2,344 related texts · Page 42 of 49
No wonder he was feeling the pressure! In the book of Bamidbar (Numbers), specifically chapter 11, verse 16, we find a fascinating solution to Moses’ burden, and it reveals somethi...
Today, we’re diving into the book of Bamidbar (Numbers), specifically chapter 18 in Sifrei Bamidbar, to unpack the intense responsibilities placed on the Kohanim and Levi'im (Levit...
The ancient rabbis pondered this very human feeling, but they turned it on its head. What if, even in our darkest moments, in our deepest exiles, we are never truly alone? What if ...
Turns out, our ancestors wrestled with this question too. The Sifrei Devarim, a legal midrash on the Book of Deuteronomy, gives us a fascinating glimpse into Moses’s final address ...
It's like when Moses, in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), reminds the Israelites about the land G-d promised them, saying, "which the L-rd swore to your fathers… to Abraham, to I...
We often picture him as this towering, almost superhuman figure, but behind the miracles and the commandments, there was a real person grappling with a monumental task. And sometim...
It's a story about Reuven, Jacob's eldest son, and a deeply troubling act. "And it was, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuven went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the book of Deuteronomy, gives us a fascinating glimpse into just such a moment. Imagine this: a wedding...
It's almost as if they're walking magnets for blessings. Well, Jewish tradition actually speaks to this phenomenon directly, suggesting that the presence of the righteous is a cata...
There's a fascinating little passage in Sifrei Devarim that wrestles with this very tension. It starts with a seemingly simple observation: "You will be plowing in the time of harv...
Jewish tradition is full of moments like that. to one, a promise of abundance so rich it almost feels too good to be true. We're looking at a passage from Sifrei Devarim, a collect...
Our tradition has words for that feeling, and they're not always easy to hear. The text paints a stark picture, beginning with the land itself turning against us. It says, "and the...
One particularly striking passage from Sifrei Devarim explores this very idea, starting with a poignant scene. Imagine Moses, descending from Mount Sinai, tablets in hand, after th...
The ancient rabbis grappled with this feeling, particularly when thinking about the exiles of the Jewish people. They found echoes of this isolation, this sense of being utterly ab...
The ancient sages grappled with this very idea. The verse we're looking at today, from Sifrei Devarim 329, part of the legal commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, hits hard. It st...
We read phrases like "the sword of the Lord," but... swords don't literally belong to God. And they certainly don't eat flesh! So, what's going on when we read, as we do in Sifrei ...
Is it just for a select few, a royal inheritance? Or is it for everyone? Sifrei Devarim, a fascinating commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, tackles this head-on. It begins by que...
It’s a bit like detective work, piecing together clues across the vast landscape of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. Let’s look at one intriguing example from Sifrei Devarim, a collec...
Sometimes, the most profound truths are whispered in the echoes between our words and the response of the Holy Spirit. One intriguing idea comes from (Deuteronomy 33:25): "Iron and...
It’s a timeless human experience, and it’s something the ancient rabbis wrestled with too. In the book of Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on th...
The Book of Deuteronomy, or Sifrei Devarim in Hebrew, actually delves a little deeper. It's not just a geographical overview; it's like a vision through time. Consider the verse "A...
You can almost feel his anticipation, his heart swelling with hope. But then… the hammer drops. "This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," God tells Moses, as we...
The standard Bible tells you Rachel stole her father's household gods when Jacob fled Laban's house. The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation from roughly the 1st-2nd ce...
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 Torah says the Levites have no land inheritance. Targum Jonathan goes further, specifying exactly what they receive instead—twenty-four gifts of the priesthood. That number doe...
Another explanation: “O poor tempestuous one, who was not consoled…” (Isaiah 54:11) R’ Levi said any where that it says she does not have, she has. It is written “…that is Zion who...
Chapter 2 Our forefather Jacob was 63 when he was blessed. Ishmael died at that time as is written, "Esau saw that Isaac had blessed...Jacob listened to his father...Esau saw [the ...
Where is the Messiah right now? According to Sanhedrin 98a, he is sitting at the gates of Rome among the lepers. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asked Elijah the prophet: when will the Mes...
The Hebrew Bible records Balaam's first two oracles over Israel (Numbers 23), and both times, the pagan prophet finds himself unable to curse what God has blessed. Targum Onkelos t...
The Hebrew Bible promises: "A prophet from your midst, of your brethren, like me, will God establish for you" (Deuteronomy 18:15). Targum Onkelos translates this verse without alte...
But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back" (Ruth 1:8): Why did she send them back? In order not to be embarrassed by them. For so did we find that in Jerusalem there wer...
[1] "And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, etc." (Exodus 20:1-2) Blessed is the Place, blessed is He, who chose Israel from all His handiwork and acquired ...
Idra Raba and Idra Zuta: Two compilations from the Zohar, the first in the portion of Naso and the second in the portion of Ha'azinu. The term "Idra" in Greek means a gathering or ...
..."Let not the rich person glorify themselves with their wealth (Yirm 9:22)." This [refers to] Korach the Levite, who had three hundred mules just to carry the load of the keys to...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Esfah": This midrash is based on the verse "Gather for me seventy men" (Numbers 11:16), explaining the names of those seventy individual...
The deeds of Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi [from the Sefer Ma'asiot of Rabbi Nissim Ga'on; Beit Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)] Rabbi Joshua ben Levi discovered something so ...
Another thing said R. Zerika in the name of R. Ami, who speaks in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi: "In the presence of the dead it is not proper to speak of anything except things co...
[It is written] (Ps. 66:1) A prayer of David, preserve my soul, for I am pious. R. Levi and R. Isaac both explain this passage. One said : "Thus said David before the Holy One, pra...
(Fol. 5a) R. Levi b. Chama, in the name of Simon b. Lakish said: "At all times let man stir up his good inclination against the evil inclination), for it is said (Ps. 4:5) Tremble,...
(3) (Fol. 10b) We have been taught that R. Eliezer says: "In the month of Tishri the world was created; in the month of Tishri the Patriarchs [Abraham and Jacob], were born, and in...
Nahum ish Gamzo, also called Nahum of Hamadi used to say, “Everything for the best.” Sent to the Emperor with presents, miracles happened. He came to a place where during the night...
R. Eliezer, charged with heresy, was saved from punishment by saying, “The judge knows the truth" which the Hegemon interpreted as a tribute to his justice. Tlje reason why he got ...
R. Johanan b. Zakai was asked by R. Eleazar b. Arach permission to expound some of the mysteries of the creation (Ma’ase Merkaba). R. Johanan dismounted from his ass, as angels mig...
Rabbi Ishmael ben Yose was making his pilgrimage to Jerusalem — one of the three annual journeys that every Jewish man was commanded to undertake. Along the way, he passed through ...
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...
A child was traveling by boat when the prophet Elijah appeared to him — not as the fiery chariot-rider of heaven, but as a fellow passenger, a quiet man with an extraordinary secre...
The sages would not allow a girl to do as she wanted or to expose herself before the man, who had become lovesick and very ill in consequence. Licentiousness was not to be encourag...
FalseProphets in Babylon. Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), f. 93 a. J. Sanhedrin, XI, 5. Pesikta, f. 164b—165a. Pirke de R. Eliezer, ch. 33. Tanh. Levit. Vayyikra, § 6 and B...
