3,636 related texts · Page 58 of 76
There is a direct road to God that does not require you to be a mystic or a saint. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi calls it the attribute of our patriarch Jacob: the path of compassi...
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev addresses a question that Nachmanides raised about Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream: if Joseph predicted seven years of famine but the f...
"Yitro, the priest of Midian, heard all that God had done for Moses and His people Israel" (Exodus 18:1). What exactly did Yitro hear? Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev says he hea...
"After two years' time, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile" (Genesis 41:1). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, in Parashat Miketz, turns Pharaoh's dream into a warning abou...
The Hebrew word "nacham" appears in the Exodus narrative, and the Mekhilta pauses to clarify its meaning. While "nacham" can mean "to comfort" or "to regret" in other contexts, her...
Rabbi Eliezer HaModai preserved one of the most extraordinary statements God ever made about the people of Israel. When Moses cried out at the Red Sea, God responded: "Why do you c...
The opening words of the Song of the Sea — "I shall sing to the Lord" (Exodus 15:1) — prompt the Mekhilta to reflect on what makes God worthy of song. The phrase that follows in th...
The Mekhilta draws a precise set of parallels between the Egyptian oppression of Israel and the punishment that God inflicted at the Red Sea, showing that every detail of the destr...
The Mekhilta draws a stark contrast between the creative power of God and the limitations of human beings. The measure of flesh and blood — meaning any mortal craftsman — cannot ev...
The Torah says that God tested Israel at Marah with the word "nisahu." But what does this word actually mean? Two rabbis offered completely different readings. Rabbi Yehoshua argue...
The incense was terrifying. Israel had watched it kill Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, when they brought unauthorized fire before God (Leviticus 10:1). Two young priests, dead ...
Moses stood on the summit of Mount Nebo, and God showed him the entire Land of Israel. The Torah specifies that he saw "the valley of Jericho" (Deuteronomy 34:3). The Mekhilta find...
Three things were given conditionally: Eretz Yisrael, the Temple, and the kingdom of the house of David, but not the Torah scroll and the covenant of Aaron, which were not given co...
Because of (the following) four things R. Mattia b. Charash went to R. Elazar b. Hakappar in Ludia. He said to him: My master, did you hear of the four divisions of atonement expou...
The Mekhilta examines one of the most consequential legal distinctions in the Torah: the difference between intentional killing and accidental death. The text lays out three vivid ...
The Mekhilta raises a fascinating question about the relationship between laws that existed before the giving of the Torah at Sinai and those that were introduced at Sinai itself. ...
I'm not talking about a vampire, or some immortal god... I'm talking about the Phoenix. Jewish tradition paints a fascinating picture, one where the Phoenix isn't just another pret...
We read about it, we sing about it… but imagine the sun beating down, the constant threat of snakes, the sheer exhaustion. How did they survive? Well, our tradition offers a beauti...
King David certainly knew that feeling. In the Midrash Tehillim, a beautiful collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms, we find a powerful meditation on the verse, "Many ...
The passage begins with a simple question: Why was the first human called Adam? Rabbi Jehudah offers a straightforward answer: "Because of the name Adamah (אדמה), whence he was tak...
One particularly intriguing, and perhaps shocking, account comes from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a text that delves into the narratives of the Torah with expansive detail. This passag...
Like you’re sitting there, head spinning, wondering, “What did I even DO?” Well, the Torah, in its infinite wisdom, actually gives us some pretty clear guidance on this very issue....
Our tradition certainly does. It understands that words can build up, but they can also tear down, even to the point of taking a life. : What safeguards do we put in place when som...
Well, according to the Sifrei Devarim, a collection of ancient legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, each phrase points to a specific manifestation of God's power. Let'...
They saw layers of connection, echoes of stories past, and whispers of divine intent in every word. Take, for instance, a passage from Sifrei Devarim, a legal midrash on the Book o...
Targum Jonathan takes the story of Jacob's settlement in Egypt and layers it with theological details the Torah never mentions—including an economic revolution, a hidden act of kin...
The splitting of the Red Sea is dramatic enough in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan on (Exodus 14) turns it into something almost mythological, adding details about the Garden...
Nadab and Abihu, the two eldest sons of Aaron, offered unauthorized incense—and died. The Hebrew Bible says fire "came out from the Lord and consumed them" (Leviticus 10:2). The Ta...
The purification ritual for a healed leper involved two birds. One was killed. The other was dipped in the dead bird's blood, mixed with spring water, and released over an open fie...
Leviticus 24 tells the story of a man who blasphemed God's Name and was stoned. The Targum Jonathan turns this brief account into a full courtroom drama with backstory, legal philo...
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 Hebrew Bible says the Israelites camped by their tribal standards (Numbers 2:2). It never describes what was on them. The Targum Jonathan fills that silence with a riot of colo...
Targum Jonathan transforms the dry legal code of (Deuteronomy 19) into something visceral. Where the Torah simply warns that the blood avenger might overtake a fleeing killer, the ...
The Torah's rule against cross-dressing in (Deuteronomy 22:5) is brief and absolute. Targum Jonathan rewrites it entirely, replacing the general prohibition with something specific...
Chapter 9 They [the Israelites]--the entire congregation--came to the wilderness of Tzin in the first month, and the nation settled there, and Miriam died there and was buried ther...
The principle that a dream follows its interpretation is not an abstraction. The Talmud in Berakhot 55b demonstrates it through the life of Joseph—and through a hard rule about tim...
At the end of days, God will host a banquet for the righteous, and the main course will be the Leviathan. According to Bava Batra 74b, this is not metaphor. The Sages described the...
Ten decrees were decreed upon Adam, ten upon Eve, ten upon the serpent, and ten upon the earth: Ten upon man: He was clothed in garments of splendor, but God stripped them from him...
"The Book of Delicacies - Rabbi Aaron the Elder cited it in his book 'Kranim', discourse 13, and he said: 'This is what was written in the Book of Delicacies, "Flies consumed Job."...
The tribe of Asher received its inheritance in a strip of land along the northern coast of the Land of Israel, and the blessing that Moses gave them proved spectacularly true: "Let...
A dying father left his entire estate to one of his sons, but several men came forward each claiming to be the rightful heir. The question reached the courts: which one was the rea...
Korah's riches were legendary — and his fall was proportional to his wealth. The Talmud (Pesahim 119a, Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 10:1) and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer describe a fortun...
Companion in Paradise. Taanit, f. 21b. Maase Buch No. 39. Ben Gorion II, p. 220, 354- cf. Bousset, Der ver- borg. Heilige, Archiv. f. Relig.Wiss. col. 21, p. iff. Conde Lucanor, ch...
A star fell from heaven — and its fall marked the beginning of a corruption that would lead to the great Flood. The Midrash (Genesis Rabbah of Rabbi Moses HaDarshan, Midrash Abkhir...
Metatron is the name of an angel found only in Jewish literature. Elisha b. Abuyah, seeing this angel in the heavens, believed there were "two powers" or divinities (Hag. 15a). Whe...
The concept of soul in Jewish tradition derives from Genesis, where God endows humans with "spirit or breath" (ruah). Initially, this spirit was "inseparably connected, if not whol...
Magic is described as "the pretended art of producing preternatural effects," constituting one of two principal divisions of occultism alongside divination. Effects produced may be...
"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 ...
