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The Midrash, those collections of rabbinic commentaries and stories that expand on the Hebrew Bible, often offer surprising perspectives. Here, in Bereshit Rabbah, a midrash on the...
It's usually translated as "also," "indeed," or even "moreover." Seems harmless enough. But according to Rabbi Ḥanina ben Sansan, that seemingly innocent word, when uttered with a ...
The text opens with the verse: "And thorns and thistles it will grow for you, and you shall eat the vegetation of the field." So, what exactly are these "thorns and thistles," or k...
We're diving into Bereshit Rabbah, a treasure trove of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, specifically chapter 50, and it tells a wild story about just that. It all r...
Take the story of Jacob's dream in Genesis 28, where he rests his head on a stone and sees a ladder stretching to heaven. On that ladder, angels ascend and descend. A seemingly sim...
to one fascinating example, found in Bereshit Rabbah 68, which takes a familiar image – Jacob's ladder – and connects it to a very different dream, that of King Nebuchadnezzar. Rem...
It turns out, this isn't just a modern observation. Our sages recognized this dynamic thousands of years ago. Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina, in Bereshit Rabbah 69, starts us off with a quo...
That’s the kind of morning Jacob had. We find ourselves in Genesis 28:18. Jacob, after his famous dream of the ladder stretching to heaven, wakes up "early in the morning, and he t...
Sometimes, it's in those very details that the most fascinating stories are hidden. Take the moment in Genesis 33:5 when Jacob, after years of estrangement, finally meets his broth...
