29
There is dispute among the commentators as to whether or not Ramban meant that seriously or just said it for the debate. R. Yaakov Kamanetzky z"l writes (Emet L'yaakov Genesis 44:18) that Ramban just said it for the sake of the debate. The Chattam Sofer (Orach Chaim 1:16) understands that Ramban was expressing a serious belief, but limited his view to extra-...
27
Targum (to Esther 9:14) says that she fled, with seventy of Haman's surviving sons, and they were all reduced to begging.
19
Here is a sampling of the interpretations offered by the commentators (all taken from commentaries to the verse in question):
Rashi
God inscribed (part of) His name on Cain's forehead:
חקק לו אות משמו במצחו
Ibn Ezra
God gave Cain a horn:
ויש אומרים כי האות קרן
God gave Cain courage and removed his fear:
ואחרים אמרו שנתן חוזק בלבו והסיר פחדו ...
18
See here for more.
Basically, if you look carefully in Biblical Hebrew, g'di actually means "a young animal" -- usually if you didn't specify it meant a goat, but it could be a generic term for any young. Thus elsewhere it might specify g'di izim -- "a young goat."
So that gives us "don't cook a young animal in its mother's milk."
Why the thing about "...
17
The Rabbis learn out that there are 39 Melachot because of a numerical value (kind of). From here (or here, if that link doesn't work), quoting Talmud Shabbat 70a:
...it says, (Shemot 35:1-2) And Moshe gathered together the entire congregation of the Children of Israel and he said to them: 'Eileh HaDevarim' (these are the things--plural) that HaShem ...
17
One of the first Tosafot in Gittin 2a (מתני' המביא גט) brings that the reason the Get has 12 lines is because the gematriya of Get is 12.
ומה שנוהגים לכתוב י"ב שורות בגט אומר ר"ת משום דגט גימטריא י"ב
That which we're accustomed to write 12 lines in a Get- Rabbeinu Tam says because "Get" has a gematriya of 12
17
Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah 22:12
וַיָּשֶׂם ה' לְקַיִן אוֹת, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה וְרַבִּי נְחֶמְיָה. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אָמַר הִזְרִיחַ לוֹ גַּלְגַּל חַמָּה, אָמַר רַבִּי נְחֶמְיָה לְאוֹתוֹ רָשָׁע הָיָה מַזְרִיחַ לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא גַּלְגַּל חַמָּה, אֶלָּא מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהִזְרִיחַ לוֹ הַצָּרַעַת, הֵיךְ מָה דְאַתְּ אָמַר וְהָיָה אִם לֹא יַאֲמִינוּ לָךְ ...
16
The Maharal (Gur Aryeh ibid) explains that the Gemara which says that a person will surely die in a pit full of snakes and scorpions is only when it is full of snakes and scorpions, but this pit just had a few.
The Ohr HaChaim explains that the brothers felt Yosef was deserving of death because he had testified falsely about them to their father in matters ...
14
The g'mara in Mo'ed Katan 28 derives that the age of "death at the hands of heaven" is 60 from the pasuk
תָּבוֹא בְכֶלַח אֱלֵי קָבֶר כַּעֲלוֹת גָּדִישׁ בְּעִתּוֹ
in which the bold word has the numerical value of 60, yielding the interpretation
You will come to the grave at 60, like a stack that goes in its proper time
I am not sure if this satisfies ...
14
Teach the difference from the very beginning.
Even if they don't really understand the difference between saying that a story is written in the Torah, or is from a Midrash/Gemara/Rashi but doesn't appear in the Torah, you wont damage them by inserting a little comment right before/after a story giving its source. Kids are smart - they will hear what you ...
14
There is an aggadah in Bavli Sotah 11b that is almost exactly what you're describing. It's in the section that starts with Rav Avira saying that B'nei Yisrael were redeemed from Mitzrayim on account of the righteous women. First they would encourage their husbands in the mitzvah of p'ru ur'vu, then they would stay in their houses while pregnant, and then ...
14
Bava Batra (16b) records a dispute (found earlier in Tosefta Kiddushin (5:17 in R. Lieberman's edition) regarding the interpretation of Genesis (24:1) which states that God blessed Abraham "bakol" (literally: with everything):
Rabbi Meir says: The blessing is that he did not have a daughter.
Rabbi Yehuda says: On the contrary, the blessing was that he had a ...
13
Here are some additional sources:
אין מקשין על האגדה
We do not ask questions regarding Aggada.
Various sources expressing this idea:
(Rashba Megillah 15a)
(R' Saadia Gaon, R' Hai Gaon, Otzar HaGeonim, Chagiga 13; Otzar HaGeonim, Pesach, 3a)
(Meiri, Magen Avot 1)
(Shiltei Giborim, Avoda Zara, 6a)
(Ramban in his Disputation, also brought in responsa Chatam ...
13
In the Yerushalmi (Shekalim 1:3), Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai's position that the tribe of Levi was obligated to give the annual half-Shekel Temple tax is derived from the verse (Exodus 30:13) זה יתנו where זה is 12 in Gematria, implying all 12 tribes need to give the tax. Rambam (Shekalim 1:7) rules like this opinion.
13
The beginning of each stanza spells the name of the author שלמה הלוי. I surmise that the author wanted to spell his name and therefore reversed the order.
12
I think I remember learning in elementary school that the Moon and the Sun had, as they have now, the same angular diameter when viewed from the Earth, and they also had coronas of equal size, so their total sizes, including coronas, were equal. When the Moon complained about their equality, literally in terms of a "crown" (which a corona resembles and which ...
12
The source of this midrash is actually the Talmud in Chagigah 13b -- 14a. The Talmud states:
תניא אמר רבי שמעון החסיד אלו תשע מאות ושבעים וארבע דורות שקומטו להיבראות קודם שנברא העולם ולא נבראו עמד הקב"ה ושתלן בכל דור ודור והן הן עזי פנים שבדור
which Soncino translates as:
It is taught: R. Simeon the Pious said: These are the nine hundred and seventy ...
12
I just discovered that many Rishonim address this question. For example:
Tosafos to Taanis 11a s.v. אסור לאדם
אסור לאדם לשמש מטתו בשני רעבון - ואם תאמר הרי יוכבד נולדה בין החומות ואותו העת עת רעב היה וע"כ שימשו מטותיהן בשני רעבון ויש לומר דלכ"ע לא הוי אסור אלא למי שרוצה לנהוג עצמו בחסידות ויוסף לא שימש אבל שאר בני אדם שימשו
If you ask, Yocheved, who ...
11
The story is found in מדרש שוחר טוב to Tehillim (39:2). (Menachem's comment [now deleted])
This is probably the earliest source.
It is also quoted in the אורחות צדיקים (in שער כ"ה, שער לשון הרע) [on that page, toward the bottom in blue text]
(from Menachem, in another deleted comment)
According to he.Wikipedia, this story is also quoted in אגדות המלך שלמה ...
10
According to Shemos Rabba 1:13, Yocheved was three months pregnant with Moshe when Amram divorced her.
רבי חנינא בר רב יצחק אמר: שפרה, שהעמידה ישראל לאלהים, שבשבילם נבראו השמים, שכתוב בהם (איוב כו, יג) ברוחו שמים.
שפרה, פועה, שהופיעה פנים כנגד אביה, שהיה עמרם ראש סנהדרין באותה שעה, כיון שגזר פרעה, ואמר (שמות שם, כב) כל הבן הילוד.
אמר עמרם: ולריק ...
10
I got this from askmoses.com, since I am not a Jew and don't know Hebrew and am not familiar with all the sources noted there, please tell me if I have made a mistake and if my answer here is not appropriate.
The Midrash relates an interesting tradition: Moses was an
exceedingly handsome baby; whoever saw him could not take their eyes
off him. Pharaoh ...
10
Rambam (Hil. Sotah 3:3), based on the Gemara (Sotah 7b), states that a sotah is told the story of Reuven in its literal sense, to induce her to confess: "Many great and honorable people before you were overpowered by their inclinations and stumbled [and yet they confessed, so you should do the same]."
Which would seem to imply that there is indeed room to ...
10
You seem to be looking for the Bar Yuchnei. Talmud Bechoros 56b:
פעם אחת נפלה ביצת בר יוכני וטבעה ששים כרכים ושברה שלש מאות ארזים
Once the Bar Yuchnei's egg fell and it flooded sixty cities and destroyed three hundred cedars.
The gemara there says that normally this wouldn't happen, but this particular egg was rotten so the bird threw it away.
It ...
10
The Gur Arye explains that Y'hoshua's falling into the spies' plot would reflect poorly on Moshe, whose protege he was. This reasoning doesn't apply to Kalev.
The Avodas Yisrael explains (not in answer to this question) that Y'hoshua did not want the honor of leading the people, and wanted Moshe to retain that position. (See Rashi to B'haalos'cha 11:28.) ...
10
Targum Pseudo Jonathan to Genesis 2:15,
ודבר השם אלקים ית אדם מן טור פולחנא אתר דאתבריא מתמן ואשריה בגינוניתא דעדן...
And God took Adam from the mountain of worship, the place from which he was created, and put him in the Garden of Eden
Pirush Yonatan says this refers to mount Moriah, the Temple Mount
Targum Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 22:2, ...
10
R' Tzvi Berkowitz told me that R' Yaakov Kaminetzky told him that the Ramban was only saying that for the purposes of the debate, in order to avoid addressing a question to which they would not accept the answer. This was along the lines of the principle of being "דוחה בקש" (pushing off with straw) someone who asks from an illegitimate standpoint.
However, ...
10
This question is addressed by several Acharonim.
R. Pinchas Horowitz says that during the 7 days of inauguration Moshe did not erect the Mishkan by himself. Since multiple people did the act together it was not a violation of Shabbat labor.
Panim Yafos Parshas Naso
ונראה דהקמת כל שבעה ימים לא היה ע"י משה עצמו כמו כל מלאכת המשכן שנעשה
ע"י אחרים ונקרא ע"...
10
This is found in Tanna Devei Eliyahu Rabba, beginning of chapter 18 and Yalkut Shamoni Eicha 1034.
The Tanna Devei Eliyahu version is:
מאי שפכי כמים לבך נוכח פני ה' מכאן אמרו כל ת"ח שיושב וקורא ושונה ועוסק בתורה הקב"ה יושב כנגדו וקורא ושונה עמו
What does "Poor out your heart like water opposite the face of Hashem" mean? From here they said that ...
10
R. Ezekiel Landau discusses this aspect of the tale in his commentary there. He explains that the spirit cannot leave the body until the body decomposes, and that is why we conduct burials in a manner that will quicken the process, by burying directly in the ground and using linen shrouds. A mat of reeds slows the rotting process and therefore the body of ...
9
The Chumash Shai LeMorah brings the Be'er Mayim Chaim (A commentary on Rashi written by the Maharal of Prague's brother, R' Chaim of Friedberg) says that once G-d agreed to save the 5 cities if there were 45 righteous people, Avraham understood that G-d was willing to be complete the quorum in order to save the city. (as Rashi 18:28 explains).
Once Avraham ...
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