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This verse is among the strangest in the Torah, because it seems to contradict everything else the Torah says about the poor. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:3) is blun...
Six years you plow. Six years you harvest. Six years you measure the field by what it produces for you. Then the seventh year arrives — and the ledger flips. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan...
One of the most radical moments in Torah commerce: Targum Pseudo-Jonathan repeats the Torah's command that the rich shall not add to, and the poor shall not diminish from, the half...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 40:6) gives the outer altar a location and a purpose that the plain Hebrew leaves unspoken. Place it before the door of the tabernacle of ordinanc...
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...
