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Ankelos ben Kalinikos, nephew of the Roman Emperor Titus, was searching for truth. Despite being born into the most powerful family in the world, he felt a spiritual hunger that Ro...
A poor tailor paid a dinar for the only fish left in Rome, in honour of the Sabbath. Upbraided by the Hip- par ch he explained the reason and was allowed to go free. He found a pri...
f. 141a. R. Shimeon b. Yohai and son hid in a cavern for 13 years fearing Roman persecution. One da}f •they saw a fowler catching birds, who was successful only after a voice from ...
The Roman Emperor sent word to the Jewish sages: "Send me a luminary — your wisest man." The sages debated and chose Rabbi Meir, whose very name meant "one who illuminates." He was...
Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua were sailing across the Mediterranean when a terrible storm seized their ship. Winds howled, waves crashed over the deck, and the vessel was driven...
The prophet Elijah — who never died but was taken alive to heaven (2 Kings 2:11) — appears throughout rabbinic literature as a mysterious figure who walks the earth in disguise, te...
A Roman official named Hadrakitilios wrote a letter to the Emperor Hadrian about the Jews. "Your Majesty evidently hates the Jews," Hadrakitilios wrote, "because they refuse to con...
King Shapur of Persia once asked the sage Shmuel: "Tell me what I will see in my dream tonight." It was a test — could a Jewish sage truly predict what a foreign king would dream? ...
The Roman Emperor once challenged the Jewish sages with a question designed to mock their God. "Your God is described as all-powerful," the Emperor said, "a mighty warrior, a king ...
The Emperor once invited the Jewish sages to a grand banquet and posed what he thought was an impossible challenge. "I wish to prepare a feast for your God," he announced. "Tell me...
A Roman emperor — the Talmud does not always specify which one — once summoned the Jewish sages to answer a question that he believed would expose their faith as foolishness. "You ...
The Romans had issued evil decrees against the Jewish people — banning Torah study, forbidding circumcision, outlawing the observance of the Sabbath. The sages were desperate. Some...
The city of Lod — Lydda — was no stranger to Roman cruelty. But the story of its two most famous martyrs, Pappos and Lulianos, stands out even among the darkest chapters of persecu...
The Roman general Trayanos captured two Jewish brothers — Lulianus and Pappus — in the city of Laodicea and sentenced them to death. Before the execution, Trayanos offered them a t...
Nahum ish Gamzo — called that because no matter what happened, he always said "Gam zu le-tovah" ("This too is for the best") — was sent by the Jewish community to the Roman Emperor...
Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus was one of the greatest sages of his generation, a man whose knowledge of Torah was said to be like a plastered cistern that never lost a drop. Yet even ...
A Jewish child had learned the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis — just the beginning, nothing more — before he was captured and thrown into a Roman prison. He was young, alo...
God gives wisdom to the wise — not to the foolish. This principle, drawn from the Book of Daniel (Daniel 2:21), puzzled many, including the Roman Emperor himself. Why should the wi...
When the Romans imprisoned Rabbi Akiba for the crime of teaching Torah in public, his colleagues did not abandon him. They found ways to visit, to smuggle messages, and — most impo...
The Romans were not fools. They knew that the Jewish sages wielded enormous influence over their people — more than any general or governor could match. So when the empire wanted t...
When the Romans sought to destroy the chain of Torah transmission, they targeted the sages who ordained new rabbis. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 14a) records that Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava kn...
In a year of terrible drought, Nakdimon ben Gorion — one of the three wealthiest men in Jerusalem — approached a Roman official and made a desperate bargain. He borrowed twelve wel...
Rabbi Elazar ben Shimon was known for many things — his learning, his piety, his complicated relationship with the Roman authorities. But the Talmud (Pesahim 86b, Bava Metzia 83b-8...
Robert of Sicily. Wickerhauser, p. 167. Ring. Badder, Badische Sagen, No. 405. Comestor, 1, III. Eisenmenger I, 351 ff. Gervasius, ed. Lieb- recht, p. 8 and note 12, p. 77. Gesta R...
The Roman Emperor wanted to test the wisdom of the Jewish sages, so he sent word that a great luminary should be dispatched to his court. The Jewish leaders chose Rabbi Meir, whose...
King Shapur of Persia once asked the sage Shmuel: "Tell me what I will see in my dream tonight." It was a test — could a Jewish sage truly predict what a foreign king would dream? ...
Hillel the Elder had eighty students. This number is repeated across multiple sources — Baba Batra (134a), Sukkah (28a), and Avot de Rabbi Nathan (chapters 14 and 29) — with a cons...
The Roman emperor Antoninus had a private and unusual friendship with Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law). They met in secret and d...
Onkelos — known in some traditions as Aquila — was a Roman nobleman, a nephew of the Emperor himself, who converted to Judaism. His conversion scandalized the imperial court and be...
Beruria, the brilliant wife of Rabbi Meir, had a sister who was captured by the Romans and sent to a brothel in the city. Beruria turned to her husband and pleaded with him to resc...
Miraculous Herbs. Eisenstein, Oser, p. 348. Maase Buch No. 224. Helvicus, Historien I, ch. 39, p. 159. Levi, R. E. J. XXXIII, p. 67 ff. Ben Gorion I, 306, 380. Bolte & Polivka, II,...
A Jewish man and a gentile once made a wager about whose religion was true. Satan, disguised as an ordinary man, appeared and ruled in favor of the gentile, who took all the money....
We’re talking about the primordial stuff, the ingredients God used when He, blessed be He, created everything. It’s a question that’s captivated mystics and philosophers for millen...
The Book of Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, grapples with just that question in section 28. It all stems from God’s statement, "I will obliter...
Take the encounter between Jacob and Esau after their long separation. (Genesis 33:15) tells us, "Esau said to him: Please, I will place with you some of the people who are with me...
Kohelet Rabbah, a fascinating collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, delves into the verse "All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; t...
"I turned my heart to despair regarding all the toil that I toiled under the sun," it says (Ecclesiastes 2:20). It's a sentiment that resonates even today. But Kohelet Rabbah, a co...
Rabbi Pinhas said in the name of Rabbi Hoshaya: There were four hundred and eighty synagogues in Jerusalem before the destruction. The number came from a single verse — "filled wit...
“Lord, You have fought the battles of my soul; You redeemed my life. Lord, You have seen the wrongs committed against me; judge my case. You have seen all their vengeance, all thei...
The nobles – Rabbi Elazar said: The nobles are the king’s two legions, as the king is not called Augustus (i.e. emperor) until they call him that first, and these are they. Rabbi Y...
“The Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Aḥashverosh, to lay hand on those who sought their harm. And no one stood against them for the fear of them had fall...
And the Lord said unto Moses: “Stretch forth thy hand toward heaven that there may be hail” (Exod. 9:22). Scripture says (elsewhere in allusion to this verse): Whatsoever the Lord ...
R. Ahawa bar Ze'era opened (with Job 37:1), “At this also my heart trembles and leaps from its place.” What is the meaning of “and leaps?”33PRK 26(27):5; Lev. R. 20:5. Jumps, as [S...
(Lev. 19:23:) “When you come into the land and plant.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, Even though you find it (i.e., the land) full of all bounty, you shall not say, ...
