127 related texts · 9 related myths · Page 3 of 3
The guy who parted the Red Sea, received the Ten Commandments. But even Moses had his moments of doubt. There’s this fascinating passage in Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, t...
The Torah tells us that Nadab and Abihu, in their zeal, offered "strange fire" before the Lord and were consumed (Leviticus 10:1-2). A devastating blow, not only to their family bu...
The Torah tells us of Aaron's death atop Mount Hor (Numbers 20:22-29), but it leaves out some fascinating details that our tradition fills in. Specifically, what happened when Mose...
As retold by Ginzberg, when Moses witnessed the immense grief for Aaron, felt by both humans and celestial beings, he was overcome. He wept, not just for Aaron, but for himself. "W...
Balak, the King of Moab, certainly believed in the power of place. And he was desperate. Balak had a problem: the Israelites. A massive, powerful nation camped right on his border....
It’s a story filled with both sorrow and profound peace, a final chapter worthy of such a monumental figure. The command from God for Moses to ascend Mount Nebo and there meet his ...
The Torah portion V'Zot HaBerachah, "This is the blessing," recounts the final moments of Moses, and the sages fill in the gaps with incredible stories. Moses, the man who spoke to...
The familiar story is this: he led the Israelites out of Egypt, received the Torah on Mount Sinai, and brought his people to the edge of the Promised Land. But then… he just disapp...
"for there was no house where no one had died": R. Nathan said: Now were there not houses without first-born?, (The resolution:) If one lost a first-born, he would make an image of...
Joseph made his brothers swear a solemn oath, and the Mekhilta records the exact logic behind his request. He said to them: "My father went down to Egypt of his own free will, and ...
Thus we find that they went back (the distance of) three journeys (at Moses' behest), viz. (Numbers 33:8-10) "And they journeyed from Pi Hachiroth … And they journeyed from Marah a...
R. Chanina b. Akiva says: "More beloved" was the seeing of our father Abraham than that of Moses. For Abraham was not caused to exert himself whereas Moses was. What is stated of A...
When Moses stood on Mount Nebo and looked out over the Promised Land, God pointed to each region and revealed not just the terrain but the history that would unfold upon it. The Me...
Before Moses died, God took him to the summit of Mount Nebo and showed him the entirety of the Promised Land, every region, every valley, every corner of the territory his people w...
After all, they each played such pivotal roles in our history. But Midrash Tehillim, in its unique way, actually tackles this very idea. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commenta...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Moses and the Torah of Omnipresent. It asks a simple question: How do we learn about the importance of showing loving-kindness – chesed (Lovingkindn...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Abraham — Moses and the Angels. The story opens with a terrifying decree: God, in his anger, sends not one, but five angels to destroy Israel. These...
Sifrei Devarim turns to Until the Western Sea - Moses Sees Peace and Oppression. That’s not all. There's another interpretation, a play on words, a drash that opens up a whole new ...
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 ...
When God gave the Torah at Sinai, the Israelites did not simply accept it freely. According to Shabbat 88a, Rabbi Avdimi bar Hama bar Hasa taught that God uprooted Mount Sinai and ...
The venerable Hillel had eighty disciples. That number is not a boast but a ledger. The rabbis kept careful count. Thirty of those eighty, they said, were worthy that the Shekhinah...
The verse in (1 Kings 4:30) tells us that Solomon's wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the east and all of Egypt. The midrash on Kings, preserved in Yalkut Eliezer, offers a story t...
Rachel finally bore a son. She named him Joseph, from the Hebrew asaph, "to gather away" (Genesis 30:23). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan turns her naming into a prophecy about a river ...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 14:11) does not soften Israel's complaint. It sharpens it, and it names the complainers. They are not "the people." They are "the wicked gener...
The people took off the ornaments they had received at Sinai. What happened to them? Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the Aramaic paraphrase of the Torah, answers with a detail the plain te...
Our focus is (Genesis 23:17-18), describing how Abraham acquired the field of Ephron, including the cave of Makhpela, as a burial place. "The field of Ephron that was in Makhpela t...
The Torah tells us in Genesis (35:20) that "Jacob established a monument upon her grave; it is the monument of Rachel's grave until today.” But what does it really mean to establis...
The familiar reading treats the Torah focusing on the big picture, but sometimes, it's in the details that we find the most fascinating human drama. Take the story of Jacob's death...
In (Deuteronomy 31:14), God says to Moses, "Behold, your days are approaching to die; summon Joshua, and stand in the Tent of Meeting and I will command him." This verse, "Behold, ...
See, (Leviticus 16:23) tells us that Aaron, the High Priest, would enter the Tent of Meeting – the Ohel Mo'ed – and remove the linen vestments he wore when he entered the Sanctum –...
And Moses said unto Joshua: “Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek” (Exod. 17:9). From this verse it is apparent that Moses treated his disciple Joshua as his equal. Thi...
