4,614 related texts · Page 16 of 97
The Mekhilta reinforces Rabbi Tarfon's teaching about the tribe of Judah with a verse from Psalms. "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from the people of a foreign t...
The "morning" of Jacob—(Ibid. 28:18) "and Jacob rose early in the morning, etc." The "morning" of Moses—Exodus 34:4) "and Moses rose early in the morning, etc." The "morning" of Jo...
And all who help Israel, help, as it were, the Holy One Blessed be He, viz. (Judges 5:23) "Curse Meroz, said the angel of the L–rd. Curse bitterly its dwellers. For they came not t...
Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Shimon used a vivid and startling metaphor to describe how the Israelites ate in the wilderness. They said Israel "stuffed themselves like horses" when the ma...
Jacob was one of the four righteous people whom God gave a hint about the future. But Jacob, the Mekhilta says, failed to take the hint — and the consequences reveal something prof...
God made a statement to Israel that the Mekhilta reads as one of the most intimate promises in Scripture: "And you shall be unto Me." Not unto an angel. Not unto an intermediary. U...
Beloved are the strangers, for by every epithet that Israel is called, the strangers are called. Israelites are called "servants," as it is written (Leviticus 25:55) "For unto Me t...
It's a powerful, heartbreaking moment in our history. But what if I told you that in their darkest hour, God chose to share their pain, to literally go into exile with them? There'...
Jewish tradition offers a beautiful and powerful image: they're gathered by an angel named Sandalphon and transformed into crowns for God. Every word, every intention, every heartf...
It’s a story filled with heavenly drama, a little bit of divine negotiation, and even a touch of angelic jealousy. The tale begins, as many of the best do, with God having a plan. ...
But Jewish tradition gives us some truly incredible details about that moment, details that speak to the power and the responsibility that come with accepting God's word. The story...
That’s kind of the vibe around Jacob's famous vision. We all know the story: Jacob, on the run from his brother Esau, is trekking from Beersheva to Haran. (Genesis 28:11) simply sa...
That, in essence, is the heart of this powerful story about Jacob and the destruction of the Temple. Tradition tells us that in the lead-up to the destruction of the Temple in Jeru...
His twelve sons, the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, are gathered around him. They’re not just there to say goodbye. They're there for something more. According to Targ...
Where did they get clothes? How did they stay clean? It's the kind of thing that keeps rabbis up at night, apparently. And it leads us to some pretty amazing stories in the Midrash...
Our tradition is filled with such moments, and one of the most powerful surrounds Jacob's famous dream. We find it in the book of Genesis, where Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esa...
Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms, offers us a fascinating take on (Psalm 117:1), "Praise the Lord, all nations." It’s not as simple as a univ...
It's not like God shows mercy to Israel for a year or two and then calls it quits! The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) suggests something much deeper is at play here. Th...
In fact, it teaches us that it's really not fitting to sing your own praises… unless someone else steps up to vouch for you. But then, who vouches for God? That's the question pose...
And they wrestled with those feelings in their writings, seeking solace and understanding. to a passage from Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms...
That feeling is at the heart of Psalm 124, a song of ascent traditionally sung by pilgrims on their way to the Temple in Jerusalem. But there's so much more to it than just a simpl...
Here he is, a man learned in Torah, yet understandably terrified of receiving his father's curse instead of a blessing. Can you blame him? His mother, Rebecca, steps in, offering a...
Jacob certainly did. We find him waking up, not with a stretch and a yawn, but in sheer terror. Why? Because of a dream, of course. A dream of a ladder stretching to the heavens, a...
This ancient text, a treasure trove of Jewish legend and lore, offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of our ancestors. Here, the verse from (Proverbs 4:12), "When thou goest,...
Our guide today is a passage from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a captivating work of Jewish legend and lore. Specifically, we're looking at Chapter 36, which touches on some pretty sign...
The ancient texts are full of such moments, and they often reveal hidden truths about human nature. to one of those stories, a fascinating take on the reunion of Jacob and Esau. Re...
We know the story of their fraught relationship, the birthright, the blessing... but what about the inheritance? It's a question that takes us deep into the heart of sibling rivalr...
That’s the kind of secret we’re diving into today, a painful moment ripped from the story of Joseph and his brothers. We find ourselves in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Chapter 38, a fas...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), dives right into this question. It presents a somewhat… unusual… perspective on how...
The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating and often poetic work of Midrash (Jewish Biblical exegesis), gives us a glimpse into the hearts and minds of the Israelites at that pivota...
We read the story every Passover, we sing the songs, but sometimes the sheer horror of it can get lost in the ritual. Rabbi Akiva, a towering figure in Jewish tradition, pulls no p...
In the Book of Bamidbar (Numbers 19:1-2), we read: "And the L-rd spoke to Aaron and to Moses saying: This is the statute of the Torah, which the L-rd has commanded, saying: Speak t...
It's so central to Jewish prayer, so foundational to our understanding of G-d, that we might sometimes take it for granted. But the rabbis of old saw so much depth and meaning pack...
According to Sifrei Devarim, before Jacob's passing, he gathered his sons. But it wasn’t just a sentimental family reunion. First, he rebuked them, each individually, and then he a...
It's not always as simple as being the oldest, especially when we delve into Jewish tradition. We’re talking about inheritance, specifically the rights of the bechor, the firstborn...
The ritual of bringing bikkurim, the first fruits, required every Israelite farmer to recite a specific formula—a declaration of gratitude and remembrance. The Sifrei Devarim, a co...
Is it just for a select few, a royal inheritance? Or is it for everyone? Sifrei Devarim, a fascinating commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, tackles this head-on. It begins by que...
Our ancestors wrestled with these questions, and their answers, preserved in ancient texts, still resonate today. to a fascinating passage from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of earl...
Genesis 27 is one of the most psychologically complex chapters in the Torah—the aged Isaac, blind and dying, tricked by his own wife and son into blessing the wrong heir. The Targu...
The story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28 is one of the most famous visions in all of scripture—a ladder reaching to heaven, angels ascending and descending. But the Targum Jonatha...
Joseph's sale into slavery is one of the most dramatic episodes in Genesis. But the Targum Jonathan adds details that the Hebrew original never mentions, turning a family tragedy i...
The Torah's account of Jacob blessing Joseph's sons is already dramatic—the old patriarch crossing his hands to favor the younger son over the firstborn. But Targum Jonathan adds l...
The death of Moses in (Deuteronomy 34) is eight verses in the Torah. Targum Jonathan turns it into one of the most elaborate death scenes in all of ancient Jewish literature. From ...
The Talmud in Chagigah 12b asks a foundational question: what holds up the world? The answer, according to Rabbi Yosei, is a chain of impossible supports—each one resting on someth...
When the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea, the ministering angels wanted to sing. God stopped them cold. According to Megillah 10b, He said: "My handiwork is drowning in the ...
The Hebrew Bible says Balaam saw "a star shall come from Jacob, and a scepter shall arise from Israel" (Numbers 24:17). Targum Onkelos renders this as: "A king has gone forth from ...
Simeon ben Rabbi forgot to invite Bar Kappara to dinner. The latter wrote on the door: ‘‘After joy death.” Invited afterwards to another dinner, he kept the guests so amused by his...
"These are the generations of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac" (Genesis 25:19). The verse says it twice, and the rabbis asked why. Their answer: to show that the gift gi...
