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Everyone knows the Priestly Blessing: "The Lord bless you and keep you" (Numbers 6:24-26). What most people do not know is that the Targum Jonathan expands those three elegant vers...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 6) contains one of the most beloved stories in all of rabbinic literature—and it appears right in the middle of the most sacred prayer in Judais...
Targum Jonathan transforms the assembly laws of (Deuteronomy 23) with details that reshape who belongs to Israel and why. A man "born of fornication" cannot enter the congregation—...
The first-fruits ceremony in (Deuteronomy 26) is beautiful in the Torah. Targum Jonathan makes it lavish. Where the Hebrew says simply to bring produce in a basket, the Targum adds...
The Hebrew Bible calls Moses "the man of God" (Deuteronomy 33:1). Targum Onkelos adds one word: "the prophet of God." Moses is not merely a man who belongs to God. He is a prophet—...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Vayisu": It is based on the verse "They journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were around them, and they did not pur...
How does one invite [others to recite a blessing]? With three [people], one says "let us bless [God]". With three and himself, he says "bless [God]". Gemara (the rabbinic commentar...
Translation: What is the law regarding the blessings of a non-Jew, whether he is a Torah scholar or not? Rabbi says: "If he blesses with enthusiasm, he is a Torah scholar, and if n...
Rabbi Yohanan ben Matya instructed his son to hire Jewish laborers and feed them properly. The son went out, hired the workers, and came back with a question that stopped his fathe...
Rabbi Nehemia was a man of simple tastes. He ate plain food, lived modestly, and saw no reason to indulge in luxuries. One day, he invited a well-known gourmand — a man famous for ...
Korah was the richest man who ever lived — and his wealth destroyed him. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) teaches that three hundred mules were needed just to carry t...
In a year of terrible drought, Nakdimon ben Gorion — one of the three wealthiest men in Jerusalem — approached a Roman official and made a desperate bargain. He borrowed twelve wel...
Blessing of Sabbath. Gen. R. 10 §4. Midr. Hagadol, Exod. Jithro. Krauss, Antoninus, p. 37. 121a. Money in Stick. Nedarim, f. 25 a. Shebuot, f. 29 a. Pesikta R. ed. Fried- mann, f. ...
Tamptation of Matia b. Heresh. J. Shabbat (the Sabbath), ch. 3. cf. Story of R. Meir in Kiddush (the sanctification blessing over wine)in. Midr. Abhir in Yalk. § 161. Midr. Decal. ...
Rabbi Johanan ben Matya gave his son a simple instruction: go and hire laborers, and make sure to feed them properly. The son went out, found workers, and promised them a meal. But...
"A little that the righteous have is better than the abundance of many wicked" (Psalm 37:16). The rabbis of Aggadat Bereshit loved this verse because it turned ordinary logic on it...
"These are the generations of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac" (Genesis 25:19). The verse says it twice, and the rabbis asked why. Their answer: to show that the gift gi...
"Many peoples have afflicted me from my youth" (Psalm 129:1). The Assembly of Israel — the collective voice of the nation — says this as a Song of Ascents, sung while ascending to ...
"But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me'" (Isaiah 49:14). And God answers — not with proof of presence but with a reminder of what "remembering" actual...
Moses stood before Israel and said: "You have been shown to know that the Lord, He is God; there is none beside Him" (Deuteronomy 4:35). Not told — shown. The plagues, the sea, the...
"I will assemble Jacob, all of you; I will bring together the remnant of Israel" (Micah 2:12). The end of Aggadat Bereshit's prophetic arc arrives here: not the death of Jacob, not...
The story goes that after his less-than-amicable departure from his father-in-law Laban, Jacob found himself at the River Yabbok (Yabbok, a river in the Transjordan, now part of Jo...
Serah, daughter of Asher, one of Jacob's sons. We find her name nestled in the list of those who went down to Egypt with Jacob to escape the famine. You can find it in (Genesis 46:...
It's more than just chance, according to the ancient rabbis. It's about divine engagement. The verse that sparks this thought is from (Numbers 3:1): "And these are the generations ...
Sometimes, a seemingly simple verse can unlock a whole world of understanding about God's relationship with us. to one such passage from Numbers, specifically 3:11-13. It starts pl...
The Book of Numbers (Bamidbar) is where we find this story. God tells Moses, "You shall take the Levites for Me, I am the Lord, in place of every firstborn among the children of Is...
The verse we're looking at is (Numbers 3:42): “Moses counted, as the Lord commanded him, all firstborn among the children of Israel.” Simple enough. But the Rabbis never let anythi...
We find ourselves in just such a situation in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew. Specifically, in Bamidbar Rabbah, a Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic compilation ...
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...
The ones that make you tilt your head and ask, "Wait, what? We're talking about the redemption of the firstborn. (Numbers 3:46) tells us about redeeming the 273 firstborn Israelite...
Let’s talk about shekels. Not just any shekels, but sacred shekels. Specifically, we’re looking at (Numbers 3:50), which tells us about the silver taken from the firstborn of Israe...
It’s like a beautiful song with a simple melody, but underneath, there's a complex harmony of hidden meanings and connections. Today, we're going to explore just such a passage fro...
It’s a question that our Sages grappled with, and Bamidbar Rabbah 14 dives deep into the reasons behind this seemingly small detail. The verse we’re focusing on is from (Numbers 7:...
Rabbi Zakai of She'av offers a beautiful insight. He imagines the Israelites asking God: "Master of the universe, everywhere else You call it the land of Canaan, but here, ‘the lan...
When the Torah says, “Command the children of Israel, and say to them: For you are coming to the land of Canaan; this will be the land that will fall to you as an inheritance” (Num...
Because the answer, as is often the case with these things, is layered and lovely. We find a fascinating clue in Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of rabbinic interpretations...
But the rabbis of old, in Bereshit Rabbah, one of the most important collections of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, saw layers of meaning in these few words. Specifically, the...
Specifically, we're looking at section 47, which tackles the tricky subject of God's promises to both Ishmael and Isaac. The passage centers around (Genesis 17:20), where God says,...
The passage comes from Bereshit Rabbah 55, a treasure trove of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis. It all starts with a verse from the prophet Micah (6:6): “With what ...
Talk about divine connection! Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai, a towering figure in Jewish mysticism, points to three individuals who experienced this incredible immediacy. He says there ar...
We pick up with Rebecca, about to leave her family to marry Isaac. (Genesis 24:59) tells us, “They sent Rebecca their sister, and her nursemaid, and Abraham’s servant, and his men....
This story, found in Bereshit Rabbah 61, takes us right into the middle of just such a scene. The verse that sparks this whole episode is from (Genesis 25:6): "But to the sons of t...
It’s a question that perplexed some of our sages, too. Take Ishmael, for example. (Genesis 25:12) starts out: "These are the descendants of Ishmael son of Abraham, whom Hagar the E...
In Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, specifically in section 63, we find a discussion around the verse, "The Lord said to her" (Genesis 25:23), ...
We're looking at (Genesis 27:3), where Isaac tells his son Esau, "Now, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me." Seems simple...
The passage revolves around the blessing, "May [God] give you" – in Hebrew, veyiten lekha. But it’s not just a simple wish. The rabbis see layers of meaning, built right into the g...
Specifically, we’re going to zoom in on a moment of high tension, guided by the insights of Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis...
The rabbis of old grappled with this question, too. And they found answers woven into the very fabric of our sacred texts. Rabbi Abbahu, a fascinating figure from the 3rd century, ...
