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Devarim Rabbah 8 opens with a quote from Proverbs: "Wisdom is lofty to a fool; at the gate, he will not open his mouth" (Proverbs 24:7). But what does it really mean? Rabbi Tanhuma...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the book of Deuteronomy, opens our eyes to just how deeply Torah can impact us. It starts with a verse from Proverbs (4:22): “...
In (Deuteronomy 30:12-14), we find the verse, "It is not in the heavens… It is not beyond the sea… Rather, the matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you...
In (Deuteronomy 31:14), God says to Moses, "Behold, your days are approaching to die; summon Joshua, and stand in the Tent of Meeting and I will command him." This verse, "Behold, ...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, delves into the meaning of a verse from Ecclesiastes (9:11): "I again saw under the sun that the race...
Devarim Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Deuteronomy, digs deep into the verse from Ecclesiastes (8:8): “There is no person who rules the spirit, to retain...
In Jewish tradition, we find a fascinating story in Devarim Rabbah that touches upon just such a concept when it comes to the death of Moses. The text starts by asking, "What is he...
It's not just about being polite! It’s about life itself. (Deuteronomy 32:1) begins, “Listen, heavens, and I will speak, and the earth will hear the sayings of my mouth.” A simple ...
Day follows night, the seasons turn, the land stays put, the sea stays… well, you get the idea. But what if I told you that this order, seemingly immutable, has actually been bent ...
It's not just poetic flourish. According to Devarim Rabbah, there's a profound and multifaceted reason why Moses calls upon them as witnesses, as partners, as something more. Rabbi...
The verse in question comes from (Proverbs 31:29): "Many women have performed valiantly, but you have surpassed them all." But who is the "you" being referred to here? According to...
The Book of Deuteronomy, or Devarim in Hebrew, opens with Moses preparing to bless the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. But the Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic inter...
Moses had spent a lifetime leading the Israelites through the desert, of receiving the Torah at Sinai, of being the conduit between the Divine and humanity. The Holy One, blessed b...
The ancient rabbis wrestled with this very idea, and their insights, preserved in texts like Devarim Rabbah, can still resonate deeply today. Our story begins with Moses, nearing t...
It sounds almost unbelievable, doesn't it? Yet, according to Devarim Rabbah, this is precisely the monumental struggle Moses faced at the end of his life. Rabbi Yoḥanan tells us th...
Like everyone else is contributing, and you're just... there? Our sages grappled with this feeling, and their stories, preserved in texts like Kohelet Rabbah, offer surprising comf...
It’s a question that comes up right at the beginning of Kohelet Rabbah, the ancient rabbinic commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes. It kicks off by asking about the opening line: ...
It starts with a bang: "Vanity of vanities, said Kohelet; vanity of vanities, everything is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). But what does that even mean? What is this "vanity," this he...
That question, that nagging feeling, is at the heart of the Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew. And it’s a question the Rabbis grappled with deeply. The opening verse of Ko...
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...
It’s a question that’s wrestled with in Jewish tradition, and one fascinating answer comes to us from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Book of Ecclesias...
We look back with nostalgia, imagining that the giants of the past held all the answers. But Jewish tradition challenges that very notion. The idea that each generation has its own...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, grapples with this very question. And in Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of Rabbinic interpretations on Ecclesiastes, we find some fasc...
Take the verse from Ecclesiastes (1:5): "The sun rises and the sun sets, and it hastens to its place where it arises." Seems straightforward. But the rabbis in Kohelet Rabbah see s...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, wrestles with this too. "The wind goes to the south, and turns to the north; around and around the wind turns, and on its rounds the...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, poses this very question: "All the rivers go to the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place that the rivers go, the...
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...
Kohelet Rabbah, the rabbinic commentary on Ecclesiastes, grapples with this very feeling. It opens with the powerful image of rivers flowing into the sea: "All the rivers go to the...
The ancient rabbis grappled with it too. In fact, the book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, dives headfirst into the cyclical nature of existence. And Kohelet Rabbah, a rabbinic commen...
They found a surprisingly relevant metaphor in the Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet. The verse says, "all the rivers go to the sea." Kohelet Rabbah, a Midrashic (rabbinic interpret...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, gets it. "All matters are wearying; man cannot utter it, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing" (Ecclesiastes ...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes, suggests that "all matters are wearying" – especially matters of heresy. But what does that re...
Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the book of Ecclesiastes, wrestles with this very question, offering us some pretty intense stories. One tale recounts a...
The book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, really digs into that feeling. And the rabbis of Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of Kohelet, pick up on that theme in...
"What was is what will be," it says, "and what was done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). But is that really true? Are we just doome...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, touches on this very feeling. It asks: "Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is new'? It has already existed long ago, before o...
It's a question that the book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, wrestles with head-on. The verse in question, from (Ecclesiastes 1:11), states, "There is no memory of the former ones; a...
You're dropped right into the action, and you wonder, "Wait, shouldn't this have been explained earlier?" Well, the ancient rabbis grappled with a similar feeling about the Book of...
The Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this very feeling. It's a wisdom text, a philosophical exploration of life's meaning, or sometimes, its ...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, grapples with this very feeling. "I have seen all the actions that were performed under the sun; and, behold, everythi...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, touches on this very feeling. Specifically, there's a line in (Ecclesiastes 1:15) that says, "That which is warped can...
Our tradition wrestles with this very feeling. The book of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, famously explores the futility of life, that "all is vanity." But within the rabbinic expansion...
We often talk about the heart as the seat of our emotions, but what does that really mean? The ancient rabbis certainly pondered this. In Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic i...
Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's called in Hebrew, is full of his reflections, and one line in particular always gets me: "For with much wisdom is much vexation; and one who increa...
That feeling isn't new. In fact, the book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet in Hebrew, wrestles with it head-on. "I said in my heart: Come now, I will experiment in joy, and see goodness...
The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, wrestles with this very idea. "Of laughter, I said it is confounded; and of joy, what does it accomplish?" (Ecclesiast...
Kohelet Rabbah, a commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes, dives deep into the question: "Of laughter, I said it is confounded" (Ecclesiastes 2:2). How confounding is laughter, real...
The Book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet as it's known in Hebrew, wrestles with this tension beautifully. And the Rabbis in Kohelet Rabbah, a classic midrashic (rabbinic interpretive c...
