548 texts in Midrash Aggadah
A man who had three sons, and gave them on his death bed, three chests as their inheirtance. One was filled with earth, the second with bones and the thirds with rags. They could n...
In time of drought the Rabbi was informed from Heaven to appeal to a merchant for intercession. He was 166— ashamed to call upon an apparently ignorant man but none the less did so...
King Solomon was an excellent chess player. He played with Benaya his general and always won. Once a noise in the street drew Solomon to the window. Benaya took a piece from the bo...
King Solomon was asked what was the meaning of his saying, “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” (Prov. 15, 17.) He said when he was ...
A king once entered a school where the master was sitting at the desk with a rod in his hand. The children prostrated themselve before the king but the master took no notice. The k...
A Jew who mixed with the Gentiles, had given up everything in order to carry favour with them. Once when he was invited to the prince, an enemy of his put some boys to jeer at him ...
At the court of a king there lived a Jew who was very handsome. The wife of the minister fell in love with him, but he refused her advances. After a time she gave birth to a boy an...
A pious man, travelling, saw a cave in the mountains and on entering, found a pool of water and behind it another small dark cavern. He went thither and was on the point of returni...
A man once caught stealing was ordered by the king to be hanged. On the way to the gallows he said to the governor that he knew a wonderful secret and it would be a pity to allow i...
A king once determined to build a town and selected a site. The astrologers approved of the place on condition that a child be walled in alive, brought voluntarily by its mother. A...
A woodcutter once complained of his hard life. He worked and carried heavy loads and could scarcely earn enough to live. One day in the wood he prayed to God and then fell asleep. ...
A pious woman used to bake four loaves of bread every day; three she gave to the poor and one she kept for her household. One day four beggars came and she gave all the four. She t...
A rich man, having confidence in his son gave him all his property in his lifetime. After a while the son commenced to neglect his father, ill-treating him and sending him away to ...
A man once said that if he wanted to lose his property nobody could stop him. Another replied that no one could fight against God's providence. The man, however, said he would try....
A pious and rich man had an only son. He was a merchant but for a long time the son showed no wish to trade. Urged by his friends, he one day asked his father to give him 1000 dina...
[Another variant.] A great scholar, who spent his time studying with his pupils, got a son in his old age. He kept him in the house, never allowing him to go out but gave him more ...
A woman was weeping and mourning over the grave of her dead husband for a long time. Close by stood a gallows and a watchman was appointed by the king to see that none of the bodie...
Rebuke not the wicked lest you make an enemy. Having thus spent all his money he went to another town. There a man asked a scribe to write a petition, offer- ding a small coin. The...
Rav Huna was a wealthy man who owned vast vineyards and employed many laborers to tend them. But he had a flaw. When the harvest was finished and the grapes had been pressed and th...
The story of Dama ben Netina's respect for his parents did not end with the famous incident of the precious stone. The Talmud preserves additional details that deepened his reputat...
The story continues as follows:— 184— The frog, which is none other than a child of the demon Lilith teaches Johanan the knowledge of all the languages and before leaving, calls al...
The sages taught that ten kings have ruled — or will rule — over the entire world. The list reads like a history of power itself, stretching from the beginning of time to its end. ...
A. & B. Abraham & Nimrod. Pirke de R. Eliezer, XXVI. Midr. Hagadol, Gen. Lekh Lekha. Gen. R. 38 § 19. Gen. R. of Moses Hadar- shan to 11, 28 and 46, 28. Horowitz, Eked, I, 40. Jera...
Hiram, king of Tyre, was one of the most audacious men in all of scripture. God had given him wealth, beauty, and a lifespan that stretched across centuries — some sages say he liv...
Alexander Legend. J. Aboda Zara, III, 1. Midr. Psalms, 93, 6. Numb. R. ch. 13. cf. Ps. Callisthenes II, ch. 38 and 41. cf. Hebrew Alexander Legend ed. Gas ter, Romance of Alexander...
When Alexander the Great conquered the known world, he did not merely defeat armies — he rearranged the claims of nations. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 91a) records that after his conques...
The Roman Emperor once challenged the Jewish sages with a question designed to mock their God. "Your God is described as all-powerful," the Emperor said, "a mighty warrior, a king ...
The Emperor once invited the Jewish sages to a grand banquet and posed what he thought was an impossible challenge. "I wish to prepare a feast for your God," he announced. "Tell me...
The sages taught that God is not like any light that human beings have ever seen. The sun can be blocked by a cloud. A lamp can be extinguished by the wind. Even the stars fade whe...
A Roman emperor — the Talmud does not always specify which one — once summoned the Jewish sages to answer a question that he believed would expose their faith as foolishness. "You ...
The sages of Israel taught that God does not scatter wisdom like rain falling on barren ground. He gives wisdom only to those who already possess it — to those who have labored to ...
Sabbath Pre-Eminence. Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), f. 65 a—b. B. Batra, 6. Sota, V. cf. Sota, 31, s. v. Gadol. J. Berakhot, IX. Pesikta R, ch. 23, f. 119b. Tanh. Exod. K...
The sages taught that God has a task that occupies Him constantly — matchmaking. The Talmud records that a Roman matron once challenged a rabbi: "Your God created the world in six ...
Queen Cleopatra — not the famous Egyptian, but a later queen by the same name — posed a question to Rabbi Meir that had puzzled both scholars and common people: "When the dead rise...
The Romans had issued evil decrees against the Jewish people — banning Torah study, forbidding circumcision, outlawing the observance of the Sabbath. The sages were desperate. Some...
When the Romans made it a capital offense to study Torah, Rabbi Akiba continued to teach openly, gathering great assemblies of students in public. Pappos ben Yehuda found him and w...
The city of Lod — Lydda — was no stranger to Roman cruelty. But the story of its two most famous martyrs, Pappos and Lulianos, stands out even among the darkest chapters of persecu...
The Roman general Trayanos captured two Jewish brothers — Lulianus and Pappus — in the city of Laodicea and sentenced them to death. Before the execution, Trayanos offered them a t...
Jose ben Yoezer of Tzeredah was one of the first of the zugot (pairs) — the great paired leaders who guided the Jewish people in the centuries before the common era. He was also on...
Nahum ish Gamzo — called that because no matter what happened, he always said "Gam zu le-tovah" ("This too is for the best") — was sent by the Jewish community to the Roman Emperor...
Old Man Planting Charub Tree. Yebamot, f. 63a. Tanh. and B to Levit. Kedoshim, § 8. Midr. Hagadol, Gen. f. 56d—57a. Exod. R., ch. 2. Levit. R., 25 §5. Eccles. R., 2 § 16. Yalk. § 6...
When Moses descended from Mount Sinai carrying the two tablets of the covenant, he found the Israelites dancing around a golden calf. His fury was absolute. He shattered the tablet...
FalseProphets in Babylon. Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), f. 93 a. J. Sanhedrin, XI, 5. Pesikta, f. 164b—165a. Pirke de R. Eliezer, ch. 33. Tanh. Levit. Vayyikra, § 6 and B...
A gentile once came to the great sage Shammai with a provocative request: "Convert me to Judaism, but only on the condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one ...
Hillel the Elder was famous for his extraordinary patience — a patience so deep that his students believed it could not be broken. Two men once wagered four hundred zuz on whether ...
The patience of Hillel was not merely a personal virtue — it was a teaching method that transformed lives. The Talmud (Shabbat 31a) records three separate occasions when difficult,...
When Jacob fled from his brother Esau and set out on the long road to Haran, he stopped at a place called Bethel and made a vow to God. "If God will be with me and guard me on this...
A gentile once confronted Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai with a cutting observation: "Your ceremony of the red heifer looks exactly like witchcraft. You take a cow, burn it, grind it up,...
