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We're going to dive into a powerful, and frankly, a little scary verse from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations on the book of Deuteronomy. Specifically, we're lo...
There's a fascinating passage there that plays with the Hebrew language to reveal a profound truth about the resilience of the Jewish people. The passage focuses on a verse that sp...
It's easy to get caught up in the moment, to think that the way things are now is how they'll always be. But Jewish tradition encourages us to look deeper, to see the hand of somet...
That feeling, that struggle… it’s ancient. And it’s right there in the Torah. Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, grapples with this very question. It's not ju...
It uses some pretty strong imagery to describe the leaders and righteous individuals within a community. The passage starts with a rather unsettling phrase: "Bitter clusters are th...
They found a pretty startling image to describe it. Imagine this: wine, normally a symbol of joy and celebration, transformed into venom. That's the core of an unsettling passage i...
It's woven right into the fabric of our stories, even in the most sacred texts. to a tiny verse that packs a big punch: (Deuteronomy 32:37). The verse reads, "And he will say: Wher...
We find a glimpse of a possible answer tucked away in Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy. Specifically, in section 328,...
In Devarim (Deuteronomy) 32:49, we find a fascinating little phrase: "Go up to this Mount Avarim." Simple enough. But the ancient sages, those masters of interpretation, saw so muc...
It’s a question that’s plagued humanity for millennia, and it’s a question that even Moses himself wrestled with. Imagine being Moses, the man who led the Israelites out of slavery...
We all know the story of Moses. The great leader who led the Israelites out of Egypt, received the Torah at Mount Sinai... a figure of immense stature. But even Moses, the humblest...
That, in essence, is the tragedy of Moses, as captured in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy). We all know the story: after forty years of wandering, leading the Israelites through t...
That messiness, that delicious, complicated paradox, is exactly what grabs our attention in Jewish tradition too. Take the tale we find in Sifrei Devarim 342. It focuses on the pro...
The verse in question, often translated as "He also loved the peoples," is the starting point. But what does it mean? Does God love all nations equally? Or is there, perhaps, a… hi...
Is it just for a select few, a royal inheritance? Or is it for everyone? Sifrei Devarim, a fascinating commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, tackles this head-on. It begins by que...
The Torah doesn’t exactly shout it from the rooftops, but there are clues. Little hints dropped here and there that paint a picture of a formidable people. Take Adoni-bezek, for ex...
A blessing: "Blessed is He that broadens Gad." What does it mean? Simply put, the passage teaches us that the territory allotted to the tribe of Gad expanded eastward. Pretty strai...
The Torah tells us that God showed him "the entire land" (Deuteronomy 34:1). But what exactly does "the entire land" mean? The ancient rabbis grappled with this question, and their...
Our text comes from Sifrei Devarim (a collection of legal midrashim (rabbinic interpretive commentary) on the book of Deuteronomy). It speaks of a vision granted to Moses, a vision...
The answer, well, it's more mystical than you might imagine. The book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), the last book of the Torah, tells us, "And He buried him in the valley, in the land ...
Moses stood on Mount Sinai wrapped in cloud for six days before God spoke a single word to him. Why the silence? Rabbi Jose the Galilean said it was purification — six days to burn...
JOSE B. JOEZER SAID: LET YOUR HOUSE BE A MEETING-HOUSE FOR THE WISE. What is meant by this? It teaches that a man’s house should be available to the wise, their disciples, and the ...
JOSHUA B. PERAḤIAH AND NITTAI THE ARBELITE RECEIVED THE TRADITION FROM THE PRECEDING. JOSHUA B. PERAḤIAH SAID: PROVIDE YOURSELF WITH A TEACHER, AND GET YOURSELF A COMPANION, AND JU...
SHEMAIAH AND ABṬALYON RECEIVED THE TRADITION FROM THE PRECEDING. SHEMAIAH SAID: LOVE WORK AND HATE PUBLIC OFFICE, AND BECOME NOT KNOWN TO THE RULING POWER.LOVE WORK. What does this...
SHAMMAI SAID: MAKE YOUR STUDY OF THE TORAH A FIXED HABIT; SAY LITTLE AND DO MUCH; AND RECEIVE ALL MEN WITH A CHEERFUL COUNTENANCE. MAKE YOUR STUDY OF THE TORAH A FIXED HABIT. What ...
THEY EACH SAID THREE THINGS. R. ELIEZER SAID: LET THE HONOUR OF YOUR FELLOW BE DEAR TO YOU AS YOUR OWN; BE NOT EASILY MOVED TO ANGER; REPENT ONE DAY BEFORE YOUR DEATH.LET THE HONOU...
‘Aḳabya b. Mahalalel said: Whosoever takes four things to heart1Cf. Aboth 3:1 (Sonc. ed., p. 26) where the more popular version reads: ‘Consider three things’, etc., omitting the t...
R. ḤANINA B. DOSA SAID: HE WHOSE FEAR OF SIN COMES BEFORE HIS WISDOM, HIS WISDOM SHALL ENDURE; [BUT HE WHOSE WISDOM COMES BEFORE HIS FEAR OF SIN, HIS WISDOM SHALL NOT ENDURE,] as i...
Elisha b. ’Abuya said: 1This chapter is devoted entirely to the teachings of Elisha b. ’Abuyah, a great scholar of the second century C.E. and teacher of R. Meir, who entered too d...
R. JOSE SAID: HE WHO HONOURS THE TORAH IS HIMSELF HONOURED BY MANKIND, as it is stated, For them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.11...
R. NATHAN1Aboth 4:11 (Sonc. ed., IV, 9, pp. 48f) where the dictum is given in reverse order in the name of R. Jonathan. GRA emends to R. Jonathan b. Joseph, a disciple of R. ‘Aḳiba...
1This paragraph has no connection with the theme of this chapter, which is an extensive commentary on Aboth 5. Such commentary begins with §2. Accordingly it has been suggested tha...
THERE WERE TEN GENERATIONS FROM ADAM TO NOAH. What need is there for mankind to [know] this? It is to teach you that although those generations provoked Him continually, the Holy O...
There are seven creations [in the universe] in ascending degrees of importance. High above everything God created the firmament. Above1i.e. of greater importance and usefulness. th...
R. SIMEON SAID: THERE ARE THREE CROWNS: THE CROWN OF THE TORAH, THE CROWN OF THE PRIESTHOOD, AND THE CROWN OF ROYALTY; BUT THE CROWN OF A GOOD NAME EXCELS THEM ALL.1Aboth 4:17 (Son...
The Hebrew Bible opens with a spare, magnificent account of creation in seven days. The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation composed between the 2nd and 7th centuries C...
(Genesis 2:7) says God formed man from "the dust of the ground." The Targum Jonathan says something far more specific. God took dust from the place of the Beit HaMikdash (בית המקדש...
The Hebrew text of (Genesis 3) says Eve "saw that the tree was good for food." The Targum Jonathan says she saw Sammael, the angel of death, standing right there, and was afraid. T...
(Genesis 4:8) contains one of the strangest silences in the Torah. It says "Cain spoke to Abel his brother," and then nothing. The sentence just stops. The next thing that happens ...
(Genesis 5:24) is one of the most mysterious verses in the Torah. "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." That is all the Hebrew says. No explanation of where he...
The Hebrew Bible says the "sons of God" saw that human women were beautiful, and took wives from among them (Genesis 6:2). That's all it says. The Targum Jonathan rewrites the scen...
The Hebrew Bible says God told Noah to enter the ark, and that rain would begin in seven days (Genesis 7:4). It does not explain why seven days. The Targum Jonathan does, and the e...
When the Flood ended, the Hebrew Bible says God sent a wind to dry the earth (Genesis 8:1). The Targum Jonathan says God sent "the wind of mercies." One word changes the theology. ...
Genesis 10 is the Table of Nations—a genealogy listing Noah's descendants and where they settled. In the Hebrew Bible, it reads like a census. The Targum Jonathan turns it into a p...
The Hebrew Bible says God "came down" to see the Tower of Babel and confused humanity's language (Genesis 11:7). But the ancient Aramaic translators of Targum Jonathan told a radic...
Genesis 17 records the moment God commands Abraham to circumcise himself at ninety-nine years old. The Hebrew text says Abraham "fell on his face" when God spoke to him. It reads l...
The standard Bible tells you Rachel stole her father's household gods when Jacob fled Laban's house. The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation from roughly the 1st-2nd ce...
When Esau and Jacob finally reunited after twenty years of separation, the Bible says Esau ran to his brother, embraced him, kissed him, and they wept (Genesis 33:4). It sounds lik...
