1,227 texts · Page 16 of 26
It involves bikkurim (בִּכּוּרִים), the first fruits offering. Now, picture this: you're a farmer in ancient Israel. You've poured your heart and soul into your land, and finally, ...
The ancient rabbis certainly understood that feeling. They saw it reflected in a particularly difficult year for the Israelites, a year marked by a triple tragedy. The Sifrei Devar...
And it's all tucked away in a short but potent verse from Sifrei Devarim 313, a midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic text on the Book of Deuteronomy. The verse says, "He bu...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, tells us about this pivotal place. It wasn't just any mountain; it was the plac...
The Torah touches on this, not directly, but in subtle glimpses. Let’s look at how the death of Aaron, the High Priest, is described, and what Moses thought of it. We find this ide...
It’s a question that resonates through the ages, and the Sifrei Devarim, an ancient commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, offers a fascinating perspective. The text begins with th...
The verse references Shimon, one of Jacob's sons, and it says, "His (Shimon's) hands did battle for him." This echoes a passage from Genesis (Bereshith 34:25), "And there took, two...
Today, we’re focusing on a curious absence: Why does Levi get a blessing ("And of Levi he said"), but not Shimon? The Sifrei Devarim, an early halakhic midrash on the Book of Deute...
The verse we’re looking at from Deuteronomy speaks of Levi, saying, "Your tumim and your urim are destined for (Aaron) the man of Your lovingkindness." Now, tumim and urim? These w...
The text begins with a blessing: "Blessed is He that broadens Gad." What does it mean? Simply put, the passage teaches us that the territory allotted to the tribe of Gad expanded e...
We often think of tzedakah, usually translated as charity, as giving money to the poor. But what if it's something far more profound? The Sifrei Devarim, a legal midrash on the Boo...
Our text comes from Sifrei Devarim (a collection of legal midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)im on the book of Deuteronomy). It speaks of a vision granted to Moses, a vision...
SIMON THE JUST WAS ONE OF THE LAST SURVIVORS OF THE GREAT ASSEMBLY. HE USED TO SAY: UPON THREE THINGS THE WORLD IS BASED: UPON THE TORAH, UPON THE TEMPLE SERVICE, AND UPON THE PRAC...
JOSEPH B. JOḤANAN OF JERUSALEM SAID: LET YOUR HOUSE BE OPENED WIDE, AND LET THE POOR BE MEMBERS OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD; AND TALK NOT MUCH WITH A WOMAN.LET YOUR HOUSE BE OPENED WIDE. Wha...
NITTAI1In V. this chapter begins with the name of Joshua b. Peraḥiah followed by that of Nittai the Arbelite. This is an obvious error since the former’s aphorism was the theme of ...
RABBAN JOḤANAN B. ZAKKAI RECEIVED THE TRADITION FROM HILLEL AND SHAMMAI.Hillel the Elder had eighty disciples:1Cf. the parallel passage in Suk. 28a (Sonc. ed., p. 123) and B.B. 134...
R. JOSE SAID: LET THE PROPERTY OF YOUR FELLOW BE AS DEAR TO YOU AS YOUR OWN; FIT YOURSELF FOR THE STUDY OF THE TORAH, SINCE IT DOES NOT COME TO YOU BY INHERITANCE. What does this m...
R. Ḥananiah, the deputy High Priest,1In Aboth 3:2 (Sonc. ed., p. 27) there is a different saying attributed to ‘R. Ḥanina, the deputy High Priest’, and in III, 5 (Sonc. ed., III, 5...
THERE WERE TEN GENERATIONS FROM NOAH TO ABRAHAM. What need is there for mankind to [know] this? It is to teach that all those generations were provoking Him, and there was not one ...
The men of Sodom will neither come to life [in the hereafter] nor be brought to judgment,1The eschatological doctrines assumed here are that some time in the future, after the Mess...
The Hebrew text of (Genesis 3) says Eve "saw that the tree was good for food." The Targum Jonathan says she saw Sammael, the angel of death, standing right there, and was afraid. T...
(Genesis 4:8) contains one of the strangest silences in the Torah. It says "Cain spoke to Abel his brother," and then nothing. The sentence just stops. The next thing that happens ...
(Genesis 5:24) is one of the most mysterious verses in the Torah. "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." That is all the Hebrew says. No explanation of where he...
The Hebrew Bible says God "came down" to see the Tower of Babel and confused humanity's language (Genesis 11:7). But the ancient Aramaic translators of Targum Jonathan told a radic...
When God blessed Abraham in (Genesis 12:3), the Hebrew says simply: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse." A universal promise. But the ancient Ar...
The Hebrew Bible calls Hagar a "maidservant." The Targum Jonathan, an ancient Aramaic translation of the Torah composed in the land of Israel, calls her a daughter of Pharaoh. That...
The destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19 is swift and merciless. Fire and brimstone rain down, and the city is gone. But the Targum Jonathan inserts a detail that changes everything:...
Abraham tells a foreign king that Sarah is his sister. Again. He already pulled this move with Pharaoh in Egypt (Genesis 12:13). Now in Gerar, he does it a second time—and the Targ...
The Hebrew Bible tells us God remembered Sarah and she bore a son. The ancient Aramaic translators wanted to know more. They added a detail the Torah left out: God performed a mira...
The Binding of Isaac is terrifying in the Torah. In the Targum, it is something else entirely. Isaac was not a passive child led to slaughter. He was thirty-six years old, and he v...
Abraham married again after Sarah's death. The Torah calls his new wife Keturah. The Targum reveals her true identity in a single phrase: "She is Hagar, who had been bound to him f...
The story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28 is one of the most famous visions in all of scripture—a ladder reaching to heaven, angels ascending and descending. But the Targum Jonatha...
Genesis 29 tells the story of Jacob arriving in Haran, meeting Rachel at a well, and being deceived by Laban into marrying Leah first. The Targum Jonathan injects dialogue, backsto...
Genesis 30 describes the intense rivalry between Rachel and Leah as they compete to bear Jacob's children. The Targum Jonathan turns this domestic drama into a prophetic saga where...
The wrestling match at the Jabbok River is one of the most mysterious scenes in all of Genesis. A man fights Jacob in the dark, and by morning Jacob has a new name and a limp. The ...
The story of Dinah in Genesis 34 is already one of the most violent chapters in the Torah. The Targum Jonathan, the ancient Aramaic translation, does not soften it. Instead, it sha...
Genesis 35 records some of the most consequential events in Jacob's life—Rachel's death, the birth of Benjamin, and Jacob's return to his father Isaac. The Targum Jonathan, the anc...
The standard Genesis 36 reads like a dry census of Esau's descendants. But the Targum Jonathan, the ancient Aramaic interpretive translation, quietly inserts theological details th...
Genesis 38, the story of Judah and Tamar, is already one of the most dramatic chapters in the Torah. The Targum Jonathan amplifies every beat, adding prayers, prophecies, and moral...
The story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife in Genesis 39 is already tense. The Targum Jonathan ratchets the tension higher by adding theological motives, divine intervention, and a tr...
The standard Genesis account of Joseph's rise to power in Egypt is dramatic enough. But the ancient Aramaic translation known as Targum Jonathan layers in theological details that ...
The standard Torah tells us that Jacob traveled to Beersheba and offered sacrifices before heading down to Egypt. But Targum Jonathan, the ancient Aramaic translation dating to the...
The Torah's account of Jacob blessing Joseph's sons is already dramatic—the old patriarch crossing his hands to favor the younger son over the firstborn. But Targum Jonathan adds l...
Jacob gathered his twelve sons around his golden bed to reveal the future. But something went wrong. According to Targum Jonathan, Jacob intended to show them "the hidden mysteries...
The Book of Exodus opens with a list of names and a king who "knew not Joseph." Targum Jonathan transforms this into something far more vivid—adding a prophetic dream, naming Phara...
The Torah tells us that Moses was born, hidden, found by Pharaoh's daughter, and eventually fled to Midian. Targum Jonathan fills in the gaps with miracles, secret identities, and ...
Exodus chapter 4 tells how Moses received miraculous signs to convince Israel of his mission. The Targum Jonathan transforms this chapter into something far stranger—especially whe...
The Song of the Sea in (Exodus 15) is one of the oldest poems in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan rewrites it with additions so bold they create entirely new theology, includi...
