4,614 related texts · Page 3 of 97
The story of Deborah unfolds not long after the time of Ruth, another woman held up as an ideal. The Book of Judges tells us that after the death of Ehud, a judge who delivered Isr...
"These are the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac" (Genesis 25:19). The repetition seems redundant. If Isaac is the son of Abraham, we know Abraham begot...
And trust me, the list is pretty surprising. The passage we're looking at today focuses on Psalm 80, specifically the verse "Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh." Now, these are...
That’s the unsettling image painted in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 38, a fascinating and often overlooked passage in Jewish tradition. It all begins with a cryptic verse from the prophe...
And, surprisingly, it's a concept we find echoed even in the most sacred of texts when describing the relationship between God and the tribes of Israel. Sifrei Devarim 352 paints u...
When Esau and Jacob finally reunited after twenty years of separation, the Bible says Esau ran to his brother, embraced him, kissed him, and they wept (Genesis 33:4). It sounds lik...
"By your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother; it will be when you will revolt, you will remove his yoke from your neck" (Genesis 27:40). It’s a confusing mix of do...
One that stings, and echoes through the ages. We see it play out in the story of Jacob and Esau. In (Genesis 32:7), Jacob's messengers return with a troubling report: "We came to y...
We're looking at section 75, which deals with the moment Jacob prepares to meet his brother Esau after years of estrangement. Jacob, remember, is about to face his brother Esau, fr...
Our ancestor Jacob certainly did. When he sends messengers ahead to his brother Esau, the report they bring back plunges him into fear. But within that fear, we find a fascinating ...
It’s a uniquely human experience, and it's exactly the kind of layered emotion we find in the story of Jacob's reunion with Esau. In (Genesis 32:8), it says "Jacob was very frighte...
It’s a pretty universal experience, and it seems even Jacob, one of our patriarchs, felt it too. Our story begins with Jacob's reunion with his brother, Esau, after many years of s...
That’s kind of the vibe I get from the encounter between Jacob and Esau after their long separation, as described in Bereshit Rabbah 78. The verse in question is (Genesis 33:14), w...
Our ancestors felt it too. And the Rabbis, in their infinite wisdom, addressed it head-on. We find a fascinating discussion in Bereshit Rabbah, specifically section 79, sparked by ...
The Torah tells us, "Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and Ḥamor his father with guile, and spoke, as he had defiled Dinah their sister” (Genesis 34:13). But was it really just guile? ...
Bereshit Rabbah, that beautiful collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, dives deep into this very verse (Genesis 34:25) about Simeon and Levi avenging their ...
The scene: a devastating famine grips the land. Jacob's sons have returned from Egypt with grain, but it’s gone. They need to go back, but the mysterious Egyptian ruler—who we, the...
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 story of Esau and Jacob is a classic example, and the Rabbis in Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homiletic interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, unpack it with incredible ...
Our sages grappled with it too, and one place where they explore this idea is in Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes. The verse in ...
You finally catch a break, and then... BAM! Another challenge appears. Our ancestor Jacob knew that feeling all too well. After years of wandering, wrestling angels, and navigating...
A voice cries in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3). The Aggadat Bereshit connects this voice — the hera...
Reuben, firstborn son of Jacob and Leah, lay dying in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. Two years had passed since Joseph fell asleep forever. Now Reuben's own sons ga...
Benjamin, twelfth and last son of Jacob, born of Rachel, had lived a hundred and twenty-five years. He kissed his sons and began to speak. "As Isaac was born to Abraham in his old ...
"I will assemble Jacob, all of you; I will bring together the remnant of Israel" (Micah 2:12). The end of Aggadat Bereshit's prophetic arc arrives here: not the death of Jacob, not...
Ben Sira, that wise sage from centuries ago, knew the feeling. He even wrote about it. He mentions "the inhabitants of Seir and Philistia; And the foolish nation that dwelleth in S...
Little does Jacob know the drama unfolding there, the accusations, the imprisonment of Simeon, and the demand to bring Benjamin, his youngest and most cherished son, back to Egypt....
Take lentils, for example. Humble, unassuming… yet, in Jewish tradition, they're deeply tied to mourning and sorrow. Why lentils? The tradition tells us that when Cain killed Abel,...
The story goes that after his less-than-amicable departure from his father-in-law Laban, Jacob found himself at the River Yabbok (Yabbok, a river in the Transjordan, now part of Jo...
What did Mordekhai say to someone who would say to him: “Why are you violating the king’s command?” (Esther 3:3) Rabbi Levi said: Mordekhai would say: ‘Moses our master cautioned u...
The birthright, the trickery, the stolen blessing... But what about the aftermath, the settling of scores, the final chapter of their fraught relationship? Well, the Book of Jubile...
The Bible gives us glimpses, but the Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13, (2 Samuel 1:1)8), offers a more detailed narrative.. The c...
The Aramaic Levi Document (ALD) is one of the oldest texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls—parts of it may date to the 3rd century BCE, making it older than most of the books of t...
His story of wrestling with an angel is one of the most powerful and enigmatic in the entire Torah. As Jacob journeyed back to Canaan, anticipating a tense reunion with his brother...
But imagine the weight of a vow to the Almighty, left unfulfilled. According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, Jacob found himself in just such a predicament. He'd mad...
In the house of Jacob, that dance of happiness and grief played out on a grand scale. Let's rewind. Remember Deborah, Rebekah's nurse? She wasn't just a caregiver; she was family. ...
Take, for example, the story of Joseph and his brothers. We know about the coat, the jealousy, the slavery in Egypt… but what about their lives outside of that central drama? Inter...
The text tells us that Jacob was grievously ill, and it’s no wonder. Think about all he’d been through! Remember his years of relentless toil while working for Laban? Day and night...
The Torah gives us one of the most powerful and mysterious stories of just such a struggle: Jacob wrestling with the angel. The scene is set. Jacob, alone after sending his family ...
It’s a fascinating story that takes us from the biblical Jacob to the very Throne of Glory, with a little help from the angel Michael. According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascin...
That’s definitely not a new phenomenon. to a story from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 38, a text filled with midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic interpretations and expansions of...
The Blessing of Moses in (Deuteronomy 33) gets the full Targum treatment—every tribe's destiny expanded, every blessing loaded with specifics the Torah never mentions. It opens wit...
"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...
That’s the kind of dream Jacob, later known as Israel, had as he fled from his brother Esau. It wasn't just a random jumble of images, but a direct encounter with the divine. The T...
The Torah tells us in (Genesis 32:28) that after wrestling with a mysterious figure, Jacob is told, "No more shall Jacob be said to be your name; rather, Israel, for you have striv...
We're looking at verse 4:12-13: “A locked garden is my sister, my bride; a locked fountainhead, a sealed spring. Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates, with delicious fruit,...
The ancient rabbis pondered such a moment, centered on our patriarch, Jacob, and a vision of a ladder reaching to the heavens. The scene is set in Genesis, where Jacob dreams of a ...
Rabbi Levi said: Accursed are the wicked who are engaged in evil counsel against Israel, and each one of them counsels in his way and says: ‘My counsel is better than your counsel....
