917 texts · Page 42 of 102
And as always, the rabbis of old had some fascinating ideas. The verse from Job (14:20) sets the stage: “You grant him power forever, and he is gone; You alter his countenance and ...
We choose them carefully, hoping they’ll embody certain qualities, or perhaps carry on a family legacy. But what if a name wasn't a blessing, but a curse? What if it foreshadowed i...
to a fascinating little exploration from Bereshit Rabbah 23, where they unpack the Hebrew word huḥal (הוחל), meaning "then commenced." The discussion kicks off with Rabbi Simon, wh...
In fact, it delves into the idea of divine restraint, of God actively preventing the world from being destroyed by, well, wind. We find this idea explored in Bereshit Rabbah 24, a ...
Our story begins with the verse, "This is the book of the descendants of Adam" (Genesis 5:1). But what does that really mean? Bereshit Rabbah 24 digs into this, offering some truly...
The verse says, "The children of the great men [benei haelohim] saw the daughters of man, that they were fair, and they took for themselves wives, from whomever they chose." Simple...
This week, we're diving into a passage from Bereshit Rabbah 26, a rich collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, that wrestles with this very question. The ver...
Ever read something in the Bible that just makes you stop and say, "Wait, what?" I get that feeling every time I stumble upon Genesis 6:4: "The Nefilim were on the earth in those d...
The Torah tells us, in Genesis 6:5, that God saw the wickedness of humankind was "great" – raba in Hebrew – before the Flood. But what kind of "great" was it? Rabbi Ḥanina suggests...
