548 texts in Midrash Aggadah
Rabbi Tzadok was a man of extraordinary discipline. The Talmud (Kiddushin 40a) records that he was once tempted in a way that tested every fiber of his righteousness — and his resp...
Nathan de § us it a. Sabbath, f. 56b. Sanhedrin, f. 31b. Menahot, f. 44a. cf. Gittin, f. 56a. Sifre, Numb. Shelah § ii5- P- 35b,, Tanya". Tana de be Eliahu Zutta, ch. 22. Maamadot,...
Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus was one of the greatest sages of his generation, a man whose knowledge of Torah was said to be like a plastered cistern that never lost a drop. Yet even ...
A Jewish child had learned the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis — just the beginning, nothing more — before he was captured and thrown into a Roman prison. He was young, alo...
Kimhit was a woman whose modesty was so complete that, according to the Talmud (Yoma 47a), even the beams of her house never saw her hair uncovered. The sages said this was the rea...
God gives wisdom to the wise — not to the foolish. This principle, drawn from the Book of Daniel (Daniel 2:21), puzzled many, including the Roman Emperor himself. Why should the wi...
When God gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, the sages taught that He did not speak them into a void. Each commandment was connected to the covenant God had already made with...
A pagan philosopher once came to Rabban Gamliel with a question designed to embarrass him: "Your God claims to be the ruler of all creation, the master of the heavens and the earth...
The sages taught that physical cleanliness was not merely a matter of hygiene — it was a spiritual discipline that could literally make a person shine. Rabbi Judah HaNasi, known si...
Rabbi Judah HaNasi and his household were known for their dignified appearance, but the principle of "shining through cleanliness" extended throughout the rabbinic world. The Talmu...
How should a person pray? The Talmud (Berakhot 30b) records a teaching that reshaped how Jews understood their daily standing before God. When you pray, the sages said, you are not...
Beruria, the brilliant wife of Rabbi Meir, is one of the few women in the Talmud whose legal opinions are cited alongside those of the greatest sages. And one of her most famous in...
A min (מין) — the rabbinic term for a heretic or sectarian — once confronted Gaboha with a challenge that strikes at the heart of Jewish faith. "You claim that God will raise the d...
Three clever Jewish slaves, sold into captivity after the destruction of the Temple, outwitted their Roman masters using nothing but their wits. Each was given an impossible task, ...
Proklos the philosopher once posed a challenge to Rabban Gamliel: if God truly hates idol worship, why does He allow the sun and moon to continue shining? After all, millions of pe...
A heretic once challenged the sages with what he thought was a devastating logical trap. "Your God is a thief," the man declared. "The Torah says that God caused a deep sleep to fa...
Miriam [Hannah) & Her Seven Sons Martyr*. II Bk. Maccabees, ch. VII. IV Bk. Maccabees ch. VIII, ff. Ketubot, f. 64. J. Ketubot, V, II. Gittin, f. 56 b. Pesik. R. Rabati,XLIII. Tana...
Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha was captured as a child during the destruction of Jerusalem. He was sold into slavery, separated from his family, and taken far from the Land of Israel. Hi...
The destruction of Jerusalem did not end when the Temple burned. In the years that followed, the Romans hunted down the children of the sages, enslaving some, executing others, sca...
When King Ptolemy of Egypt gathered seventy-two Jewish elders and placed them in separate rooms, commanding each to translate the Torah into Greek, a miracle occurred. The Talmud (...
After Alexander the Great conquered the known world, the Egyptians saw an opportunity to settle old scores with the Jews. They came before Alexander's tribunal with a legal claim: ...
When the Romans imprisoned Rabbi Akiba for the crime of teaching Torah in public, his colleagues did not abandon him. They found ways to visit, to smuggle messages, and — most impo...
The Romans were not fools. They knew that the Jewish sages wielded enormous influence over their people — more than any general or governor could match. So when the empire wanted t...
The Talmud (Hullin 41b, Avodah Zarah 25b) preserves a cautionary teaching about the vulnerability of scholars traveling on dangerous roads. Students of the sages were sometimes set...
The martyrdom of Rabbi Hananya ben Teradyon is one of the most searing stories in all of rabbinic literature. The Talmud (Avodah Zarah 18a) records that the Romans found him sittin...
When the Romans sought to destroy the chain of Torah transmission, they targeted the sages who ordained new rabbis. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 14a) records that Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava kn...
When the Roman legions surrounded Jerusalem and cut off every supply route, the famine inside the walls became unspeakable. People chewed leather. They ate grass from between the s...
Kamsa&Fall of Jerusalem. Git tin, f. 55b, 56b, 57. Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), f. 104. Pirke de R. Eliezer, ch. 49. Tanh. Numb. Hukkat § 1. and B. ibid. p. 99. Midr. Ha...
A man grew tired of his wealthy wife and plotted to divorce her through deceit. He devised a scheme: he would publicly accuse her of unfaithfulness, using his own best friend as th...
Destruction of Bet Tur. Gittin, f. 57 a. Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), f. 17 b. Rosh Hashana, f. 18 b. Taanit, 26 b, 29 a. Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) Taa...
When the Romans executed the Ten Martyrs — the greatest sages of Israel — two of the first to die were Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, the Nasi (prince) of the Sanhedrin, and Rabbi Ishm...
Merodach-Baladan, the king of Babylon, once experienced something that shook his understanding of the natural order. The Talmud records that he noticed the sun behaving strangely —...
The Talmud (Shabbat 127b) tells of a man who worked for an employer in the north of Israel for three years. When his contract ended, he went to collect his wages on the eve of Yom ...
The trustfulness of disciples toward their teachers was a sacred principle in the rabbinic world. The Talmud (Shabbat 127b) extends the lesson of judging others favorably from empl...
The students of Rabbi Joshua were traveling between cities when night overtook them. They found lodging at an inn run by a man whose appearance was deeply off-putting — ugly, unkem...
When a young person dies, the grief is compounded by the terrible question: why? The sages wrestled with this question and offered an answer that was as unsettling as it was compas...
Hillel the Elder faced many tests of his patience, but few were as deliberate as the man who came to him with intentionally absurd questions. The Talmud (Shabbat 31a) records that ...
In a year of terrible drought, Nakdimon ben Gorion — one of the three wealthiest men in Jerusalem — approached a Roman official and made a desperate bargain. He borrowed twelve wel...
The mysteries of creation — the Maaseh Bereshit — were considered so dangerous that the sages restricted who could study them. The Talmud (Hagigah 14b) famously records the story o...
Weasel & Well. Taanit, f. 8. Rashi ad loc. Tosafot ad loc. Midr. Hagadol, Gen. Lekh Lekha. Nathan, Arukh, s. v.hld. Gedalyah, Shalshelet, f. 17. Luzzatto, Kaftor, f. 99 a. Farhi, O...
A student once approached Rabbi Akiba and asked him a deceptively simple question: "How great is the value of the Torah?" Rabbi Akiba did not hesitate. "Each single word of the Tor...
What happens to a person after death? The Talmud (Yoma 35b) presents the judgment that awaits every soul — and reveals that no excuse will be accepted, because for every temptation...
Eleazar, the son of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai, inherited more than his father's brilliance in Torah. He was endowed with staggering physical strength — the kind of strength that seeme...
Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon was known for many things — his learning, his piety, his complicated relationship with the Roman authorities. But the Talmud (Pesahim 86b, Bava Metzia 83b-8...
Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon and the prophet Elijah once met on the road, and the Talmud preserves a strange and vivid account of what happened next. Elijah was traveling in disguise — ...
The physical strength of Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon was legendary, but it was after his death that the most astonishing miracle occurred. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 84b) records that whe...
Rabbi Akiba was known throughout Israel not only for his vast learning but for the sharpness of his legal judgments. The Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) in Baba Kama (f...
Rabbi Akiba once saw a man drowning in the sea. The man was pulled under by the waves, and despite every effort, he could not be saved. Rabbi Akiba stood on the shore and mourned —...
