4,614 related texts · Page 49 of 97
R. Yishmael says: Come and see the mercies of the One who spoke and brought the world into being, for flesh and blood. For a man acquires himself with money from the hands of Heave...
Beloved is Israel — so beloved that God gave entire nations as kofer, as ransom, for the souls of His people. The proof is (Isaiah 43:3): "I gave Egypt as kofer for you, Ethiopia a...
R. Yehudah says: It is written (Leviticus 20:27) "And a man or a woman, if there be in them an ov or a yidoni" (shall be stoned). Now "ov" and "yidoni" are types of witchcraft. Why...
"Covenant" is written of Israel, viz. (Genesis 17:13) "And My covenant (i.e., circumcision) shall be in your flesh." And it is also written of strangers, viz. (Isaiah 56:4) "and th...
"My people": If an Israelite and a gentile stand before you to borrow, "My people" take precedence. A poor man and a rich man—the poor man takes precedence. Your poor (i.e., the po...
The Shema — "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4) — is the most foundational declaration in all of Judaism. But the Mekhilta noticed something odd a...
The opening of Mekhilta Tractate Shabbata draws attention to the singular way God communicated with Moses. The verse states (Exodus 30:11): "And the Lord spoke to Moses." The Mekhi...
R. Yishmael and R. Elazar b. Azaryah and R. Akiva were once walking on the road, with Levi Hasadar and R. Yishmael the son of R. Elazar b. Azaryah walking behind them, when this qu...
Rabbi Yehudah ben Betheira addressed a question that must have been painfully real for Jews living under foreign occupation: what happens when enemy armies force you to violate the...
The Torah commands: "And the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath for their generations" (Exodus 31:16). The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael connects this ve...
Jewish tradition offers a stunningly beautiful image: Our prayers, all of them, rise up and become a crown for God. The image comes to us from several sources, each adding its own ...
And the Torah, in its own way, grapples with this very question. We find ourselves in the Book of Exodus, a pivotal moment in the story of the Israelites. Moses is about to ascend ...
There was a time, a very dark time, when God Himself considered doing just that. Imagine the scene: The Temple in Jerusalem lies in ruins. The people of Israel are in exile, weepin...
Jewish tradition has a powerful way of describing this feeling: the wandering of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). The Shekhinah, often translated as "divine presence," is under...
It all comes down to water… and a really old cavern. Let's journey back to the time when the Temple in Jerusalem stood in all its glory. During Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, a ...
It might sound a little unusual, but Jewish tradition is rich with symbolism, and this particular image is incredibly powerful. Imagine this: It's the sixth of Sivan, the day appoi...
It’s more than just a metaphor, actually. According to Jewish mystical tradition, we’re all limbs of the same body, intrinsically linked. That’s why, as the Yesod (Foundation) ha-T...
We all know the triumphant tale of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea, escaping Pharaoh's clutches. But what about the Egyptians swallowed by the waves? It turns out, Jewish tradi...
It's more than just geography; it's about a direct connection to the Divine. : a place so sacred, it’s said to be constantly under God’s watchful eye. (Deuteronomy 11:12) tells us ...
That feeling, that echoing emptiness, resonates deeply with the Jewish experience of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It wasn't just the loss of a building; it was a cos...
We all know the tale of Noah, the ark, and the animals. But what if the water wasn't just… water? A fascinating idea emerges from the depths of Jewish tradition: the generation of ...
And their grumbling had some pretty fiery consequences. We find ourselves in the book of Numbers (Bamidbar in Hebrew, meaning "in the wilderness") chapter 21. The Israelites are tr...
It's a profound idea, isn't it? That death isn't the end, but a kind of pause. A cosmic holding pattern. The Tree of Souls reminds us that God keeps the souls of the dead alive. Im...
According to Jewish tradition, it's not just about who gets in, but who gets to wake up first. Why are our patriarchs, the Avot – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – said to be buried in t...
The Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Psalms, offers a fascinating glimpse into this very question. "But his delight is in the law of the Lord," s...
It’s a very human feeling. And it's a feeling that our Sages grappled with too. This idea is beautifully explored in Midrash Tehillim, specifically in relation to the verse, "You h...
Midrash Tehillim 9, a fascinating exploration of Psalm 9, unpacks this very idea using vivid imagery. It paints a picture of nations ensnared in their own traps, drowned in the ver...
Every word, every phrase, meticulously chosen. But did you know that Jewish tradition goes even further, suggesting that the Divine speech itself is... refined? Midrash Tehillim, a...
And sometimes, the answers lie hidden in the stories we tell. to a passage from Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms. This particular midrash (ra...
It poses a fascinating question: Did everyone in the nation really know they were eating bread? I know, it sounds strange. But it's not about the physical act of eating, is it? It'...
The passage opens with an intriguing idea: prayer itself as judgment. David, contemplating his own mortality and the possibility of divine judgment, seems to be saying, "If my judg...
The ancient rabbis certainly understood that feeling. They saw it mirrored in the story of the Exodus, in the dramatic moment when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and the pursui...
Yet, praise is central to Jewish tradition. Why? to a fascinating passage from Midrash Tehillim, a collection of homiletical interpretations on the Book of Psalms, and see what we ...
King David certainly did. And the story of how he regained his balance, according to Midrash Tehillim, is wild. We all know King David. The shepherd boy who slew Goliath, the sweet...
That feeling of hope, of a new beginning... it’s captured beautifully in the image of the "cierva de la aurora," the "doe of the dawn." This evocative phrase appears in the heading...
King David knew that feeling intimately. Imagine him, standing before God, pouring out his heart in prayer. It wasn't just his prayer, though. According to Midrash Tehillim, a coll...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. In fact, they put those feelings right into the mouth of the people of Israel, in a powerful passage from Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbin...
The ancient Israelites grappled with that exact feeling after the Exodus from Egypt. And Midrash Tehillim (a collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms) delves right into ...
And they found a way to explore it through the beautiful, layered interpretations we call midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary). We're going to delve into a tiny but powerful ...
That feeling isn't new. In fact, according to Midrash Tehillim 60, it goes way back. This particular midrash (a method of interpreting biblical stories beyond their literal meaning...
King David certainly did. And his words, captured in Psalm 63, resonate across the ages, a testament to a soul seeking connection with the Divine. “My God, I seek You early,” David...
That feeling, that raw, desperate plea, echoes in the words of Midrash Tehillim, specifically in its interpretation of Psalm 71. Imagine the people of Israel, the Knesset Yisrael, ...
It’s more than just nostalgia, more than just remembering the "good old days." It's about survival. Spiritual survival. And that's exactly what Midrash Tehillim, a collection of ra...
Psalm 80, a poignant plea for divine intervention, opens with a striking image: "Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, You Who leads Joseph like a flock." It's a cry for guidance, for protec...
Midrash Tehillim, an ancient collection of homiletical interpretations of the Book of Psalms, uses a striking image to describe just such a predicament, and it's one that resonates...
Take (Psalm 81:2), for example: "Raise a song, strike the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp." But then it continues, "Sound the shofar at the New Moon, at the full moon for ...
We find this struggle echoed in Jewish tradition, this tension between our cries and the perceived silence of God. Midrash Tehillim, a collection of interpretations on the Book of ...
Jewish tradition certainly does. It speaks of hidden wisdom, divine secrets revealed to those who seek them. But with revelation comes responsibility, and with secrets, sometimes, ...
