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“And of Benjamin he said, The Lord's beloved…” (Devarim 33:12) One verse says “As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out…” (...
Rabbi Yehuda said, "Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) before the Holy One, Blessed be He: One of wholly righteous people; and they are immediately writt...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Read-but-not-Written I) But [the children of] Benjamin would not yield (Judges 20:13). The word the children of is missing, for they did ...
Written but not Read "For rather Amnon" (II Samuel 13:33) is written, because at first Jonadab son of Shim'ah said "for Amnon alone has died," for the truth of the matter that Amno...
The author of Rav Pealim [Vilna Gaon] wrote about the Socher Tov of Midrash Tehillim and said: I found in the book, Ohel Yosef by Rabbi Yosef the Sefaradi on Parashat Vayikra, on t...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Sheni Ketuvim In the beginning God created etc. - To declare the might of the acts of creation to creatures, and to make it known to them...
[From the Sefer Raziel] Rabbi Ishmael said, "I saw the King of Kings sitting on a high and exalted throne, with His legions standing before Him, upon His right and upon His left. T...
...It is written (Ps. 119:62) At midnight do I constantly rise to give thanks unto Thee. Did David rise at midnight? Behold! He arose at the beginning of the night, for it is said,...
[It is written] (Ps. 66:1) A prayer of David, preserve my soul, for I am pious. R. Levi and R. Isaac both explain this passage. One said : "Thus said David before the Holy One, pra...
R. Elazar b. Abina said : "He who recites Te-hila l' David (Ps. 145) three times a day may be sure of an inheritance in the world to come." What is the reason? Shall I say because ...
(1) ROSH HASHANAH (Fol. 2b) "When Aaron died, Sichon was still living (Fol. 3), as it is written (Num. 21, 1) And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, heard. What did he hear? He heard...
(2) (Fol. 3b) R. Abahu said: "Cyrus was a worthy king, and therefore were his royal years counted in accordance with those of the kings of Israel [beginning with Nissan]." R. Josep...
(3) (Fol. 10b) We have been taught that R. Eliezer says: "In the month of Tishri the world was created; in the month of Tishri the Patriarchs [Abraham and Jacob], were born, and in...
(8) With whose opinion does our Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) agree? Neither with that of R. Maier, nor with that of R. Juda, nor with that of R. Jose, nor with that ...
(18) R. Samuel b. lnya said in the name of Rab: "Whence do we know that a decree against a community is not confirmed." Is that true? Behold, it is written (Jer. 2, 22) The stain o...
(19) On New Year's Day all the inhabitants of the world pass before Him, Kibne Maron. What is the meaning of Kibne Maron? Here (in Babylonia) they translated it "like sheep." But R...
(24) (Fol. 21b) It is written (Ps. 12, 7) The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver refined in the crucible of earth, purified seven times. Rab and Samuel both explain it. On...
What is meant by 'a wicked bond'? Shebna taught to twelve myriads, while Hezekiah taught to eleven myriads. When Sennacherib came and besieged Jerusalem, Shebna wrote on an arrowhe...
Ten kings ruled over the whole world:—God, Nimrod, Joseph, Solomon, Ahab, Nebuchadnezzar, Koresh (Ahas- uerus ruled over half). Alexander of Macedonia not only ruled over the whole...
Nimrod declared himself a god to be worshipped. He made a round tower of stone planted in the midst of the earth, and placed a throne of cedar on the stone, and upon this one of ir...
Adrianus orders his army to worship him. He declares that within three years he will capture the Temple. Three philosophers dispute with him. One says how can a new king be recogni...
Hiram, king of Tyre made seven artificial heavens placed on pillars of iron, first of glass, sun, moon and stars. Second of iron, with a lake of water in it; third of tin with prec...
Alexander the Great tied two eagles together with meat in front of them, so they fly upwards with him until his eyelids dropped from the cold. He then descends in a glass box to th...
The Emperor said that he wanted to see God. He was told: “It is impossible." They placed him to look at the sun in the midst of Tammus. He could not do so. How then could he look a...
The daughter of the Emperor said to Rabbi Joshua: “Your God is a builder, so let Him build a tent here." She became leprous and had to be placed in a tent as they do in Rome. She a...
The Emperor asked Rabbi Joshua whether the dead came to life and being dust, how could dust live ? The daughter of the Emperor replied: “There are two makers of things in our place...
The Emperor asks R. Gamliel “If there is a God in the world why does He not show Himself and why does He not speak direct to His creatures so that they might respect Him the more. ...
The Emperor asks R. Akiba:—“Why is it said, God gives wisdom to the wise and not to the fool ?" R. Akiba simulates illness; the Emperor sends medicine worth a iooo denars. i 55 - R...
Adrianus asks R. Joshua why God’s name is not mentioned in the five last commandments, which appears to apply to all nations. Joshua takes him over the town and shows him his statu...
Turnus Rufus and Akiba dispute about the preeminence of the Sabbath. Rufus holds high office, having been appointed by the Emperor. Akiba says that the Sabbath has also been appoin...
A Matrona asked Rabbi Joshua what God has been doing since Creation. The reply was: “He pairs people.” The Ma- trona then ordered a number of male slaves to marry female slaves, th...
The wicked kingdom once decreed that the Jews should not keep the Sabbath, nor circumcise their children, nor keep the law of purification according to the Bible. Reuben the son of...
The Jews being prevented by decree from studying, Pappos met R. Akiba who had defied that decree. Rebuked by Pappos Akiba replied: “A fox on the shore of the sea saw some fish hidi...
Nahum ish Gamzo, also called Nahum of Hamadi used to say, “Everything for the best.” Sent to the Emperor with presents, miracles happened. He came to a place where during the night...
The story of the false prophets Ahab ben Kolaya and Zidkia b. Maaseya. They went to the daughter of Nebuchad- nezar and by false prophecies tried to induce her to sin, The king kno...
A Jew and a heathen disputed about their religion. Satan disguised as a man decided in favour of the heathen, who tork all the money. The Jew overheard the discussion of this Satan...
An heathen heard of the honour paid to the high priest and he wished to become a Jew. Shammai refused him saying that it was ridiculous for him to pretend to become high priest. Hi...
A child learned part of the book of Genesis, is captured and put into prison. The Emperor asked for a book from the library and it happened to be the Jewish Bible. No one could rea...
Simeon b. Kamhith, a high priest, walked about with a heathen king and got his clothes defiled and was incapacitated from acting on the day of atonement. His place was taken by his...
An heathen accused R. Jehuda b. Hai of usury because he looked so well-fed. The reply was, that it was not from usury, rearing of swine or drinking, all forbidden to the Jews that ...
A man whilst praying did not return the salute of the Hegemon. The excuse he gave was that standing before the King of Kings, he could not pay respect to inferiors.
A Min and R. Ami disputed about the resurrection of the dead after they are changed into dust. R. Ami replied with., a parable. A king ordered his servants to build a palace where ...
Two Jews were carried away captive from Mount Carmel. The captor following them overheard one saying to the other “A she -camel has passed before us, she is blind of one eye and on...
The Rabbis Huna and Hisda refused at the beginning to be polite to Gniba. He approached them and saluted them humbly and twice he called them kings. Asked for reason for this kind ...
R. Shela beat a man who commited sin with an heathen. He was denounced to the king, but he escaped punishment and obtained a high position through his interpretation of the words: ...
Proklos b. Filoslos asks R. Gamliel why does not God destroy the idols. The Rabbi replies "If a man calls a dog by the name of his father, will the father be angry with the son or ...
The Emperor and R. Gamliel dispute and the Emperor says "God is a thief, He threw Adam into a sleep and then stole a rib from him." The daughter of the Emperor replies, "He is a fi...
Woman cannot keep a secret. A Hegemon twits a Jew with that saying, and is convinced of the truth by feigning illness and telling his wife under an oath, that he had become pregnan...
