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Trees talk to each other. That is not a modern botanical discovery — it is a teaching from the Yalkut Shimoni, a medieval anthology of midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic ...
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Great is peace for all blessings are sealed with peace: The reading of the Shema—"spreads the shelter of peace." The [stan...
The generation of the Flood earned their destruction through arrogance. According to Sanhedrin 108a, God gave them 120 years of warning. They spent those years mocking Noah. The Sa...
Life inside the ark was not paradise. According to Sanhedrin 108b, Noah and his family worked around the clock to keep every animal alive—and one feeding mistake nearly cost Noah h...
...And in Jonah it is written, "I would rather die than live." Jonah was the son of the woman of Zarfat. He had already died once, and knew that he would have rest, and Elijah did ...
"The Secret of the Intercalation: On the adjustment of festivals and leap years. In the Talmud: Abba, the father of Rabbi Shmuel, said to Shmuel, 'Does the master know this matter ...
How does one invite [others to recite a blessing]? With three [people], one says "let us bless [God]". With three and himself, he says "bless [God]". Gemara (the rabbinic commentar...
(15) It is said above that the school of Hillel said: "He who abounds in kindness inclines [the scale of justice] towards the side of kindness." How does He do it? R. Eliezer said:...
Rabbi Zadok, captive in Rome, refused to be tempted to sin by the slave girl sent by the Matrona, as he declared that he was a descendant of the noblest family of high priests and ...
Beruria, the brilliant wife of Rabbi Meir, was one of the sharpest minds in all of rabbinic literature. And one day, she corrected her husband on a point of theology that has echoe...
Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa once placed his foot directly over the hole of a deadly scorpion — and it was the scorpion that died. This brief but astonishing tale, preserved in the Exempl...
Two men came to pray before Rabbi Eliezer. One prayed at enormous length — pouring out his heart in elaborate, detailed petitions that stretched on and on. The other prayed briefly...
Rabbi Gidal had a practice that scandalized some of his contemporaries. He would sit at the entrance to the women's bathhouse, directing traffic, showing women where to go. Day aft...
A rich man, having confidence in his son gave him all his property in his lifetime. After a while the son commenced to neglect his father, ill-treating him and sending him away to ...
Rav Huna was a wealthy man who owned vast vineyards and employed many laborers to tend them. But he had a flaw. When the harvest was finished and the grapes had been pressed and th...
Queen Cleopatra — not the famous Egyptian, but a later queen by the same name — posed a question to Rabbi Meir that had puzzled both scholars and common people: "When the dead rise...
A man grew tired of his wealthy wife and plotted to divorce her through deceit. He devised a scheme: he would publicly accuse her of unfaithfulness, using his own best friend as th...
Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa was one of the most pious men in all of Israel, a miracle worker whose prayers could heal the sick and whose poverty was legendary. One day, the people of his...
A venomous serpent terrorized a certain neighborhood, biting anyone who came near its den. People were dying. The townspeople came to Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa and begged him to do som...
Eliezer ben Hyrcanus was the son of a wealthy landowner who wanted nothing more than for his boy to work the fields. But Eliezer wanted Torah. At the age of twenty-two — far older ...
The ancient rabbis taught a striking idea that reversed what most people assumed about the relationship between God and humanity. Most would say that humans wait on God — for bless...
Hillel the Elder was famous for his patience. The Talmud records that no one ever saw him angry, no one ever heard him raise his voice, and no situation — however absurd or provoca...
Wicked-Brother-in-Law. Holeh Tamim u. Poel Sedek. • m Eisenstein, Oser, P. 343. Husin, Maasim Tobim, No. 2. Maase Buch No. 204. Levi, R. E. J. XXXIII, p. 234 ff. Ben Gorion I, p. 2...
The tale of "Wickedness Defeated" follows a pattern known across many cultures: a contest between cleverness and brute evil, in which the clever hero outwits a far more powerful ad...
The sages taught that a single good deed — performed at the right moment, with the right intention — can tip the scales of a person's entire life. The story of "Reward for a Single...
There was once a man so wicked that the entire town avoided him. He cheated in business, spoke cruelty to strangers, and mocked the sages when they tried to rebuke him. Everyone ag...
A wealthy man lay dying, and he knew his three sons well enough to worry. They were good boys, but reckless with money — the kind who would burn through an inheritance before the f...
The article describes the flood narrative from Genesis vi.9-ix.17, where God destroys humanity due to wickedness, sparing only Noah's family and two (or seven) pairs of every livin...
Jewish tradition has something fascinating to say about that very idea. It's a notion that the very foundations, the shoresh – the roots – of absolutely everything were established...
We find ourselves grappling with such questions in Bamidbar Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Book of Numbers. Specifically, we're diving into the ninth section,...
The verse in (Numbers 5:28) states: “And if the woman was not defiled, and she is pure, she will be absolved and will conceive offspring.” Seems straightforward. But the rabbis of ...
It all starts with a seemingly simple verse: “Amalek dwells in the region of the south” (Numbers 13:29). But the rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) ask a poin...
That’s kind of the situation the Israelites found themselves in after the sin of the spies. They'd just heard a terrifying report about the Land of Israel and, gripped by fear, the...
We find ourselves in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew, specifically in the midst of the rebellion led by Korah. Now, Korah wasn't just some random disgruntled guy; he was a ...
The Israelites knew that feeling all too well during their long journey through the wilderness. And sometimes, even the place names themselves seemed to echo their struggles. Let's...
Because the answer, as is often the case with these things, is layered and lovely. We find a fascinating clue in Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of rabbinic interpretations...
The story goes that a noblewoman, clearly not shy about asking tough questions, once approached Rabbi Yosei. "Why," she demanded, "did God create Eve as if by theft? Why take Adam'...
Innocent creatures caught in the wake of human sin. But the ancient rabbis grappled with this question too, offering powerful, and perhaps unsettling, explanations. In Bereshit Rab...
But the animals? Did they really deserve to be wiped out along with everyone else? Well, the rabbis of old had some thoughts on that. Rabbi Azarya, quoting Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon, ...
We often think of the sheer scale of the wickedness, but sometimes the details are what really bring the picture into focus. Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of rabbinic...
We all know the story: Lot gets captured, Abraham bravely rescues him, and then… what happens to the spoils? (Genesis 14:16) tells us, "He returned all the goods, and also his brot...
The story of Sodom, as recounted in Bereshit (Genesis), is full of chilling moments, but one particular exchange, elaborated upon in Bereshit Rabbah 50, really gets to the heart of...
It’s a question that’s lingered in Jewish thought for centuries, and one fascinating glimpse into it comes from Bereshit Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Boo...
You know, the one where he says, "Behold, from the fat of the earth will be your dwelling, and from the dew of the heavens from above." It sounds pretty good. But the sages of Bere...
Jewish tradition certainly thinks so. to a fascinating passage from Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homiletic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy. It explores this very idea, usin...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, certainly did. “One generation passes, and one generation comes; and the earth abides forever. The sun rises and the s...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as we know it in Hebrew, is full of those moments. And one verse in particular, 7:17, gives us a real head-scratcher: "Do not be overly wicked ...
Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, as it’s known in Hebrew, dives deep into this very conundrum. And in Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on Ecclesiastes, we find a p...
