1,715 related texts · Page 13 of 36
The ancient rabbis certainly did. to a fascinating passage from Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Leviticus, and see what secrets we can uncov...
That’s how I feel every time I delve into the Book of Ben Sira. This passage from Ben Sira 51 – it's like a whispered confession, a peek into the author's journey. "See with your e...
The Garden of Eden is not a meadow. It is a city of palaces. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, there are...
We often think of historical figures who became obsessed with their own greatness, but the story of Nimrod gives us a glimpse into the ancient roots of this phenomenon. Nimrod, a f...
The dedication of the Tabernacle in the desert is a great example. We read about the princes of each tribe bringing identical offerings (Numbers 7). But the Midrash (rabbinic inter...
Eli the high priest had two sons who were a disgrace to everything he stood for. Hophni and Phinehas served at the Tabernacle in Shiloh, but they used their priestly office as a li...
Hazael, king of Syria, tore through the eastern territories of Israel like a brushfire. The lands of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh fell. Gilead and Bashan burned. And...
The story of Esther begins with a drunken king and a queen who said no. King Artaxerxes of Persia hosted a lavish feast—180 days of celebration for his court, then seven more days ...
It might sound a little out there, but ancient Jewish tradition offers some surprisingly specific guidance. It all revolves around Shabbat (the Sabbath), that precious day of rest ...
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...
When God commanded that a jar of manna be preserved for future generations (Exodus 16:32), Moses relayed the instruction to his brother Aaron. But when exactly did Aaron carry it o...
Rabbi Eliezer offered a mordantly funny interpretation of the phrase "elohim acherim" (other gods) in the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael. He connected "acherim" not to "otherness" but t...
Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Psalms, opens up a fascinating window into this very question. It uses a beautiful image – the "rose of Sh...
The story of Achan, found in the Book of Joshua, gives us a pretty stark answer. And it's a story echoed and expanded upon in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval t...
It's often in those "extra" words that we find some of the most fascinating insights. Take the story of the offerings brought by the leaders of the tribes in Bamidbar, the Book of ...
The Book of Numbers – in Hebrew, Bamidbar, meaning "in the wilderness" – is full of intricate details about the Tabernacle, the sacrifices, and the duties of the Levites. And withi...
The instructions for building the Tabernacle in (Exodus 25) read like an architectural blueprint in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan adds theological meaning to nearly every m...
Nadab and Abihu, the two eldest sons of Aaron, offered unauthorized incense—and died. The Hebrew Bible says fire "came out from the Lord and consumed them" (Leviticus 10:2). The Ta...
And the one who offered his sacrifice on the first day was Nachshon ben Aminadab of the tribe of Judah (Numbers 7:12). Our Rabbi, the one who offered the sacrifice to the altar, ta...
On the night of the Exodus, while the entire nation of Israel was loading Egyptian gold and silver, Moses was doing something else. According to Sotah 13a, he was searching for the...
Hiram, king of Tyre made seven artificial heavens placed on pillars of iron, first of glass, sun, moon and stars. Second of iron, with a lake of water in it; third of tin with prec...
What's in a name? More than you might think. Our tradition teaches that a good name is more valuable than even the finest oils. But why? The text opens with a striking statement: "...
And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne unto Jacob, went out (Gen. 34:1). May it please our master to teach us whether a woman is permitted to walk about on the Sabbath...
And Moses said unto Aaron: “Take a jar and put an omerful of manna therein” (Exod. 16:33). I would not know of what substance the jar was fashioned, whether of silver or of gold or...
This they shall give, everyone that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel (Exod. 30:13). Because they had sinned at the sixth hour,16Word-play reading the word boshet...
And the Lord spoke unto Moses: “Depart, go up hence” (Exod. 33:1). This is what Scripture says in allusion to this verse: For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee ...
And Bezalel made the ark of acacia-wood (Exod. 37:1). Because it was known to Him-who-spoke-and-the-world-came into-being that Israel will sin at Shittim, the Holy One, blessed be ...
"And it was on the day that Moses had finished to erect the tabernacle" (Numbers 7:1). This is [the meaning of] that which was stated by the verse (Song of Songs 4:16), "Awake, O n...
(Numb. 16:1:) “Now Korah […] took.” [What] he took [was] his prayer shawl and he went to get counsel from his wife.11Numb. R. 18:4. When the Holy One, blessed be He, said (in Numb....
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that the pursuit of honor is a spiritual trap, and the only escape is through silence in the face of humiliation. When a person chases honor, they n...
The Talmud in Berakhot 57a catalogues an entire symbolic vocabulary of dreams—a dictionary of the unconscious, organized by category, where every image carries a fixed meaning. Ani...
Ben Sira, in his wisdom, certainly did. He tells us, "A faithful friend is a firm friend; And he that findeth him hath found a treasure." A treasure! Not just a pleasant acquaintan...
Ben Sira, that wise sage whose words echo through the ages, had some pretty direct advice for those moments. His wisdom, preserved in the book of Ben Sira—a book considered part of...
It’s a question that’s echoed through generations, cultures, and faiths. And believe it or not, ancient Jewish wisdom has some pretty strong opinions on the matter. We’re diving in...
Sometimes, it's about being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes, it's about something more... something divinely ordained. Let's look at a couple of figures who stepped...
It’s a question that echoes through millennia, a yearning woven into the very fabric of Jewish tradition. And it’s a theme that resonates powerfully in the Book of Jubilees. Imagin...
We get a fascinating, if slightly scandalous, glimpse in the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and Exo...
Chapter 7 offers some fascinating, practical instructions about offerings and agricultural practices. It tells us that whatever's left over from offerings should be eaten by the se...
It tells us, plainly and powerfully, that "Abram was very glorious by reason of possessions in sheep, and cattle, and asses, and horses, and camels, and menservants, and maidservan...
That feeling is ancient. It’s woven right into the stories we tell about our ancestors. Let’s look at one such moment with Abraham, from the Book of Jubilees. Now, the Book of Jubi...
The Book of Jubilees, a text bubbling with detail about the early days of humankind and covenants with God, offers a fascinating glimpse. In the 15th chapter, we find Abraham – sti...
We often think of holidays as something ancient and unchanging, but every tradition has a beginning. Let’s peek into one possible origin story, found in the Book of Jubilees, a tex...
The Book of Jubilees, a text not found in the Hebrew Bible but considered sacred by some, gives us a peek behind the curtain, fleshing out stories we think we know. And one of thos...
The Book of Jubilees gives us glimpses into just such moments. In chapter 22, we find Isaac sending a thank-offering to his father, Abraham, via Jacob. A "best thank-offering," no ...
The Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells stories from Genesis and Exodus, but with a unique spin, adding details and interpretations not f...
Sometimes, they're right there in the Torah. Other times, we find echoes of them in texts that didn't quite make it into the official canon. Take the Book of Jubilees, for example....
Now, the Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis, often filling in gaps and offering unique perspectives. In this part...
That tension, that feeling of unease even amidst blessing, it's woven right into the fabric of the story of Joseph and his brothers. And in the Book of Jubilees, a retelling of Gen...
