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Jacob gathered his twelve sons around his golden bed to reveal the future. But something went wrong. According to Targum Jonathan, Jacob intended to show them "the hidden mysteries...
Exodus chapter 4 tells how Moses received miraculous signs to convince Israel of his mission. The Targum Jonathan transforms this chapter into something far stranger—especially whe...
Bezalel built the Ark, the Table, the Candelabrum, and the Incense Altar in (Exodus 37:1-29). The Hebrew text describes each object's dimensions. The Targum Jonathan explains how a...
The Targum's version of (Numbers 22) drops a bombshell in its opening verses that the Torah never states directly. Balak sent messengers not just to some foreign sorcerer, but to "...
Bileam tried one last trick before delivering his final oracle. According to the Targum's version of (Numbers 24), he "set his face toward the wilderness, to recall to memory the w...
The tribes of Reuben and Gad had enormous herds, and when they saw the conquered territory east of the Jordan, they wanted to stay. The Targum's version of (Numbers 32) captures Mo...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 3) contains two stunning additions to the biblical narrative. The first involves a giant king. The second involves the most desperate prayer Mos...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 17) puts hard numbers on royal power. The Hebrew says the king shall not "multiply horses" or "multiply wives." But how many is too many? The Ta...
The death of Moses in (Deuteronomy 34) is eight verses in the Torah. Targum Jonathan turns it into one of the most elaborate death scenes in all of ancient Jewish literature. From ...
Teach us, our master, from when does the mitzvah of the Channukah lamp begin? Our rabbis taught – from when the sun sets until the majority of people are gone from the marketplace....
And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be your name (41:18:31). May our ...
Arise, my light, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you [For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness will cover the nations, and th...
Eli led Israel for forty years, and the day Eli died, he forsook his tabernacle, as it is said, “He rejected the tent of Joseph” (Psalm 78:67), and “He gave His strength into capti...
“And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, at the completion of the word of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord aroused… So said Cyrus, the king of Persia… Who ...
Ben Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from every man, as it is said: “From all who taught me have I gained understanding” (Psalms 119:99). Who is mighty? He who subdues his [ev...
The Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 187 preserves a terse but powerful warning about the danger of asking the wrong questions — or more precisely, about knowing when to stop asking. God de...
And David arose, and fled that day from before Saul: This is [the meaning of] the verse, He has made everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11), everything that the Holy ...
... [When] a man goes to honor the rulers, he goes full and returns empty. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like this. Rather we go to him empty and we return full, as it is...
"From the kingship of the hypocritical man from the snares of the people" (Job 34:30) Abba Gurion, from Sidon, said five things in the name of Rabban Gamliel: (1) When lying judges...
In the third year of his reign, he made a feast. There are those that say that territories rebelled and when he conquered them he made a feast. Some say that it was his birthday an...
It was said before Abraham was born. Nimrod was a heretic concerning the truth of the lord blessed be he. He was conceited and he said that he himself was a God. And the people of ...
And these are the generations of Aaron and Moses. [Betai Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ot Third Chamber] Our rabbis taught: Brothers who are partners and who increased ...
Sefer HaBahir or Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Rabbi Nehunya ben HaKana, as it is attributed to him, is a profound and wondrous book of Kabbalah, and it is held in gre...
The Feast of the Garden of Eden [in Seder Rav Amram Gaon 13b, and Beit haMidrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) vol. 5, 45] In the future to come, the Holy Blessed One will rev...
The Book of Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death) [Reishit Chochmah: Gate of Fear: Chapter 12; Beit haMidrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary): Section 1] It...
The Holy One of Blessing is High and Exalted, His throne is [also] High and Exalted. And from where do we know that the Holy One of Blessing is called "High and Exalted"? From (Isa...
It was in the days of Antiochus, king of Greece, he was a great and mighty king, he was powerful in his governance, and all kings listened to him. He conquered many countries and m...
Abba Gurion: This is also called 'Agadta deMegilta' or 'Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Megillah', as it is based on the Book of Esther. Rabbi Aharon Yellinek published ...
Avkir: This Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) is named so because of the acronym at the end of the teachings: Amen, B'yamenu, Ken, Yehi, Ratzon (in our days, so be it). Th...
"Book of Supreme Signs": It is cited in the book "Chag HaPesach (Passover)" by Rabbi Yaakov Kitzingen (Krakow, 5377). In the list of books by Rabbi Moshe David Oppenheim, there's a...
Book of Eldad the Danite A Question and Answer between the People of Kairouan and Rabbi Zemach Gaon [Epstein, Eldad the Danite, Story I] Before the chariot of Israel and its horsem...
Story of Eldad the Danite, Narrative B In the name of the LORD God of Israel, blessed be His name, of our God the King, King of kings, Who chose Israel from among all nations and g...
"Orchot Tushiya": These are the paths that the angel Ezekiel conveyed to our forefather Abraham as part of the covenant traditions. They are cited in the book "HaPliyah", in the in...
The Holy One created twenty-two good attributes in His world. All of them were nullified and in the future the Holy One will return them to Israel in the time to come. They are: fo...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Ben Shua": The author of "Seder HaDorot" in Part 3, "Names of the Books", letter Mem, cites a "Midrash Ben Shua" in the name of Mar Rav ...
Midrash HaGadol: Several manuscripts of this midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) are found in well-known libraries, and one belonged to Dr. Alexander Kohut, who used it in t...
"Devarim Zuta": This is a midrash on the Book of Deuteronomy that was known to the author of the Yalkut Shimoni, and it appears in the Yalkut Shimoni for the Book of Deuteronomy 31...
"Zohar Chadash": It consists of some esoteric Torah teachings (letters), verses, and Mishnaic teachings with a concealed Midrash on the Torah and the Song of Songs, as well as some...
Legend from "Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Eicha Rabati" [From "Beit Akeid Haggadot" Part 1, 37] God said to Jeremiah, "Go to Anathoth," for as long as Jeremiah was in...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Yitbarach (May He Be Blessed) Blessed be the name of the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He, who lives and endures forever and eve...
Masechet Kallah is one of the minor tractates in the Talmud, in the Order of Damages. It consists of external beraitot and mishnayot that were compiled at the end of the Talmud by ...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Levanat HaSapir is a midrash on the Torah in the style of kabbalah, in Aramaic like the Zohar. It is not extant before us today. The Yuha...
The Book of the Wellspring of Wisdom When Moses ascended on high, a cloud came up against him, and Moses our teacher did not know if one rides it or holds it. Immediately, the clou...
"It happened with King Jehoiachin, of whom it is written: 'Thus says the Lord, Write this man childless.' When he fell into the hands of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, he was imprisone...
In conclusion: Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin (Riv"l) in his book 'Yehoshafat' (page 59) says in the name of Rigevo that the Yalkut brings teachings on the verse 'All my bones shall sa...
Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva (Nusaḥ II) [according to the Krakow and Amsterdam printings] Said Rabbi Aqibha: these are the 22 letters with which the Torah was given to the tribes of Isr...
The Small Letters and their Purposes The ALEPH in ויקרא And He called (Leviticus 1:1) is small, to teach that the Holy Blessed One is only revealed to the nations of the earth thro...
The Hebrew Torah scroll contains a hidden layer of meaning that most readers never notice: certain letters are written larger or smaller than normal. The Midrash (rabbinic interpre...
