3,277 related texts · 11 related myths · Page 68 of 69
The ancient rabbis grappled with these very questions, and their answers, preserved in texts like Vayikra Rabbah, are both surprising and deeply inspiring. to one fascinating passa...
It’s a question the rabbis grappled with, and in Vayikra Rabbah 36, we find some fascinating. And differing, answers. The text explores just how long the merit, the z’chus, of the ...
Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations as an alphabetical curse, each verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a devastation so systematic it marched from Alep...
“She has no comforter.” Rabbi Levi said: Any place that it is stated: “Has no [ein],” [ultimately] she will have. “Sarai was barren, she had no [ein] child” (Genesis 11:30), but [u...
“Gone from the daughter of Zion is all her splendor. Her princes are like deer that have not found pasture; they went powerless before the pursuer” (Lamentations 1:6)“Gone from the...
“The adversary extended his hand over all her delights; for she saw the nations entering her Sanctuary, whom You had commanded that they should not enter Your assembly” (Lamentatio...
“Zion spread her hands, there was no comforter for her; the Lord has commanded for Jacob that her adversaries surround her. Jerusalem has become like a pariah among them” (Lamentat...
“The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word. Hear now all you peoples, and see my pain: My young women and young men have gone into captivity” (Lamentations 1:18).“The Lord ...
“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 ...
“They heard that I sigh; there is no comforter for me; all my enemies heard of my misfortune, were glad because You acted. May You bring the day that You proclaimed, and they will ...
“Let all their wickedness come before You, and do to them as You did to me for all my transgressions, for my sighs are many and my heart is suffering” (Lamentations 1:22).“Let all ...
“How the Lord has clouded [ya’iv] the daughter of Zion in His wrath.” Rabbi Ḥama bar Rabbi Ḥanina said: How did the Lord condemn in His wrath the daughter of Zion?8Rabbi Ḥama inter...
“He destroyed, in His ire, the strongholds of the daughter of Judah.” Rabbi Yudan said: Each and every castle that was in Jerusalem was not fit to be conquered in any less than for...
“The Lord forsook His altar, cursed His Temple; He gave into the hand of the enemy the walls of its palaces. They raised their voice in the House of the Lord, like a day of festiva...
“The Lord resolved to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He drew a line, did not withdraw His hand from demolishing. He caused the rampart and wall to mourn, together they l...
“See, Lord, and look to whom You have done this. Shall women eat their fruit, the infants of their nurturing? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the Temple of the Lord?” ...
“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...
“He fenced me in that I will not emerge; He made my fetters heavy” (Lamentations 3:7).“He fenced me in that I will not emerge” – Rabbi Aivu said: This is the enclosure of the Arabs...
“Remember my affliction and my anguish, wormwood and gall” (Lamentations 3:19).“Remember my affliction and my anguish [umrudi]” – the congregation of Israel says before the Holy On...
“Let him sit alone and be silent, because He has laid it upon him” (Lamentations 3:28).“Let him sit alone and be silent” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: The Holy One blessed be He ...
“Your iniquity is completed, daughter of Zion; He will not continue to exile you. He will reckon your iniquity, daughter of Edom, He will expose your sins” (Lamentations 4:22).“You...
“We bring our bread at the peril of our lives due to the sword of the wilderness” (Lamentations 5:9).“We bring our bread at the peril of our lives.” Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said:...
“The young men carried the mill, and the lads stumbled on the wood” (Lamentations 5:13).“The young men carried the mill.” You find that there was no mill in Babylon. When Nebuchadn...
“The gladness of our heart has ceased; our dance has been transformed into mourning” (Lamentations 5:15).“The gladness of our heart has ceased.” Rav Ḥisda said: Initially, when fea...
“Why do You forget us forever, forsake us for so long?” (Lamentations 5:20).“Why do You forget us forever?” Rabbi Yehoshua bar Avin said: Jeremiah employed four expressions: Spurni...
Rabbi Akiva was sitting and lecturing and his students [began] dozing. He sought to rouse them; he said: Why did Esther merit to rule over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces? R...
“The elite of Persia and Media:” It is taught in the name of Rabbi Natan about these ten measures: There are ten portions of licentiousness in the world, nine in Alexandria and one...
The fool vents all his spirit, and the wise will soothe it, restraining it” (Proverbs 29:11). “The fool vents all his spirit” – this is Aḥashverosh; “and the wise will soothe it, k...
Rabbi Ḥiyya had a gentile friend in Ashna, who prepared a feast for him, during which he served him everything that had been created in the six days of Creation. He said to him: ‘W...
“Upon the completion of [uvimlot] those days” – it is written uvimlot [plene, with the extra vav],8It is not clear if this is merely a textual note or somehow related to the follow...
“To do as every man desired.” The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘I do not fulfill the wishes of all My creatures, and you seek “to do as every man desired?”’ The way of the world is...
Rav began: “Woe! He gives drink to his neighbor, amplifies your wrath, and intoxicates him, so that you may look upon their nakedness” (Habakkuk 2:15). “Woe! He gives drink” – that...
“Also, Vashti the queen made a women’s banquet in the royal palace of King Aḥashverosh” (Esther 1:9). Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Simon began: “My people, its oppressors are babes an...
Another interpretation: “Also, Vashti the queen” – Shmuel began: “When they are inflamed, I will set out their banquet [and get them drunk, that they revel and then sleep an endles...
“Who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exile that was exiled with Yekhonya king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylonia exiled” (Esther 2:6).“Who had been exiled from...
“It was contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordekhai alone, for they had told him of Mordekhai’s people; Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were in the whole kingdom o...
“If it pleases the king, let it be written to eliminate them and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver by the hands of the king's craftsmen, to bring to the king's treasu...
“The text of the document was that an edict be issued in every province, to be publicly displayed to all the peoples: Be ready for that day” (Esther 3:14). “The text of the documen...
“And you, write about the Jews as is pleasing in your eyes in the name of the king” (Esther 8:8), and send to all the provinces “to destroy and to kill and to eliminate” (Esther 8:...
“The Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Aḥashverosh, to lay hand on those who sought their harm. And no one stood against them for the fear of them had fall...
From the very first moment of creation, God assigned every major figure in history a specific role. Esther Rabbah preserves a remarkable list, attributed to Rabbi Berekhya, that re...
The exile of the Jewish people under Ahasuerus was not an accident. According to Esther Rabbah, it was prophesied in detail centuries before it happened, embedded in verses from Is...
It sounds radical, I know. Some accounts say God bestowed immense honor upon Moses, gifting him dominion over the entire earth, the seas, the rivers – all the elements themselves. ...
Maybe that feeling is a tiny glimpse into the ultimate truth: that everything is sacred. Philo, the 1st-century Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, certainly thought so. He envisio...
The question at hand: how could the Israelites, knowing the honor due to God, prostrate themselves before something that was created? Isn't that, well, a bit too close to idolatry?...
The Wars of God turns to Accused of Heresy for Balancing Tradition and Reason. The writer is responding to accusations, accusations of deceit, of misleading students, of even heres...
Someone is being called out for criticizing the act of diligently seeking to understand the sacred texts. The response is sharp: "Who gave you the authority to seek and investigate...
You're not alone! The tradition teaches that deep understanding requires dedication, effort, and a willingness to truly explore the text. The power to investigate and inquire withi...
