found a magn...
A sigh from a Jewish person can repair what is broken in the world. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught this not as poetry but as metaphysics. The sigh, the deep exhalation of grief or...
To draw peace into the world, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught, you must elevate God's glory to its source. And that source is fear. "To fear the glorious name" (Deuteronomy 28:58)....
The true tzaddik (a righteous person), Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches, is the one who looks at every detail of creation and asks: why did God make it this way? Why does a lion ha...
There exists a soul in every generation through whom Torah insights are revealed to the world. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov describes this soul as one burdened with suffering: "Bread w...
"And you shall plate it with pure gold" (Exodus 25:11). The Talmud (Sukkah 45b) reads the verse about the Tabernacle's acacia wood—"standing up" (Exodus 26:15)—to mean that the woo...
(Exodus 12:6) "And it shall be to you for a keeping": Why does the taking of the Pesach (Passover) precede its slaughtering by four days? R. Matia b. Charash says: It is written (E...
The Israelites spent twelve months in Egypt after Moses first appeared before Pharaoh. Twelve months of escalating plagues, mounting chaos, and growing anticipation of departure. D...
R. Yoshiyah said to him: Why is this different from all of the "sayings" in the Torah, which were from Moses to say to Israel? Here, too, from Moses to say to Israel. Why, then, is...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, explores a striking rhetorical pattern found throughout the Hebrew Bible: moments where a prophet says God "has spoken," and the rabb...
(Ibid. 12:27) "Then you shall say that it is a Paschal sacrifice to the L–rd.": R. Yossi Haglili said: The Jews would have deserved to die in Egypt (if not for the merit of the Pas...
(Exodus 12:37) "And the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth": From Ramses to Succoth was a distance of forty parasangs, and the voice of Moses traveled (the distanc...
The Mekhilta weaves together several verses to demonstrate that God guards the faithful and remembers the faithfulness of the ancestors. The opening verse sets the theme: "The Lord...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael states a foundational principle of divine justice: "As one metes it out, so is it meted out to him." God's punishments are not random. They mirror the...
When the Israelites grumbled in the wilderness about food, Moses and Aaron told them (Exodus 16:7): "And in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord." The Mekhilta de-Rabbi I...
R. Elazar Homadai says: in a land of foreign (gods, i.e., idolatry). Moses said: Since the whole world serves idolatry, I will serve Him who spoke and brought the (whole) world int...
(Exodus 21:18) introduces the laws of personal injury: "And if men quarrel." The Mekhilta asks why this section exists at all. The Torah already states in (Exodus 21:24) the princi...
(Exodus 22:19) "One who sacrifices to idolatry shall be put to death": We have heard the punishment. Whence the exhortation? It is written (Exodus 20:5) "You shall not bow down to ...
And the Torah, in its own way, grapples with this very question. We find ourselves in the Book of Exodus, a pivotal moment in the story of the Israelites. Moses is about to ascend ...
We know from Genesis that before he passed, Joseph made his brothers swear a solemn oath: when God finally remembers them, they must carry his bones out of Egypt with them (Gen. 50...
"Remember what Amalek did to you" (Deuteronomy 25:17). God remembers the righteous for good and the wicked for destruction. When He recalled Abraham, He spoke with affection: "Shal...
Bar Haddaya, the dream interpreter who gave favorable readings to paying clients and devastating ones to non-payers, eventually paid for his corruption with his life. Berakhot 56b ...
When the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea, the ministering angels wanted to sing. God stopped them cold. According to Megillah 10b, He said: "My handiwork is drowning in the ...
