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Rav Hisda used to hang an open purse at his doorpost so that anyone who needed money could take some without being seen. This detail, preserved in the Exempla of the Rabbis (compil...
Rabbi Patra had a student who struggled to learn. Where other teachers might have given up after ten repetitions, or twenty, or even a hundred, Rabbi Patra taught his student the s...
Rabbi Meir was traveling through Samaria when he encountered a Samaritan who was proud of his lineage. "I am a descendant of Joseph," the man declared — claiming descent from the m...
There was an inn on a certain road where travelers learned, too late, that the hospitality was a trap. The innkeeper welcomed his guests warmly, fed them well, and showed them to c...
Rabbi Judah HaNasi needed to send a teacher to the town of Simonia. The community there required a sage who could teach Torah, render legal decisions, and guide the people. He chos...
The respect that Dama ben Netina showed his father was legendary among the sages of Israel — and Dama was not even Jewish. He was a gentile merchant in Ashkelon, and his story beca...
Rabbi Tarfon was one of the great sages of the Mishnaic period, a man of wealth, learning, and considerable stature. But his most famous act had nothing to do with scholarship or l...
Rabbi Tarfon loved his mother with a devotion that became legendary among the sages. The Talmud preserves the story of how he honored her, and it is one of the most striking illust...
Rabbi Ishmael's mother loved him with a love so fierce that it made her do extraordinary things. The Talmud records that when her son — the great sage, the High Priest's descendant...
A mother had several sons, and the older brothers murdered the youngest. It was a killing born of jealousy — the kind of fratricidal violence that echoes the very first murder in t...
A potter refused to bring water any longer to Rish Lakish in Tiberias unless he prayed that the potter should be with him in Paradise. Rish Lakish promised that he would pray for h...
Rabbi Akiba heard that one of his students had fallen gravely ill. The young man was bedridden, burning with fever, and growing weaker by the day. No one expected him to survive. B...
Rabban Gamliel, the head of the Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court), once served food to Rabbi Yehoshua with his own hands. He stood and poured wine for his guest as though he w...
The Talmud (Bava Batra 75a) records a breathtaking vision of the future Jerusalem: its gates would be made of single pearls, each pearl so enormous that it could be carved into a g...
The Roman Emperor sent word to the Jewish sages: "Send me a luminary — your wisest man." The sages debated and chose Rabbi Meir, whose very name meant "one who illuminates." He was...
Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua were sailing across the Mediterranean when a terrible storm seized their ship. Winds howled, waves crashed over the deck, and the vessel was driven...
A man cleared stones from his own field and threw them onto the public road. A pious man passing by saw this and rebuked him: "Fool, why do you throw stones from a field that is no...
A man earned sixty dinars. He divided them into three equal portions: twenty for food, twenty for his house, and twenty he saved for his children. It was a sensible arrangement — f...
A Roman official named Hadrakitilios wrote a letter to the Emperor Hadrian about the Jews. "Your Majesty evidently hates the Jews," Hadrakitilios wrote, "because they refuse to con...
Ben Dama came to Rabbi Ishmael in a state of great distress. He had experienced a dream so vivid and so disturbing that he could not shake it from his mind. In the dream, he had wa...
A heretic — the Talmud calls him a "Min" — came to Rabbi Ishmael with a series of strange dreams, seeking interpretation. The dreams were vivid, unsettling, full of bizarre imagery...
King Shapur of Persia once asked the sage Shmuel: "Tell me what I will see in my dream tonight." It was a test — could a Jewish sage truly predict what a foreign king would dream? ...
A woman came to Rabbi Eliezer with a dream that troubled her. She described its images, its strange sequences, its unsettling feeling. Rabbi Eliezer listened and then interpreted: ...
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...
Rabbi Yohanan was the most beautiful man in Israel. The Talmud describes his appearance in terms usually reserved for angels — radiant skin, luminous eyes, a face that literally se...
Rabbi Yohanan went to visit Rabbi Elazar, who lay gravely ill in a dark room. The sick sage had been declining for days, his body wasting, his spirit dimming. The room was as dark ...
Rabbi Nehemia was a man of simple tastes. He ate plain food, lived modestly, and saw no reason to indulge in luxuries. One day, he invited a well-known gourmand — a man famous for ...
Mar Ukba was a man of extraordinary generosity, but his generosity had one absolute rule: the recipient must never know who gave. Every day, Mar Ukba would slip coins under the doo...
Rav Huna once sent Rav Sheshet on a mission that neither man took lightly: to consult Anan on a question of law, with the threat of excommunication hanging over Rav Sheshet's head ...
The students of Rabbi Ishmael undertook a task that sounds shocking to modern ears but was, in the ancient world, a contribution to medical and religious knowledge. When a prostitu...
Rabbi Shimon ben Halafta was invited to a brit milah — the circumcision ceremony of a newborn child. He came, he prayed, and through the power of his prayer, the life of the infant...
Rabbi Akiba laughed when everyone else wept — and his laughter changed the course of Jewish faith. The first time was in Rome. Rabbi Akiba and his colleagues walked through the str...
The sages would not allow a girl to do as she wanted or to expose herself before the man, who had become lovesick and very ill in consequence. Licentiousness was not to be encourag...
The sages preserved a curious historical note about a girl named Justina, the daughter of Asverus, who was married at the age of six and gave birth to a child at the age of seven. ...
Rabbi Akiba was brought a case that tested the limits of both law and compassion. A girl, only three years old, had been presented to the priestly authorities as a candidate for ri...
The Exempla of the Rabbis preserves a sprawling collection of tales about Solomon and the power of the divine Name. In these stories, Solomon commands demons, builds the Temple wit...
Two brothers lived in Cou$y in the year 893(1). Moses was a scholar and poor and Haim very rich. The latter asked his brother to act as his adviser and he would provide for his fam...
V. 1. A man on his deathbed commanded his son to cast bread upon the waters. He did it daily and one fish caught it regularly and grew very big and persecuted the other fishes. The...
X. A scholar travelling in a boat was mocked at by his fellow travellers who had asked him where his merchandise was and could not find any in the place he had indicated. On landin...
7 A hunter once caught a bird, which spoke with a human voice. It asked the hunter to let it free, saying it would teach him three wise things, (1) “Rue not a thing that is past. (...
10. Rich man sent his son far away to trade. In his absence, the old man died and left all his property in the hands of a slave. When the son returned, the slave claimed to be the ...
11. Ashmedai wished to confuse Solomon's wisdom, so he brought up from the netherworld a man with two heads. Solomon was surprised and so was Benaya, who would not believe it. Aske...
A pious man owned a large tree in his garden. The tree was beautiful, its shade deep and cool — and a demon lived in it. This was not unusual in the ancient world. The sages accept...
20. A young lad, going on a journey, encountered a storm at sea. All the other passengers who were very rich took out their idols and prayed without any result. He who was poor wen...
IV. Three young men served King Solomon. After three years' apprenticeship, believing they had learned nothing, they asked leave of departure from Solomon. He offered them each 100...
VIII. God decreed that Solomon should be punished for transgressing three laws. Ashmedai, after the building of the temple, told Solomon that he would show him some wonderful thing...
B) Two men again are pointed out to R. Beroka as worthy of Paradise. On enquiring he learned that wherever people were in grief and sorrow, those two used to go and cheer them and ...
King David once asked God what good there was in gnats, spiders and fools. One day, fleeing from Saul, he hid in a cave and a spider quickly covered the opening with its web. Saul,...
