11,062 related texts · 38 related myths · Page 227 of 231
In (Genesis 31:43), after Jacob decides to leave Laban and return to his homeland, Laban confronts him, saying, "The girls are my daughters, and the boys are my sons, and the flock...
In (Genesis 31:51), we hear Laban say to Jacob, "Here is this pile and here is the monument that I have established between me and you.” Now, this might sound like a simple boundar...
One that stings, and echoes through the ages. We see it play out in the story of Jacob and Esau. In (Genesis 32:7), Jacob's messengers return with a troubling report: "We came to y...
Antoninos, a Roman emperor known for his dialogues with Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi (the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law)), poses a question about this verse. Ra...
Why the Rod of Wickedness Cannot Rest on the Just is the question behind this passage from Bereshit Rabbah. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana and Rabbi Yitzḥak, two wise voices from the past, ...
Jewish tradition certainly has. There's a fascinating story in Bereshit Rabbah 89 that makes you think twice about speaking carelessly. The story begins simply enough. A woman appr...
The rabbis of Bereshit Rabbah, an ancient and profound commentary on the Book of Genesis, don't just take things at face value. They see echoes, connections, and hidden meanings wo...
Jacob, seeing a famine in the land, tells his sons, "Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?" (Genesis 42:1). Simple enough. But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive co...
The story begins with Jacob observing his sons. "Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?" he asks them. But what exactly did he mean? According to this Midrash (rabbinic interpreti...
Our journey begins with a seemingly simple verse from (Genesis 42:5): "The sons of Israel came to acquire grain among [betokh] those who came, as the famine was in the land of Cana...
It centers around the verse: "He slaughtered feast-offerings to the God of his father Isaac" (Genesis 46:1). Why Isaac? Why not Abraham, the patriarch of them all? Rabbi Yehoshua b...
It's even woven into the very fabric of the Torah. we read in (Genesis 47:28), "Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one...
Our Sages, delving deep into the Torah, confront this very idea in Bereshit Rabbah 97, a section of the ancient Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary). They begin with a verse ...
The Torah tells us, "Jacob called to his sons, and he said: Gather, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days. Assemble and hear, sons of Jacob, and listen to Isr...
First, "Naphtali is a doe let loose [sheluḥa]." The Rabbis connect this to the land of Naphtali being full of irrigated fields [beit hashelaḥin]. They point to (Deuteronomy 3:17), ...
The book of Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic homilies on the Book of Genesis, gives us a peek into just that, focusing on the patriarch Jacob and the sage Rabbeinu Yehuda ...
The Torah portion of Vayechi recounts the death of Jacob and the journey to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah. We read in Genesis (50:10-11): “They came to the threshing floor of A...
Our sages explore the depths of these words, seeking to understand the true scope of Moses’s blessing. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov points out something fascinating: The text doesn't s...
It's not always as simple as a direct hand from above. Sometimes, there's a cosmic chess game happening behind the scenes. Devarim Rabbah, in its very first section, opens with a p...
The Torah is full of these stories, and they often leave us scratching our heads. One such story is that of Moses, perhaps the greatest prophet in Jewish history, who led the Israe...
The familiar telling remembers the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the mighty hand of God... But what about the internal processes, the spiritual shifts that paved the way for...
Devarim Rabbah, in its unique way, uses a verse from Deuteronomy as a springboard to explore just that. The verse in question is (Deuteronomy 4:39): "You shall know this day and re...
It all starts with the verse, “You shall know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God” (Deuteronomy 7:9). Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba uses a parable to unpack this idea. Imagi...
It's a poignant moment, and the book of Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, illuminates the depth of that experience. "You are crossing t...
Devarim Rabbah turns to Moses Invokes the Patriarchs to Save Israel From God's Wrath. The story starts with a seemingly simple statement: "carve for you." The verse in Deuteronomy ...
Devarim Rabbah reads Miriam's punishment as a warning about speech, kinship, and the priestly power to diagnose tzara'at. We find ourselves drawn to (Deuteronomy 24:9): “Remember w...
Take reading from the Torah, for example. The verse From this, the Rabbis ask: if someone's reading from the Torah, what's the fewest number of verses they're allowed to read? Is t...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the book of Deuteronomy, opens our eyes to just how deeply Torah can impact us. It starts with a verse from Proverbs (4:22): “...
In (Deuteronomy 31:14), God says to Moses, "Behold, your days are approaching to die; summon Joshua, and stand in the Tent of Meeting and I will command him." This verse, "Behold, ...
The Book of Deuteronomy, or Devarim in Hebrew, opens with Moses preparing to bless the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. But the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic inter...
It sounds almost unbelievable, doesn't it? Yet, according to Devarim Rabbah, this is precisely the monumental struggle Moses faced at the end of his life. Rabbi Yoḥanan tells us th...
It starts with a bang: "Vanity of vanities, said Kohelet; vanity of vanities, everything is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). But what does that even mean? What is this "vanity," this he...
"For to the man who is good before Him, He gave wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gave the task to gather and to amass, to give to one who is good before God. This, ...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to Elijah — Moses at the Dawn of Creation. The first part, "What has been, already is," gets a fascinating unpacking. Imagine someone questioning if the entire...
That’s a feeling woven deep into the tradition of Jewish tradition, a feeling the rabbis grappled with intensely. how they expressed it. The story begins with the passing of Ḥiyya ...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, wrestles with these very feelings. One verse in particular, (Ecclesiastes 6:10), really gets to the heart of it: "What...
It's woven into the very fabric of our faith. Rabbi Berekhya, in Kohelet Rabbah, makes a powerful point: acts of kindness appear at the beginning, middle, and end of the Torah. ! F...
King Solomon, wisest of all men, apparently felt that too. (Ecclesiastes 7:23) reads, "All this I attempted with wisdom; I said: I will become wise, but it is far from me." What do...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to The Woman Whose Heart Is Snares - Temptation in Kohelet. It begins by saying, "as she traps in the sea and on dry land." Think of it: a presence that's perv...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this constantly. And one particular verse, (Ecclesiastes 8:10), has sparked a lot of fascinating interpr...
The book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible grapples with these very feelings. There's a verse in chapter 9, verse 11, that really gets to the heart of it: "I again saw under the sun tha...
Take this one, from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes. It's a powerful allegory, and one we can all relate to. The story begins: ...
Our sages grappled with it too, and one place where they explore this idea is in Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes. The verse in ...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to Wisdom of Yoav. The story goes that Yoav was laying siege to the city of Avel Beit Maakha, and things were about to get ugly. But then, a wise woman, identi...
It all starts with a verse from Ecclesiastes (10:10): “If the iron is dull, and one did not whet the edge, he must intensify his exertion; the advantage is in preparation with wisd...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, explores this very human experience, urging us to be mindful of our thoughts and words, especi...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, as it’s known in Hebrew, ends with this rather stark line: "For every action God will bring to judgment, for every unknown, whether good or ev...
"These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his household" – that’s how the Book of Exodus begins. But what does that have to do wit...
