2,248 related texts · Page 20 of 47
That’s the kind of secret we’re diving into today, a painful moment ripped from the story of Joseph and his brothers. We find ourselves in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Chapter 38, a fas...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), dives right into this question. It presents a somewhat… unusual… perspective on how...
The text tells us that Rabbi Ishmael reflects on a very specific moment. Ten times, the sons of Jacob addressed Joseph as "thy servant, our father." Ten times they repeated this st...
The scene: Jacob is on his deathbed. He summons his beloved son, Joseph. This isn't just a goodbye; it's a moment of profound importance. Jacob says, "O my son! Swear to me by the ...
It's more than just good manners. It's a whisper echoing from a very, very old story. A story about Jacob, and a world without sickness as we know it. According to Pirkei DeRabbi E...
The Jewish tradition grapples with these questions constantly, and sometimes the answers are found in the most unexpected places. Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage fro...
The Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Bible, in section 869 on Nach (the books of Prophets and Writings), brings up a fascinating idea about the verse "Th...
The Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Bible, offers us fascinating glimpses into these connections. Let's look at one small piece, specifically Yalkut Shi...
Our ancestors apparently felt that way once, and their reaction is It all starts in Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal and homiletical teachings connected to the Book of Deutero...
According to Sifrei Devarim, before Jacob's passing, he gathered his sons. But it wasn’t just a sentimental family reunion. First, he rebuked them, each individually, and then he a...
to one, shall we? We're looking at Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal commentaries on the Book of Deuteronomy. It's all about interpreting the nuances of the law. And in this pa...
The ritual of bringing bikkurim, the first fruits, required every Israelite farmer to recite a specific formula—a declaration of gratitude and remembrance. The Sifrei Devarim, a co...
But Jacob? He wrestled with angels, dreamed of ladders, and somehow became the linchpin of the entire Israelite story. What’s the deal? Well, Sifrei Devarim 312 – a passage from Si...
Today, we’re focusing on a curious absence: Why does Levi get a blessing ("And of Levi he said"), but not Shimon? The Sifrei Devarim, an early halakhic midrash on the Book of Deute...
And, surprisingly, it's a concept we find echoed even in the most sacred of texts when describing the relationship between God and the tribes of Israel. Sifrei Devarim 352 paints u...
The story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28 is one of the most famous visions in all of scripture—a ladder reaching to heaven, angels ascending and descending. But the Targum Jonatha...
Genesis 29 tells the story of Jacob arriving in Haran, meeting Rachel at a well, and being deceived by Laban into marrying Leah first. The Targum Jonathan injects dialogue, backsto...
Rav Nachman once made a statement that shocked his colleague: "Jacob our father never died." Rabbi Yitzchak pushed back immediately. "They embalmed him. They eulogized him. They bu...
The Hebrew Bible says Abraham named the site of the Binding "God will see" (Adonai Yireh) (Genesis 22:14). Targum Onkelos expands this into a full theological statement: "Abraham w...
The Hebrew Bible says Balaam saw "a star shall come from Jacob, and a scepter shall arise from Israel" (Numbers 24:17). Targum Onkelos renders this as: "A king has gone forth from ...
(10) R. Isaac said: "A year which is poor (Israel appears humble) in the beginning, will be rich in the end (Israel's request will be granted). What is the reason for it? For it is...
Wars of Jacob against Sichem. Midr. Hagadol Gen. Vayyehi, f. 153 a. Midr. Vayisau. cf. Gen. R. ch. 80, 97. Jerahmeel, ed. Gaster XXXVI, 6, p. 80 and Introd. p. XXXI f. Bahya Com. G...
When Israel does the will of the Almighty, they rise like ministering angels. This is Aggadat Bereshit's boldest claim about obedience — not that it earns reward, but that it trans...
The Assembly of Israel in exile cries out: "See, O Lord, the distress I am in! My heart is in anguish; outside the sword deals death; inside, the plague" (Lamentations 1:20). There...
would rest his head. God then performed a miracle and made all the stones into one. According to another tradition, Jacob placed all the stones under his head and they were fused t...
It's a pretty wild idea, isn't it? That Jacob, the trickster, the wrestler with angels, the father of a sometimes-fractious family, is so central to the divine plan that his image ...
It seems like such a simple detail, but the Torah dedicates a lot of space to describing the precise arrangement of the tribes around the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. And the Rabbis, n...
And it's one that our sages grappled with too. This week, in our journey through Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically Bamidbar Rabbah 3, we stumble upon a fascinating exploration of being...
to one of those metaphors, found in Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers. We begin with a beautiful verse from Numbers (24:5): "How goodly are...
It's not just about the surface story; the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) saw layers upon layers of meaning, connections between seemingly disparate verse...
Jewish tradition suggests that success isn't just handed out; it’s earned through trials, through proving ourselves worthy. Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on t...
The Torah is full of promises, both of blessings and of curses. And sometimes, it seems like things don't quite line up. In Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on t...
to a fascinating comparison between Abraham and Jacob, two of our patriarchs, and see what Bereshit Rabbah 11 has to tell us. The key? Shabbat (the Sabbath). Yes, that's right, the...
We often think of God as all-knowing, all-seeing, but the Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of early Jewish interpretations of Genesis, dare to imagine a divine experience of...
Jewish tradition certainly has something to say about that, especially when it comes to the story of Abraham and his monumental tests of faith. to Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collec...
The Torah portion Lekh Lekha begins with God's instructions to Abraham, "Go forth from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show y...
It's easy to imagine them springing forth, fully formed, ready to face any challenge. But what about the times before the heroism, the moments of vulnerability, the struggles that ...
The book of Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the book of Genesis, makes a fascinating claim. It says that there have been ten famines throughout...
The verse in question is (Genesis 14:19): "He blessed him, and he said: Blessed is Abram to God, the Most High, Maker of heavens and earth." But another way to read it is "Acquirer...
Specifically, we're diving into Bereshit Rabbah 52, which unpacks a tricky moment in Abraham's story. Remember when Abraham and Sarah are traveling, and Abraham introduces Sarah as...
It's more than just a label; it's a key to understanding a person’s essence and their role in the grand tapestry of existence. Take the name ISAAC, Yitzḥak in Hebrew. It's so much ...
Our story begins with a simple line from (Genesis 21:8): “The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.” Simple enough. But the Rabbis, in ...
The Torah tells us, "The matter was greatly distressing in Abraham’s eyes, regarding his son" (Genesis 21:11). This refers to the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. But why was Abraha...
Our story begins with the seemingly simple phrase, “After these matters [devarim]…”. The Hebrew word devarim can mean both "matters" and "words," and as we delve into Bereshit Rabb...
The story of Abraham and the binding of Isaac, the Akeidah, is a powerful lens through which to explore this idea. Our text today comes from Bereshit Rabbah 55, a collection of rab...
to a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, specifically section 55, and see what wisdom we can unearth. The pas...
We're looking at (Genesis 22:6), that agonizing verse leading up to the Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac. "Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and placed it upon Isaac his son...
We all know the story: God commands Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Abraham, with unwavering faith, prepares to fulfill this divine decree. "They came to the place tha...
