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“Esther’s young women and her chamberlains came and told her, and the queen was greatly shocked” (Esther 4:4).The Rabbis from there2From Babylonia. say: She menstruated. The Rabbis...
“Esther summoned Hatakh, one of the king’s chamberlains whom he had set before her, and commanded him to go to Mordekhai to know what this is and why this is” (Esther 4:5).“Esther ...
“The king said to her: What troubles you, Queen Esther, and what is your request… Esther said: If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet… The king sa...
“The king said to Haman: Hurry, take the garments and the horse; as you have said, do so to Mordekhai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Do not omit anything that you spoke of. H...
Another interpretation: “Haman took the garments and the horse....” (Esther 6:11). He came to Mordekhai and said: ‘Rise and get dressed.’ How unlucky is this man; last night I was ...
Rabbi Berekhya said: The Holy one blessed be He recorded the redemption of Israel in the Torah, as it is written: “If a stranger who is a resident among you shall prosper…” (Leviti...
A single verse from Deuteronomy captured the entire emotional arc of Jewish exile. "In the morning you will say: Would that it were evening, and in the evening you will say: Would ...
God made a promise embedded in the Torah's harshest chapter of curses, and the rabbis of Esther Rabbah turned it into one of the most powerful statements of divine loyalty in all o...
The prophet Amos described a man who fled from a lion, only to be attacked by a bear, and when he finally made it home and leaned against the wall, a snake bit him (Amos 5:19). The...
The rabbis of Esther Rabbah made a stunning claim: every time the Hebrew word vayhi ("it was") appears in the Torah, it signals disaster. Rabbi Tanhuma, Rabbi Berekhya, and Rabbi H...
The exile of the Jewish people under Ahasuerus was not an accident. According to Esther Rabbah, it was prophesied in detail centuries before it happened, embedded in verses from Is...
Sometimes, that happens with our understanding of the Divine, too. There's a fascinating debate, captured in letters from Jewish scholars of generations past, about how we relate t...
Jewish tradition has a name for that feeling: Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). But what exactly is it? It’s a word we hear often, especially when talking about exile and redemption...
It’s powerful stuff, and not everyone agrees on how much we should explore it. We see this tension reflected in the words of the sage Yair, who seems hesitant to delve too deeply i...
It's something reflected even in our ancient texts. Imagine being accused of disrespecting the very wisdom you hold sacred. That's the situation hinted at in this passage, a passio...
It seems straightforward, but like peering into the deepest ocean, the deeper we go, the more layers of meaning we find. The Zohar, in (Genesis 1:1), dives right into this mystery....
The answer, as with so many profound questions, lies deep within Jewish tradition, and grapples with some pretty mind-bending concepts, especially when we delve into Kabbalah. But ...
Yet, when we delve into ancient Jewish thought, we find just that kind of imaginative, symbolic thinking. Let's take a journey to explore one such fascinating idea, found in the Mi...
The ancient sages did. They saw in the creation of Adam and Eve, not just the beginning of humanity, but the blueprint for a thriving, balanced life. Philo, a Jewish philosopher fr...
Jewish tradition explores that feeling in a fascinating way when it discusses Noah. The world was, to put it mildly, a mess. According to the Torah, humanity's wickedness had reach...
Philo, in his exploration of the Torah, grapples with this very idea. He's looking at the verse in Genesis (6:12) that describes the corruption of the world before the flood: "all ...
Take the story of Noah and the Ark. We all know the basic plot: God sends a flood, Noah builds an ark, and saves his family and the animals. But what about the deeper meaning? What...
(Genesis 7:4) tells us that the rain fell for this specific duration, but why this particular number? Philo, in his Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), delves into this ver...
Take, for instance, the verse in (Genesis 7:4): "I will destroy every living substance that I have made from off the face of the earth." (Genesis 7:4) Doesn't that phrasing strike ...
Our tradition is rich with layers of meaning, isn't it? And sometimes, the smallest detail holds a hidden universe. Take the timing of the great flood. It wasn't just any time. The...
Take the flood narrative in Genesis, for example. We read that "the fountains of the deep were broken open and the floodgates of the sky were opened" (Genesis 7:11). Straightforwar...
What does it really mean? We find ourselves asking, what are we to make of the devastating phrase, "And everything which was on the dry land died?" (Genesis 7:22). Philo, the 1st-c...
It's more than just a tale of survival; it's a carefully constructed narrative, brimming with numerical significance. to the depths of the flood and see what we can unearth. The te...
A dove, sure, feels right. But a raven? What's that all about?Philo wasn't just interested in the surface-level story; he was all about digging deeper, finding the hidden meanings ...
Philo, in his Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), dives headfirst into this question when talking about Noah and the flood. It's a fascinating exploration of time, virtue, ...
It's not just a random deluge, according to some fascinating interpretations. to one such reading from the Midrash of Philo, which offers a unique perspective on the story of Noah ...
It's not just a children's tale about animals two-by-two. Ancient interpreters saw layers of meaning in every detail, even the order in which people entered and exited the ark. Phi...
God, knowing humanity’s propensity for wickedness from the start, initially intended to destroy the world with a flood. Yet, afterward, God promises not to destroy all flesh again,...
We take them for granted, this endless cycle of planting and harvesting, warmth and cold. But what if it all stopped? What if spring never came, or winter just kept going and going...
He saw the world – and especially our inner world – as a kind of living midrash, a constant interpretation of the Torah and reality itself. And in his unique way, he understood the...
Philo, in his unique way, dives into this very question, and his insights, drawn from his interpretation of scripture, are surprisingly relevant even today. He speaks of two kinds ...
It’s more than just a pretty arc of color after the rain, especially when we look at it through the lens of ancient Jewish thought. The Torah tells us that after the flood, God set...
Jewish tradition grapples with this feeling too, often through stories of angels – beings of immense power, but always, always subservient to God. What does it mean to say somethin...
And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him (Exod. 31:18). Scripture says elsewhere in reference to this verse: Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led c...
(Numbers 35:11:) “You shall provide yourselves with places to serve you as cities of refuge.” And it is written (in (Numbers 35:13-1)4), “six cities of refuge shall there be for yo...
