About This Project

The world's largest open collection of Jewish mythological texts

We've gathered over 20,000 ancient texts from Midrash, Kabbalah, Apocrypha, and classical Jewish literature into one searchable, free database. Every text has been adapted into clear, accessible English while preserving its original scholarly citations.

20,000+
Texts
223
Source Collections
230+
Themes
3,000+
Years of Tradition
Our Approach

How we build this collection

Every text in this collection has been adapted from peer-reviewed scholarly sources and authoritative translations. We draw from the published work of Louis Ginzberg, R.H. Charles, Howard Schwartz, Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, and dozens of other recognized scholars. Original citations are preserved on every page, and inline references link directly to Sefaria for readers who want to consult the primary sources in Hebrew and Aramaic.

Our team curates, categorizes, and cross-references these texts to surface connections across 3,000 years of Jewish literary tradition. We don't editorialize the source material. We make it findable.

The Collection

What you'll find here

Jewish mythology stretches from the earliest rabbinic commentaries through medieval mysticism to the Hasidic masters. Our collection draws from the most important compilations ever published, spanning the full breadth of this tradition.

Midrash Rabbah
3,279 texts
Classical rabbinic commentaries on Torah and the Five Megillot
Legends of the Jews
2,672 texts
Ginzberg's seven-volume compilation of Jewish legends
Kabbalah
3,601 texts
Zohar, Sefer Yetzirah, Ramchal, and Lurianic mysticism
Midrash Aggadah
6,276 texts
Sifrei, Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, Yalkut Shimoni, and narrative midrash
Apocrypha
1,628 texts
Book of Enoch, Jubilees, and pseudepigraphical writings
Philo of Alexandria
423 texts
Hellenistic Jewish philosophy from first-century Alexandria
Josephus
200 texts
The Jewish-Roman historian of the Second Temple period
Mekhilta
1,517 texts
Tannaitic midrash on Exodus from the school of Rabbi Ishmael
Midrash Tanchuma
738 texts
Homiletical midrash on the Torah attributed to Rabbi Tanchuma

Browse all 223 source collections →

Features

Built for exploration

Every text is searchable, categorized by theme, and linked to its original source on Sefaria. Biblical references show verse previews on hover.

Full-Text Search

Search across all 20,000+ texts instantly

Smart Filtering

Browse by category, source, or 230+ themes

Verse Previews

Hover any biblical reference to see the verse

Shareable Pages

Every text has its own URL to share

Weekly Parsha

Related texts for each week's Torah portion

Sefaria Integration

Links to original Hebrew texts on Sefaria

AI Search

Meet Maggid, your AI guide to Jewish texts

When you search on Jewish Mythology and press Enter, you're talking to Maggid — an AI summary bot that draws its answers directly from our database of 20,000+ ancient texts. Maggid finds the most relevant passages, synthesizes them, and cites its sources so you can read the originals yourself.

We named it Maggid (מגיד) because the word means "storyteller" or "one who tells" in Hebrew. It's one of the oldest and most honored roles in Jewish tradition. The Passover seder has a section called Maggid, where the story of the Exodus is retold. The great Hasidic leader Dov Ber of Mezeritch was known simply as "the Maggid." And Rabbi Joseph Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch, claimed to receive nightly visits from an angelic maggid who dictated mystical teachings — recorded in a text called Maggid Meisharim, which is itself in our collection.

Our Maggid is not a rabbi, a scholar, or a spiritual authority. It's an AI tool that summarizes what the texts say. Think of it as a librarian who can pull the right scroll off the shelf and read you the relevant passage — but the wisdom belongs to the sources, not the librarian.

Try it: Go to the homepage, type a question like "What happened to Lilith?" or "Why did God create the world?" and press Enter. Maggid will answer from the texts and link you to the sources.

Attribution

Standing on the shoulders of giants

This project builds on the extraordinary work of Sefaria.org, the free, open-source library of Jewish texts. We also draw from Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, and numerous public domain translations.

Every text preserves its original citation, and biblical references link directly to Sefaria for the Hebrew and Aramaic originals. We are deeply grateful to the scholars, translators, and institutions whose work makes this living library possible.

Source translations include:

Copyright & Licensing

What you can (and can't) reuse

The ancient source texts on this site (the Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, and other classical works) are in the public domain or openly licensed under Creative Commons terms. They belong to everyone and always will.

Our adaptations are original creative works. The rewritten text content, stories, video scripts, editorial commentary, and site design are © 2026 JewishMythology.com. All rights reserved, with one exception: our adaptations of the 16 Sippurei Maasiyot texts are licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0, in compliance with the ShareAlike requirement of their source translation.

You may quote individual texts with attribution to JewishMythology.com. We encourage sharing and discussion.

You may not bulk-reproduce, scrape, or republish our adapted texts without written permission. For licensing inquiries, contact hello@jewishmythology.com.

For full details, see our Terms of Service.

Questions, corrections, or ideas for new sources?

hello@jewishmythology.com