The Oil of Yonah’s Gourd
Reish Lakish says shemen kik is the oil of Yonah’s kikayon, the plant taken from the prophet who refused to let Nineveh in. The ketoret counted the foul galbanum in. A blend can carry what one oil alone cannot.
Reish Lakish says shemen kik is the oil of Yonah’s kikayon, the plant taken from the prophet who refused to let Nineveh in. The ketoret counted the foul galbanum in. A blend can carry what one oil alone cannot.
The blessing went on Gerizim and the curse on Eival, and the Torah builds the altar and the joy on Eival. The Mishnah has the tribes on the mountains, Rebbi has everyone in the valley, and both are the words of the living God.
The ring Pharaoh gave Yosef and the sea that sank his army share one root. The Mishnah uses it for God stamping every person with one seal so that no two come out alike.
HaKol is everything and HaKol is the voice, one word in the ear and two on the page. The bones in the valley came together at a sound, and Sinai showed nothing but a voice.
Iron was created to shorten life and the altar to lengthen it, so the Temple was built without a single iron tool. The shamir split mountains, and every mountain it opened became a place to live.
Bereishit Rabbah puts the Temple among the things that came before creation, and the Sages in Yoma say the world was created from Zion. Torah goes out from Zion, Torah is light, and light was the first thing spoken.
The most refined food in history was the one food a portion of which was given back. Its name in the Torah is the name of a tribe.
Zevulun lives at the port, where the deep meets the ground, and his blessing is to draw hidden treasure out of the sand.
Rain and resurrection are two of the three keys God keeps in His own hand. Eliyahu carries both, and they turn differently: one compounds, one turns once.
Immunity is built by exposure. A dose too small to kill teaches the body the shape of the thing, and…