4,614 related texts · Page 11 of 97
They turned to midrash, a method of interpreting scripture that fills in gaps, answers questions, and breathes life into the text. Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage fr...
This particular midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically on Psalm 117, tackles the idea of praising God, but it does so in a way you might not expect. It starts wit...
Ever hear a story so wild, so larger-than-life, that you just have to lean in and ask, "Wait, really?" Well, buckle up, because we're diving into one of those tales today, straight...
Tonight, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, specifically chapter 35, that does just that. It centers on Jacob, later known as Israel, and a pivota...
We’re diving into some fascinating details from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, specifically chapter 36, a text brimming with tantalizing tidbits. Rabbi Eliezer paints a vivid picture of J...
It all starts with King David, and his ambition to conquer the land of Edom. According to this ancient text, David really wanted to come into the land of Edom, but he couldn't. Why...
It's not just geography; it’s woven into the very fabric of creation, a story about divine intention and a unique relationship. Imagine the world being divided, not along political...
The Torah gives us a fascinating glimpse of such a moment in the story of Bilam, the non-Jewish prophet hired to curse the Israelites. In Numbers, chapter 22, verse 31, we read: “T...
We find ourselves pondering this in Bereshit Rabbah 49, where Rabbi Eleazar raises a fascinating question. How do we understand instances in the Torah where individuals seem to be ...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. to a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, specifically section 65, to explor...
The story of Isaac blessing Jacob instead of Esau is one that resonates with that feeling, and the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) grappled with it intense...
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...
We find him at a crucial point in his life, facing a Divine encounter that echoes a previous one. The text in Bereshit Rabbah 82: “God appeared…again.” That little word "again" is ...
It's a poignant moment, and the book of Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, sheds light on the depth of that experience. "You are crossin...
"A man from the house of Levi went and he took a daughter of Levi" (Exodus 2:1). Simple enough. But the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), in Shemot Rabbah, ...
Beautiful. But what does that imagery evoke? Shir HaShirim Rabbah, a Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic collection (meaning a collection of interpretations and stories) f...
We get glimpses in the Torah, of course, but sometimes other ancient texts offer fascinating expansions on those stories. Take the Book of Jubilees, for example. It's an ancient Je...
The Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and Exodus, but with a fascinating emphasis on chronology and the observan...
After the ten plagues, after the final convulsions of the dying age, God revealed to Abraham the moment everything would change. "Then I will sound the trumpet out of the air and w...
Naphtali, eighth son of Jacob, born of Bilhah, was dying in his hundred and thirtieth year. His sons gathered on the first day of the seventh month. He was still in good health. He...
So, picture this: It’s the evening of the second day after the… ahem… agreement between Jacob's sons and the people of Shechem. You remember the agreement. The one where all the me...
The ancient texts are filled with such moments, none more potent than the confrontation between Judah and Joseph in Egypt. The story unfolds as the brothers, still unaware that the...
Joseph, having risen to power in Egypt, brings his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to visit his aging father. Now, you might think this would be a joyous occasion. A reunion of fam...
It’s a story of family betrayal, simmering rage, and, ultimately, a hard-won path to self-control. The drama unfolds like this: the brothers are out tending the flocks. Joseph, the...
But he's cunning. He doesn't just decree slavery outright. Instead, as we read in Legends of the Jews, he starts with a seemingly generous offer. For a whole month, Egyptians and I...
We all know the story: the Israelites, enslaved in Egypt, are finally led to freedom by Moses. But the Bible only gives us so much detail. What about the heavenly host? Were they j...
I've been pondering the story of the Levites, and how they came to be chosen in place of the firstborn sons. It's a fascinating tale, but it raises a question: What happens when th...
That’s the feeling that leaps off the page of this passage from Mitpachat Sefarim (מטפחת ספרים), a fascinating and relatively obscure work. The title itself, "Scroll Covering," hin...
When the sea split, the angels fell behind. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev reads the verse, "The angel of God who had been traveling in front of the Israelite camp moved to thei...
"When you take a census of the Children of Israel, each shall pay the Lord a ransom for his soul" (Exodus 30:12). Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev reads this as God offering the J...
Amalek's attack on Israel at Rephidim is only a few verses in (Exodus 17). The Targum Jonathan expands it into an epic confrontation with backstory, supernatural geography, and a w...
After two full years in prison, Pharaoh dreamed (Genesis 41:1). The midrash reads this through Psalm 73: "As an endless dream, the Lord despised their form." God does not reveal Hi...
The story of Koraḥ's challenge to Moses' leadership is a powerful one, filled with jealousy, ambition, and a profound questioning of divine authority. We find a particularly insigh...
to one fascinating example, found in Bereshit Rabbah 68, which takes a familiar image – Jacob's ladder – and connects it to a very different dream, that of King Nebuchadnezzar. Rem...
The ancient rabbis certainly did.It sheds light on the complex relationship between Leah, Jacob, and the birth of the tribes of Israel. The text opens with Leah going out to meet J...
That’s a feeling that echoes through the story of Dinah in the Book of Genesis, and it explodes with dramatic force in the rabbinic interpretations. Dinah, daughter of Leah, ventur...
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...
The sages of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), particularly in Bereshit Rabbah, that treasure trove of Genesis interpretations, weren't fond of repetition. They belie...
We all know the story, but Shemot Rabbah, a classic collection of midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)im – interpretations and expansions – on the Book of Exodus, offers a fa...
We all know the story from Genesis 34: how Jacob's daughter Dinah is defiled by Shechem, son of Hamor, and how Simeon and Levi exact a brutal revenge, slaughtering all the men of t...
Remember Joseph, the favored son sold into slavery in Egypt? He's now a powerful figure, and his brothers, unknowingly standing before him, are begging for the release of their you...
Buried in a cave near the Dead Sea for two thousand years, the War Scroll (Megillat HaMilchamah, מגילת המלחמה) lays out the most detailed battle plan ever written for the end of th...
The Garden of Eden is not a meadow. It is a city of palaces. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, there are...
When Naphtali grew old and felt his strength fading, he gathered his children and gave them one final command. It was not about silver or gold. "I speak to you about a very easy ma...
Today, we're going to talk about Job, a righteous man who, according to tradition, almost made it into the inner circle. The Book of Job, of course, tells the story of a man who su...
We pick up the story with God, shall we say, not thrilled with Michael. Apparently, Michael did something that harmed God's "first-born son." Who is this "first-born son?" Well, in...
The text tells us that Jacob, resigned to God's will, simply awaited his end. No struggle, no desperate clinging to life. But here's where it gets really interesting. It wasn't the...
The Torah is full of blessings, but it's not always straightforward. Some blessings are more potent than others, some are given grudgingly, and some come with unexpected consequenc...
