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Vayikra Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic homilies on the Book of Leviticus, dives into this very struggle. It all starts with the verse, "If you follow My statutes, and observe My ...
The Vayikra Rabbah, a fascinating midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) collection on the Book of Leviticus, explores this very idea. It opens with the verse "If you follow ...
We often take these things for granted, but Jewish tradition suggests there's a deeper, more profound answer than just physics. It's all about ḥukim (חקים), statutes. But not just ...
You're not alone. Our tradition recognizes this struggle, this internal tug-of-war. And it offers a powerful image to understand it. The text we're looking at today comes from Vayi...
Rabbi Aḥa ben Elyashiv, in Vayikra Rabbah 35, offers a powerful answer, drawing on the words of Isaiah: "It will be that he that is left in Zion and he that remains in Jerusalem sh...
It centers around the verse, "And observe My commandments, and perform them" (Leviticus 26:3). What does it really mean to "perform" them? Rabbi Ḥama ben Rabbi Ḥanina offers a radi...
We often think of life itself, perhaps, or the beauty of nature. But according to Jewish tradition, some gifts are so profound, so foundational, that they shape our very existence....
This question, believe it or not, has occupied Jewish thinkers for centuries. And it all stems from a seemingly simple verse in Leviticus (26:42): “I will remember My covenant with...
It's more than just about wine, you see. It's a metaphor, a living, breathing symbol of the Jewish people themselves. We find this beautiful idea elaborated on in Vayikra Rabbah 36...
Today, we’re diving into a fascinating passage from Vayikra Rabbah 36 that grapples with the legacy of King Ahaz. The verse from Proverbs sets the stage: “One hand to another will ...
The ancient rabbis grappled with these very questions, and their answers, preserved in texts like Vayikra Rabbah, are both surprising and deeply inspiring. to one fascinating passa...
Birth order, historical sequence. But what if there’s more to it than that? Vayikra Rabbah 36, a fascinating passage in the rabbinic commentary on Leviticus, flips that script on u...
It’s a question the rabbis grappled with, and in Vayikra Rabbah 36, we find some fascinating—and differing—answers. The text explores just how long the merit, the z’chus, of the pa...
“How does the greatly crowded city sit alone? She has become like a widow. Great among the nations, a princess among the states: She has become a vassal” (Lamentations 1:1).“How [e...
One of the students of Rabbi Yoḥanan was sitting before him. [Rabbi Yoḥanan] explained [the lesson] to him but he did not understand it. [Rabbi Yoḥanan] said to him: ‘Why do you no...
A certain woman came to Rabbi Elazar. She said to him: ‘I saw that the rafter in the house snapped.’ He said to her: ‘This woman will bear a male child.’ She went, and so it was fo...
“A princess among the nations,” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Because Israel violated the terms that they accepted at Sinai, therefore, “she has become a vassal [lamas].” Sinai is lamas, the...
“I remember my song in the night; I meditate with my heart, and my spirit searches” (Psalms 77:7). Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon and Rabbi Aivu.58The text of the midrash (rabbinic i...
“The ways of Zion are in mourning, without Festival pilgrims; all her gates are desolate; her priests sigh; her maidens are forlorn, and she is embittered” (Lamentations 1:4).“The ...
“Gone from the daughter of Zion is all her splendor. Her princes are like deer that have not found pasture; they went powerless before the pursuer” (Lamentations 1:6)“Gone from the...
“Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and her wretchedness, all her delights that she had from the days of old; with the fall of her people into the hand of the adver...
“Her impurity is on her hems, she had not considered her end; she has declined extraordinarily, there is no one to comfort her. See, Lord, my affliction, for the enemy has expanded...
When Rabbi Yosei of Milḥaya died, Rabbi Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish went up to perform an act of kindness136They went to participate in the funeral. and Rabbi Yitzḥak Pesaka went up w...
“The adversary extended his hand over all her delights; for she saw the nations entering her Sanctuary, whom You had commanded that they should not enter Your assembly” (Lamentatio...
“May it not befall you, all wayfarers. Look and see: Is there any pain like my pain, which has been done to me, with which the Lord has tormented me on the day of His enflamed wrat...
There was an incident involving Miriam bat Baitus, whom Yehoshua ben Gamla betrothed [to him], and the king appointed him to be the High Priest.173He was appointed to this position...
There was an incident involving Miriam daughter of the baker, who was taken captive with her seven sons. The emperor took them and placed them behind seven partitions. He brought t...
There was an incident involving Doeg ben Yosef who died and left a young son to his mother. She would measure him in handbreadths and donate his weight in gold to the Temple182Lite...
“I called to my lovers, they deceived me; my priests and my elders perished in the city while they sought food for themselves to restore their souls” (Lamentations 1:19).“I called ...
“They heard that I sigh; there is no comforter for me; all my enemies heard of my misfortune, were glad because You acted. May You bring the day that You proclaimed, and they will ...
“How the Lord has clouded the daughter of Zion in His wrath. He cast the splendor of Israel from the heavens to the earth, and did not remember His footstool on the day of His wrat...
“And did not remember His footstool [hadom raglav],” Rabbi Ḥanina bar Yitzḥak said: The Holy One blessed be He does not remember that blood [hadam] that was between the legs of the...
“He severed in his enflamed wrath all the horn of Israel; He retracted His right hand from before the enemy. He burned in Jacob like flaming fire, consuming all around” (Lamentatio...
“Its gates sank into the ground; He eradicated and broke its bars. Its king and its princes are among the nations; there is no Torah; its prophets, too, could not find a vision fro...
“The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, are silent. They have placed dust on their heads, have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem have lowere...
“What shall I attest to you, to what shall I liken you, daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I equate you, and comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as vast as t...
“Arise, cry out at night, at the beginning of the watches, pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the life of your infants, who a...
“I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His fury” (Lamentations 3:1).“I am the man” – Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina began: “Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Barukh s...
“He fenced me in that I will not emerge; He made my fetters heavy” (Lamentations 3:7).“He fenced me in that I will not emerge” – Rabbi Aivu said: This is the enclosure of the Arabs...
“Remember my affliction and my anguish, wormwood and gall” (Lamentations 3:19).“Remember my affliction and my anguish [umrudi]” – the congregation of Israel says before the Holy On...
“The Lord is good to those who trust in Him, to the soul that seeks Him” (Lamentations 3:25).“The Lord is good to those who trust in Him” – is it, perhaps, to everyone?55One might ...
“For the Lord will not forsake forever. For, if He torments, He will have compassion according to His abundant grace. For He does not afflict willingly and torment the children of ...
“Pay them retribution, Lord, according to their handiwork” (Lamentations 3:64).“Pay them retribution” – Jeremiah said: “Pay them retribution.” Asaf said: “Pay our neighbors retribu...
“May You pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:66).“May You pursue them in wrath and destroy them” – Jeremiah said: “May you pur...
“How has gold tarnished, the fine gold changed? The sacred stones are spilled at the head of every street” (Lamentations 4:1).“How has gold tarnished [yuam]?” Rabbi Shmuel said: Ho...
There was an incident involving Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya, who went to the great city of Rome. They said to him: ‘There is a certain child in prison in disgrace.’10The Romans were...
“The iniquity of the daughter of my people exceeded the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands seized it” (Lamentations 4:6).“The iniquity of the daughter of ...
“The hands of merciful women cooked their children; they were food for them in the disaster of the daughter of my people” (Lamentations 4:10).“The hands of merciful women cooked th...
