1,414 texts · Page 19 of 30
They’re powerful forces, capable of shaking the very foundations of existence. In Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar 123, we encounter a fascinating scene. The Masters of the Mishna...
We remember the giant, the slingshot, the underdog victory. But what if there was more to those five smooth stones than met the eye? The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a profou...
And they had a very specific solution, deeply rooted in love, connection, and the very structure of the Shm’a, that central Jewish prayer. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a ...
And a passage from the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, specifically Tikkunei Zohar 124, gives us a glimpse into just how deep that idea goes. The Tikkunei Zohar is considered a ...
But to what? And is there a battle raging within us, a constant tug-of-war between the sacred and… well, the not-so-sacred? The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a later and more ...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, invites us to consider just that. It paints a picture of the human body as a microcosm, a reflection of the divin...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah expanding on the Zohar itself, delves deep into the secrets of creation and the human soul. In one particular pass...
But according to the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a cornerstone of Kabbalistic literature, it's a bit more… involved. The Tikkunei Zohar, in Tikkun 125, delves into the mysti...
We open our mouths, and thoughts – complex, nuanced, deeply personal thoughts – become audible, shared, tangible. It's kind of isn't it? The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a ce...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, isn't just a book. It's a tapestry woven with secrets, insights, and poetic imagery, all aimed at helping us understand the deeper workings o...
The Kabbalists certainly did. They saw the human face as a microcosm, a reflection of the divine. And in the lines and contours, they found echoes of something truly profound. The ...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, offers a breathtaking image. It begins with a single word: yasis. The text doesn't elaborate much on the word its...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, offers a breathtaking glimpse into just that, specifically focusing on the Divine Feminine, the Matronita. The pa...
We're diving into a passage from the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, specifically Tikkun 291. Now, the Tikkunei Zohar is a deep, often mind-bending commentary on the Zohar itsel...
It’s a question that the mystical tradition of Judaism, particularly the Zohar, has pondered for centuries. And in Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar 291, we find a fascinating, alm...
Can you sanctify a steak? The Tanya's seventh chapter says yes—but only under certain conditions. Rabbi Schneur Zalman distinguishes between things that can be elevated to holiness...
The cosmology section of Sefer Raziel HaMalakh presents creation not as an act of physical labor but as an act of speech. God spoke, and the universe crystallized from divine langu...
The most esoteric section of Shimush Tehillim deals with the divine names hidden within the Psalms themselves—names that are not written explicitly but encoded through acrostics, g...
Strip away the medieval slander and a real tradition of Jewish magic emerges—one that Joshua Trachtenberg traced from the Bible through the Talmud and into the folk practices of me...
The Torah speaks "to Moses and to Aaron" — in that order. Moses first, Aaron second. A natural reading would assume this reflects a hierarchy: Moses is the greater, Aaron the lesse...
The Mekhilta uncovers a contradiction in the Torah's timeline that forces a radical rethinking of when the Passover sacrifice actually happened. Deuteronomy commands, "There shall ...
Rabbi Yossi HaGlili tackles a puzzle buried in the Torah's festival calendar. The verse in (Deuteronomy 16:15) commands, "Seven days shall you celebrate to the Lord your God." On i...
Two verses in the Torah appear to contradict each other on a basic question: how many days must one eat matzah during Passover? One verse says six days. Another says seven. The Mek...
(Ibid. 19) "In your houses": What is the intent of this? I might take (13:7) "in all of your boundaries," literally (i.e., even if the chametz is not yours); it is, therefore, writ...
The Mekhilta, the halakhic midrash on Exodus from the tannaitic period, continues its investigation of a recurring biblical formula: when Scripture says God "has spoken," where exa...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus compiled in the 2nd century CE, traces another instance of the Bible's "as He spoke" formula — a device the rabbis use to link later p...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic commentary on Exodus, arrives at one of the most dramatic prophetic verses in all of Scripture: "The glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh will ...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic commentary on Exodus, addresses a verse with massive implications for the Exodus narrative. Moses tells Israel in Deuteronomy: "And the Lord said to you...
Variantly: "And he called to Moses and to Aaron": What is the intent of this? Pharaoh had said to him (Ibid. 10:28) "Go from me." (29) "And Moses said: "True have you spoken" (and ...
The Torah states "and you shall circumcise him; then he shall eat of it," establishing circumcision as a prerequisite for eating the Passover sacrifice. The Mekhilta uses this vers...
The prohibition against breaking the bones of the Pesach (Passover) sacrifice includes two seemingly small words that carry enormous legal weight: "in it." The Mekhilta zeroes in o...
The Mekhilta preserves a remarkable legal case involving a woman named Beluria, a proselytess — a non-Jewish woman who converted to Judaism. Beluria owned several maid-servants, an...
Variantly: The bechor of a man is likened to the bechor of a beast, and the bechor of a beast to the bechor of a man. Just as with a beast, a miscarriage (of the first pregnancy) e...
Rabbi Yehudah ben Betheira noticed something peculiar in (Deuteronomy 8:10): "You shall eat and you shall be satisfied and you shall bless... for the good land." The verse already ...
Rabbi Yoshiyah tackled a question about the scope of the commandment of first fruits, bikkurim. (Deuteronomy 26:2) commands, "Then you shall take of all the fruits of the earth." R...
"and chametz shall not be seen unto you, and se'or shall not be seen unto you": chametz is likened to se'or, and se'or to chametz. Just as the one may not be seen, so, the other. J...
The Torah prohibits chametz in two locations during Passover: in your houses and in your boundaries. But a careful reader might wonder whether these two prohibitions share the same...
R. Yonathan says (Devarim 6:8-9) "and you shall tie them … and you shall write them": Just as the writing (of the mezuzah (a parchment scroll affixed to doorposts)) is with the rig...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael derives a striking equivalence from the verse "and as a remembrance between your eyes, so that the Torah of the L-rd be in your mouth" (Exodus 13:9). ...
How often must a person inspect their tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) to make sure the scrolls inside are still intact? The Mekhilta derives the answer through a...
Rabbi Eliezer posed a question that shaped Passover observance for all generations: How do we know that a gathering of sages or students must occupy themselves with the laws of Pes...
Joseph made his brothers swear a solemn oath, and the Mekhilta records the exact logic behind his request. He said to them: "My father went down to Egypt of his own free will, and ...
The place where Israel camped before crossing the Red Sea bore a name loaded with meaning. The Mekhilta offers multiple interpretations of "Chiroth" — and each one tells a differen...
Pharaoh was told "that the people had fled" (Exodus 14:5). But had Israel actually fled? The Torah itself states in (Numbers 33:3) that "on the morrow of the Pesach, the children o...
The Mekhilta offers a second interpretation of the phrase "and Pharaoh pressed ahead," this time focusing on the terrifying speed of the Egyptian pursuit. Pharaoh did not merely ch...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael offers a vivid interpretation of God's attack on the Egyptian army during the crossing of the Red Sea, reading the verse "And He shall let fly His sha...
When God brought judgment upon the Egyptians at the Red Sea, the natural order itself turned upside down. The Mekhilta captures this reversal in a single, devastating image: "In th...
The Song at the Sea begins with a grammatical mystery. The Hebrew text of (Exodus 15:1) reads az yashir Mosheh—literally, "then Moses will sing," using the future tense. If the Tor...
