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We all do. But what if that little shortcut could lead to a whole heap of trouble? That's the kind of wisdom we find in the Book of Ben Sira, a treasure trove of practical and ethi...
Because, according to this ancient text, even in those moments of deepest despair, something extraordinary can happen. "The eyes of the Lord looked upon him for good, and shook off...
Ben Sira, also known as Ecclesiasticus, is a book of wisdom literature from around the 2nd century BCE – a time of huge cultural shifts and anxieties. It’s not part of the Hebrew B...
Ben Sira, in his wisdom, grapples with this very question. He paints a picture of two groups of people, both part of the same community, yet destined for very different legacies. "...
The Book of Jubilees has some pretty strong words about that kind of thinking. It tells us, bluntly, that "if one gave everything that is on the earth, He will not regard the gifts...
It's a fascinating, often overlooked text that expands on the stories we find in Genesis, and it's full of wisdom about living a righteous life. Today, I want to share a small but ...
Today, we're looking at a brief but thought-provoking passage from the Book of Jubilees, specifically chapter 23. It's a short reflection on aging and righteousness. "And he lived ...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text, speaks to this feeling with a stark warning. It paints a picture of a future where people have drifted far from their spiritual and et...
to a blessing from the Book of Jubilees. It’s a fascinating text, considered apocryphal by some, meaning it's not included in the standard Hebrew Bible, but it's still treasured by...
The Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and Exodus, but with a fascinating emphasis on chronology and the observan...
That feeling, that yearning for a brighter future, it’s ancient. And it echoes beautifully in the Book of Jubilees, specifically in Chapter 31, a moment of pure blessing and hope. ...
Our story comes from The Book of Susanna, a short but powerful addition to the Book of Daniel. It’s a tale of beauty, betrayal, and ultimately, vindication. Susanna, we’re told, wa...
Issachar, fifth son of Jacob and Leah, called his sons together and said: "Hearken, my children, to Issachar your father. Give ear to the words of him who is beloved of the Lord." ...
Asher, tenth son of Jacob, born of Zilpah, spoke to his sons in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life, while still in health. "Hearken, you children of Asher, to your fathe...
Joseph, eleventh son of Jacob, beloved of Rachel, was about to die. He called his sons and brethren together and spoke. "My brethren and my children, hearken to Joseph the beloved ...
It’s about Job, of course, and his friends. We all know the story. Job, the righteous man, suffers unimaginable hardship. But how did his friends, living far away, even know to com...
That’s kind of where Elkanah found himself. Here was a man dedicated to God, living a righteous life, yet his home wasn’t exactly a picture of perfect bliss. Elkanah had been marri...
Take Abner, for example. The Talmud calls him a tzadik, a righteous man, a "lion in the law," a brilliant military leader and scholar. Yet, his story is riddled with choices that u...
There's a beautiful idea that just before the solemnity of Kol Nidrei, the service that begins Yom Kippur, a tremendous light descends from the heavens. Imagine it: a cascade of pu...
It’s a question that’s occupied mystics and scholars for centuries. And one answer, a deeply beautiful one, comes from the Kabbalah, specifically from the text Kalach Pitchei Chokh...
The Idra Zuta, or "Lesser Assembly," is a section of the Zohar, the foundational text of Jewish mysticism. It's a truly mind-bending exploration of the divine, and it gets deep int...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, delves into the deepest layers of reality, often using symbolic language that can feel cryptic at first. In one p...
It speaks of a divine flow, an energetic dance between the heavens and earth, and our actions down here are intimately connected to it all. Specifically, the Tikkun (spiritual repa...
It’s all about letters, those seemingly simple building blocks of… well, everything. According to this passage, certain letters are connected to Netzach (Eternity) and Hod. Now, Ne...
And today, we’re diving into a particularly fascinating, and yes, a bit cryptic, passage from the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, specifically Tikkun 88. Now, the Tikkunei Zohar...
Jewish mysticism suggests that feeling might be more profound than you think. It might be a ripple of something much, much bigger. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central ...
Jewish tradition wrestles with this feeling, this unsettling reality, head-on. There's a verse in Habakkuk (1:13) that screams this frustration: "Why do you look upon traitors, and...
"These are the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham" (Genesis 25:19). Rashi comments simply: "these are Jacob and Esau, who are discussed in the portion." But Rebbe Elimelech o...
"And you shall command the Children of Israel" (Exodus 27:20). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, in Parashat Tetzaveh, asks a question that cuts to the heart of what tzaddik (a righteou...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, examines a soaring promise from the prophet Isaiah: "Then you will rejoice in the Lord, and I will 'ride' you on the heights of the e...
Rebbi, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, taught a lesson about how Jews should respond whenever the name of a righteous person is mentioned. He cited (Proverbs 10:7): "The remembrance of the r...
The Mekhilta takes a detour from the Exodus narrative to establish a principle about prayer: the prayers of the righteous are short. Not flowery. Not elaborate. Short. The proof co...
at which he said to the Holy One Blessed be He: Can it be that Your ways are like those of flesh and blood? The apitoropos makes a decree and the kalidikos abrogates it; the kalidi...
In Midrash Tehillim, a beautiful collection of interpretations on the Book of Psalms, we find this very sentiment expressed, almost like a prayer: "May the wickedness of the wicked...
But imagine that betrayal playing out on a national, even cosmic, scale. That's the drama we find ourselves plunged into in Midrash Tehillim 11, a fascinating exploration of Psalm ...
And they found wisdom, comfort, and even a little humor in stories we call midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)im – interpretations that expand on the meaning of the Bible. L...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a collection of stories and interpretations from the early medieval period, paints a vivid picture of the future, a time when the Holy One, blessed be He, w...
The Torah, in the book of Numbers (Bamidbar), hints at a very similar situation involving Pinchas, a figure known for his zealousness. So, who was Pinchas and why was his lineage u...
We often think of great scholars, perhaps, or those who dedicate their lives to prayer. But Jewish tradition sometimes surprises us. The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal inter...
Buried in Leviticus 22's rules about blemished offerings, the Targum Jonathan inserts one of the most beautiful passages in all of Targumic literature—a theology of sacrifice roote...
[What about all] the praise of Joseph, who exceeded in the honor of his father? And yet he did not enter into him all the time, such that were it not that they came to tell him, "Y...
“…that he did not obey her…” (Bereshit 39:10) Rebbe said: he listened to her but the Holy One brought the likeness of his father and he was embarrassed and fled. The second time he...
When a slave belonging to Rabban Gamliel died, the sage's students came to offer condolences, as was the custom when a member of a household passed away. But Rabban Gamliel refused...
A man was accused of a crime he did not commit. He faced execution, disgrace, and the destruction of his family's name. His friend, knowing the truth — knowing the accused man was ...
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...
It’s a question that’s haunted humanity for millennia. Is there any rhyme or reason to it all? Our sages grappled with this, too, and in Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic i...
In Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis, the rabbis delve into this moment when Jacob sends messengers ahead. It opens with a po...
Jewish tradition certainly thinks so, especially when it comes to leadership and justice. The book of Devarim, Deuteronomy, is rich with instructions for how to live a righteous li...
