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Rav Nachman once made a statement that shocked his colleague: "Jacob our father never died." Rabbi Yitzchak pushed back immediately. "They embalmed him. They eulogized him. They bu...
The Hebrew Bible says Enoch "walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him" (Genesis 5:24). Generations of readers have understood this as Enoch being taken alive into heav...
The Hebrew Bible says God told Abraham, "Fear not, I am your shield" (Genesis 15:1). Targum Onkelos renders this as "My Word is your strength." The shield becomes a Word. The prote...
The Hebrew Bible says God "appeared" to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:1). Targum Onkelos says God "became revealed." It sounds like the same thing. It is not. Appearing ...
The Hebrew Bible says Abraham named the site of the Binding "God will see" (Adonai Yireh) (Genesis 22:14). Targum Onkelos expands this into a full theological statement: "Abraham w...
The Hebrew Bible says Jacob dreamed of a ladder "set up on the earth, and the top of it reached toward heaven" (Genesis 28:12). Targum Onkelos says the ladder was "planted in the e...
The Hebrew Bible says Jacob "wrestled a man" until dawn (Genesis 32:25). Targum Onkelos stays with the Hebrew here—it was "a man," not an angel, not a demon, not a divine being. Bu...
Jacob's deathbed blessings (Genesis 49) are among the most obscure passages in the Torah. Targum Onkelos does not merely translate them—he decodes them, turning cryptic poetry into...
The Hebrew Bible says Balaam saw "a star shall come from Jacob, and a scepter shall arise from Israel" (Numbers 24:17). Targum Onkelos renders this as: "A king has gone forth from ...
..[With regard to] this did [Jeremiah] say to have it written, 'Surely the shepherd boys will drag away [the evil ones, Edom or Babylonia in defeat].' (Jeremiah 49:20, 50:45) Rabbi...
... Another reading: “Comfort, oh comfort My people” (Isaiah 40:1) Said the Holy Blessed One: Who needs to be comforted? For one whose wife died, not the husband? Thus was Zion ana...
3 The Staff of Your Strength G-d shall send forth from Zion. Which staff is this? This is the staff of Jacob about which it is said: "Because with my staff I crossed this Jordan." ...
[1] "And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, etc." (Exodus 20:1-2) Blessed is the Place, blessed is He, who chose Israel from all His handiwork and acquired ...
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 ...
Ten decrees were decreed upon Adam, ten upon Eve, ten upon the serpent, and ten upon the earth: Ten upon man: He was clothed in garments of splendor, but God stripped them from him...
These are the generations of Aaron and Moses. [Betai Midrashot (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Third Chamber] Our rabbis taught: Brothers who are partners and who increased asse...
Midrash on the death of Aaron "I lost the three shepherds in one month" (Zecharia 11:8); and thus, in one month, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses died. Miriam died on the 1st of the month ...
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...
Agadeta: There are many Midrashim (rabbinic interpretive commentary) called by the name 'Aggadah (non-legal rabbinic narrative)' or 'Agadeta' that were composed by the early schola...
"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...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Esfah": This midrash is based on the verse "Gather for me seventy men" (Numbers 11:16), explaining the names of those seventy individual...
"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...
"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 ...
[R. Avraham Saba] also explains the reason for the counting of the omer in Parashat Emor, and these are [his] words: And in the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) HaGalui, ...
"Haggadah (non-legal rabbinic narrative)": A collection of legends and tales that was available to the ancient scholars. Rashi, of blessed memory, cites it in Sanhedrin (31b): "I f...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Vayisu": It is based on the verse "They journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were around them, and they did not pur...
"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...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Chacham HaRazim" (The Sage of Secrets): A Midrash regarding angels and gematria (Jewish numerology). According to Stein Schneider, this i...
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...
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 Aggadah (non-legal rabbinic narrative) of Shimon Kefa preserves a remarkable tradition about how the early Jewish sages worked to establish a clear separation between the Jewis...
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. (...
Berachoth: Chapter One From what time on may we read the Sh'm'a of the evening? "From the time the priests enter to eat their Terumah until the end of the first watch," said R. Eli...
R. Isaac b. Samuel in the name of Rab said: "Three watches has the night and at the beginning of every watch the Holy One, praised be He! sits and roars like a lion and says 'Woe t...
Another thing said R. Zerika in the name of R. Ami, who speaks in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi: "In the presence of the dead it is not proper to speak of anything except things co...
...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 ...
(Fol. 5a) R. Levi b. Chama, in the name of Simon b. Lakish said: "At all times let man stir up his good inclination against the evil inclination), for it is said (Ps. 4:5) Tremble,...
Furthermore, said R. Levi b. Chama, in the name of Resh Lakish : "What is meant by the passage (Ex. 24:12) And I will give thee the tablets of stone, with the law and the Commandme...
Buried in the Ein Yaakov's collection from Berakhot is a teaching that sounds more like ancient medical advice than religious law: "The rabbis taught that asparagus is good for the...
(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...
