3,765 related texts · 59 related myths · Page 78 of 79
Shir HaShirim Rabbah turns to God as a Gazelle Leaping Between the Patriarchs. Think about a gazelle, leaping effortlessly across the landscape. That's how the Holy One, blessed be...
As with many ancient mysteries, there's not just one answer, but a tradition of explanations woven together. One fascinating perspective comes to us from Rabbi Yehuda, quoting Rabb...
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, The fir...
The verse we're unpacking is "Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates" (Song of Songs 4:13). The Midrash cleverly interprets "your branches" (shelaḥayikh in Hebrew) as "your g...
The Rabbis, in their infinite wisdom, saw layers upon layers of meaning in these words. The phrase “I came to my garden” is especially rich. Rabbi Menaḥem, son-in-law of Rabbi Elaz...
Take the story of the letter yod, that smallest of Hebrew letters, shaped like a tiny flame. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa, in Shir HaShirim Rabbah, tells us that when Sarai’s name was ...
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, illuminates 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...
Vayikra Rabbah turns to Had Nadav and Avihu Left Sons They Would Have Led Israel. Rabbi Yaakov bar Avin, quoting Rav Aḥa, makes a crucial point: if Nadab and Abihu had had sons, th...
Like someone's pointing out all your flaws, comparing you to others, and generally making you feel. unworthy? Well, according to some ancient Jewish texts, even the Israelites face...
Vayikra Rabbah turns to Rosh Hashanah and the Heavenly Realms. Rabbi Yoshiya starts us off with a verse from (Psalms 89:16): “Happy are the people who know the blast; they walk, Lo...
The Vayikra Rabbah, a fascinating midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) 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 midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) 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...
The Wars of God turns to Does the Zohar Hold Equal Authority With the Talmud. This isn't just a friendly disagreement; it's a full-blown intellectual battle. And at the heart of it...
The answer, as with so many profound questions, lies deep within Jewish tradition, and grapples with some pretty mind-bending concepts, especially when we explore Kabbalah. But som...
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, explores this very question. He points out that these five animals – the ox (represented by the heifer), the goat, the sheep (the ram), the tu...
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? A r...
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...
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...
And God did prove Abraham (Gen. 22:1). Observe this difference between the earlier generations and the later generations: The earlier generations were tested by the Holy One, bless...
And Abraham was old, well stricken in age (Gen. 24:1). R. Joshua the son of Nahmani said: Men become old prematurely because of four things: fear, grief caused by children, a wicke...
And Abraham took another wife (Gen. 25:1). Scripture states elsewhere: Though thy beginning was small, yet thy end shall greatly increase (Job 8:7). This verse alludes to Moses. R....
And Isaac trembled very exceedingly (Gen. 27:33). May it please our master to teach us the blessing one pronounces upon tasting oil. Thus do our masters teach us: One who tastes oi...
