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There was a blueprint, a guide, an artisan involved: The Torah. Yes, the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the very text we read and study, was, according to some tr...
It sounds radical, I know. According to some accounts, God bestowed immense honor upon Moses, gifting him dominion over the entire earth, the seas, the rivers – all the elements th...
The plea is intense: "My soul yearns to hear profound words, tightly sealed, burning from the lofty heavens... quench my thirst like a parched land." Wow. This isn't just casual cu...
Jewish tradition has a name for that feeling: Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). But what exactly is it? It’s a word we hear often, especially when talking about exile and redemption...
It’s a question that has echoes through Jewish tradition, and one that comes up in a fascinating discussion about bowing down, prostration, and the very nature of God’s glory. The ...
Are we, heaven forbid, idolaters, bowing down to wood and parchment? Rabbi Menasheh ben Yisrael, of blessed memory, addressed this very concern in his book, Teshuat Yisrael. He fel...
The ancient Israelites, our ancestors, were intensely careful about anything that could be perceived as foreign worship. And I mean intensely. The Talmud, that vast ocean of Jewish...
We often think of kissing as a sign of affection, love, or respect. But in ancient times, it could also be a form of worship. Strange. The Bible itself gives us a glimpse into this...
The story goes that when the seventy-two elders presented it to him, he didn't just nod politely. He rose from his throne, and prostrated himself before it not once, but seven time...
Our tradition teaches us a vital principle: we don't prostrate ourselves before the Sefer Torah, the Torah scroll itself. It's not about worshipping parchment and ink. Instead, as ...
Remember how we talked last time about the "Wars of God," those intellectual battles fought over the proper approach to divine wisdom? Well, buckle up, because the debate rages on!...
We call Him by names like YHWH and Adonai, and our sages, may their memory be a blessing, refer to Him as HaKadosh Baruch Hu, "The Holy One, Blessed be He." But what does it all me...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They wrestled with theological concepts that could easily lead to heresy, constantly defending the core belief in one God against any notion of mu...
It's not as simple as shouting into the void, that's for sure! According to the Zohar, the central text of Kabbalah, and subsequent Kabbalistic teachings, all our service, all our ...
This is a tricky concept, one that's tripped up even seasoned students of Kabbalah. We're diving deep into the nature of the Divine, grappling with ideas about creation, generation...
This comes from the story of Cain, right after, well, you know. He's just murdered his brother Abel, and God confronts him. The earth itself is now cursed because of the spilled bl...
Doors that can swing wide open into the most incredible stories. Take Enoch, for example. (Genesis 5:22) tells us, "Enoch pleased God after he begat Methuselah, two hundred years.”...
We all know Noah. The ark, the flood, the whole shebang. But have you ever paused to consider the moment of his birth? What was his father, Lamech, thinking? (Genesis 5:29) tells u...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. They grappled with the nature of prophecy: who gets it, and why? Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher living in Egypt in the first century CE...
It's more than just a family tree, folks. It’s a key to understanding, well, practically everything! We find this question posed directly in the Midrash of Philo. A midrash (plural...
Philo, the great Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, certainly did. And in the Midrash of Philo, we get a fascinating glimpse into his allegorical interpretations. He reads the Torah...
Take Noah, for example. The world’s about to be… well, let’s just say thoroughly cleansed. And yet, (Genesis 6:8) tells us, almost as an aside, that Noah "found grace in the sight ...
It’s a question that has puzzled rabbis and scholars for centuries, and it's precisely the kind of textual wrinkle that the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) loves to expl...
Philo, in his exploration of the Torah, grapples with this very idea. He's looking at the verse in Genesis (6:12) that describes the corruption of the world before the flood: "all ...
That feeling, that nagging sense of injustice, it's not new. Not by a long shot. In fact, it’s a question that echoes all the way back to the very beginning, to the story of Noah a...
In the Midrash of Philo, we find a fascinating take on fate, divine justice, and the reasons behind catastrophic events like, say, the Flood. Philo addresses those who argue agains...
To a fascinating interpretation found in The Midrash of Philo. Philo, a Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria in the first century CE, wasn't afraid to think outside the box. He ...
Philo, a Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria in the first century CE, offers a unique allegorical interpretation of the Torah. And in this particular midrash (rabbinic interpre...
The sheer scale of devastation... it's almost too much to comprehend. And that brings us to a fascinating little puzzle tucked away within the text of Genesis, a question that the ...
The verse in question, from (Genesis 6:13), states that "all things which existed upon the earth shall be consumed." But why? The text grapples with this apparent injustice. One ex...
We're talking about Noah, of course. The righteous man in a world gone completely bonkers. And just before the floodgates open, God says something really interesting: "I will set u...
The Torah tells us plainly: "Enter thou and all thy house into the ark, because I have seen that thou art a just man before me in that generation" (Genesis 7:1). But why? What made...
(Genesis 7:2) lays it out: seven pairs of every clean animal, but only one pair of unclean animals. Seems straightforward, but... why? That’s a question that’s been puzzling interp...
The animals are all loaded, the family’s aboard… what’s the hold-up? Well, our sages pondered this very question, and, as they often do, came up with some beautiful and thought-pro...
Take the story of Noah and the Ark. We all know the basic plot: God sends a flood, Noah builds an ark, and saves his family and the animals. But what about the deeper meaning? What...
(Genesis 7:4) tells us that the rain fell for this specific duration, but why this particular number? Philo, in his Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), delves into this ver...
Take, for instance, the verse in (Genesis 7:4): "I will destroy every living substance that I have made from off the face of the earth." (Genesis 7:4) Doesn't that phrasing strike ...
The words that seem almost... unnecessary? Like when we read, "Noah did everything which the Lord commanded him" (Genesis 7:5). Seems straightforward. Noah was a righteous guy, God...
(Genesis 7:11) isn’t messing around. Why that precise moment for the deluge to begin? It’s a question that’s kept commentators busy for centuries. Specifically, the Midrash of Phil...
Our tradition is rich with layers of meaning, isn't it? And sometimes, the smallest detail holds a hidden universe. Take the timing of the great flood. It wasn't just any time. The...
Take the flood narrative in Genesis, for example. We read that "the fountains of the deep were broken open and the floodgates of the sky were opened" (Genesis 7:11). Straightforwar...
Like when Noah is safely tucked away in the ark, the Torah tells us, "And the Lord shut him in, closing the doors of the ark" (Genesis 7:16). Okay, so God closed the door. Makes se...
It might sound a bit out there, but ancient wisdom suggests there's more truth to that feeling than you might think. Philo, the 1st-century Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, saw ...
The Torah tells us, in (Genesis 7:19), about the flood: “And the water overflowed fifteen cubits above all the highest mountains.” Simple enough on the surface. But if we dig a lit...
We often skim past the stark pronouncements in the Torah, like "And all flesh capable of motion perished" (Genesis 7:21), without truly grasping the implications. But what exactly ...
The ancient stories of the flood, like the one starring Noah, resonate so deeply because they speak to that very human experience. We all know the story: God saw wickedness and sen...
That's precisely the question posed in The Midrash of Philo, a collection of interpretations and expansions on the Torah attributed to Philo of Alexandria, the great Jewish philoso...
They weren't afraid to ask the tough questions. Take this one, for example, posed in The Midrash of Philo: Why does the Torah specifically mention that God remembered Noah, the ani...
