718 related texts · 10 related myths · Page 14 of 15
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says, “There are three matters that the earthly court did and the heavenly court agreed with them, and these are they: Reading the Scroll [of Esther on Puri...
The destruction of Jerusalem did not end when the Temple burned. In the years that followed, the Romans hunted down the children of the sages, enslaving some, executing others, sca...
In the distant lands of Persia, where fire altars burned day and night in honor of the elements, the Jewish communities faced a peculiar danger that was not from human persecutors ...
"Go forth and gaze, daughters of Zion, upon King Solomon" (Song of Songs 3:11). The sages of Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 1:3 read that word tziyyon as m'tzuyanim, the distinguished ones,...
During the nights of Sukkot, the Second Temple in Jerusalem lit up like nothing the world had ever seen. In the Court of the Women stood four giant golden lamp-stands, each crowned...
The Roman-appointed Jewish king Agrippa II, who reigned over parts of Judea in the first century CE, once tried to count the male population of Israel. Because a direct census of I...
The Rabbis teach that King Solomon, for all his wisdom, committed three transgressions of kingship that the Torah had warned against. He multiplied horses. He multiplied wives. He ...
The First Temple, the sages taught, held five tokens of God's nearness that the Second Temple lacked: the Ark and its cover, the sacred fire that came down from heaven, the Shekhin...
There was a time, the sages taught, when the Divine Name of twelve letters was taught openly to anyone who came to learn. A student could carry it home the way he carried any other...
The sages taught that forty years before the Second Temple burned, its destruction had already begun to show in the quiet details only the priests could read. On Yom Kippur, the lo...
In the generation after the Second Temple was destroyed, some men claimed to be descendants of the priestly lines and demanded the privileges of kohanim, including the right to eat...
Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Korcha, heard the story from an old man of Jerusalem who had lived through the Babylonian destruction. In the valley below the city, Nebuzaradan, captain...
In the Temple service, everyone bowed thirteen times, corresponding to the thirteen shofar-shaped collection boxes and the thirteen tables arrayed in the sanctuary. But those who b...
The midrashic retelling of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE preserves an image that belongs to nightmares. The high priest stood in the burning courts of the Beit HaM...
The Second Temple had a section called the Ezrat Nashim, the Court of Women, a gallery where women could gather for the great ceremonies while men stood on the lower floor. During ...
There were fifteen steps in the Temple that led down from the Court of Israel to the Court of the Women. The rabbis said they matched the fifteen Shir HaMa’alot, the Songs of...
When Isaac draws Jacob close and breathes him in, the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan tells us what the patriarch actually smells. It is not the field. It is not the goats. It is the incens...
With her third son, Leah reaches for a new hope. This time, she thinks, Jacob will at last be yilaveh, attached, to her (Genesis 29:34). So she names the child Levi, from the root ...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves one of the strangest accounts in all of Jewish tradition (Genesis 32:25). Jacob was left alone across the Jabbok, and an angel wrestled him in the ...
Benjamin was the youngest, and Jacob's last blessing might be the most exalted. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan reads the Hebrew "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf" (Genesis 49:27) as a declarati...
The Torah says God made the midwives "houses." The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (1:21) tells us exactly what those houses were. "And forasmuch as the midwives feared before the...
The ancient world knew the right of sanctuary. A murderer who reached a temple's altar could cling to the horns of the altar and claim divine protection. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan...
When the call went out for Tabernacle offerings, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 35:22) records a scene the Torah's plain text only hints at: with the men came the women. And the...
The Torah often speaks in categories, the priests, the Levites, the heads of tribes. But Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 35:29) zooms out to the widest possible frame: Every man,...
The fourth and final row of the breastplate, according to Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 39:13), held chrysolite, onyx, and jasper. Engraved upon them were the names of Zebulun,...
The altar of burnt offering was the first thing anyone saw on approaching the Tabernacle. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 40:29) places it exactly there, at the gate, before the ...
Between the outer altar and the inner tent of the Tabernacle, a bronze basin sat on its foundation. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 40:30) describes what Moses poured into it, no...
It's about divine engagement. The verse that sparks this thought is from (Numbers 3:1): "And these are the generations of Aaron and Moses on the day that God spoke to Moses on Moun...
It all starts with the verse, "Bring the tribe of Levi near and stand it before Aaron the priest, and they shall serve him" (Numbers 3:5–6). The text immediately connects this vers...
Bamidbar Rabbah turns to God Settles Individuals in a House After Creation. In Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers, we find a fascinating dis...
It wasn't a random free-for-all. The Book of Numbers gives us a fascinating glimpse into a highly structured encampment around the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. And Bamidbar Rabbah, a c...
They're not mistakes. They're breadcrumbs, little hints that something deeper is going on beneath the surface of the text. And they invite us to pause, to question, to explore the ...
It all goes back to a fascinating swap, a divine exchange, that re-shaped the spiritual landscape of ancient Israel. We find the seeds of this story in Bamidbar Rabbah, specificall...
It wasn't just about packing up a tent. It was about transporting the most sacred objects, ensuring their sanctity every step of the way. one small but fascinating detail: how the ...
It’s a midrash, a rabbinic interpretation, on a verse from the Book of Numbers – Bamidbar in Hebrew, which gives the whole book its name. The verse in question mentions "the tribe ...
Our story comes from Bamidbar Rabbah, a Midrash on the Book of Numbers. It focuses on a seemingly simple verse: "But do this for them, and they will live, and will not die upon the...
The Torah, in its infinite wisdom, touches upon this very feeling when describing the Levites. We find in (Numbers 3:46), "All the counted, whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of ...
It states: "Every gift of all the sacred items of the children of Israel that they will present to the priest shall be his." Sounds But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpre...
It might sound dry, but there are some real gems hidden in there. a passage from Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah) 8, a Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) (interpretive) c...
It’s a story of belonging, reward, and the enduring power of righteous action. The passage begins with a quote from Psalms: “Happy are all who fear the Lord, who follow His ways” (...
The Book of Numbers (6:6) states: “All the days of his abstinence to the Lord, he shall not approach a dead person.” Bamidbar Rabbah, a classic midrashic (rabbinic interpretive com...
Protected, in ancient times. The passage begins with a verse from (Numbers 6:27): “And they shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” So, what does i...
The ancient rabbis grappled with that feeling too, especially when things were going well for the Israelites. Take the story in Bamidbar Rabbah 12, which begins with a single, load...
It’s a story rich with symbolism, divine presence, and, In Bamidbar Rabbah, 13, it all began on the 23rd of Adar, and culminated on the first of Nisan. Rabbi Yosei tells us that fo...
The Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, picks up the story after the tumultuous events at Sinai. In Bamidbar Rabbah 15, a Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), or interpreti...
Our stories are woven into our lineage, and sometimes, those threads get tangled. to a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of N...
Jewish tradition, in its beautiful and often poetic way, offers a compelling answer: the people of Israel. to a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic i...
The verse tells us, "Dina, daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land." But the rabbis saw much more. The text immediately connects th...
