718 related texts · 10 related myths · Page 2 of 15
(Numb. 20:12:) “But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in Me.’” Why was Aaron punished?97Numb. R. 19:9, end. The matter is comparable to a creditor who ca...
Shabbat Shekalim arrives on the Shabbat before the month of Adar ends, the first of the four special Sabbaths that prepare the Jewish people for Passover. The Torah reading is brie...
How far must a person go to honor a parent? Rav Ulla was asked this question, and instead of answering with a verse, he told a story. There was a man in Ashkelon named Dammah ben N...
Most translations of (Exodus 28:12) call the shoulder-stones a memorial, and leave the word undefined. A memorial of what? The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan fills the silence. The gems ar...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:19) lists the third row of the breastplate: ligure, and agate, and amethyst, engraved with Gad, Asher, and Issachar. The tribes of this row...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:20) closes the breastplate's geography with the fourth row: chrysolite, onyx, and jasper, engraved with Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. The ...
The gold plate on the forehead of the high priest was tied to a hyacinth ribbon. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 28:37) names the sin it was meant to repair: it make amends f...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 29:30) legislates how the high priesthood is passed on. For seven full days, the son who rises after his father wears the vestments and enters...
When Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, a week-long ritual bound them to the altar, daily offerings, daily bread, daily blood. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (redacted...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 40:7) takes the bronze laver, a basin of water set between the sanctuary and the altar. And turns it into a picture of teshuvah. Place the laver h...
The feeling is as old as time, and it certainly echoes through the ancient stories of our ancestors. Let me tell you about a vision, a calling, described in Ginzberg's Legends of t...
In Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a foundational text of Kabbalah, something truly remarkable happens in the celestial realms when we declare Shma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adona...
When Alexander of Macedon marched east, the Samaritans, called in the Talmud the Kutim, saw a political opening. They sent word to Alexander asking him to destroy the Temple in Jer...
Her story, found in Kohelet Rabbah, the commentary on Ecclesiastes, is a stark reminder that joy and sorrow can be two sides of the same coin. The verse But what does that really m...
Ben Sira, in his wisdom, gives us a glimpse. He paints a picture, vibrant and alive, of Simon the High Priest at the altar. Can you see him? Receiving the sacrificial pieces from h...
It wasn't just a quick anointing, you see. It was an entire week of living in the shadow of the Tabernacle, a period of seclusion from the everyday world, a real immersion into hol...
Right there, in front of everyone, Aaron and his sons were chosen, set apart for the holy task of serving as priests. Immediately following this ceremony, Aaron and his sons went i...
The Torah tells us that Nadab and Abihu, in their zeal, offered "strange fire" before the Lord and were consumed (Leviticus 10:1-2). A devastating blow, not only to their family bu...
Legends of the Jews turns to Death of Moses of Aaron. How do you break such devastating news to someone you love? That Moses struggled, searching for the right words, the gentle ap...
The Torah tells us Aaron died on Mount Hor (Numbers 20:22-29), but the how of it, well, that's where the legends fill in the gaps, adding layers of human emotion to a divine decree...
The Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic teachings on the Hebrew Bible, offers a fascinating and poignant glimpse into the deaths of Aaron and Moses. Specifically, Yalkut Shim...
Religious laws is often remembered as strict commandments, but sometimes, the texts reveal a surprising amount of individual agency. Take, for instance, this passage from Sifrei Ba...
Sometimes, it's not as straightforward as we might think. Our tradition is full of these little nuances, and they often reveal deeper truths." But, as the text points out, we might...
, guided by the ancient text of Sifrei Bamidbar. Why was such a covenant even necessary? Because, as the text explains, Korach challenged Aaron's priesthood. Imagine a king giving ...
Which brings up an interesting comparison: who had the better deal? In Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Numbers, the covenant forged with Aaron...
Every tribe in Israel received land. The Levites received cities. Aaron and his sons received something stranger: God told them their inheritance was God Himself. The Targum Jonath...
The last verse of the Decalogue's aftermath contains a detail about priestly decency. "And you, the priests, who stand to minister before Me, shall not ascend to My altar by steps,...
Before Aaron's household held the priesthood, someone else did. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 24:5) preserves this little-known tradition: Mosheh sent the firstborn of t...
When Betzalel finished the choshen, the breastplate of judgment, he did not simply sew a garment. He built a map of the world the House of Israel carries on its heart. In Targum Ps...
The Book of Numbers, or Bamidbar in Hebrew, gives us some fascinating insights into this very question, particularly in the fourth chapter, as explored in Bamidbar Rabbah, a classi...
It wasn't just packing up and hitting the road. Every aspect, down to who touched what and in what order, was meticulously planned and imbued with deep meaning. to just one small p...
This section of Bamidbar Rabbah, a classical midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) text, explores the nuances of this ancient blessing, revealing layers of meaning and pract...
The core of the discussion revolves around the verse, “This was the dedication of the altar” (Numbers 7:88). The midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) asks, is this a one-time...
It’s a tale of ambition, delusion, and a very dangerous offering. The scene is set: Moses, leading the Israelites. And then comes Koraḥ, a Levite, challenging Moses’s leadership, s...
The ancient Jewish texts explore this very idea, and one particular passage in Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Exodus, offers a powerful insi...
Shemot Rabbah turns to Aaron and His Sons Chosen to Lead Israel in Service. The text cleverly connects this verse in Exodus to one in Zechariah (10:4): “From it will come a corners...
Moses stood in the wilderness, preparing a special oil. According to Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Ilai, this wasn't just any oil; it was a vessel for miracles from the very beginning. Th...
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...
Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world by age thirty, but Josephus tells a story about the one city he did not need to take by force. When Alexander marched on Jerus...
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...
The collection of materials for the Tabernacle in (Exodus 35:1-35) is, in the Hebrew Bible, a straightforward account of voluntary giving. The Targum Jonathan inserts miracles that...
The completion of all the Tabernacle's furnishings and garments in (Exodus 39:1-43) should feel repetitive. The craftsmen were building exactly what God commanded. But the Targum J...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 35:28) continues the miraculous supply chain it began in the previous verse. The clouds of heaven returned, and went to the garden of Eden, and to...
The New Jerusalem text survives only in fragments from multiple Qumran caves, but what remains is extraordinary: a guided tour of the eschatological Jerusalem, the city that will e...
"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...
The Torah tells us, "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3). But what was that light? Jewish tradition answers with something truly special: the primordial light. And it wasn't just any li...
When the Song of Songs sings, "King Solomon made for him a palanquin" (Song of Songs 3:9), the sages of Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 1:2 hear something far beyond a royal carriage. The Ki...
A single verse in Proverbs sparked one of the most unsettling debates in Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 2:5. "Tzedakah -- righteousness -- elevates a people; and chesed to the nations is a ...
