1,050 texts in Midrash Rabbah
Jewish tradition is full of these moments, and they often happen in the most unexpected ways. Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of r...
It's not just about what’s on the ground, but what fills the air above us. Bereshit Rabbah, that magnificent collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, puts it this way: "A...
We often think of creation as a grand, sweeping act, but Jewish tradition also delves into the nitty-gritty details, the almost-missed deadlines, and the "oops, we'll get to that l...
The passage opens with that foundational verse, (Genesis 1:26): "And God said: Let us make Man in our image, in our likeness, and let them dominate…” But what does it mean? Rabbi Y...
Our tradition acknowledges that feeling, especially when we consider the mysteries of creation. What was it like before the Big Bang of Genesis? What was God "doing"? The Rabbis of...
Rabbi Yehoshua, speaking in the name of Rabbi Levi, offers a beautiful image. He suggests that God consulted with the "works of the heavens and the earth." It's like a king who has...
And the rabbis of old, grappling with the very same question, offered some pretty fascinating answers. Take this story from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interp...
The story goes that when the Holy One, Barukh Hu (blessed be He), decided to create Adam, the first human, it wasn't exactly a unanimous decision up in the heavenly realms. Rabbi S...
And our sages, wrestling with the creation story itself, asked a very similar question. The Book of Psalms (8:5) asks, "What is a mortal that You remember him, a man that You take ...
It’s a thought, isn’t it? That before there was a world, there were…consultants. Where does this idea come from? It's rooted in a seemingly obscure verse from I (Chronicles 4:23): ...
It’s right at the beginning, in Bereshit (Genesis), when God says, “Let us make Man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). "Us"? Who's the "us?" It sounds like God is talki...
The story centers on Rabbi Samlai, a sage known for his sharp wit and insightful responses. He found himself confronted by "heretics" – likely members of sectarian or sectarian gro...
According to Rabbi Hoshaya, they almost made a pretty big faux pas! The story goes like this. When the Holy One, blessed be He, created Adam, the ministering angels were... well, a...
But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find some fascinating questions and interpretations. Now, there's a curious little detail about that verse. The Bereshit Rabbah, a classic colle...
But, like with so much in Jewish tradition, there are layers upon layers of interpretation. , shall we? Specifically, let's look at that phrase "dominate over the fish of the sea."...
We get glimpses, little whispers, from our tradition that paint a picture far grander than we might imagine. The Torah tells us, plainly enough, "God blessed them" (Genesis 1:28). ...
We get a glimpse, a tiny peek behind the curtain, in (Genesis 1:31): “God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. It was evening and it was morning, the six...
All the beauty, all the challenges... could it have been any other way? The rabbis of old certainly pondered this. They wrestled with the very notion of creation, asking whether th...
It’s a pretty mind-boggling thought, isn’t it? Well, in Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, the rabbis grapple with this very ...
A moment of pure creation, bringing something from absolutely nothing. What was that feeling like? What was God's immediate reaction? Well, our tradition grapples with this very qu...
It sounds shocking, I know. The story starts with a curious discovery. In Rabbi Meir's personal Torah scroll, a peculiar reading was found in the verse “And, behold, it was very [m...
But Jewish tradition, in its beautiful, often paradoxical way, has some fascinating answers. to Bereshit Rabbah, one of the oldest and most important commentaries on the Book of Ge...
But what if I told you that suffering, that very thing we try so hard to avoid, might actually be… good? That's what the ancient rabbis were debating in Bereshit Rabbah, a collecti...
I know, it sounds crazy. But Jewish tradition often holds a mirror up to our assumptions, challenging us to see things from a different angle. Take Gehenna, for example. That’s oft...
We often grapple with the existence of suffering in a world supposedly created by a benevolent God. Jewish tradition certainly doesn’t shy away from this question. In fact, there's...
It's easy to read the phrase "and God saw that it was good" as a simple pat on the back, a divine seal of approval. But Jewish tradition often finds layers of meaning beneath the s...
But sometimes, the smallest details hold the biggest secrets. The Rabbis, in their infinite wisdom, picked up on something fascinating in the very first chapter of Bereshit, Genesi...
(Genesis 1:31-2):1 tells us, "It was evening and it was morning, the sixth day, [and heaven and earth were finished...]" Seems straightforward. But Rabbi Yudan, in Bereshit Rabbah ...
Our sages pondered that very thing, and they found a fascinating exception. The Torah portion of Bereshit, Genesis, opens with the creation. And in (Genesis 2:1), we read, "The hea...
It's more than just setting the scene; it's about revealing the beauty hidden within creation itself. Rabbi Ḥama kicks things off with a powerful image, quoting (Proverbs 25:4): “R...
We’re talking about the primordial stuff, the ingredients God used when He, blessed be He, created everything. It’s a question that’s captivated mystics and philosophers for millen...
Specifically, in Bereshit Rabbah 10, we find some pretty wild thoughts about the impact of Adam's sin. Rabbi Hoshaya, relaying an idea that Rabbi Afes expounded in Antioch, suggest...
The rabbis of old certainly did. In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, they wrestle with the details of creation, offering us...
According to ancient Jewish wisdom, the answer is a resounding yes! Take Bar Sira, for example. He taught that God created medicines from the earth, empowering physicians to heal a...
We might swat them away without a second thought, but according to the Rabbis, even these creatures have a purpose. As we find in Bereshit Rabbah, even these so-called "superfluous...
It turns out, that feeling might be older – and trickier – than you think. The Torah tells us, "God completed on the seventh day His labor that He had made; He rested on the sevent...
It’s in (Genesis 2:2): "God completed [vayechal] on the seventh day." But wait a minute! Didn't God finish creating everything on the sixth day? The sages of the Midrash (rabbinic ...
The verse in question? (Genesis 2:3): "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His labor that God created to make." But what does it mean th...
It's more than just a day off; it's a taste of something truly divine. Bereshit Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, offers some bea...
Because the answer, as is often the case with these things, is layered and lovely. We find a fascinating clue in Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of rabbinic interpretations...
It’s more than just a day off. It's a taste of paradise, a hint of the World to Come, a weekly reset button for the soul. And according to our sages, even the food tastes better! R...
The scene: Rabbi Akiva, a towering figure of Jewish wisdom, is being interrogated by the wicked governor, Tinneus Rufus. Rufus, dripping with imperial arrogance, poses a deceptivel...
It's a loaded question. The philosopher is implying that circumcision isn’t a divine command at all, but just… pointless. (Bereshit Rabbah 11). Rabbi Hoshaya, being the wise person...
to a fascinating comparison between Abraham and Jacob, two of our patriarchs, and see what Bereshit Rabbah 11 has to tell us. The key? Shabbat (the Sabbath). Yes, that's right, the...
Even Shabbat, the day of rest, felt that way once. Isn't that incredible? Our sages grappled with a question: why did God specifically bless Shabbat? Bereshit Rabbah, a collection ...
And they left us some fascinating insights in the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), specifically Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of ...
The Torah tells us, "Because on it He rested from all His labor" (Genesis 2:3). But what does that really mean? Rabbi Pinḥas, quoting Rabbi Hoshaya in Bereshit Rabbah 11, offers a ...
That feeling, that’s something the ancient rabbis wrestled with too. Our story begins with a seemingly simple verse from (Genesis 2:4): “These are the toledot (outgrowths, generati...
