Showing posts with label Readings from Midrash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Readings from Midrash. Show all posts

Thursday, September 6, 2007

From this you can infer how great is the reward of those who perform kind acts; for although Moses had many names, the name by which he is known in the Torah is the one which Batya, the daughter of Pharaoh, called him, and even God called him by no other name.
Exodus Rabbah 1:26
Rabbi Joshua of Kiknin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy One, the blessed One, said to Batya, the daughter of Pharaoh: "Moses was not your son, yet you called him your son; you, too, though you are not my daughter, yet I will call you Batya, the daughter of God."
Leviticus Rabbah 1:3

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Rabbi Akiba was walking with his colleagues, Rabbi Gamaliel, Rabbi Eliezer, and Rabbi Joshua, on the Temple mount that was in ruins. All four rabbis saw a little fox run about on the ruins of the Temple mount, on the place where the Holy of Holies once stood. Three of the four began weeping, but Rabbi Akiba laughed. "Why do you weep?" Rabbi Akiba asked his colleagues. The three answered, "Because the place of the Temple is now the place of the fox." Then the three rabbis asked Rabbi Akiba, "Why do you laugh, seeing all the destruction, seeing that the people are gone and only the fox remains?" Rabbi Akiba answered, "Because just as the prophet foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, so the prophet foretold the future restoration of the city. Now that Jerusalem has been destroyed, the first prophecy fulfilled, we know that the second prophecy, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, will also be fulfilled."
Babylonian Talmud Makkot 24b

Monday, August 13, 2007

Therefore fear not, Jacob, my servant (Jeremiah: 30:10)

This speaks of Jacob, of whom it is written and he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth... and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Rabbi Berekiah and Rabbi Helbo and Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai in the name of Rabbi Meir said: It teaches that the Holy One, the blessed One, showed Jacob the Prince of Babylon... of Media... of Greece... and of Edom ascending and descending. Then God said to Jacob: "You also ascend." Our father Jacob was afraid, and thought: Perhaps, heaven forbid, in the same way as these nations descended, I will also have to descend. Said the Holy One, the blessed One: Fear not, Jacob my servant. Once you ascend there will be no descent for you. Jacob would not believe and did not ascend.
Leviticus Rabbah 29:2; Pesikta De-Rab Kahana 23:2)

Saturday, August 11, 2007

"Let us make the human in our image" (Genesis 1:26).

Rabbi Simon said: When the Holy One, the blessed One, came to create Adam, the ministering angels formed themselves into groups and parties, some of them saying, "Let the human be created," while others urged, "Let the human not be created." Thus it is written, Love and truth fought together; righteousness and peace combated each other. (Psalm 85:11) Love said, "Let humans be created, because they will dispense acts of love:; Truth said, "Let humans be created, because they will perform righteous deeds"; Peace said, "Let humans not be created because they are full of strife." What did the Lord do? He took Truth and cast it to the ground... Rabbi Huna, the Elder of Sepphoris, said: While the ministering angels were arguing and disputing with each other, the Holy One, the blessed One, created humans. God said to the angels: "For what purpose do you argue? Humans have already been made!"
Genesis Rabbah 8:4-5

Monday, August 6, 2007

And his sister stood at a distance, to learn what would befall him (Exodus 2:4)
Why did Miriam stand at a distance? Rabbi Amram in the name of Rab said: Because Miriam prophesied, "My mother is destined to give birth to a son who will save Israel." When the house was flooded with light at the birth of Moses, her father arose and kissed her head and said: "My daughter, your prophecy has been fulfilled."
Exodus Rabbah 1:22

Saturday, August 4, 2007

The Holy One, the blessed One said to Israel, "Even if you find the land full of all good things, do not say, 'We will sit and not plant'; rather be diligent in planting... Just as you came and found trees planted by others, you must plant for your children." A person must not say, "I am old, how many years will I live? Why should I stand and exert myself for others? Tomorrow I will die." You must not excuse yourself from planting. As you found trees, plant more, even if you are old.
Midrash Tanhuma, Kedoshim: 8

Thursday, August 2, 2007

With what did God bless the seventh day? With light. When the sun set on the night of the Sabbath, that light continued to function... But when the sun sank at the termination of the Sabbath, darkness began to set in. Adam was terrified, thinking, Surely the darkness shall envelop me (Psalm 139:11)...What did God do for him? God made Adam find two flints that he struck against each other; light came forth and Adam uttered a blessing over it.
Genesis Rabbah 11:2

Monday, July 30, 2007

Rabbi Yose son of Rabbi Hanina said: The divine Word spoke to each and every person according to his particular capacity. And do not be surprised at this idea. For when manna came down to Israel, each and every person tasted it in keeping with his own capacity... Now what was true about the manna was equally true about the divine Word. Each and every person heard it according to his own particular capacity. Thus David said, The voice of the Lord is in strength (Psalm 29:4) -- not "The voice of the Lord is in His strength," but the voice of the Lord is in the strength and capacity of each and every person.
Peskita De-Rab Kahana 12:25

Sunday, July 29, 2007

A certain heathen asked Rabbi Joshua ben Karhah: "Why did the Holy One, the blessed One, speak to Moses out of a thorn bush?" He said to him: "Had it been out of a carob, or out of a sycamore, you would ask the same question. But I cannot send you away empty-handed. Why then out of a thorn bush? To teach you that there is no space free of the divine presence, not even a thorn bush."
Exodus Rabbah 2:9

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Also the celestial bodies and the elements proclaim the praise of their Creator--the sun, moon, and stars, the clouds and the winds, lightning and dew. The sun says, "The sun and moon stood still in their habitation, at the light of Thine arrows as they went, at the shining of Thy glittering spear"; and the stars sing, "Thou art the Lord, even Thou alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth Thee."
Louis Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, vol. 1