4,614 related texts · Page 24 of 97
(Psalm 27:13), "If I did not believe in seeing the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living..." It’s a powerful line, isn't it? A raw admission of vulnerability, immediately ...
We all know the story: Moses raises his staff, the waters part, and the Israelites walk through on dry land to escape Pharaoh. But Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), that ...
We read about it every year during Passover, the triumphant moment of freedom. But have you ever paused to imagine the aftermath? The Book of Exodus tells us, "And Israel saw the E...
Rabbi José, in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, paints a vivid picture – a stark contrast, really – of that momentous night. On one side, you have the Israelites. Picture them: finally free...
They burst into song! Remember the verse? "Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord..." (Exodus 15:1). Pure, unadulterated joy, expressed in music. But then...
We know the story: fleeing from his brother Esau, he rests his head on a stone and has this incredible vision. But the Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of Midrash (rabbinic interpreti...
It wasn't just about personal cleanliness; it was about maintaining a state of holiness, a separation from anything that could defile the sacred space. And as we read in Sifrei Bam...
Our story today comes from Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Numbers. We’re looking at Bamidbar (Numbers) 7:6: "And Moses took the wagons and th...
Seems like a prime opportunity for spiritual growth. But Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Numbers, pulls no punches. It points out a rather gla...
It’s a fascinating topic, and today we're diving into a passage from Sifrei Bamidbar, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Numbers, that sheds light on just that. T...
That’s the fascinating idea we find in the book of Numbers, Bamidbar, specifically in verse 18:20. It says, "And the L-rd said to Aaron: In their land you will not inherit, and you...
It's more than just giving ten percent, it's a deeply nuanced system. to a passage from Sifrei Bamidbar, specifically section 120, to unpack some of the details. The verse in quest...
The ancient rabbis pondered this very human feeling, but they turned it on its head. What if, even in our darkest moments, in our deepest exiles, we are never truly alone? What if ...
It paints a picture of the Israelites poised on the edge of the Promised Land, a moment brimming with both anticipation and uncertainty. In Devarim 1:7, we hear the call: "Turn and...
The Torah, our guide through life's complexities, anticipates these moments. Imagine this: you see someone struggling. Maybe their animal is overloaded and collapsing under the wei...
The core of this passage revolves around the first tithe, the ma'aser rishon. This was a portion of the harvest given to the Levites, the tribe dedicated to serving in the Temple. ...
It all starts with a verse in Devarim (Deuteronomy 18:1): "There shall not be to the Cohanim, the Levi'im, the entire tribe of Levi, a portion and an inheritance with Israel." Okay...
The passage centers around (Deuteronomy 18:6), dealing with the rights and roles of the Levites. Now, who were the Levites? They were members of the tribe of Levi, designated for s...
Specifically, who gets to marry into the Jewish people. The passage we're looking at comes from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy. Th...
It’s a question that’s occupied Jewish thinkers for centuries, and one passage in Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)im on the Book of ...
Sometimes, diving into the nitty-gritty of old texts reveals surprisingly human stories and concerns. Let's take a peek at a passage from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal inte...
But what if the answer lies not in geopolitics, but in something far more ancient, far more…divine? to a fascinating passage from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic leg...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal midrash on the book of Deuteronomy, poses a fascinating question about a seemingly simple phrase: "before his death." It appears in the co...
Turns out, the Torah might have some surprising advice for us, hidden in the very last words Moses ever spoke to the Israelites. It’s in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 33:2, part of Moses' ...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Sifrei Devarim 352, which explores this concept through the story of the tribe of Benjamin and a mysterious plot of land in Jeri...
Targum Jonathan takes the story of Jacob's settlement in Egypt and layers it with theological details the Torah never mentions—including an economic revolution, a hidden act of kin...
The standard book of Exodus says an angel appeared to Moses in the burning bush. The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation composed in the land of Israel, names that ange...
When Moses and Aaron first confronted Pharaoh and demanded he release Israel, the Hebrew Bible records Pharaoh's defiant reply: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?" (Ex...
The revelation at Sinai is awe-inspiring in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan on (Exodus 19) makes it terrifying. It adds details about God physically uprooting the mountain, I...
Leviticus 26 contains the blessings and curses—God's promise of abundance for obedience and a cascading nightmare for rebellion. The Targum Jonathan adds a breathtaking historical ...
The Targum Jonathan transforms the consecration of the Levites from a brief ritual into an elaborate purification involving specific quantities of water, a razor over every inch of...
Bileam tried one last trick before delivering his final oracle. According to the Targum's version of (Numbers 24), he "set his face toward the wilderness, to recall to memory the w...
The tribes of Reuben and Gad had enormous herds, and when they saw the conquered territory east of the Jordan, they wanted to stay. The Targum's version of (Numbers 32) captures Mo...
The Targum's version of (Numbers 34) maps the Promised Land's borders with a level of geographic specificity that goes far beyond the Torah's terse boundary markers. The southern b...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 6) contains one of the most beloved stories in all of rabbinic literature—and it appears right in the middle of the most sacred prayer in Judais...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 11) turns the promise of rain into a precisely timed agricultural calendar. The Hebrew says God will give "the early rain and the late rain." Th...
The rabbis asked a strange question: why did King Solomon compare Israel to a walnut? Not a cedar, not a vine, not wheat — a walnut. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sichnan, speaking in the name...
The Hebrew Bible records Balaam's first two oracles over Israel (Numbers 23), and both times, the pagan prophet finds himself unable to curse what God has blessed. Targum Onkelos t...
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says, “There are three matters that the earthly court did and the heavenly court agreed with them, and these are they: Reading the Scroll [of Esther on Puri...
Benjamin the Righteous served as the guardian of the community charity fund. Every donation that came in, every disbursement that went out, passed through his honest hands. The peo...
Rabbi Judah HaNasi needed to send a teacher to the town of Simonia. The community there required a sage who could teach Torah, render legal decisions, and guide the people. He chos...
High Priest Simeon & Alexander. Taanit, f. 7 b, 88 b. Meg. Taanit, ch. 9, 21 st Kislev. Yoma, f. 69 a. cf. 61 a. cf. J. Berakhot, IV, 1. cf. Pesikta, Parah. Pesikta Zutta to Exod. ...
"The eternal God is thy dwelling-place, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27). Jacob came to Egypt to find his son alive — the son he had grieved for twenty-...
Moses stood before Israel and said: "You have been shown to know that the Lord, He is God; there is none beside Him" (Deuteronomy 4:35). Not told — shown. The plagues, the sea, the...
"Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?" (Malachi 2:10). Judah approaches Joseph — who is not yet revealed as his brother — and identifies his family: "We, your twe...
In the book of Numbers, Bamidbar, we find a census being taken. But there's a twist. "However, the tribe of Levi you shall not count" (Numbers 1:49). Why this exclusion? Bamidbar R...
Sometimes, a seemingly simple verse can unlock a whole world of understanding about God's relationship with us. to one such passage from Numbers, specifically 3:11-13. It starts pl...
It’s a story of sin, substitution, and…redemption. Originally, get this, the b’chorim—the firstborn sons—held a special spiritual role. They were designated to perform sacred servi...
