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Miriam [Hannah) & Her Seven Sons Martyr*. II Bk. Maccabees, ch. VII. IV Bk. Maccabees ch. VIII, ff. Ketubot, f. 64. J. Ketubot, V, II. Gittin, f. 56 b. Pesik. R. Rabati,XLIII. Tana...
When the Romans executed the Ten Martyrs — the greatest sages of Israel — two of the first to die were Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, the Nasi (prince) of the Sanhedrin, and Rabbi Ishm...
Robert of Sicily. Wickerhauser, p. 167. Ring. Badder, Badische Sagen, No. 405. Comestor, 1, III. Eisenmenger I, 351 ff. Gervasius, ed. Lieb- recht, p. 8 and note 12, p. 77. Gesta R...
Rabbi Johanan ben Matya gave his son a simple instruction: go and hire laborers, and make sure to feed them properly. The son went out, found workers, and promised them a meal. But...
A Jewish man and a gentile once made a wager about whose religion was true. Satan, disguised as an ordinary man, appeared and ruled in favor of the gentile, who took all the money....
The name of a supernatural being mentioned in connection with the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi.). After Satan, for whom he was in some degree a preparation, Azazel enjo...
"A little that the righteous have is better than the abundance of many wicked" (Psalm 37:16). The rabbis of Aggadat Bereshit loved this verse because it turned ordinary logic on it...
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when God renewed the covenant (Genesis 17:1). The sons of Korah composed a psalm about this moment — "Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty on...
Jewish tradition has some fascinating, and frankly, answers. The idea starts with this: it's a five-hundred-year journey between one firmament and the next! That's how vast the cos...
It's more than just chance, according to the ancient rabbis. It's about divine engagement. The verse that sparks this thought is from (Numbers 3:1): "And these are the generations ...
(Numbers 6:14) lays it out: "He shall sacrifice his offering to the Lord: One unblemished lamb in its first year as a burnt offering, one unblemished ewe in its first year as a sin...
These little anomalies, these extra strokes of ink, are rarely accidents. They're often seen as whispers, hints of deeper meaning hidden beneath the surface of the text. Take the w...
Specifically, we're looking at Chapter 14, where we find ourselves pondering a list of sacrifices offered by the leaders of the tribes. The verse in (Numbers 7:87) states: “All the...
to a story from Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers, that explores just this. The story goes that God tells Moses to gather seventy men to he...
Rabbi Zakai of She'av offers a beautiful insight. He imagines the Israelites asking God: "Master of the universe, everywhere else You call it the land of Canaan, but here, ‘the lan...
This week, we're diving into a story from Bamidbar Rabbah – a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Numbers – that explores just that feeling. It centers on Moses, and a ...
It's more than just letters; it's a tapestry woven with stories, numbers, and profound insights. Today, we're going to delve into a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah 18, a t...
It might be more than just luck. to a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah) 21, which uses the biblical verse "My offering, My food… you shall observe to presen...
Rabbi Yoḥanan, a towering figure in the Talmudic era, offers a startling idea. He suggests that when God created the sea, He made a deal. A condition (tna’o in Hebrew) that it woul...
It turns out, that feeling might be older – and trickier – than you think. The Torah tells us, "God completed on the seventh day His labor that He had made; He rested on the sevent...
The Torah tells us, "The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of hide, and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21). Simple enough. But as always, the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbin...
to a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, and uncover some hidden layers of meaning. The verse in question, (G...
Turns out, that impulse might be older – and more significant – than you think. We’re talking about land, about ownership, and about the very act of claiming something as your own....
Who was this Malkitzedek? Why is he offering bread and wine? And what's the deal with Salem? The Rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah, that rich collection of early Jewish interpretations of ...
The Torah tells us that "the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision" (Genesis 15:1). But what kind of word was it? What kind of vision? Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah (44) – that...
Jewish tradition certainly sees echoes of the past in the present, especially when it comes to empires. In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the ...
Specifically, verse 17: “It happened when the sun had set, that there was extreme darkness, and, behold, there was a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between those ...
It centers on Sarai (later Sarah) and Abram (later Abraham), a couple whose journey to parenthood was anything but straightforward. We find them facing a heartbreaking reality: Sar...
(Genesis 18:1) tells us, "He was sitting [yoshev] at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day." But there's more to it than meets the eye. Rabbi Berekhya, quoting Rabbi Levi...
That’s kind of the vibe we get from a fascinating passage in Bereshit Rabbah (49), a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. It centers around the verse in (...
to a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, that grapples with just that question in the fiery destructi...
The story, as told in (Genesis 19:31), has Lot’s daughters deeply concerned. "Our father is old," they say, "and there is no man on earth to consort with us in the way of the world...
Jewish tradition is full of stories that remind us that sometimes, salvation comes on the third day. It’s a recurring motif, a whisper of hope that echoes through our texts. Think ...
And while there aren't easy answers, Jewish tradition grapples with this in profound ways. Today, we're diving into a fascinating Midrash – a rabbinic interpretation – from Bereshi...
And as we learn in Bereshit Rabbah 60, it's a theme that runs through some pretty significant stories in our tradition. The passage opens by quoting (Genesis 24:13-15), the story o...
Talk about divine connection! Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai, a towering figure in Jewish mysticism, points to three individuals who experienced this incredible immediacy. He says there ar...
We pick up with Rebecca, about to leave her family to marry Isaac. (Genesis 24:59) tells us, “They sent Rebecca their sister, and her nursemaid, and Abraham’s servant, and his men....
It seems that this feeling, envy, is as old as the hills – or at least as old as the stories in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Ou...
We're looking at (Genesis 27:3), where Isaac tells his son Esau, "Now, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me." Seems simple...
It turns out, even the clothes in the Torah have a tale to spin. to a fascinating Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) about Esau's special garments, found in Bereshit Rabbah...
That feeling is at the heart of our story today, a story about brothers, blessings, and a whole lot of bad blood. We're diving into Bereshit Rabbah, specifically section 67, a Midr...
The rabbis of old grappled with this question, too. And they found answers woven into the very fabric of our sacred texts. Rabbi Abbahu, a fascinating figure from the 3rd century, ...
As (Genesis 28:11) tells us, "He took from the stones of the place..." but what did he do with those stones? That's where the Rabbis pick up the story and run with it in Bereshit R...
Rabbi Ḥanina, quoting Rabbi Pinḥas, makes a striking observation in Bereshit Rabbah. He points out that the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – are mentioned eighteen times in...
That feeling isn't new. Our ancestor Jacob felt it too. And how he responded offers a powerful lesson about vows, faith, and the power of words. The story begins in Parashat Vayetz...
The verse in question comes from (1 Chronicles 29:9): “The people rejoiced in their donation, because they donated to the Lord wholeheartedly, and King David too rejoiced with grea...
The ancient rabbis wrestled with this very idea, and they came up with a fascinating little lesson hidden within the stories of our ancestors. Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible coll...
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, quoting Rabbi Levi, shares a profound idea: God took the conversations of the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and transformed them into the very...
