9,687 related texts · Page 186 of 202
Take the sacrifices described in the Torah. Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the book of Leviticus, sees them not just as offerings, but as embodiments of our ...
It's not just about the animals themselves; it's about the patriarchs, about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the profound legacy they left behind. Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of ra...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They saw the world as a delicate balance, and they understood that even seemingly small acts of injustice could have enormous consequences. In Vay...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They saw echoes of these struggles in the biblical text, particularly in the stories surrounding kings and their kingdoms. In Vayikra Rabbah, a co...
“She has become like a widow.” Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: They did not go to extremes vis-à-vis the attribute of justice, and the attribute of justice did not go to extremes in th...
“The Lord trampled all my mighty in my midst; He proclaimed a festival against me to break my young men; the Lord has trodden the maiden daughter of Judah in a winepress” (Lamentat...
“The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word. Hear now all you peoples, and see my pain: My young women and young men have gone into captivity” (Lamentations 1:18).“The Lord ...
“He drew His bow like an enemy; His right hand stood as an adversary, and he killed all delights of the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion, He poured out His fury like fire” ...
“The Lord was like an enemy. He demolished Israel, demolished all its palaces, destroyed its strongholds. He multiplied mourning and moaning in the daughter of Judah” (Lamentations...
“What shall I attest to you, to what shall I liken you, daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I equate you, and comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as vast as t...
“All your enemies opened their mouths wide against you; they whistled and gnashed teeth, they said: We have demolished! Indeed, this is the day for which we hoped; we found, we saw...
“The Lord accomplished what He devised: He implemented His statement that He commanded from the days of old; He destroyed and had no compassion. He caused the enemy to rejoice over...
“I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His fury” (Lamentations 3:1).“I am the man” – Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina began: “Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Barukh s...
“All our enemies have opened their mouth against us” (Lamentations 3:46).“[All our enemies] have opened [patzu] their mouth against us” – why does peh come before ayin?74The verses...
“Even jackals take out a breast, nurse their pups; the daughter of my people has become cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness” (Lamentations 4:3).“Even jackals take out a breast,...
“The Lord vented His fury; He poured out His enflamed wrath. He ignited a fire in Zion, and it consumed her foundations” (Lamentations 4:11).“The Lord vented His fury; He poured ou...
“To our necks we have been pursued; we are exhausted, and we have no respite” (Lamentations 5:5).“To our necks we have been pursued.” Hadrian, may his bones be crushed, commanded a...
“They ravished women in Zion, maidens in the cities of Judah” (Lamentations 5:11).“They ravished women in Zion.” Nevuzaradan commanded his legions, saying to them: ‘The God of thes...
“The young men carried the mill, and the lads stumbled on the wood” (Lamentations 5:13).“The young men carried the mill.” You find that there was no mill in Babylon. When Nebuchadn...
“The crown of our head has fallen; woe to us, for we have sinned” (Lamentations 5:16).“The crown of our head has fallen.” Rabbi Yirmeya of Shavshav took an olive branch crown and t...
“Return us to You, Lord, and we will return; renew our days as of old” (Lamentations 5:21).“Return us to You, Lord, and we will return.” The congregation of Israel said before the ...
“That was in the Shushan citadel” – Rabbi Pinḥas said in the name of Rabbi Ḥananel: The Holy One blessed be He said to him: Cyrus referred to the name of His city and the name of H...
“One hundred and eighty days” – the last day was like the first day. There was an incident involving a certain man whose name was Barbohin. Our Sages went to him regarding matters ...
“Memukhan said before the king and the princes: It is not against the king alone that Vashti the queen has sinned; rather, it is against all the princes and all the peoples who are...
“In those days, Mordekhai was sitting at the king's gate; two of the king's officials, Bigtan and Teresh, among the doorkeepers, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Aḥashv...
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...
“Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himself to him and Haman was filled with wrath” (Esther 3:5).“Haman saw that Mordekhai was not bowing and prostrating himse...
“The king said: Who is in the court? Haman had come into the outer court of the king's palace, to tell the king to hang Mordekhai on the gibbet that he had prepared for him” (Esthe...
The Book of Esther opens with a single verse that the rabbis of Esther Rabbah read as a cry of anguish: "It was during the days of Ahasuerus" (Esther 1:1). But to understand why th...
God told Israel three separate times: do not go back to Egypt. According to Esther Rabbah, they violated every single warning and paid for every single one. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai ...
Cyrus, king of Persia, began with one of the most generous decrees in biblical history. He ended with one of the most foolish. Esther Rabbah traces exactly where his words went wro...
Ancient Jewish wisdom has something profound to say about that very human struggle. Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher living in Egypt in the first century CE, offered a uni...
Philo, the great Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, certainly did. And in the Midrash of Philo, we get a fascinating glimpse into his allegorical interpretations. He reads the Torah...
This particular midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), let's call it Midrash of Philo 5, offers what we might call a "noble panegyric" – high praise, really – for the just per...
It's in these tiny seeming inconsistencies that some of the most fascinating interpretations are born. Take the story of Noah and his sons, for instance. We all know the story: the...
The Torah, in its unflinching honesty, doesn't shy away from these tough questions. to one particularly weighty example. In (Genesis 15:13), God tells Abraham – Avraham, the patria...
The ancient sages certainly did. And they found profound meaning in that feeling. to a fascinating interpretation of a well-known biblical passage, explored in the Midrash of Philo...
These are the generations of Noah (Gen. 6:9). R. Tanhuma the son of Abba began the discussion of this subject with the verse: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he t...
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man … Noah walked with God (Gen. 6:9). Why is Noah’s name repeated three times in this single verse? Because he was one of t...
And God spoke to Noah, saying: “Go forth from the ark” (Gen. 8:15). May our master instruct us whether one is permitted to place saliva upon an ailing eye on the Sabbath. R. Hiyya ...
Go forth from the ark (Gen. 8:16). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to Thy name; the righteous shall crown th...
Another explanation of go forth from the ark. David said: Bring my soul out of prison (Ps. 142:8). Noah, while in the ark, prayed continually: Bring my soul out of prison, and it i...
And Noah, the husbandman, began and planted a vineyard (Gen. 9:20). Noah degraded himself when he began to till the soil. R. Judah the son of R. Shalum said: At first Noah was call...
And the Lord said unto Abram: “Get thee out of thy country” (Gen. 12:1). May it please our master to teach us whether an Israelite is permitted to take upon himself the yoke of the...
And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel (Gen. 14:1). May it please our master to teach us whether a slave obtains his freedom if his owner assigns all his property to him as a ...
After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram (Gen. 15:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: The wicked earneth false wages, but he that soweth righte...
And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son (Gen. 25:19). May it please our master to teach us why peace-offerings (sacrifices) were instituted?1There are three kinds of ...
Abraham begot Isaac (Gen. 25:19). R. Isaac stated; No generation lacks scoffers. While Nabal was shearing his flock, David sent some of his young men to him with the request: Give,...
