111 texts · Page 3 of 3
Even after three signs, Moses refuses. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the protest with a phrase more vivid than the Hebrew: Moses is of a staggering mouth and staggering speech —...
The Holy One answers Moses' protest about his lame speech with a question that has echoed through three thousand years of Jewish reflection. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders it with ...
Four refusals in, the Holy One's patience runs out. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the flash: the anger of the Lord was kindled against Mosheh. This is unusual. The Torah rarely ...
Once Aaron is appointed the spokesman, the Holy One explains how the chain of communication will actually work. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the threefold structure: thou shalt...
When the foremen finally confront Moses and Aaron, their rage is spectacular. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the accusation: Our affliction is manifest before the Lord, but our p...
After the slaves refuse to hear him, Moses turns to God with a new version of his old protest. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves the logic: Behold, the sons of Israel do not hearken...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan closes the Sinai prelude with one of the most tender lines in the entire revelation narrative: "The voice of the trumpet went forth, and grew stronger: (...
The commandment against taking God's name in vain is often read as a rule about cursing. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan sees something far more grave. "My people of the house of Israel...
There is a kind of cruelty that is not visible in the moment. It lives in a tone of voice. A dismissive glance. A pressing of advantage against someone who has no one to defend him...
A man walks up to you in the market with a story. His neighbor, he says, has wronged him. He needs someone to stand with him at the gate, to nod when he speaks, to lend weight to h...
The courtroom fills. The elders have been talking. A consensus is forming. You are the last voice, and you can see which way the wind blows. The majority has already chosen its ver...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:13) gives an unusual command: of all the precepts that I have spoken to you, be careful; and the names of the idols of the Gentiles reme...
As Moses descended the mountain, Joshua heard the noise of the camp and could not interpret it. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves Moses's reply in words of unsettling clarity: "It i...
There is a right way to speak of offerings, and the wrong way offends the Holy One. Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 6:1 preserves a sharp teaching from R. Shimon ben Yochai, the s...
Psalm 33:6 compresses all of creation into a phrase: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made." Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 11:2 pairs that verse with Genesis 1:1 to mak...
