10,800 related texts · Page 207 of 225
The opening word of the Torah — Bereshit, "in the beginning" — has hidden agendas the sages loved to excavate. Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 3:1 records one of the boldest. R. J...
Three days after his circumcision at age ninety-nine, Abraham sat in pain at the entrance of his tent. Genesis 18:1-2 describes what happened next in language so compressed it hide...
Isaiah 66:22 drops a strange detail that sages noticed and never forgot: "For as the new heavens and the new earth which I make remain before Me." The definite articles — the new h...
The Torah tells us God spoke, and the world came to be. But how? Jewish tradition is rich with stories filling in those gaps, painting vivid pictures of the cosmic artistry involve...
To have a little piece of the Garden of Eden right in your own backyard... or, in this case, your own tent flap? Jewish tradition paints a beautiful picture of Sarah's tent, offeri...
It's a pretty wild idea, isn't it? That Jacob, the trickster, the wrestler with angels, the father of a sometimes-fractious family, is so central to the divine plan that his image ...
The Bible just drops them into the story. Where did they come from? It's one of those questions that has kept Jewish tradition busy for millennia. The simple answer? Adam and Eve d...
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 what if the Messianic role is actually a team effort? What if, as this radical idea from Deuteronomy Rabbah (3:17) suggests, the Messiah is actually two figures, coming togethe...
That feeling of imbalance, of unspoken credit, is something the ancient rabbis grappled with too. And we find a fascinating example of it right at the beginning of the Book of Numb...
We find it in (Numbers 3:4): "Nadav and Avihu died before the Lord when they offered alien fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. Elazar and Ita...
The verse "Speak to the children of Israel…" (Numbers 6:2) seems simple enough, but the Rabbis unpack it with incredible detail. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) imme...
And sometimes, the solutions to those disagreements come in the most unexpected forms… like, say, a blossoming staff. We find this story in Bamidbar Rabbah 18, which elaborates on ...
The Book of Numbers, in the Bamidbar Rabbah, grapples with this very question when describing the plague of fiery serpents. "The Lord sent the fiery serpents against the people, an...
According to the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), not at all. It's a question that comes to the fore when we delve into Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically chapter 20. The pas...
Our story today, drawn from Bamidbar Rabbah 20, a section of the classical Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), plunges us right into such a situation – a tale of Moabites, ...
The scene is set in (Numbers 25:6): “Behold, a man from the children of Israel came and brought near to his brethren the Midyanite woman, before the eyes of Moses, and before the e...
The Torah gives us some pretty strong clues, and it all boils down to how they chose to attack us. Think about the story of Balaam and Balak. Remember that? Balak, the King of Moab...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They found that very human feeling reflected in the Torah itself, specifically in the book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew. And they explore it in ...
It's not about being stingy, but about creating a sense of progression, a journey. Believe it or not, we find a hint of this idea in the book of Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically in se...
It’s a deeply human dilemma, and it appears even in the stories of our greatest leaders. to a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically section 22, to uncover just suc...
The verse in (Joshua 1:5) declares, "As I was with Moses, I will be with you." This promise seems to imply that Joshua would enjoy a life parallel to that of Moses, who lived to be...
The book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, recounts the Israelites' journey through the wilderness. In chapter 32, we encounter the tribes of Reuben and Gad. "The children of Reuben ...
It's more than just history or geography. It’s woven into the very fabric of our spiritual DNA. Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) teachi...
Our sages grappled with these questions ages ago, and in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, they offer some pretty striking analogies. Imagine a ...
In fact, the ancient Rabbis dove deep into the very first verses of Genesis to understand their roles. The Book of Genesis (1:14) tells us, "God said: Let there be lights in the fi...
It’s more than just a day off. It's a taste of paradise, a hint of the World to Come, a weekly reset button for the soul. And according to our sages, even the food tastes better! R...
Turns out, even the story of the Garden of Eden, that pivotal moment of eating the forbidden fruit, offers a lesson in precedence. Rabbi Ḥiyya, a sage from long ago, taught a fasci...
The verse in Genesis (6:14) states: "Craft for you an ark of cypress wood; you shall craft the ark with compartments, and you shall coat it within and without with pitch." Now, Rab...
That frustration, that sense of futility, echoes through a powerful passage in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Rabbi Abba kicks th...
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....
Today, we're diving into Bereshit Rabbah 42, a fascinating passage from the Midrash, the body of ancient rabbinic interpretations of Scripture. This passage looks at Genesis 14, sp...
We often imagine triumphant parades and grateful citizens. But what about the really awkward moments? Like when the defeated villains try to become your new best friends? That’s ki...
The verse in question is (Genesis 14:19): "He blessed him, and he said: Blessed is Abram to God, the Most High, Maker of heavens and earth." But another way to read it is "Acquirer...
Abraham, our patriarch, knew that feeling. In (Genesis 15:2), he cries out, "My Lord God, what will You give me, seeing that I go childless, and the one who has charge of my house ...
But in Bereshit Rabbah, that foundational midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) text, the rabbis unpack layers of meaning from even a single word. The verse uses the Hebrew ...
It's a fascinating, and sometimes complex, corner of Jewish law. Our guide for today is Bereshit Rabbah, a classic Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) text – meaning, a co...
But the Rabbis, in their infinite wisdom, saw so much more. The Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, dedicates a whole section to unp...
The ancient rabbis grappled with that all the time, and their discussions, preserved in texts like Bereshit Rabbah, offer some fascinating, and sometimes surprising, insights. We f...
It opens with the seemingly simple phrase: "At the entrance [petaḥ] of the tent [ohel]." This refers to Abraham sitting at the entrance of his tent, welcoming guests. But, as is so...
That’s the kind of feeling I get when I think about Abraham and that young bull. Let's set the scene. Remember when three divine guests show up at Abraham's tent in the heat of the...
What does it mean to approach God? That's precisely what the Rabbis grapple with in Bereshit Rabbah 49. The text opens with that powerful line from Genesis, "Abraham approached, an...
The Torah, in its infinite wisdom, gives us a glimpse into this very idea through the contrasting actions of Abraham and Lot. We find ourselves in Genesis chapter 19, where Lot enc...
After decades of barrenness, at a very, very advanced age, she miraculously conceives and gives birth to Isaac. In (Genesis 21:6), she exclaims, "God has made laughter for me; ever...
The Torah tells us that Abraham was old, zaken (Genesis 24:1). But the rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah 59 ask, what does that really signify? The rabbis dig deep, finding layers of meani...
We find a poignant example in the story of Abraham's burial, as recounted in Bereshit Rabbah 62, a section of the classic midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) collection th...
The verse in Genesis (25:21) tells us, "Isaac entreated the Lord opposite his wife, because she was barren, and the Lord acceded to his entreaty, and Rebecca his wife conceived." S...
Take the birth of Jacob and Esau, for example. Seems straightforward. But Bereshit Rabbah, the ancient rabbinic commentary on Genesis, dives deep, revealing layers of interpretatio...
