The myths and legends of Jewish tradition, retold

Read the stories the Torah only hinted at, drawn from the Midrash, Talmud, Zohar, and beyond, or ask Maggid.

4,987 myths from 25,000+ passages across 214 source works and 313 themes spanning 3,000 years

This Week's Torah Portion

The Most Famous Myths

The texts everyone should read first

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Lilith Spoke the Ineffable Name of God and Flew Out of Eden

Lilith

Adam's first wife did not storm out of Paradise. She pronounced the Secret Name of God, lifted off the ground, and bargained with angels at the edge of the sea.

Four Rabbis Walked Into Paradise and Only One Walked Out

Mysticism

Most people assume mystical experience is harmless. The Talmud disagrees. Four sages entered Paradise. One died, one went mad, one lost his faith.

The Golem of Prague and the Jewish Tradition of Creating Life

Golem

A rabbi sculpts a man from clay, writes the word for truth on its forehead, and brings it to life. The golem tradition spans from the Talmud to 16th-century...

The Binding of Isaac the Torah Refused to Tell You

Isaac

The Torah gives the Akedah nineteen quiet verses. The Rabbis filled the silence with angel tears, Satan in the road, and a son who volunteered to die.

The Leviathan - Judaism's Most Terrifying Sea Monster

Leviathan

God created two Leviathans on the fifth day, killed the female before they could reproduce, and salted her meat. It has been aging ever since, reserved for...

Moses Walked Into Heaven and Took the Torah by Force

Moses

The angels owned the Torah for 974 generations before the world existed. Then Moses arrived to take it. One argument silenced all of heaven.

Choni Drew a Circle Until Heaven Sent Rain

Choni

Ta'anit 23a and Midrash Tanchuma remember Choni the Circle-Drawer refusing to move until God sent rain with mercy and restraint.

God Didn't Stop the Tower of Babel Because of Pride

Creation

The standard reading says God was threatened by human ambition. But the rabbis found something more disturbing in the story - a political project that was...

The Man Who Walked With God and Came Back as an Angel

Enoch

Enoch walked with God and vanished. Centuries later, Jewish mystics said he came back as Metatron, the second most powerful being in heaven.

Explore by Theme

Dive into the topics that span thousands of years of Jewish thought

Angels

1,888 passages

Seraphim, cherubim, and heavenly messengers

Demons

559 passages

Shedim, Lilith, Asmodeus, and dark spirits

Creation

4,269 passages

How God made the world and everything in it

Heaven & Afterlife

2,523 passages

The seven heavens, Gan Eden, and the world to come

Moses

5,345 passages

The greatest prophet and lawgiver of Israel

King Solomon

1,702 passages

Wisdom, demons, and the builder of the Temple

Messiah

1,229 passages

The future redeemer and the end of days

Mysticism

2,246 passages

Merkavah visions, divine names, and hidden wisdom
See all 310+ themes →

Browse by Source

Featured selections from 214 source collections spanning 3,000 years of Jewish literature

Midrash Aggadah

10,064 passages

Tanchuma, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Sifrei, and narrative midrashic literature

Kabbalah

3,602 passages

Zohar, Sefer Yetzirah, Ramchal, and Lurianic mysticism

Midrash Rabbah

3,279 passages

Classical rabbinic commentaries on Torah and the Five Megillot

Legends of the Jews

2,672 passages

Louis Ginzberg's seven-volume compilation of Jewish legends

Midrash Tanchuma

2,086 passages

Homiletical midrashim on the weekly Torah portions

Mekhilta

1,877 passages

Tannaitic midrash on Exodus from the school of Rabbi Ishmael

Apocrypha

1,653 passages

Book of Enoch, Jubilees, Maccabees, and pseudepigraphical writings

Philo of Alexandria

423 passages

Hellenistic Jewish philosophy from first-century Alexandria

Josephus

200 passages

The Jewish-Roman historian of the Second Temple period
View all 214 source collections →

The Largest Free Database of Jewish Mythological Texts

Over 25,000 passages from 214 classical sources, adapted into accessible English by our editorial team with original scholarly citations preserved and every text cross-referenced against the source material at Sefaria.org.

Database last updated June 2026