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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...
It’s a powerful, devastating verse that sets the stage for the Flood. But the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), in Bereshit Rabbah, weren't content with a s...
The verse in question is (Ecclesiastes 2:23): “For all his days are pains, and anger is his concern; even at night his heart does not rest. This too is futility.” But what does thi...
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 sugges...
The Torah tells us, in (Genesis 6:6), "The Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was saddened in His heart.” Whoa. Heavy stuff. But what does it really mean? The...
It’s not just about the rain, or the oceans. It's about something much deeper – a relationship, even a conversation, between God and the very elements of the universe. We find a fa...
The Book of Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, grapples with just that question in section 28. It all stems from God’s statement, "I will obliter...
Turns out, even God has had those thoughts about humanity. We find a fascinating glimpse into this in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genes...
Jewish tradition grapples with this very question, comparing different eras and communities that faced divine judgment. to some intense comparisons drawn from Bereshit Rabbah, a cl...
Innocent creatures caught in the wake of human sin. But the ancient rabbis grappled with this question too, offering powerful, and perhaps unsettling, explanations. In Bereshit Rab...
The animals? Did they really deserve to be wiped out along with everyone else? Well, the rabbis of old had some thoughts on that. Rabbi Azarya, quoting Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon, offe...
Rabbi Yoḥanan, a prominent Jewish sage, offers a fascinating, and perhaps surprising, perspective. He says that the sentence, the punishment, of the generation of the Flood lasted ...
That feeling, that precarious balance between merit and grace, is at the heart of a fascinating discussion about Noah in Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpret...
Jewish tradition is full of stories about individuals who stood out, who were exceptional even when surrounded by… well, less exceptional company. Rabbi Simon starts us off with a ...
We often think of God as all-knowing, all-seeing, but the Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of early Jewish interpretations of Genesis, dare to imagine a divine experience of...
In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Genesis, we find a fascinating discussion about the depth of that relationship. Rabbi Yoḥanan, R...
It’s a question that's been wrestled with for centuries, and it pops up in the most unexpected places in Jewish tradition. : Do we receive blessings because of our ancestors' good ...
It's not just filling space, but rather, like a master musician hitting a note again and again until it resonates deep within us. Take the story of Noah. (Genesis 6:9) tells us: "T...
The Torah portion Noah grapples with just that, the world after the flood. But even in this story of renewal, shadows of the past linger. The Rabbis in Bereshit Rabbah, that magnif...
The ancient rabbis certainly knew it. They saw it baked right into the words of the Torah itself. Take, for instance, the opening of Parashat Noah, the portion of Genesis that tell...
In a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, the ancient rabbinic commentary on Genesis, we find the figure of Noah held up as a source of just that: double relief. But it starts...
We read in (Genesis 6:9), "These are the offspring of Noah; Noah was a righteous man." A pretty great opening line. But what does it really mean? The Rabbis of the Bereshit Rabbah,...
It's easy to imagine everyone just carrying on, oblivious, but Jewish tradition suggests otherwise. The Torah tells us, "Noah was a righteous man [ish]" (Genesis 6:9). Seems simple...
In the book of Bereshit, Genesis, we find two such words used to describe key figures: tamim and haya. What do they really mean? , because the Rabbis of old sure had some fascinati...
The Torah tells us he was "righteous in his generation" (Genesis 6:9). But what does that really mean? Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis,...
Rabbi Yehuda offers a beautiful analogy. Imagine a prince with two sons, one older and stronger, the other younger and perhaps more vulnerable. To the younger, the prince says, "Wa...
It's easy to just say "God did it," but Jewish tradition wrestles with these questions. It digs deep, looking for meaning, for justice, for a reason why. Take the verse in (Genesis...
We often think of the sheer scale of the wickedness, but sometimes the details are what really bring the picture into focus. Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of rabbinic...
It's easy to point to general "wickedness," but the details, as always, are far more interesting, and speak to timeless human failings. Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection ...
It’s easy to focus on the sheer scale of the destruction, but the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), those ancient interpreters of scripture, dug deeper. The...
Take the story of the Flood, the mabul, a cataclysmic event meant to cleanse the world of its wickedness. We often focus on Noah, the ark, and the animals. But what about the Earth...
The verse in Genesis (6:14) states: "Craft for you an ark of cypress wood; you shall craft the ark with compartments, and you shall coat it within and without with pitch." Now, Rab...
It's fascinating to see how even the smallest details in the Torah, when unpacked by our Sages, can offer such profound insights. to Bereshit Rabbah 31, a section of the ancient Mi...
We all know the story: the flood, the animals two-by-two, a rainbow of hope at the end. But what about the blueprints? How did Noah actually build this thing? The Torah, in (Genesi...
What about the nitty-gritty? How did Noah see in there? Where did everyone go to the bathroom? Our Sages, wrestling with the very same questions, dove deep into the Torah's descrip...
To a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, and uncover some hidden layers of meaning. The verse in question, (G...
We all know the classic story: two of every animal, safe from the flood. But what about the things that aren't exactly animals? (Genesis 6:19) tells us, "And of every living being,...
We all know the story: the flood, the ark, two of every animal… but the logistics! How did he feed them all? What did he eat? The Torah tells us, "And you, take for you from all fo...
To a fascinating passage from Bereshit Rabbah 32, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. The verse that kicks it all off is God's instruction to Noah: "Co...
True greatness lies not in squashing the competition, but in celebrating it? That’s the kind of wisdom we find nestled within the ancient texts of our tradition. Take Bereshit Rabb...
Why do bad things happen to good people? It’s a question that’s haunted humanity for millennia. Our tradition grapples with this head-on, not offering easy answers, but rather invi...
When we delve into the rich tapestry of rabbinic tradition, specifically Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of early Jewish interpretations of the Book of Genesis, we find some fascinat...
That’s kind of what the ancient Rabbis were wrestling with when they looked at the story of Noah, specifically (Genesis 7:6): “And Noah was six hundred years old, and the flood was...
Not just the big picture of Noah and the ark, but some of the why and the how behind this cataclysmic event. It's a story we all know, but Bereshit Rabbah 32 offers some pretty fas...
Sometimes, it's in the details, in the seemingly small phrases, that we find the biggest insights. Take the story of Noah, for instance. We all know the basics: flood, ark, animals...
We get glimpses of the Ark in the Bible, but Jewish tradition, particularly in the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), fills in the blanks, offering us vivid images of that...
Because sometimes, the universe has a funny way of showing us that insight isn't exclusive to the scholars and sages. We find a perfect example in Bereshit Rabbah, specifically sec...
The rabbis of old grappled with this very question. How high did the water actually get? The Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, dives int...
