Showing posts with label Shemot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shemot. Show all posts

Friday, June 13, 2014

Midrash Rabbah Shemot on God's Inseparability from the Torah

"Is there any acquisition in which the seller himself is sold along with the acquired item? The Holy One, blessed is He, said to Israel, 'I sold you my Torah, and as it were, I Myself was sold along with it', as it is stated, 'And let them take for Me a portion' (Exodus 25:2).

"This can be illustrated by a parable. It can be compared to a king who had an only daughter. One of the other kings came and took her as a wife. Subsequently, he sought to return to his land and to take his wife with him. The father-in-law king said to him, 'My daughter whom I have given you is an only daughter, thus I am unable to part from her. But I am equally unable to tell you, Do not take her to your land. Rather, do this favor for me: Any place that you go, prepare a room for me so that I may dwell near you. For I am unable to leave my daughter.

"So too, did the Holy One, blessed is He, say to Israel, 'I have given you the Torah. I am unable to part from it, but I am also unable to tell you, Do not take it. Rather, do this favor for Me: Any place that you go, prepare a house for Me that I may dwell therein.' As it is stated, 'They shall make for me a Sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them' (Exodus 25:8)."

-- Midrash Rabbah Shemot, 33.1

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Midrash Rabbah Shemot on Prayer and Reciting Words of Torah

"Anyone who does the Will of the Omnipresent and directs his mind in prayer, God listens to him in this world, and so too in the World to Come; for it is stated, 'It will be that before they call I will answer' (Isaiah 65:24) ─ in this world, 'while they speak, I will hear' (ibid.) ─ in the World to Come.
"And what will they speak in the World to Come? The explanation is that in the World to Come every person will stand and make his Torah learning heard, and God will sit and make His Torah heard with them, as it is stated, 'Then those who fear haShem spoke to one another, and haShem listened' (Malachi 3:16). And it is written, 'And your eyes will behold your Teacher and your ears will listen' (Isaiah 30:20-21); and 'All your children will be students of haShem' (ibid. 54:13)."

-- Midrash Rabbah, Shemot 21.3