DOVBEAR

[This is a post from last year recycled to answer a question Shira askes here ] "The woman conceived and bore a son. She saw that he...

What might be one of the earliest recorded midrashim (by which I mean an interpretation of biblical text) appears in the book of Nehemiah. T...

This week we've been discussing a signal event in the history of the Jewish people: The religious revival led by Ezra as described in th...

I promised Chaim some examples of Rashi playing a little fast and loose with midrashim. Here's the first of many. Rashi Chooses Among...

Note: Many smart people, after all, learn midrash in the way I am about to denounce, and I suppose there isn't anything wrong with it pe...

RenReb amazes me, and not just because she has her very own store. No, I read RenReb's blog, and find myself in despair because she is a...

Everyone and his uncle knows Rashi's explanation for the six-fold language used here: וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, פָּרוּ וַיִּשְׁרְצוּ וַיִּרְבּ...

[This appeared in an old post of mine. I am too lazy to find it right now] If you've not heard of Serach Bat Asher, let me introduce you...

"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech." Genesis 11:1 "This was Hebrew" said my first grade rebbe (he...

The simple translation of Gen 32:22 is 'And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven sons...

Potential ultra-Orthodox boycott threatens to cripple El Al airlines The story of the miracle flight that didn't crash, but spit smoke f...

On Friday, one of the dear readers of this blog, shared an urban legend about the Vilna Gaon. In summary, the story (which I believe is fals...

The posuk says: "He smelled the smell of his clothing (bigadav), and blessed him, and said, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the...

..he would ask him: "Father, how are salt and hay tithed?" [Though, he actually knew that there is no requirement that these items...

When I used my blog to ask for help explaining why my friend the EE was misusing science, I expected to hear from the usual crop of well-rea...

Collected on the Internet: The rabbis teach that [Esav] did perform the mitzvah of honoring his father, and he even asked his father about ...

And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. Gen 12:6 Among...

If I had to choose, my least favorite verses in all of Torah would have to be the ones in this week's sedra about Canaan being cursed - ...

By KRUM Unfortunately, the previous installment of this post degenerated into an endless debate between GH, Daganev, lakewood yid, Chardal,...

Israel expands Lebanon ground war The Midrash Raba says: Anyone who says God is not particular with his pious ones deserves to have his inwa...