4,614 related texts · Page 36 of 97
Take Esau, for example. (Genesis 36:5) tells us, "Oholivama bore Yeush, and Yalam, and Koraḥ; these are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan." Seems straigh...
Jewish tradition certainly thinks so, and there's a fascinating passage in Bereshit Rabbah (Genesis Rabbah), a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis...
Jacob, seeing a famine in the land, tells his sons, "Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?" (Genesis 42:1). Simple enough. But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive co...
The story begins with Jacob observing his sons. "Why do you make yourselves conspicuous?" he asks them. But what exactly did he mean? According to this Midrash (rabbinic interpreti...
That’s kind of what happened to Jacob after Joseph disappeared, according to the ancient commentary, Bereshit Rabbah. The Torah tells us, "Jacob saw that there was grain [shever] i...
It's a deep dive into the story of Jacob's sons and their trip to Egypt, and it's full of anxiety, suspicion, and loss. The passage begins with a recap from Genesis 42. Joseph, now...
We're diving into Genesis 44, where Joseph, now a powerful figure in Egypt, is testing his brothers. Remember the setup? Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt seeking food during a famin...
to a fascinating interpretation found in Bereshit Rabbah (93), a collection of rabbinic homilies on the Book of Genesis. The passage opens with the simple phrase, "Judah approached...
Then, out of the blue, his sons return from Egypt with news that Joseph is not only alive, but a powerful ruler! It's a moment of incredible joy, but also… disbelief. The Torah tel...
Turns out, sometimes, there's a whole universe of emotion and history packed into those few words. Take, for example, the passage in (Genesis 46:21): "And the sons of Benjamin: Bel...
It's even woven into the very fabric of the Torah. : we read in (Genesis 47:28), "Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were o...
We're in chapter 97, diving into Jacob's blessing of Joseph. The scene: Jacob, nearing the end of his life, blesses Joseph, saying, "The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isa...
Our Sages, delving deep into the Torah, grapple with this very idea in Bereshit Rabbah 97, a section of the ancient Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary). They begin with a ve...
That’s the sense I get reading Bereshit Rabbah 98, a beautiful passage from the ancient midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic collection, which interprets a verse from (Psal...
(Psalm 100:3) declares, "Know that the Lord is God." But it's the next part that really sparked their interest: "He made us, and we are His" (Psalm 100:3). Or is it? See, the Hebre...
Specifically, we're looking at Bereshit Rabbah 100, which delves into the mourning of Jacob. The verse in (Genesis 50:3) tells us, "Forty days were completed for him, as so are the...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the book of Deuteronomy, opens our eyes to some fascinating insights. It all starts with the verse, "the Lord your God has mul...
But our sages delve into the depths of these words, seeking to understand the true scope of Moses’s blessing. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov points out something fascinating: The text do...
Jewish tradition has a lot to say on the subject, and some of the stories might surprise you. Our jumping-off point is the verse in (Deuteronomy 2:3), "You have circled this mounta...
It begins with the phrase "you have circled enough," and then dives into what it really means to be patient, to trust, and to understand the long game of history. The verse in ques...
The Torah is full of these stories, and they often leave us scratching our heads. One such story is that of Moses, perhaps the greatest prophet in Jewish history, who led the Israe...
The text opens with a quote from Deuteronomy, saying God is "near it." But who is "it"? The verse itself speaks of a nation that has God near to it. Devarim Rabbah, in its characte...
This is a theme that echoes powerfully through Jewish tradition, and it's something we see vividly in the Devarim Rabbah. This particular passage delves into the profound consequen...
to a fascinating exploration from Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, and see what we can uncover. "Hear, Israel" (Shema Yisrael) – these...
That’s what I want to talk about today, by diving into a powerful story from Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings and interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy. This...
We often focus on the manna, the miraculous food from heaven. But what about something as basic as clothing? I mean, forty years is a long time. Did their clothes just… last? That'...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, gives us a glimpse into that incredible scene, a cosmic struggle between life and death, between Mose...
The ancient sages grappled with that feeling too, and they left us some pretty intense imagery to describe it. Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, is a book all about...
The Book of Ecclesiastes – or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew – grapples with this very feeling. It asks us: what do we do when we see injustice seemingly rewarded? Specifically, K...
King Solomon, wisest of all men, apparently felt that too. (Ecclesiastes 7:23) reads, "All this I attempted with wisdom; I said: I will become wise, but it is far from me." What do...
The book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible grapples with these very feelings. There's a verse in chapter 9, verse 11, that really gets to the heart of it: "I again saw under the sun tha...
Turns out, Moses did. And, according to the Shemot Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Exodus, it didn't go unnoticed. The story begins, as we k...
Specifically, let's look at Shemot Rabbah 5, which delves into the pivotal moment when Moses and Aaron first approach the Israelites in Egypt. The verse we're looking at is (Exodus...
The story of the Exodus, as told in Shemot Rabbah, the compilation of rabbinic sermons on the Book of Exodus, gives us a fascinating glimpse into this idea, focusing on the final p...
It’s a question that has occupied Jewish thinkers for centuries. And as we delve into Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Exodus, we find a parti...
There's a fascinating passage in Shemot Rabbah that uses the moon as a metaphor to explain just that. It's a brilliant, poetic, and surprisingly practical way to look at history. T...
We're looking at section 15, which delves into the very first commandment given to the Israelites as they stood on the cusp of freedom: "This month shall be for you" (Exodus 12:2)....
Specifically, we're looking at section 18, which explores the verse "it was at midnight" (Exodus 12:29) in the context of miracles, divine messengers, and God's intricate plans. Th...
We read in (Exodus 12:37): "The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Sukkot, approximately six hundred thousand men on foot, beside children." It's a verse that launches us...
Get out as fast as possible! But (Exodus 13:17) tells us, "It was when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them via the land of the Philistines, although it was near, as Go...
The ancient rabbis certainly knew the feeling, and they used vivid imagery to describe the Israelites' escape from Egypt. It wasn't just a political liberation; it was a soul's lib...
Jewish tradition recognizes that very tension within us, and even within the relationship between God and Israel. Shemot Rabbah, a classic midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary...
And in Shemot Rabbah, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Book of Exodus, they offer a powerful, if somewhat unsettling, answer. The verse in question is God's instruction ...
And Jewish tradition, as always, has some fascinating perspectives. The Book of Exodus, Shemot in Hebrew, is rich with laws and ethical guidelines. And within Shemot Rabbah, a clas...
to Shemot Rabbah, a compilation of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Exodus. Specifically, we're looking at section 32, where Rabbi Yitzchak opens with a verse from Jeremiah ...
It hinges on the verse, "Behold, I am sending an angel before you" (Exodus 23:20). But it doesn't stop there. It connects it beautifully with a passage from Psalms: "The angel of t...
The Jewish tradition is rich with stories of angels, not just as winged figures, but as manifestations of the Divine Presence itself. And their role? To safeguard and redeem. to on...
It wasn't just about aesthetics or availability. According to Shemot Rabbah, it was a symbolic statement about history, power, and ultimately, redemption. We read in (Exodus 25:3),...
