5,406 related texts · 40 related myths · Page 112 of 113
If so, you're in good company. Jewish tradition teaches us that God has a special connection to the persecuted, the downtrodden, the ones who are constantly being pursued. It's a t...
Vayikra Rabbah turns to The Righteous God Who Knows the Needs of Every Animal. Rabbi Berekhya, quoting Rabbi Levi, connects this seemingly simple law to (Proverbs 12:10): “The righ...
Vayikra Rabbah turns to Rosh Hashanah and the Heavenly Realms. Rabbi Yoshiya starts us off with a verse from (Psalms 89:16): “Happy are the people who know the blast; they walk, Lo...
Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba, quoting Rabbi Levi, starts us off with a rather blunt assessment of humanity, citing (Psalm 62:10): “People are nothingness; men are but deceit; they rise tog...
Our ancestors felt it too. to a fascinating little piece from Vayikra Rabbah, a Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) collection that unpacks the book of Leviticus. This par...
Our tradition sees it as a symbol, a prophecy even, about the future of the Jewish people. The Torah tells us, "Abraham lifted his eyes and saw that behold, there was a ram, after ...
In Jewish tradition, the number seven is definitely one of those numbers. It’s not just a random figure; it's woven into the very fabric of our understanding of the world and our r...
The verse in Leviticus (23:40) instructs us: "You shall take for you on the first day the fruit of a pleasant tree, branches of date palms, and a bough of a leafy tree, and willows...
The lulav, the palm branch we wave during Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, carries a darker warning than it first appears to. Vayikra Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic in...
Take, for instance, the four species we use on Sukkot – the etrog (citron), the lulav (date palm frond), the hadass (myrtle), and the aravah (willow). They aren't just random plant...
Vayikra Rabbah turns to Rabbi Akiva Spent Rabbi Tarfon's Investment on Torah Teachers. The story goes that Rabbi Tarfon gave Rabbi Akiva a significant sum – six hundred silver tale...
Rabbi Elazar, in Vayikra Rabbah 35, offers a powerful comparison. He says, "The way of the world is that a king issues a decree; if he wishes to fulfill it, he fulfills it, and if ...
“How does the greatly crowded city sit alone? She has become like a widow. Great among the nations, a princess among the states: She has become a vassal” (Lamentations 1:1).“How [e...
There was an incident in which Rabbi Yehoshua was walking along the path.49This was a path through a field that was created by people traversing it. A certain person found him walk...
“I remember my song in the night; I meditate with my heart, and my spirit searches” (Psalms 77:7). Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon and Rabbi Aivu.58The text of the midrash (rabbinic i...
“She has no comforter.” Rabbi Levi said: Any place that it is stated: “Has no [ein],” [ultimately] she will have. “Sarai was barren, she had no [ein] child” (Genesis 11:30), but [u...
“The adversary extended his hand over all her delights; for she saw the nations entering her Sanctuary, whom You had commanded that they should not enter Your assembly” (Lamentatio...
“How the Lord has clouded [ya’iv] the daughter of Zion in His wrath.” Rabbi Ḥama bar Rabbi Ḥanina said: How did the Lord condemn in His wrath the daughter of Zion?8Rabbi Ḥama inter...
“And did not remember His footstool [hadom raglav],” Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak said: The Holy One blessed be He does not remember that blood [hadam] that was between the legs of the...
“The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, are silent. They have placed dust on their heads, have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem have lowere...
“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...
“Let him sit alone and be silent, because He has laid it upon him” (Lamentations 3:28).“Let him sit alone and be silent” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: The Holy One blessed be He ...
“The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world did not believe that an adversary and enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem” (Lamentations 4:12).“The kings of the e...
Rabbi Akiva was sitting and lecturing and his students [began] dozing. He sought to rouse them; he said: Why did Esther merit to rule over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces? R...
“In those days, when King Aḥashverosh was sitting on his royal throne that was in the Shushan citadel” (Esther 1:2). This is one of the places15The reference to “places” is unclear...
“He said to Mehuman, Bizzeta, Ḥarvona” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He called the angel who is appointed over fury16A reference to the verse: “Quee...
“The king was very angry and his fury burned within him.” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: At that moment, The Holy One blessed be He said to the angel appointed over fury: Descend and blow win...
“There was a Judean man in the Shushan citadel, and his name was Mordekhai, son of Ya'ir, son of Shimi, son of Kish, a Benjamite” (Esther 2:5).“There was a Judean man [ish] in the ...
“With the arrival of the turn of Esther, daughter of Aviḥayil uncle of Mordekhai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go to the king, she did not request anything except that whi...
“Esther did not disclose her family or her people, as Mordekhai had commanded her; Esther followed Mordekhai’s instructions, as it was when she was fostered by him” (Esther 2:20).“...
“When they [the king’s servants] spoke to him [Mordekhai] daily and he did not heed them, they told Haman, to see whether Mordekhai’s words would prevail; for he had told to them t...
“In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Aḥashverosh, he had cast a pur, that is, the lot, before Haman for each day and for each month, to the tw...
“If it pleases the king, let it be written to eliminate them and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver by the hands of the king's craftsmen, to bring to the king's treasu...
“The king rose in his fury from the wine banquet to the palace garden and Haman stood to plead for his life from Esther the queen, for he saw that the king has resolved to do him h...
Maybe that feeling is a tiny glimpse into the ultimate truth: that everything is sacred. Philo, the 1st-century Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, certainly thought so. He envisio...
Central to Judaism is the absolute oneness of God. It’s right there in the Shema, that foundational declaration: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:...
Our tradition teaches us a vital principle: we don't prostrate ourselves before the Sefer Torah, the Torah scroll itself. It's not about worshipping parchment and ink. Instead, as ...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They wrestled with theological concepts that could easily lead to heresy, constantly defending the core belief in one God against any notion of mu...
The answer, as with so many profound questions, lies deep within Jewish tradition, and grapples with some pretty mind-bending concepts, especially when we explore Kabbalah. But som...
The one who, according to (Genesis 5:24), simply "was not, for God took him." A verse so simple, yet so… strange. What does it even mean? That’s the question that sets the stage fo...
One such answer comes from a text attributed to Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher who lived in Egypt during the first century. While scholars debate whether he actually pen...
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...
Take the covenant God makes with Abraham in Genesis 15. It's a big moment. God promises Abraham this whole huge swathe of land for his descendants. But then it gets…well, geographi...
Stick with me. We find a fascinating idea tucked away in the Midrash of Philo, a collection of interpretations attributed to the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria. It's all ab...
The mystics imagined it, and what they saw is The story goes that when God decided to create Adam, it wasn't a snap of the fingers. It was a process. A cosmic sculpting project, if...
The story of Abraham and Isaac, the Akeidah (the binding), grapples with these very questions. Abraham and Sarah, living in the Land of Israel, yearned for a child. Their lives wer...
Midrash Tanchuma turns to The Parting Of The Red Sea. The story, as we find it in Exodus 14, begins with God telling Moses, "Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go for...
And there was a famine in the land (Gen. 12:10) What is stated in Scripture prior to this verse? It is written: And the Lord said to Abraham: “Get thee.” Blessed be the name of the...
