486 related texts · 8 related myths · Page 10 of 11
The Torah, in the Book of Deuteronomy, actually makes provision for that. It speaks of cities of refuge, places of safety for those who have committed unintentional manslaughter. B...
Sifrei Devarim turns to When the Most High Divided the Nations Among the Angels. What does it really mean? The rabbis of old grappled with this question, offering interpretations t...
It all starts with a verse from Deuteronomy – or Devarim, as we call it in Hebrew. It says, "…and by this thing you shall prolong days." (Devarim, Ibid.) But what is "this thing?" ...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, tells us about this pivotal place. It wasn't just any mountain; it was the plac...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Moses's Journey and the Wilderness. Did you ever wonder about the nuances of that denial? The text in Sifrei Devarim 341, a section from the ancient comment...
It wasn't just a panoramic view of the Promised Land. According to our tradition, it was so much more. "From the plains of Moab," the verse says. (Sifrei Devarim 357). But what's s...
When we look to our sacred texts, sometimes we find the answers are…surprising. Take Moses, for example. The familiar version gives us Moses. The guy who led the Israelites out of ...
R. DOSA B. HARKINAS SAID: MORNING SLEEP, AND MIDDAY WINE, [AND CHILDREN’S TALK, AND SITTING IN THE MEETING-HOUSES OF THE IGNORANT] DRIVE A MAN OUT OF THE WORLD.MORNING SLEEP, what ...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 4) transforms the Sinai revelation into something far more vivid than the Hebrew original. Where the Bible says God spoke from the fire, the Tar...
When God commanded Israel to give a half-shekel for the census, Moses was confused. Not by the amount, half a shekel was nearly nothing, a laborer's loose change. What baffled him ...
On the seventh day after the Ten Commandments Moshe went up on the mountain, as it says "The Presence of the LORD abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days..." (Shemo...
In ten articles the world was created, and what is meant to be said, and in one article he could recover, but heal the wicked who destroy the world created in ten sayings and give ...
From where is "Aleph" called one, it is said, "How shall one rout one thousand?" And from where is the Holy One, blessed be He, called one as it is said "Hear O Israel the Lord our...
In ancient Israel, a person who killed someone by accident did not go free. Neither was he executed. He ran for his life to one of six cities of refuge, and the roads that led ther...
The Hebrew Bible says God will "pass through" Egypt on the night of the Passover (Exodus 12:12). Targum Onkelos changes this to God will "become revealed in" Egypt. God does not tr...
God spoke at Sinai in two voices at once. Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 25:1 notices that the Ten Commandments begin with public thunder, but the words move between plural and singula...
What made Eli the priest live so long? The midrash gives a simple answer: Torah study. "Fortunate is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of ...
The Sages had a quiet problem to solve. The Torah insists that on the seventh day God rested from all the work of creation. But the world is full of objects that seem to lie outsid...
Onkelos son of Kalonikos was the nephew of the Roman emperor, by some accounts Hadrian, by others Titus. And one of the great converts to Judaism in the Talmudic age. When Onkelos ...
When Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, called the Great, lay dying, he gathered his students for a last round of teachings that has the quality of prophecy more than of instruction. He l...
"Uplift thy hand towards the height of the heavens," the Lord says to Moses (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 9:2)2), "and there shall be hail on all the land of Mizraim, upon men...
Most translations of (Exodus 12:21) render Moses's words to the elders as a simple instruction: go and take a lamb. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan sharpens it into a rebuke. "Withdraw your...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 13:16) closes the tefillin section with a repetition that is not really a repetition. Once again the text says the Exodus must be inscribed an...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:11) does not soften Israel's complaint. It sharpens it, and it names the complainers. They are not "the people." They are "the wicked gener...
The Targumic rendering of the prohibition against images goes further than the Hebrew. And further than most readers notice. "Sons of Israel, My people, you shall not make, that yo...
One of the strangest rituals in the civil law is the piercing of a servant's ear. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders it with bureaucratic precision. "His master shall bring him bef...
The timeline is what makes the sin unbearable. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves God's charge with its full sting: "Quickly have they declined from the way which I taught them in Si...
Shemot Rabbah turns to God's Existence. It gets even more interesting when we consider the world around us. According to tradition, everything God created, He created as a pair. He...
That holiest of objects, containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Now, you might assume everyone always knew exactly how it was supposed to be handled. But, as we learn from...
The scene is set: Jacob, disguised as his brother Esau, deceives his aging and blind father Isaac to receive the blessing meant for the firstborn. The Torah tells us, "He came to h...
It's like peeling an onion – each layer reveals something new, something unexpected. Take the verse from (Genesis 39:1): "Joseph was taken down to Egypt and Potiphar, the official ...
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5). It's a commandment to feel something, to direct the entire fo...
In (Deuteronomy 31:14), God says to Moses, "Behold, your days are approaching to die; summon Joshua, and stand in the Tent of Meeting and I will command him." This verse, "Behold, ...
Who will stand in His holy place?” The Rabbis, in their insightful way, see this verse as referring directly to Moses. Why? Because, as it says in Exodus (19:3), "Moses ascended to...
Shemot Rabbah turns to Moses Set as God Before Pharaoh and Aaron as His Prophet. The story takes an unexpected turn. We're transported to the time of King Solomon and the construct...
Take, for instance, the humble hyssop. Hyssop – that little plant we read about in the story of the Exodus. It doesn't seem like much, but according to Shemot Rabbah, it's a key to...
The Book of Exodus tells us that the Israelites were instructed to mark their doorposts with blood so that God would "pass over" their homes during the tenth plague, sparing their ...
It all comes down to what those moments taught us about ourselves and about our relationship with God. to a fascinating passage from Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpr...
It seems even Moses, the great lawgiver himself, felt that way at one point. to a fascinating passage from Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ex...
The Torah tells us that when Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony – the luchot ha-brit (לוחות הברית) – he didn't realize his face was radiating li...
It's been interpreted in so many ways! The first reading, it's a lovely invitation. A romantic rendezvous amidst blooming fruit trees. But as is often the case with Jewish sacred t...
It all starts with a verse from (Song of Songs 8:13): “The one who dwells in the gardens, companions listen to your voice; let me hear it.” Rabbi Natan, quoting Rabbi Aḥa, uses a p...
Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman, citing Rabbi Natan, makes a rather astonishing claim. He says that the 18 commands mentioned in the portion of the Tabernacle actually correspond to the 18...
Rabbi Abba bar Avina, a sage of old, pointed out a curious juxtaposition in the Torah. Why, he asked, is the story of Miriam's death placed right next to the passage describing the...
The Jewish tradition grapples with this very question, and it's a fascinating journey to explore. Rabbi Tzadok ben Yechiel, in the book "Ravid HaZahav," makes a crucial distinction...
It's a practice deeply rooted in Jewish law, but when you really stop and think about it, some tough questions arise. Philo, the 1st-century Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, gra...
And it shall be for a sign upon thy hand (Exod. 13:16). Upon thy hand refers to the biceps. Between thine eyes refers to the top of the forehead. Where is that located? The school ...
17:10–11). Could the hand of Moses actually wage war or cause a war to cease? This indicates that whenever the Israelites glanced upward and directed their hearts to their Father i...
