A Road Trip Through Rabbinic Narrative with Daniel Gober

Daniel Gober

In each episode, we explore a passage from Midrash or Aggadah and try to understand what in the biblical text prompted Chazal to tell the story in this particular way.

  1. 3d ago

    Ep. 31 | What Did Satan Have Against Avraham’s Party?

    What could possibly have been wrong with Avraham celebrating the birth of his long-awaited son, and why would Chazal connect that celebration to the Akeidah many years later? Two seemingly unrelated conversations—one between Satan and Hashem, the other between Yishmael and Yitzchak—may reveal what was really at stake. Sources: Sanhedrin 89b; Rashi on Bereishis 22:1.

  2. Oct 18

    Ep. 30 | Did Og Really Survive the Mabul?

    The Torah seems clear that only Noach and his family survived the Mabul. Yet a Midrash tells us that Og, Melech HaBashan, survived by clinging to the outside of the Teivah. Why would Chazal introduce another survivor who didn't even live during that time? Exploring Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 23, Niddah 61a, and the pesukim in Bamidbar and Devarim.

  3. Oct 11

    Ep. 29 | Why Was Hevel Buried by Animals? (Bereishis 4:8)

    The Torah tells us that Cain (Kayin) murdered his brother Abel (Hevel) in Genesis 4, but never tells us what happened to his body. A surprising Midrash in Yalkut Shimoni (Bereishis, Remez 38) teaches that birds and kosher animals buried Hevel—and were rewarded with the berachos of shechitah and kisuy hadam. Why would Chazal introduce animals into the story of the first murder? What do these berachos have to do with Hevel’s burial? And what might this unusual Midrash reveal about Kayin’s crime?

  4. Oct 1

    Ep. 28 | Did They Really Think They Could Stop Moshe from Dying? (Devarim 32:48)

    Commenting on the phrase “Be’etzem Hayom Hazeh” in Devarim (Deuteronomy 32:48), Rashi, drawing on the Sifrei, compares Moshe’s death to two other events in the Torah: the Mabul (the Flood of Noach) and Yetzias Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt). The Midrash even portrays Bnei Yisrael as refusing to allow Moshe to die. Why would Chazal compare these three seemingly unrelated events? Did Bnei Yisrael really think they could prevent Moshe’s death? And what does this unusual Midrash reveal about the Torah’s description of Moshe’s final day?

  5. Sep 25

    Ep. 27 | How Do the Trees of the Forest Know It Was Just Yom Kippur? (Sukkah 37b)

    Why do we wave the lulav during Hodu and Hoshiana on Sukkos? Tosafos (Sukkah 37b) connects the na’anuim (waving of the lulav) to pesukim describing the trees of the forest rejoicing before Hashem. Together with a Midrash Tanchuma about Sukkos following Yom Kippur, these sources raise an intriguing question: What does the movement of nature have to do with our celebration of Sukkos (Sukkot), and what might it teach us about the connection between these two holidays?

  6. Sep 20

    Ep. 26 | Why Do Chazal Connect Aseres Yemei Teshuvah to Naval? (Rosh Hashanah 18a)

    Why do Chazal use Naval (Nabal)—hardly a model of repentance—to help us understand the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah (Ten Days of Repentance)? Looking at the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah 18a, Rashi, and the biblical story of Naval, Avigayil, and Dovid (David) in Shmuel I (1 Samuel 25), we explore the ten extra days Naval was given, the mysterious ten portions he gave Dovid’s servants, and what this strange connection may teach us about where teshuvah actually begins.

  7. Sep 18

    Ep. 25 | How Do Chazal Know What Day on the Calendar Moshe Descended With the Second Luchos?

    A curious Midrash portrays Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) descending Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) with the second Luchos (Tablets of the Covenant) on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But the Torah’s account in Shemos (Exodus 34) never tells us that date. So how did Chazal arrive at Yom Kippur—and what might this connection between the second Luchos and Yom Kippur teach us about the meaning of the day?

  8. Sep 11

    Ep. 24 | What Do Sheep, Travelers, and Soldiers Have in Common?

    The familiar words of Unesaneh Tokef describe all of humanity passing before Hashem on Rosh Hashanah, “kivnei maron.” But what does “kivnei maron” actually mean? The Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah (1:2) introduces this mysterious phrase, and the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 18a) offers three surprisingly different images to explain it. Why would Chazal describe the judgment of Rosh Hashanah in three such different ways? And what might each image reveal about how we stand before Hashem on the Day of Judgment?

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In each episode, we explore a passage from Midrash or Aggadah and try to understand what in the biblical text prompted Chazal to tell the story in this particular way.

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