118 related texts · 3 related myths · Page 2 of 3
Abraham is old, and the question of Isaac's wife must be settled. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 24:2), the Aramaic makes explicit what the Hebrew only hints at: Abraham tel...
When Jacob asked Joseph to bury him in Canaan rather than Egypt, he did not ask for a simple promise. In (Genesis 47:29) he asked Joseph to "put thy hand under my thigh", a euphemi...
One of the most striking interpretive moves in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan happens quietly on (Exodus 12:13). The verse states that the blood on the doorposts will be a sign for Israel,...
The ancient rabbis grappled with these questions constantly, searching for meaning in misfortune. One particularly fascinating exploration revolves around the affliction of leprosy...
There's a fascinating passage in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, that dives right into this feeling. It starts with the verse, "In...
In Bereshit Rabbah, that foundational midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) text, the rabbis unpack layers of meaning from even a single word. The verse uses the Hebrew word...
Our journey begins with the powerful words from (Genesis 17:13): “You shall surely circumcise those born in your house, or those purchased with your silver, and My covenant shall b...
It centers around a single verse, (Genesis 17:14), which deals with brit milah, the covenant of circumcision. The verse reads: “And the uncircumcised male who shall not circumcise ...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Covenant of Circumcision of Abraham. (Genesis 17:26) tells us, “On that very day, Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son.” Simple. But that “very day...
The Rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of Rabbinic interpretations on Genesis, find layers of meaning we might otherwise miss. In Bereshit Rabbah, Abraham was co...
How do you BECOME ready? Our exploration starts in Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Here, in section 49, we find a fascinat...
Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) interpretations on the book of Leviticus, dives deep into this very topic, using the verse "when a woma...
Seven, for instance, pops up everywhere – the seven days of creation, the seven days of mourning (shiva), the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks). But ...
Consider the opening of Vayikra (Leviticus), which discusses skin ailments. Vayikra Rabbah, a Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) collection expounding on Leviticus, dives...
Vayikra Rabbah turns to Skin Disease as Punishment and the Parallel to Job. The passage begins by drawing a parallel between the arrogance of a haughty person and the fate of a lep...
In the rabbinic imagination, as we see in Vayikra Rabbah 17, tzara'at becomes a physical manifestation of spiritual failings. It's a fascinating, if unsettling, idea. Vayikra Rabba...
The verse in (Genesis 17:10) states, "And every male of you shall be circumcised, and you shall circumcise, or you shall be circumcised, in the flesh of your foreskin." Seems strai...
The Torah tells us in (Genesis 17:11) that God commands Abraham to circumcise all males as a sign of the covenant. But why only males? The Midrash of Philo dives deep into this ver...
And Abraham fell upon his face (Gen. 14:3). Prior to his circumcision, Abraham prostrated himself whenever the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence) addressed him, but after he was circu...
The story of Pharaoh in the Bible isn't just about slavery; it's about a desperate attempt to control the very future, one newborn baby at a time. Pharaoh, gripped by fear of the g...
Miriam, it seems, has fallen ill with leprosy, a skin disease that carries both physical suffering and social stigma. Aaron, ever the mediator, speaks words of comfort, but Moses? ...
Jewish tradition certainly does, and it pulls no punches when it comes to the consequences of careless or malicious speech – especially lashon hara (לשון הרע), evil speech. One of ...
The Torah states that if a master gives his Hebrew bondsman a Canaanite bondswoman "and she bears him sons or daughters," the woman and her children belong to the master (Exodus 21...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Cohanim's Miracle. Get ready; it's a deep dive into the nitty-gritty. The passage starts with "of the plague-spot," and right away, the rabbis zero in on a ...
The second sign at the burning bush is more disturbing than the first. The serpent was outside Moses' body; the leprosy is on it. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the bluntness of ...
Blessings is often remembered as material wealth, good health, maybe even a long life. But what if the true blessing is something far deeper, something almost…invisible? The tradit...
Vayikra Rabbah, the great midrash on the Book of Leviticus, is all about unlocking those secrets. It's about diving deep into the connections between verses that might seem, At fir...
Vayikra Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Leviticus, explores this very idea, using the strange and unsettling phenomenon of leprosy in ho...
Why an Uncircumcised Soul Is Cut Off From Its Generation is the question behind this passage from The Midrash of Philo. Take this one, for example. It’s a verse that’s given interp...
It might surprise you to learn that some of it isn't directly from the Torah we read in synagogues. Let's The Book of Jubilees, also sometimes called Lesser Genesis, is an ancient ...
This is the world Megillat Antiochus throws us into. The story begins with a chilling proposition, whispered amongst the advisors of King Antiochus. "Come now," they urged, "let us...
Sometimes, the stories behind them are even more incredible than the rituals themselves. Let's The Legends of the Jews tells us that Abraham’s circumcision wasn't just a personal a...
Legend tells us Isaac wasn't just Abraham's son; he was his counterpart. The Legends of the Jews tells us he resembled his father "in beauty, wisdom, strength, wealth, and noble de...
Take the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. accepting Judaism isn't just a declaration; it's a process. A transformational journey. The tradition says a convert must undergo th...
The laws surrounding leprosy, or tzara'at, were incredibly strict. While other forms of ritual impurity only kept people away from the sanctuary, those afflicted with leprosy were ...
All sorts of momentous events piled up on a single day. This was the very day the Israelites crossed the Jordan River. Can you picture it? After forty years of wandering, they fina...
King Uzziah, Jotham’s father, suffered from leprosy, making him ritually impure and unable to fully carry out his royal duties. And so, Jotham stepped up, governing Judah for twent...
That’s kind of what it was like for the prophet Jeremiah during the reign of King Zedekiah. According to Legends of the Jews, he was facing opposition from pretty much everyone. – ...
One such path, guided by the words of Josephus, a first-century Romano-Jewish historian. He's responding to some pretty harsh claims made by an Egyptian priest named Manetho. Josep...
Ever hear a story so outlandish, so dripping with bias, that you just have to raise an eyebrow and ask, "Really?" That's exactly the kind of tale Josephus, a first-century Romano-J...
Apion, see, had a laundry list of complaints against the Jews. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, takes each one head-on. And in this particular section, Apion throws a few zinge...
The crisis started from within. Josephus records that after the High Priest Onias III died, a power struggle erupted between his brothers. Jason and Menelaus each bribed the Seleuc...
The Torah states a blunt exclusion about the Paschal lamb: "No stranger may eat of it." The Mekhilta explains who "stranger" includes, and the answer is broader than it first appea...
"Covenant" is written of Israel, viz. (Genesis 17:13) "And My covenant (i.e., circumcision) shall be in your flesh." And it is also written of strangers, viz. (Isaiah 56:4) "and th...
"It is a sign forever", the Mekhilta derives from this phrase that the Sabbath will never be lost from Israel. No matter what happens, exile, persecution, assimilation pressures, t...
The Midrash Mishlei, a collection of interpretations on the Book of Proverbs, takes that poem and runs with it. It's not just about one ideal woman, but about all the ways women. A...
They're thousands of years old, yet they speak to our struggles, our joys, our fears as if they were written yesterday. Midrash Tehillim 20, a fascinating exploration of Psalm 20, ...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Day of Atonement of Kippur. How do we get there? Well, Rabban Gamaliel points to the verse in (Genesis 17:26): "In the selfsame day was Abraham circ...
