Questions tagged [midrash]
Exegetical interpretation, often of verses in Tanach. The term also refers to books based on these interpretations, e.g., Midrash Rabba, Midrash Tanchuma, et al.
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Can someone please explain this puzzling Midrash that seems to imply that Hashem forgave Amalek?
From the Midrash (Pesikta DeRav Kahana 3:1) it seems that Hashem forgave Amalek, based on the Torah saying that "you shall not abhor the Edomite" (Devarim 23:8).
The question is: how can ...
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Per the Midrash - how can Hashem make it rain on Shabbat
Per the midrash quoted in this answer, Hashem keeps all commandments, if so how does the midrash explain why Hashem makes it rain on Shabbat wouldn't that be a Zoreia - Sowing
See Rambam Hilchot ...
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Uttering the name of God to kill people
According to the Midrash Tanchuma (see also see also Shemot Rabbah 1:29, Yalkut Shimoni 167 and Yalkut Reuveni: Parashat Shemot), Moshe killed the Egyptian (Exodus 2:11-12) by uttering a particularly ...
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Why did the nations reject the Torah if they were obligated regardless as bnei noach?
There's a well known midrash that HaShem went around offering the Torah to other nations prior to offering it to Israel, with the nations rejecting it for various reasons (restrictions on theft, ...
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Theodical arguments from Bereshit Rabbah 69:5 - why are they rarely if ever used?
According to Bereshit Rabbah 69:5, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaacov prayed for aging, suffering and sickness, and before this, these conditions did not exist in the human experience.
The reasons are given ...
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What were David's reasons for writing Psalms?
BH
What were David's reasons for writing the Book of Psalms?
Are they in chronological order to the events that happened in his life?
Did he write some of the psalms as the event was happening?
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Pharaoh made himself according to "Ezekiel 29:3"?
Ezekiel 29:3
Speak these words:
Thus said the Sovereign GOD:
I am going to deal with you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt,
Mighty monster, sprawling in your channels,
Who said,
My Nile is my own;
I made it [...
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Why Pharaoh of Exodus, in Ezekiel 29:3?
Ezekiel 29:3:
"Speak these words:
Thus said the Sovereign GOD:
I am going to deal with you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt,
Mighty monster, sprawling in your channels,
Who said,
My Nile is my own;
I ...
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Was Deuteronomy 18:15, interpreted messianically in Judaism?
Deuteronomy 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—him you shall heed— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of ...
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Midrash about our "age" in Olam Haba
I once heard that there is a midrash that states in Olam Haba, we start each day as children, then the next quarter we are adolescent, then adult, then old age, so that we can enjoy the goodness of ...
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1000th generation, and creating the world out of Rachamim
I recently saw in a (Chassidic) sefer that the concept of "Hashem intended to make the world out of justice, but saw that it wouldn't last, so made it out of mercy" (Rashi on Bereshit) means ...
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What is the connection between Hashem's battle with the dragon and creation in Tehilim Chapter 74?
Tehilim 74:13-17 recounts a series of victories of Hashem. The first couplet documents victories in battle against both the tanin and the Leviathan:
אַתָּ֤ה פוֹרַ֣רְתָּ בְעׇזְּךָ֣ יָ֑ם שִׁבַּ֖רְתָּ ...
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What does the Vav in Eliyahu represent?
There is a famous Midrash that Yaakov took a Vav from Eliyahu. This is why their names are spelled
אליה & יעקוב
They say it has to do with the announcements.
What did he take?
I.e. what כח was in ...
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Understanding ערלים comparisons
In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer chapter 29 (uncensored version), we read:
ולמה מלן, בשביל הטהרה שלא יטמאו את אדניהם במאכליהם ובמשתיהם, שכל מי שאוכל עם הערל כאלו אוכל עם הכלב, מה הכלב שלא נמול כך הערל שלא ...
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Interpreting and accepting contemporary reports of fantastic events
Are there any contemporary sources that discuss how to approach reports or stories in circulation among the Jewish public that stretch credulity? Is it incumbent upon us to find meaning in them?
I am ...
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