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The passage opens with the famous verse, "…for your love is better than wine" (Song of Songs 1:2). But almost immediately, we're whisked away to a completely different topic: chees...
That feeling, that sting of inner circle treachery, echoes through the ancient words of Shir HaShirim Rabbah, the collection of Rabbinic teachings on the Song of Songs. Today, we'r...
Then comes that loaded line from (Genesis 3:22): "Behold, the man has become like one of us." Like… one of whom, exactly? This question sparked a fiery debate among the rabbis, cap...
He paints a picture in Shir HaShirim Rabbah, the commentary on Song of Songs, that really resonated with me. Imagine a prince, see? He's been dreadfully ill. Finally, he recovers. ...
The Song of Songs, that beautiful, evocative poem, begins with the line: "The sound of my beloved! Behold, he approaches, he leaps over the mountains and bounds over the hills" (So...
We find in Shir HaShirim Rabbah, the ancient commentary on the Song of Songs, a beautiful and intimate image of God's relationship with the Jewish people. It begins with the verse,...
And, as with many ancient mysteries, there's not just one answer, but a tapestry of explanations woven together. One fascinating perspective comes to us from Rabbi Yehuda, quoting ...
In Shir HaShirim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Song of Songs, we find a fascinating discussion about these pesky creatures and what they represent. Rabbi ...
The verse in question is (Song of Songs 2:17): "Until the day is great and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a fawn on the cleft mountains.” Now, on the ...
It's more than just letters; it's a tapestry woven with meaning, with whispers of divine intention. Take the story of the letter yod, that smallest of Hebrew letters, shaped like a...
We start with the verse, "When a person presents a meal offering to the Lord" (Leviticus 2:1). But the Rabbis cleverly link this to (Psalm 22:24): "Those who fear the Lord, praise ...
The Torah portion of Vayikra (Leviticus) dives deep into the intricate world of offerings, and Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Leviticus, sheds light on...
It happens. But sometimes those moments can teach us something profound about ourselves and the world. Let me tell you a story from Vayikra Rabbah that really hit home for me. It s...
It’s a powerful idea, and it’s one that our sages explored deeply. There's a fascinating passage in Vayikra Rabbah 11 that tackles just this – the idea that God interacts with us i...
After all, it's not exactly a flattering name given Canaan's, shall we say, complicated backstory. Vayikra Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Lev...
We know the science, the orbits, the rotations... But what about the story behind it all? What's the cosmic drama unfolding behind the scenes of our everyday sunrise and sunset? We...
The Vayikra Rabbah, a fascinating midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic collection on the Book of Leviticus, explores this very idea. It opens with the verse "If you follow ...
“How does the greatly crowded city sit alone? She has become like a widow. Great among the nations, a princess among the states: She has become a vassal” (Lamentations 1:1).“How [e...
Even the angels turned against Israel. According to Rabbi Yaakov of Kefar Hanan, quoted in Eikhah Rabbah (a 5th-century CE midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic commentary o...
“From on high He sent fire into my bones, and He crushed them; He spread a net for my feet, He turned me back. He rendered me desolate, suffering all day” (Lamentations 1:13).“From...
“And did not remember His footstool [hadom raglav],” Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak said: The Holy One blessed be He does not remember that blood [hadam] that was between the legs of the...
“He destroyed, in His ire, the strongholds of the daughter of Judah.” Rabbi Yudan said: Each and every castle that was in Jerusalem was not fit to be conquered in any less than for...
“It is the Lord’s kindnesses that have not ceased, for His mercies have not ended” (Lamentations 3:22).“It is the Lord’s kindnesses that have not ceased” – Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish ...
“Who is it who said and it occurred, if the Lord did not command it?” (Lamentations 3:37).“Who is it who said and it occurred, if the Lord did not command it?” – who did command? H...
“In those days, when King Aḥashverosh was sitting on his royal throne that was in the Shushan citadel” (Esther 1:2). This is one of the places15The reference to “places” is unclear...
Rabbi Yitzḥak began: “But you did not call Me, Jacob, for you wearied of Me, Israel” (Isaiah 43:22). Rabbi Yoḥanan understood it [the verse in (Isaiah 43:22)] from this, as it is w...
It is written: “You have seen, for You behold mischief and spite; to requite is in Your hand: the helpless man commits himself to You; You are the helper of the orphans” (Psalms 10...
“Was [haya] [a Judean man in the Shushan citadel]….” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Everyone about whom “haya” is stated, it is he at the beginning and it is he at the end.9 He was righteous ...
“With the arrival of the turn of Esther, daughter of Aviḥayil uncle of Mordekhai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go to the king, she did not request anything except that whi...
What did Mordekhai say to someone who would say to him: “Why are you violating the king’s command?” (Esther 3:3) Rabbi Levi said: Mordekhai would say: ‘Moses our master cautioned u...
“In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Aḥashverosh, he had cast a pur, that is, the lot, before Haman for each day and for each month, to the tw...
“Mordekhai knew everything that had been done, and Mordekhai rent his garments and donned sackcloth and ashes. He went out in the midst of the city and cried a loud and bitter cry”...
The rabbis of Esther Rabbah made a stunning claim: every time the Hebrew word vayhi ("it was") appears in the Torah, it signals disaster. Rabbi Tanhuma, Rabbi Berekhya, and Rabbi H...
Maybe that feeling is a tiny glimpse into the ultimate truth: that everything is sacred. Philo, the 1st-century Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, certainly thought so. He envisio...
That's the kind of heat we're wading into today. This isn't just a friendly disagreement; it's a full-blown intellectual battle. And at the heart of it lies the Zohar, the foundati...
The answer, as with so many profound questions, lies deep within Jewish tradition, and grapples with some pretty mind-bending concepts, especially when we delve into Kabbalah. But ...
Rabbi Chaim Vital, the principal disciple of the great Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (known as the ARI) grappled with this very question. In his monumental work, Etz Chaim ("Tree of ...
One such answer comes from a text attributed to Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher who lived in Egypt during the first century. While scholars debate whether he actually pen...
Philo, in his exploration of Genesis, delves into this very question. He points out that these five animals – the ox (represented by the heifer), the goat, the sheep (the ram), the...
Philo, a Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria in the first century CE, offers a unique take on a familiar phrase: "Thou shalt go to thy fathers." What does this really mean? It'...
Take the covenant God makes with Abraham in Genesis 15. It's a big moment. God promises Abraham this whole huge swathe of land for his descendants. But then it gets…well, geographi...
The mystics imagined it, and what they saw is The story goes that when God decided to create Adam, it wasn't a snap of the fingers. It was a process. A cosmic sculpting project, if...
45:11). Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear alludes to Abraham. Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house refers to the idolaters, concerning whom i...
And there was a famine in the land (Gen. 12:10) What is stated in Scripture prior to this verse? It is written: And the Lord said to Abraham: “Get thee.” Blessed be the name of the...
The Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying: “fear not” (Gen. 15:1). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Then Thou spokest in vision to Thy godly ones, and saids...
Fear not, Abraham (Gen. 15:1). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: Happy is the man that feareth always; but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into evil (Pr...
And it came to pass after these words that God did prove Abraham (Gen. 22:1). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: Forasmuch as the king’s word hath power; and wh...
And God did prove Abraham (Gen. 22:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: The Lord trieth the righteous (Ps. 11:5). R. Jonah maintained: If you pound a good-qual...
