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The Midrash (Pesikta Rabbati 19, Tanhuma Pinehas) tells a cautionary tale about gluttony — the sin of making the stomach into a god, of subordinating every other value to the next ...
The meeting — whether real or legendary — between Rabbi Eleazar of Worms and Maimonides represents one of the great contrasts in Jewish intellectual history. Eleazar, the Ashkenazi...
A king fell gravely ill, and none of his physicians could cure him. They tried every medicine, every herb, every treatment known to the medical science of the age. Nothing worked. ...
A wealthy man grew so weary of his riches that he decided to give them away — but not to the poor. He wandered outside the city and found a beggar sitting in the dust, dressed in r...
A man was granted a wish — and what he wished for became the source of his downfall. The tale of the "Foolish Wish" is found in dozens of cultures, but the Jewish version carries a...
That nagging sense of "Is this all there is?" That, my friends, is a feeling as old as time itself. The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it’s known in Hebrew, grapples with this...
An Athenian came to Jerusalem and encountered a certain child. He gave him coins and said to him: ‘Go and bring me eggs and cheese.’ When [the child] returned, [the Athenian] said ...
“Their countenance is blacker than coal, they are not recognized in the streets; their skin is shriveled on their bones, it has become dry as wood” (Lamentations 4:8).“Their counte...
God had just created Adam, this perfect being, in this perfect garden. What was missing? Well, the Midrash of Philo, a collection of ancient Jewish interpretations and elaborations...
And God remembered Rachel (Gen. 30:22). Scripture states elsewhere: He executeth justice for the oppressed (Ps. 146:7). This verse alludes to Israel. R. Phinehas the priest, the so...
And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Padan-aram (Gen. 35:9). May it please our master to teach us: What is the punishment meted out to one who does not permit the p...
If thou lend money to any of My people (Exod. 22:24). Scripture states elsewhere: He that augmenteth his substance by interest and increase, gathereth it for Him that is gracious t...
If thou lend money to any of My people (Exod. 22:24). R. Tanhuma began the discussion with the verse: He that is gracious unto the poor lendeth unto the Lord … He will repay unto H...
Another interpretation (of Lev. 19:23), “When you come into the land.” This text is related (to Ps. 105:44-45), “He gave them the lands of nations […]. In order that they might kee...
(Lev. 25:25,35:) “And when your relative becomes poor and sells some of his property […]. And when your relative becomes poor, and his strength fails.” This text is related (to Pro...
(Lev. 25:25:) ”When your relative becomes poor and sells some of his property, then his redeemer shall come.” Who is his redeemer? I am He, as stated (in Jer. 50:33-34), “The Child...
(Numb. 4:17-18:) “Then the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, ‘Do not cut off the tribe of the Kohathite families [from the Levites].’” This text is related (to Prov. 22...
(Numb 28:2:) “Guard to offer it to Me at its set time.” This text is related (to Prov. 13:25), “The righteous man eats to satiate his soul.” This is Eliezer who said to Rebekah (in...
(Deut. 14:22:) “You shall surely tithe.” This text is related (to Prov. 28:22), “An evil-eyed person (i.e., a miser) moves quickly after wealth; [and he does not know that loss wil...
(Deut. 14:22:) “You shall surely tithe.” This is related to the verse (in (Job 31:3)8), “If my land cries out against me.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Job, “Do you have an...
