2,692 texts · Page 19 of 57
Jewish mysticism wrestles with that very feeling. It delves into the times when even the most righteous seem to be met with silence. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a founda...
I know, it sounds like a bizarre question, but the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, actually uses the metaphor of royal garments to describe something...
Jewish mystical tradition has something profound to say about it. to a passage from the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, specifically Tikkun 98. It's a dense text, sure, but with...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a mystical companion to the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, offers a fascinating, and somewhat…unconventional… perspective on this...
That’s kind of the world of the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a mystical text that delves into the deepest secrets of creation and redemption. And sometimes, it all hinges on…...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a mystical extension of the Zohar, speaks to this very feeling in its 105th section. It paints a vivid, and frankly, unsettling picture. The ...
Jewish tradition recognizes this feeling, and even offers a powerful response: the idea of spreading a tabernacle of peace. Where does this idea come from? It appears in a seemingl...
It's there, woven into the very fabric of creation, using imagery so rich and evocative it can take your breath away. to a passage from Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar 110, a sec...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, offers a fascinating perspective. It tells us that the offerings, the qorbanot – literally, the means of drawing ...
It’s a window into a deeper, more mystical understanding of our relationship with the Divine. to a fascinating passage from the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, specifically Tikk...
In Jewish tradition, that feeling has a name, a purpose, a cosmic blueprint. to a passage from the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, ...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), offers a fascinating, even breathtaking, image. It suggests our offerings, our qorbanot – and ...
Jewish mysticism offers some fascinating, and sometimes startling, perspectives on this very struggle. The text begins with a seemingly odd statement: offerings are always slaughte...
Believe it or not, the answer might be found in…sacrifice.This is not about literal blood and fire. It’s about something far more…sublime. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a ...
Sometimes, they're more than just commandments; they're glimpses into a cosmic battle between good and… well, not-so-good. to a fascinating, and slightly strange, passage from Tikk...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar delves into the mystical underpinnings of the Torah, revealing hidden layers of meaning within its words. In Tikkunei Zohar 125, it speaks of ...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a companion volume to the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, offers a fascinating, and frankly, wild, answer. It sees the human body ...
What sparks this joy? What ignites this closeness? The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar offers a striking image: an older person emerges from behind a wall. Now, walls in Kabbalah...
You're not alone. Our tradition beautifully captures this bittersweet feeling, this yearning for the Divine presence that seems so palpable on Shabbat (the Sabbath) and then, all t...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a mystical commentary on the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, speaks to just that feeling. In section 289, it uses a beautiful imag...
"They shall take for Me a contribution" (Exodus 25:2). The first commandment God gave after the revelation at Sinai was to build Him a home. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev finds...
Moses' name does not appear in Parshat Tetzaveh. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev uses this conspicuous absence to explore a question about wisdom, unity, and the priestly garment...
Parashat Pekudei opens with an accounting of the Tabernacle's materials (Exodus 38:21), but the Kedushat Levi (Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev) sees something far deeper than a l...
"And you shall plate it with pure gold" (Exodus 25:11). The Talmud (Sukkah 45b) reads the verse about the Tabernacle's acacia wood—"standing up" (Exodus 26:15)—to mean that the woo...
"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 tzaddikim (a righte...
The longest and most carefully guarded section of Sefer Raziel HaMalakh catalogs the divine names—the Shemot (שמות), the names of God through which creation was brought into being ...
Sefer Raziel HaMalakh contains a detailed cosmological map of the seven heavens—a tradition rooted in early rabbinic literature (Chagigah 12b) and expanded dramatically in the Hekh...
Before God chose the land of Israel as His special territory, every land on earth was equally suitable for divine speech. Prophecy could happen anywhere. But once Israel was chosen...
Before King Solomon built the Temple on Mount Moriah, the divine presence had no fixed address. The Shechinah — God's indwelling presence — could rest anywhere within the city of J...
Rabbi Akiva taught that there were three things Moses could not visualize on his own, no matter how great his prophetic power. God had to physically point them out to him. The firs...
Scripture specified it (the fourteenth day) as mandatory. It is not the second assumption, then, that is to be accepted, but the first. "And it shall be to you for a keeping": Scri...
"And they shall place it on the two side posts and on the lintel": I might think that if he placed (the blood on) one before the other, he has not fulfilled his obligation. It is, ...
"on this night": I might think, the entire night; it is, therefore, written (Ibid. 10) "You shall not leave over anything of it until morning, and what is left over of it until mor...
(Ibid. 15) "Only on the first day you shall eliminate leaven from your houses": before the eve of the festival. You say this, but perhaps (the meaning is) on the day of the festiva...
"Draw forth and take for yourselves": "Draw forth"—he who possesses his own; "and take" (i.e., acquire)—he who does not possess his own. R. Yossi Haglili says (The meaning is:) "Dr...
"and slaughter the Pesach (Passover): It is a mitzvah to slaughter it as a Pesach offering. If he does not offer it as such, he transgresses the mitzvah. I might think that in the ...
(Ibid. 12:27) "Then you shall say that it is a Paschal sacrifice to the L–rd.": R. Yossi Haglili said: The Jews would have deserved to die in Egypt (if not for the merit of the Pas...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, captures the moment when Pharaoh finally broke. After the tenth plague — the death of every firstborn in Egypt — Pharaoh summoned Mos...
God did not simply send Israel home from exile — He walked back with them. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, a 3rd-century CE halakhic midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), make...
The Torah states a blunt exclusion about the Paschal lamb: "No stranger may eat of it." The Mekhilta explains who "stranger" includes, and the answer is broader than it first appea...
Variantly: The bechor of a man is likened to the bechor of a beast, and the bechor of a beast to the bechor of a man. Just as with a beast, a miscarriage (of the first pregnancy) e...
The Torah records God's instruction: "And they shall make for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). The Mekhilta once again poses its characteristic question:...
(Exodus 13:6) declares, "And on the seventh day, a festival to the Lord." The Hebrew word for festival, chag, is related to chagigah, the special festival offering brought at the T...
Shimon b. Azzai says: What is the intent of "Veha'avarta"? From (Leviticus 27:32) "Whatever (beast) passes ('ya'avor') under the staff" (for tithing), I would think that an orphan,...
If only a donkey's firstborn is redeemed, what does the Torah mean when it says in (Numbers 18:15), "but redeem shall you redeem the first-born of the unclean beast"? The Mekhilta ...
The Torah draws a direct line between the tenth plague and a permanent commandment: "And the Lord killed every first-born... therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord every male first-bor...
(Exodus 13:17) "And it was, when G–d sent ("shalach") the people": "sending" in all places is accompaniment, viz. (Genesis 18:16) "And Abraham went with them to send them," (Ibid. ...
"and I will be honored through Pharaoh": Scripture here apprises us that when the L–rd exacts punishment of the nations, His name is aggrandized in the world, as it is written (Isa...
