270 texts in Midrash Rabbah
Gehenna – sometimes also called Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death) – isn't exactly hell as you might picture it from other traditions. It's more of a purifi...
Like everyone else is contributing, and you're just... there? Our sages grappled with this feeling, and their stories, preserved in texts like Kohelet Rabbah, offer surprising comf...
It kicks off by asking about the opening line: “The words of Kohelet, son of David.” The passage points out that three prophets – Kohelet, Amos, and Jeremiah – have their prophecie...
It starts with a bang: "Vanity of vanities, said Kohelet; vanity of vanities, everything is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). But what does that even mean? What is this "vanity," this he...
That question, that nagging feeling, is at the heart of the Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew. And it’s a question the Rabbis grappled with deeply. The opening verse of Ko...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, certainly did. “One generation passes, and one generation comes; and the earth abides forever. The sun rises and the s...
This particular passage from Kohelet Rabbah 4 dives deep into the mystery of resurrection. Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Yaakov Gevulai, quoting Rabbi Ḥanina, present a rather striking imag...
Kohelet Rabbah, a fascinating exploration of the book of Ecclesiastes, explores this very idea, offering a surprisingly hopeful perspective. The verse they latch onto is a powerful...
We look back with nostalgia, imagining that the giants of the past held all the answers. But Jewish tradition challenges that very notion. The idea that each generation has its own...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, grapples with this very question. And in Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of Rabbinic interpretations on Ecclesiastes, we find some fasc...
Take the verse from Ecclesiastes (1:5): "The sun rises and the sun sets, and it hastens to its place where it arises." Seems straightforward. But the rabbis in Kohelet Rabbah see s...
It paints a vivid picture of the sun, not just as a celestial body, but as a powerful force carefully managed by the Holy One. Rabbi Natan, as the verse says, taught that the sun a...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, wrestles with this too. "The wind goes to the south, and turns to the north; around and around the wind turns, and on its rounds the...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, poses this very question: "All the rivers go to the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place that the rivers go, the...
The sages in Kohelet Rabbah 7 explore this very question, offering some fascinating possibilities. Rabbi Yehuda paints a picture of something like the Nile River. the Nile doesn't ...
Kohelet Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, explores the verse "All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to t...
Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, grapples with this very feeling. It opens with the powerful image of rivers flowing into the sea: "All the rivers go to the...
The sages of old certainly did. And they saw that natural flow as a parallel to something quite profound about conversion to Judaism. Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teach...
The ancient rabbis grappled with it too. In fact, the book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, dives headfirst into the cyclical nature of existence. And Kohelet Rabbah, a rabbinic commen...
That feeling resonates deeply within Jewish tradition. We see it reflected in the ancient text of Kohelet Rabbah, specifically in its interpretation of the verse "all the rivers go...
They found a surprisingly relevant metaphor in the Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet. The verse says, "all the rivers go to the sea." Kohelet Rabbah, a Midrashic (rabbinic interpret...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, gets it. "All matters are wearying; man cannot utter it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing" (Ecclesiastes ...
Kohelet Rabbah, the commentary on Ecclesiastes, gets it. It starts with the line "all matters are wearying." But it doesn't stop there with the doom and gloom. It actually dives in...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, suggests that "all matters are wearying" – especially matters of heresy. But what does that re...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the book of Ecclesiastes, wrestles with this very question, offering us some pretty intense stories. One tale recounts a...
The book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, really digs into that feeling. And the rabbis of Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Kohelet, pick up on that theme in...
Kohelet Rabbah, in its wonderfully enigmatic way, wrestles with this very question, using the verse, "The eye is not satisfied..." as its jumping-off point. It’s a verse that speak...
"What was is what will be," it says, "and what was done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Is that really true? Are we just doomed to...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, touches on this very feeling. It asks: "Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is new'? It has already existed long ago, before o...
The verse in question, from (Ecclesiastes 1:11), states, "There is no memory of the former ones; and also of the latter ones, who will be, there will be no memory of them, among th...
You're dropped right into the action, and you wonder, "Wait, shouldn't this have been explained earlier?" Well, the ancient rabbis grappled with a similar feeling about the Book of...
The Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this very feeling. It's a wisdom text, a philosophical exploration of life's meaning, or sometimes, its ...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this very feeling. "I have seen all the actions that were performed under the sun; and, behold, everythi...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, touches on this very feeling. Specifically, there's a line in (Ecclesiastes 1:15) that says, "That which is warped can...
Our tradition wrestles with this very feeling. The book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, famously explores the futility of life, that "all is vanity." But within the rabbinic expansion...
Kohelet Rabbah turns to The Heart's Many Roles According to the Sages. The ancient rabbis certainly pondered this. In Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on th...
Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's called in Hebrew, is full of his reflections, and one line in particular always gets me: "For with much wisdom is much vexation; and one who increa...
That feeling isn't new. In fact, the book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, wrestles with it head-on. "I said in my heart: Come now, I will experiment in joy, and see goodness...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, wrestles with this very idea. "Of laughter, I said it is confounded; and of joy, what does it accomplish?" (Ecclesiast...
Her story, found in Kohelet Rabbah, the commentary on Ecclesiastes, is a stark reminder that joy and sorrow can be two sides of the same coin. The verse But what does that really m...
Kohelet Rabbah, a commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, dives deep into the question: "Of laughter, I said it is confounded" (Ecclesiastes 2:2). How confounding is laughter, real...
Kohelet Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, explores exactly this kind of sudden, heartbreaking reversal. This particular stor...
The Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, wrestles with this tension beautifully. And the Rabbis in Kohelet Rabbah, a classic midrashic (rabbinic interpretive c...
King Solomon, the wisest of all men, certainly grappled with that question. And in the book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, he gives us a glimpse into his own striving. The verse Simp...
The verse in question: "I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted in them trees of every fruit" (Ecclesiastes 2:5). The rabbis weren't content with a simple reading. They w...
The verse in question is (Ecclesiastes 2:6): “I made myself pools of water to irrigate from them a forest which grows trees.” Sounds straightforward enough. But what does it really...
Kohelet, the book of Ecclesiastes, gives us a glimpse. In chapter 2, verse 7, it says, "I purchased myself slaves and maidservants and I had stewards. I also had great possession o...
Kohelet, the book of Ecclesiastes traditionally attributed to Solomon, wrestles with just that. And Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, digs even deeper. The s...
