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King David once questioned the purpose of three seemingly useless or harmful creatures: the gnat, the spider, and the fool. "Why did God create these things?" he asked. "The gnat b...
Dreams have at all times and among all peoples received much attention. In the youth of a nation, as in the youth of an individual, dreams are so vivid that they appear to be hardl...
After Sodom's destruction, Abraham journeyed on. He left the ruined plain behind and moved — not fleeing, not grieving, just continuing. Job had the language for this: "The mountai...
Esau sees that the women of Canaan displease his father Isaac (Genesis 28:8). So what does he do? He goes and marries a daughter of Ishmael. Adding trouble upon trouble, the rabbis...
The vision of Obadiah — the shortest prophetic book in the Hebrew Bible — is entirely about the punishment of Edom. Rabbi Berachiah asked: why did God choose Obadiah specifically f...
"And the El Shaddai grant you mercy" (Genesis 43:14). Jacob is sending Benjamin to Egypt — his youngest, his only remaining connection to Rachel, the son he can least afford to los...
Serah, daughter of Asher, one of Jacob's sons. We find her name nestled in the list of those who went down to Egypt with Jacob to escape the famine. You can find it in (Genesis 46:...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Bamidbar Rabbah, specifically section 2, which gives us a peek into the lives of Aaron's sons, Elazar and Itamar, and their role...
Every. Single. One. Think about the logistics! As it says in Bamidbar Rabbah (Numbers Rabbah), Moses was understandably a little… hesitant. "You want me to go into every courtyard,...
(Numbers 6:24). It’s more than just a nice sentiment. It’s a layered blessing, packed with meaning and implications. Let's unpack it, shall we? Bamidbar Rabbah, a classic collectio...
And the very first offering? It's from Naḥshon, son of Aminadav, from the tribe of Judah. We read, "The one who presented his offering on the first day was Naḥshon..." (Numbers 7:1...
It’s a fascinating glimpse into ancient ritual and devotion. Today, we're diving into some of the details, specifically as recorded in Bamidbar Rabbah 13, a section of the great co...
The text opens with a seemingly simple observation about the dedication offerings brought by the princes of the tribes. "On the third day, prince of the children of Zebulun, Eliav ...
It’s a question that our Sages grappled with, and Bamidbar Rabbah 14 dives deep into the reasons behind this seemingly small detail. The verse we’re focusing on is from (Numbers 7:...
That’s kind of the situation the Israelites found themselves in after the sin of the spies. They'd just heard a terrifying report about the Land of Israel and, gripped by fear, the...
It all starts in (Numbers 16:1): “Koraḥ, son of Yitzhar son of Kehat son of Levi, and Datan and Aviram, sons of Eliav, and On, son of Pelet, sons of Reuben, took…” Took what, you a...
It’s a question that echoes through the story of Moses and the waters of Mei Meriva – the waters of dispute. "These are the waters of dispute, where the children of Israel quarrele...
The text opens with God's command to Moses: "Take the vengeance of the children of Israel against the Midianites; then you will be gathered to your people" (Numbers 31:2). It seems...
It all revolves around the verse, "For you are coming to the land of Canaan." Seemingly straightforward. But the Rabbis, with their insatiable curiosity and profound insights, dig ...
But even the great rabbis of old disagreed about the answer! In fact, Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish – two towering figures of Jewish tradition – had a fascinating debat...
The story of Cain and Abel, as explored in Bereshit Rabbah, the ancient rabbinic commentary on Genesis, offers some pretty profound insights. We all know the basic story: Cain and ...
Rabbi Yoḥanan, a prominent Jewish sage, offers a fascinating, and perhaps surprising, perspective. He says that the sentence, the punishment, of the generation of the Flood lasted ...
It turns out, our sages have been wrestling with that feeling for centuries. Rabbi Yoḥanan opens with a powerful proverb: "One who repays good with evil, evil will not move from hi...
We all know the basics: humanity, united by a single language, attempts to build a tower reaching the heavens. God, seeing this as a threat, scatters them and confuses their langua...
It all starts with Abraham, of course, and his legendary hospitality. The passage opens with Abraham's plea: "My Lord, please, if I have found favor in Your eyes, please do not dep...
Our story today comes from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis. Specifically, we're looking at section 63, which delves into the lives ...
That feeling is at the heart of our story today, a story about brothers, blessings, and a whole lot of bad blood. We're diving into Bereshit Rabbah, specifically section 67, a Midr...
Dreams have always held a special fascination, and Jewish tradition is no exception. Take the famous dream of Jacob in (Genesis 28:12): "He dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set on...
Take the story of Jacob meeting Rachel at the well. It seems straightforward: boy meets girl, asks about her family, gets the scoop. But according to Bereshit Rabbah, ancient rabbi...
It’s truly fascinating. In (Genesis 30:14), we read about Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son, finding dudaim (דּוּדָאִים) in the field. The verse states: "Reuben went during the days of wh...
In (Genesis 33:10), Jacob pleads with Esau, saying, "Please, no, if I have found favor in your eyes, receive my gift from me, for therefore, I have seen your face, as the sight of ...
The ancient rabbis grappled with that very feeling when they looked at the story of Dina, Jacob’s daughter, in the Book of Genesis. The Torah tells us that Dina went out to visit t...
to a fascinating piece of ancient wisdom from Bereshit Rabbah, specifically section 83, that does just that. Rabbi Aivu starts us off with an intriguing observation. Before Israel ...
Sometimes, a seemingly minor detail can open up a whole world of interpretation. to a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book...
The Torah certainly understands that feeling. Take this little phrase we find in (Genesis 38:12): "The days accumulated…" Sounds innocuous. But in Bereshit Rabbah, the classic coll...
It's amazing what you can find when you start digging! Take the story of Tamar giving birth to twins, Perez and Zerah (Genesis 38:27-30). Did you know that even the way the word "t...
But peel back the layers, and you'll find a fascinating tapestry of interpretations woven by our sages. The Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah 98, for example, don't just see a vineyard. Th...
The verse we're talking about is (Genesis 49:12), part of Jacob's blessings to his sons: "His eyes shall be red from wine, and his teeth white from milk.” Now, on the surface, it s...
The story of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, is a powerful illustration of just that – a tale of lost potential, impulsive actions, and the consequences that ripple through generations....
The verse in question is (Ecclesiastes 2:6): “I made myself pools of water to irrigate from them a forest which grows trees.” Sounds straightforward enough. But what does it really...
The book of Ecclesiastes, Kohelet in Hebrew, certainly grapples with that feeling. "I hated life," it says, "because the actions performed under the sun were distressing to me; as ...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, to explore this very dilemma. The passage ...
It all starts with the verse from (Ecclesiastes 5:6): "So it is with a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words; rather, fear God.” The verse seems to be saying that too muc...
We often think of the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, as the core, the foundation. But what about all the rest? What about the details, the nuances, the things that seem to go beyo...
We all do. But what if I told you that ancient wisdom offers a powerful image to help us understand – and maybe even control – that inner fire? The verse from Ecclesiastes, 7:9, wa...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as we know it, uses some pretty powerful imagery to describe the fragility of life and the descent into mortality. And the Rabbis, in their inf...
The book of Exodus tells us that Moses fled Pharaoh after killing an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave (Exodus 2:15). But Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretati...
The Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) thought Pharaoh knew exactly how that felt when he finally let the Israelites leave Egypt. Shemot Rabbah, a compilation...
