2,248 related texts · Page 34 of 47
The Hebrew Bible tells us God remembered Sarah and she bore a son. The ancient Aramaic translators wanted to know more. They added a detail the Torah left out: God performed a mira...
Sarah died at one hundred and twenty-seven years old. The Torah records the number. The Targum records the aftermath: Abraham came from "the mountain of worship"—Mount Moriah, wher...
Genesis 35 records some of the most consequential events in Jacob's life—Rachel's death, the birth of Benjamin, and Jacob's return to his father Isaac. The Targum Jonathan, the anc...
Exodus chapter 6 is mostly genealogy—the kind of passage readers skim. The Targum Jonathan turns it into a minefield of hidden revelations. The chapter opens with God revealing the...
Amalek's attack on Israel at Rephidim is only a few verses in (Exodus 17). The Targum Jonathan expands it into an epic confrontation with backstory, supernatural geography, and a w...
Leviticus 26 contains the blessings and curses—God's promise of abundance for obedience and a cascading nightmare for rebellion. The Targum Jonathan adds a breathtaking historical ...
The Targum's version of (Numbers 23) reveals Bileam's inner strategy. When he looked at Israel, "he knew that strange worship was among them, and rejoiced in his heart." He spotted...
Bileam tried one last trick before delivering his final oracle. According to the Targum's version of (Numbers 24), he "set his face toward the wilderness, to recall to memory the w...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 9) contains one of the most dramatic expansions in all of Aramaic literature. When Moses recalls the golden calf, the Hebrew says God was angry ...
The Blessing of Moses in (Deuteronomy 33) gets the full Targum treatment—every tribe's destiny expanded, every blessing loaded with specifics the Torah never mentions. It opens wit...
This comprehensive article examines demons across biblical, rabbinical, and comparative religious contexts, written by Emil G. Hirsch, Richard Gottheil, Kaufmann Kohler, and Isaac ...
Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years (Judges 9:22). Aggadat Bereshit uses this strange opening — about a king in the book of Judges — to arrive at the first murder. The path...
"The righteous will give thanks to Your name; the upright will dwell in Your presence" (Psalm 140:14). The rabbis noticed something beautiful in this promise — God does not judge I...
"Blessed is the man who fears the Lord" (Psalm 112:1). The rabbis asked: what ultimately happens to him? And they landed on Ecclesiastes: "In the end, everything will be heard — fe...
It’s a story of sin, substitution, and…redemption. Originally, get this, the b’chorim—the firstborn sons—held a special spiritual role. They were designated to perform sacred servi...
The book of Bamidbar Rabbah, a treasure trove of rabbinic commentary on the Book of Numbers, delves into this very idea. It all starts with the command to count the firstborn males...
The story begins with Akilas, a convert to Judaism – a ger tzedek, as we say in Hebrew. He approaches Rabbi Eliezer with a question, a concern, really. Akilas points to the verse i...
The Rabbis, masters of drash (interpretive storytelling), loved to find echoes and allusions throughout the Torah. They saw connections where we might only see separate stories. An...
But it's also so much more. It’s a roadmap, a history book, a mystical text. And it's all wrapped up together, often needing a little… unpacking. That's where commentaries like Ber...
The verse we're talking about is (Genesis 49:12), part of Jacob's blessings to his sons: "His eyes shall be red from wine, and his teeth white from milk.” Now, on the surface, it s...
It’s a universal feeling, and it echoes even within the ancient texts of our tradition. The verse in question is (Genesis 49:23), part of Jacob's blessing to his sons: "They embitt...
The Torah portion Vayechi gives us a glimpse into just that, through the blessings Jacob bestows upon his sons. to the unique dynamic between Zebulun and Issachar. Jacob, nearing t...
We start with Asher. Jacob's blessing, "From Asher, his bread is rich, and he will provide royal delicacies," (Genesis 49:20) seems straightforward enough. But the rabbis in Beresh...
It’s a theme that runs deep in Jewish tradition, and it surfaces in the story of Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, who rose to prominence in Egypt. We find ourselves at the end of ...
a passage from Shir HaShirim Rabbah, a commentary on the Song of Songs, that grapples with just that. It all starts with a verse: "By the fragrance of your good oils, your name is ...
It wasn't all manna from heaven and miraculous wells, you know. There was a lot of… well, let's call it "divine growing pains." The Vayikra Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabb...
The ancient sages grappled with this too, particularly when thinking about the relationship between God, the patriarchs, and the land of Israel.Here, Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, quo...
The verse we're looking at is (Leviticus 26:4), "I will give your rains at their time." Seems straightforward. God promising timely rain for a bountiful harvest. But the Rabbis, ne...
But what if I told you there's a perspective, woven into ancient Jewish thought, that offers a slightly different angle?Now, midrash (מדרש) itself, broadly speaking, is a way of in...
And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre (Gen. 18:1) May it please our master to teach us: How many benedictions must a man pray each day? Thus do our masters teac...
And Abraham was old, and well stricken in years (Gen. 24:1). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband (Prov. 12:4). This ve...
And Abraham took another wife (Gen. 25:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: But as for me, I will hope continually and will praise Thee, yet more and more (Ps....
A song of ascents. I will lift up mine eyes to the mountains (Ps. 121:1). Scripture alludes here to the verse Who art thou, O great mountain before. Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a...
And the Lord saw that Leah was hated (Gen. 29:31). May our master teach us: May a man pronounce a blessing over the fragrance of spices employed in idolatrous worship? Our masters ...
And God remembered Rachel (Gen. 30:22). May it please our master to teach us the blessing that is recited upon observing a handsome person? Thus do our masters teach us: Upon obser...
His master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph (Gen. 38:7). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that indulge ...
42:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it (Prov....
And God almighty give you mercy before the man (Gen. 43:14). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: For this let everyone that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when...
Reuben, thou art My firstborn, My might and the first fruits of My strength; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. unstable as water, have not thou the excellency...
And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanite (Exod. 13:5). (Scripture mentions) five nations though there were (in fact) seven nations.17Cf. Mekhil...
And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses (Exod. 39:32). It is written elsewhere in reference to the verse: He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous; but with kings upon the...
(Numb. 3:4:) “And they had no children.” R. Jacob bar Abin said in the name of R. Aha, “If they had had children, they would have taken precedence over Eleazar and Ithamar, since w...
(Numb. 7:1:) “So it came to pass on the day that Moses had finished.” R. Berekhyah the Priest Berabbi said,101Similarly Numb. R. 12:2. “Before the Tabernacle was erected, when Isra...
R. Levi opened [his discourse] (with Ps. 9:6), “You have rebuked the nations; you have destroyed the wicked one”: “You have rebuked the nations.” This refers to Amalek, of which it...
(Deut. 25:18, cont.:) And he cut off (rt.: znb) all who were lagging behind you. He smote them with a blow to the tail (rt.: znb).51The word can also denote the penis. See PR 7:3; ...
In fact, the Sabbath isn't just a terrestrial observance; it's a celestial one, too. Imagine this: right after creating the Sabbath, God gathers all the angels – the angels of the ...
The land was barren. A terrible famine gripped the region, forcing Abraham and Sarah to seek refuge in Egypt. They first tried Hebron, but the hunger was everywhere. So, they journ...
Jewish tradition is rich with stories of dreams and visions, and the power they hold. One particularly striking tale, found in Tree of Souls by Howard Schwartz, tells of a dream th...
