3,200 related texts · Page 39 of 67
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 offers a fascinating glimpse into how our sages grappled with the complexities of applying Torah law in everyday situations. The text begins with a seemingly simple phrase: "amo...
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, meanwhile, is standing respectfully. They're together, learning, teaching, and sharing wisdom. It’s a scene straight out of the Talmud. But then, the time...
Let me tell you, they were masters of textual jujitsu, turning verses inside out to reveal hidden meanings. And sometimes, they got into arguments that sound, well, a little… stran...
You stumble across something familiar, but the context is… different. Let's untangle a little bit of that today, drawing from Sifrei Devarim. We find a curious phrase: "as He spoke...
It gets complicated! to a fascinating corner of Jewish law dealing with substitutes for offerings and their offspring, as discussed in Sifrei Devarim. The passage we're looking at ...
That’s exactly what the rabbis in Sifrei Devarim are wrestling with as they unpack (Deuteronomy 14:24-25). The verses deal with bringing your tithes to Jerusalem, but what if the j...
The book of Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on Deuteronomy, touches on this very idea. It connects our wholeness, our completeness, directly to our relationship with God. It says, "Wh...
We're talking about building a roof, and the critical importance of preventing someone from falling. Sounds straightforward. But the Rabbis delved deep into the nuances of the vers...
We find ourselves in Sifrei Devarim, a legal midrash on the Book of Deuteronomy, specifically section 257. It's dealing with a particular verse about, well, going to the bathroom i...
to a fascinating corner of Halakha (Jewish Law) today, found within the ancient text of Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy. Our starting point is a rather unus...
But what if the answer lies not in geopolitics, but in something far more ancient, far more…divine? to a fascinating passage from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic leg...
But Jacob? He wrestled with angels, dreamed of ladders, and somehow became the linchpin of the entire Israelite story. What’s the deal? Well, Sifrei Devarim 312 – a passage from Si...
The ancient rabbis wrestled with that feeling too, especially when considering the relationship between Israel and the other nations. We find a powerful, raw expression of this in ...
That feeling, that struggle… it’s ancient. And it’s right there in the Torah. Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, grapples with this very question. It's not ju...
It’s a fascinating little passage, playing with the nuances of Hebrew grammar to make a profound theological point. The verse in question, ostensibly calling upon other gods for as...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Sifrei Devarim 352, which explores this concept through the story of the tribe of Benjamin and a mysterious plot of land in Jeri...
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...
SHAMMAI SAID: MAKE YOUR STUDY OF THE TORAH A FIXED HABIT; SAY LITTLE AND DO MUCH; AND RECEIVE ALL MEN WITH A CHEERFUL COUNTENANCE. MAKE YOUR STUDY OF THE TORAH A FIXED HABIT. What ...
Abraham made his servant Eliezer swear an oath by placing his hand on the mark of circumcision. The Torah says "under my thigh." The Targum says exactly what it means: the section ...
The story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28 is one of the most famous visions in all of scripture—a ladder reaching to heaven, angels ascending and descending. But the Targum Jonatha...
The Torah describes Jacob's burial as a solemn procession to Canaan. Targum Jonathan turns it into an epic confrontation complete with a golden deathbed, a eulogy comparing Jacob t...
The Passover story everyone knows has God striking down the Egyptian firstborn. The Targum Jonathan's version of (Exodus 12) is almost unrecognizably more detailed, packed with num...
When God appeared to Abram and commanded him to circumcise himself, the patriarch was already ninety-nine years old. According to the Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 80, God's words carrie...
The Hebrew Bible says God "paid regard" to Abel's offering but not to Cain's (Genesis 4:4-5). Targum Onkelos rephrases this as: "There was favor before God" for Abel's offering, bu...
The Hebrew Bible says God "shut him in" the ark (Genesis 7:16)—a strangely intimate image of the Creator personally closing Noah's door. Targum Onkelos renders this as "God protect...
The Hebrew Bible says God established a covenant with Noah, setting the rainbow as its sign (Genesis 9:12-17). Targum Onkelos renders every instance of "between Me and you" as "bet...
The Hebrew Bible says God "descended to see the city and the tower" of Babel (Genesis 11:5). Targum Onkelos will not allow that reading. God does not descend. Instead, "God became ...
Jacob's deathbed blessings (Genesis 49) are among the most obscure passages in the Torah. Targum Onkelos does not merely translate them—he decodes them, turning cryptic poetry into...
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...
The Hebrew Bible records Moses and the Israelites singing a triumphant song after the sea closes over the Egyptians (Exodus 15). Targum Onkelos transforms this victory hymn into so...
"I am God, your Lord, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 20:2). Targum Onkelos translates the Ten Commandments with almost no deviation from the Hebrew—a remarkable ...
The Hebrew Bible says the people told Aaron: "Make us gods that will lead us, for this Moses, we do not know what happened to him" (Exodus 32:1). Targum Onkelos translates this wit...
The Hebrew Bible commands: "Hear, O Israel! God is our Lord, God is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Targum Onkelos translates the Shema—Judaism's central declaration of faith—with perfect ...
He cast the pur - that is, the lot: Rabbi Chama bar Chanina said, "It was taught [that] when it fell out in the month of Adar, [Haman] rejoiced with great joy: He said, 'The lot fe...
[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 ...
The Holy One of Blessing is High and Exalted, His throne is [also] High and Exalted. And from where do we know that the Holy One of Blessing is called "High and Exalted"? From (Isa...
The Book of the Wellspring of Wisdom When Moses ascended on high, a cloud came up against him, and Moses our teacher did not know if one rides it or holds it. Immediately, the clou...
(2) (Fol. 3b) R. Abahu said: "Cyrus was a worthy king, and therefore were his royal years counted in accordance with those of the kings of Israel [beginning with Nissan]." R. Josep...
(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...
Hiram, king of Tyre made seven artificial heavens placed on pillars of iron, first of glass, sun, moon and stars. Second of iron, with a lake of water in it; third of tin with prec...
Kleopatra asks Rabbi Meir whether the dead rise in their clothes. The reply was “In their clothes. The wheat, when sown grows with the cover (husks) on, and how much more should th...
Rabbi Jehuda ben Hanina was traveling through Rome when he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. In the slave market — that brutal engine of the Roman economy where human b...
A man decided to divorce his wife. On paper, this was his right — Jewish law permitted a husband to initiate divorce proceedings under certain circumstances. But this man had a pro...
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...
Hiram, king of Tyre, was one of the most audacious men in all of scripture. God had given him wealth, beauty, and a lifespan that stretched across centuries — some sages say he liv...
Nahum ish Gamzo — called that because no matter what happened, he always said "Gam zu le-tovah" ("This too is for the best") — was sent by the Jewish community to the Roman Emperor...
