3,200 related texts · Page 48 of 67
Rabbi Yonathan made a declaration that would strike most people as counterintuitive: "Beloved are afflictions." Suffering, he taught, is not a sign of divine abandonment. It is a s...
Rebbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi) offers a dramatically different reading of the three marital obligations listed in (Exodus 21:10). Where Rabbi Yoshiyah identified "she'eirah" as food ...
The Torah contains a dramatic command about a murderer who has taken refuge at the altar: "From My very altar shall you take him to die" (Exodus 21:14). Even the holiest place in t...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws a connection between two seemingly unrelated legal passages in the Torah, both involving the concept of metaphorical language in legal contexts....
(Exodus 22:21) commands: "Every widow and orphan you shall not afflict." The Mekhilta immediately pushes beyond the literal categories. This verse mentions only widows and orphans....
(Exodus 22:27) "Elokim you shall not curse": What is the intent of this? From (Leviticus 24:16) "One who utters blasphemously the name of the L–rd shall be put to death" we hear th...
(Exodus 23:6) commands: "You shall not incline the judgment of your needy one in his quarrel." The Mekhilta asks why this verse is necessary when (Exodus 23:3) already says: "You s...
The Torah declares about the Sabbath: "for it is holy to you" (Exodus 31:14). The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael draws from this phrase a remarkable teaching about how Sabbath observanc...
Jewish tradition certainly thinks so, and Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms, offers some powerful examples. It’s like a spiritual echo chamber...
But imagine that betrayal playing out on a national, even cosmic, scale. That's the drama we find ourselves plunged into in Midrash Tehillim 11, a fascinating exploration of Psalm ...
The verse we're looking at is "Let a thousand fall from your side." Now, what does that even mean? Rabbi Yitzhak offers a compelling idea: He connects this verse to the mitzvah (co...
We all know the story: Moses raises his staff, the waters part, and the Israelites walk through on dry land to escape Pharaoh. But Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), that ...
The Rabbi, in this telling, lays it out plainly: the angels, once dwelling in heavenly purity, gazed down and saw the daughters of Cain. Not just saw them, but saw them adorned, "w...
Rabbi Abbahu, a sage from the Amoraic period, tells us to look at the story of King David to understand this power. Now, you probably know the story of David. Shepherd boy, slayer ...
It’s a powerful feeling. But what happens when that zeal, that kinah, turns inward, corrupting the very people who sought to uphold justice? Let's turn to a fascinating passage in ...
He’s the one who, in a moment of righteous zeal, stopped a plague by taking decisive action against public immorality (Numbers 25). It’s a complex story, filled with passion and qu...
Our story begins with the verse from Ecclesiastes (3:11): "He has made everything beautiful in its time." The Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commen...
It’s a question that the rabbis grappled with intensely, and one fascinating exploration of this comes from Sifrei Bamidbar, specifically section 127. It delves into the Book of Nu...
It's a passage that sparks some interesting questions, and the ancient commentary, Sifrei Bamidbar, dives right in. "And the L-rd spoke to Moses, saying: Take the revenge of the ch...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)im on the Book of Deuteronomy, sheds light on this. It wasn't just some abstract evil, but somet...
Turns out, Jewish tradition has a lot to say about the power – and the potential harm – packed into our words. Sifrei Devarim, a fascinating work of halakha (Jewish law) connected ...
The text paints a rather unflattering portrait of the Israelites, calling them "hafachpechanim" – turncoats, those who are inconsistent – and "runabouts." Ouch. But it gets even mo...
Genesis 35 records some of the most consequential events in Jacob's life—Rachel's death, the birth of Benjamin, and Jacob's return to his father Isaac. The Targum Jonathan, the anc...
Genesis 40 tells a straightforward story: two prisoners dream, Joseph interprets, one lives, one dies. The Targum Jonathan transforms this episode into a prophetic vision of Israel...
The standard Torah tells us that Jacob traveled to Beersheba and offered sacrifices before heading down to Egypt. But Targum Jonathan, the ancient Aramaic translation dating to the...
Exodus chapter 6 is mostly genealogy—the kind of passage readers skim. The Targum Jonathan turns it into a minefield of hidden revelations. The chapter opens with God revealing the...
The manna story in (Exodus 16) raises an obvious question: where did this miracle food come from? The Hebrew Bible says God "rained bread from heaven." The Targum Jonathan gives a ...
On the eighth day of consecration—the first of Nisan—Aaron was about to offer his first sacrifice as high priest. Then he froze. The Targum Jonathan says he "saw at the corner of t...
The field that Abraham bought from the children of Chet etc --- R Tanchuma said: from the burial of Sarah to the burial of Abraham was 38 years...... it comes to teach you that all...
It was taught in the school of R. Ishmael that He pardons one sin after the other before they are put on the scales; and this is the divine custom." "Nevertheless," remarked Raba, ...
Isaiah says God is "calling from the east a bird of prey, a man of my counsel from a distant land" (Isaiah 46:11). The rabbis identified that bird of prey as Abraham. He came from ...
The Messiah, say the rabbis, will be greater than all the patriarchs — greater than Abraham, greater than Isaac, greater than Moses. This is the reading Aggadat Bereshit makes of I...
Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau (Genesis 32:4). The Hebrew word is malachim — messengers, angels. The midrash says this literally: Jacob sent actual angels. He had ...
Jacob saw the leaders of Esau listed in the Torah — king after king after king (Genesis 36:31-43) — and was afraid. "How can I stand against all of them? I am one man." The Holy On...
Yet, Jewish tradition whispers of just such a mystery: that the Messiah himself will descend from the side of evil. How can this be? Well, the story starts with King David, the anc...
But that's precisely what we find explored in Bamidbar Rabbah 9, a section of the great Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic collection that delves into the book of Numbers...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating story from Bamidbar Rabbah 10, a section of the larger Midrash Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic homilies and interpretations of the Torah. It...
They believed every single letter, every seemingly insignificant word, held profound secrets. Take the very first verse of Genesis, Bereshit (בראשית): "In the beginning, God create...
The Torah tells us, in (Genesis 6:5), that God saw the wickedness of humankind was "great" – raba in Hebrew – before the Flood. But what kind of "great" was it? Rabbi Ḥanina sugges...
Ever catch a whiff of sulfur and feel a little... uneasy? There's a reason for that, according to ancient Jewish wisdom. It all circles back to the idea of divine justice and the c...
We often think of gold, jewels, maybe the perfect outfit. But what if the Torah suggests something far simpler? Let's turn to (Genesis 24:53), the story of Abraham's servant securi...
But trust me, there's more than meets the eye. These names, tucked away in (Genesis 25:2), are actually bursting with hidden meanings. The passage tells us these were the sons born...
The Torah tells us Avimelekh went to him "from Gerar, and a group of his associates, and Fikhol the captain of his guard" (Genesis 26:26). Simple enough. But the Rabbis, bless thei...
That’s a feeling that echoes through the story of Dinah in the Book of Genesis, and it explodes with dramatic force in the rabbinic interpretations. Dinah, daughter of Leah, ventur...
That’s exactly what happens when we delve into the story of Tamar and Judah in Genesis 38. It's a tale filled with deception, bravery, and some pretty intense family drama. Today, ...
It’s a theme that runs deep in Jewish tradition, and it surfaces in the story of Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, who rose to prominence in Egypt. We find ourselves at the end of ...
In Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Book of Exodus, we find a fascinating discussion about just that. The passage grapples with the meaning of "the Testi...
Our tradition understands that duality intimately. Take the verse from the Song of Songs, Shir HaShirim, "I am black, but lovely." It seems paradoxical. But Shir HaShirim Rabbah, t...
