2,344 related texts · Page 39 of 49
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, explores this very idea. It paints a picture of a dynamic relationship between us, here on Earth, and the Holy On...
Jewish mystical tradition suggests the answer is a resounding yes. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, delves into the intricate connections between ...
And within the Zohar, the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar offers specific "repairs" or "enhancements" to our understanding. to the 72nd Tikkun and see what we can uncover. The te...
Jewish mysticism is full of those moments. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a collection of commentaries and expansions on the original Zohar, often delves into the esoteric ...
And today, we're diving into a fascinating little corner of that world – a peek into the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar. The Tikkunei Zohar? Think of it as the Zohar's super-cha...
Jewish mysticism often explores this very idea, the hiddenness of God, the hiddenness of ourselves. And sometimes, that hiddenness is tied to moments of judgment, moments when thin...
And it's all wrapped up in… well, in letters. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a later and more esoteric expansion on the Zohar itself, that foundational text of Kabbalah, un...
And then, every now and then, you stumble across a passage that makes those connections sing. to a fascinating idea tucked away in the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, specifical...
When God told Abraham, "Go to the land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1), He was deliberately vague. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev reads this vagueness as a divine instructi...
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev opens his commentary on Parshat Vayera (Genesis 18:1) with a puzzle: the Torah says "God appeared to him," using only the pronoun "him" instead of...
The confrontation between Judah and Joseph in Egypt was not simply a family dispute. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev reads it as a cosmic collision between two forms of kingship....
"These are the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham" (Genesis 25:19). Rashi comments simply: "these are Jacob and Esau, who are discussed in the portion." But Rebbe Elimelech o...
"And Jacob settled in the land where his father dwelled" (Genesis 37:1). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk opens his commentary on Parashat Vayeshev not with Joseph's coat or his brother...
The Hebrew word mazal (מזל) originally meant "constellation" or "star." Only gradually did it shift to mean "luck"—and the journey of that word tells the story of Jewish astrology ...
The Mekhilta, the halakhic midrash on Exodus from the 2nd century CE, examines one of the starkest either-or passages in the Prophets. Isaiah delivers God's ultimatum: "If you acqu...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, takes up a question about the Israelites' first stop after leaving Egypt: a place called Succoth. "And they traveled from Rameses to ...
Rebbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi) noticed the same numerical tension between two biblical verses about the duration of Israel's time in Egypt. One says "they shall serve them and they s...
Rabbi Nathan noticed something striking in the Torah's language about the Exodus. The text uses two verbs — "who brought up" and "who brought" — when describing God's act of taking...
(Exodus 13:5) speaks of the land "which He swore to your forefathers." The Mekhilta asks a direct question: where exactly in the Torah did God swear this oath to each of the patria...
(Exodus 13:19) "For hashbea hishbia the children of Israel": He (Joseph) had made them (his brothers) swear ("hashbea") that they would beswear ("hishbia") their children. R. Natha...
The Mekhilta cites one of the most arrogant speeches in all of Scripture to illustrate the hubris of empire. The king of Assyria declared: "My hand found, as a nest, the wealth of ...
When the Israelites saw the Egyptian army bearing down on them and the Red Sea blocking their escape, the Torah says they "were exceedingly afraid." But what did they do with that ...
What is written of Moses? (Numbers 20:14-16) "And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom … And our fathers went down to Egypt … and He hearkened to our voice." He (t...
Three times they returned and three times they fell. The first, in the days of Sancheriv, viz. (Isaiah 31:1) "Woe unto those who go down to Egypt for help!" The second, in the days...
The Mekhilta records an astonishing claim: God split the Red Sea not because of anything the Israelites had done, but because of a promise He had made to their forefather Abraham c...
Rabbi Bana'ah taught that God split the Red Sea for the Israelites in the merit of their ancestor Abraham. The proof lies in a striking verbal parallel between two verses. When Abr...
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah taught that God split the Red Sea for the Israelites in the merit of their forefather Abraham. His proof comes from a sweeping passage in (Psalms 105:42-43...
R. Acha says: The Holy One Blessed be He said: If not for your outcry, I would have destroyed them for the idolatry in their midst, viz. (Zechariah 10:11) "And tzarah crossed the s...
The Mekhilta extends its catalogue of divine judgment by east wind to yet another generation: the builders of the Tower of Babel. The pattern grows stronger with each example — God...
The Mekhilta reinforces Rabbi Tarfon's teaching about the tribe of Judah with a verse from Psalms. "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from the people of a foreign t...
The eighth, that of Solomon, viz. (Psalms 30:1) "A psalm, a song of the inauguration of the Temple of David." Now did David built it? Did not Solomon build it? viz. (I Kings 6:14) ...
The Mekhilta presents a remarkable statement from the congregation of Israel, addressed directly to God, that explains exactly why they are singing at the Red Sea. "Lord of the wor...
And all who help Israel, help, as it were, the Holy One Blessed be He, viz. (Judges 5:23) "Curse Meroz, said the angel of the L–rd. Curse bitterly its dwellers. For they came not t...
The Mekhilta identifies another future-tense verb in the Song at the Sea. It is not written "You have sent forth Your wrath" — as if God's anger were already spent — but "You will ...
The redemption of Israel was not a private event. According to the Mekhilta, the entire natural world erupted in celebration. Not the heavens alone rejoiced — the mountains and all...
(Ibid. 20) "Then Miriam the prophetess took": Where do we find that Miriam was a prophetess? She said to her father (Amram): In the end, you will beget a son who will be the savior...
When God responded to the Israelites' hunger in the wilderness, He used a single Hebrew word that two rabbis read in completely different ways. (Exodus 16:4) records God telling Mo...
The Mekhilta decodes every word of Moses' declaration before the battle with Amalek. "The top of the hill" is not just a geographic feature — it is a spiritual map. "Top" represent...
Three men climbed to the top of the hill before the battle against Amalek: Moses, Aaron, and Chur (Exodus 17:10). The Mekhilta explains that their ascent was not a military decisio...
Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai taught that Moses was one of four great tzaddik (a righteous person)im (the righteous) — righteous people — to whom God gave a subtle hint about the future. T...
The phrase "until Dan" appears in the vision God granted Moses from Mount Pisgah (Deuteronomy 34:1). But the Mekhilta raises an obvious problem: at the time of Moses, the land had ...
The Mekhilta extends its analysis of conditional versus unconditional covenants to two more foundational gifts: the Torah scroll and the priesthood of Aaron. Whence is it derived t...
R. Eliezer, the son of R. Yossi Haglili was wont to say (Ibid. 147:19) "He relates His statutes to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. He did not do so for any other n...
"And the voice of the shofar" (Exodus 19:19) — the Mekhilta declares that this is a propitious sign in all of Scripture. Wherever the shofar is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, it si...
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...
(Ibid. 20:8) "Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it": "Remember" and "Keep" (the Sabbath day to sanctify it [Devarim 5:12]) were both stated in one pronouncement. (Exodus 31:14) ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws an illuminating comparison between the fear of parents and the observance of Shabbat (the Sabbath). The verse in (Leviticus 19:3) places them si...
R. Yitzchak says: Even a man who intends to smite one and smites another is not liable—until he makes it clear that it is this man that he wishes to smite, as it is written (Devari...
