Tree of Souls (Schwartz)

645 texts · Page 18 of 72

Texts from Howard Schwartz's Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, a landmark anthology gathering myths and legends spanning the full arc of Jewish tradition, from the creation of the world to the coming of the Messiah.

Adam The Last And First

Tree of Souls

The Jewish mystical tradition certainly does. It paints a fascinating, and sometimes even controversial, picture of Adam as both the first and the last of God's creations. Now, we ...

CreationAngelsDemonsHeaven

The Enthronement Of Adam

Tree of Souls

We often think of him in the Garden of Eden, or perhaps being expelled from it. But Jewish tradition holds some truly fascinating ideas about his ultimate fate. One such idea, foun...

CreationAngelsHeavenPatriarchs

Adam's Body Formed By An Angel

Tree of Souls

We often picture God directly shaping him from dust, but some fascinating traditions tell a slightly different story, involving heavenly helpers. The story goes that when the time ...

CreationAngelsHeavenAdam & Eve

The Creation Of Man

Tree of Souls

The Torah gives us a beautiful, evocative image: "Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When the Lord God made earth and heaven—when no shrub of the field w...

CreationAngelsHeavenTorah

Creation From A Mold

Tree of Souls

It’s a question that’s puzzled thinkers for millennia, and Jewish tradition offers some fascinating, even surprising, answers. We're told that Adam, unlike the rest of creation, wa...

CreationAngelsAdam & Eve

Wisdom Created Man

Tree of Souls

But instead of doing it all Himself, He delegates a portion of the task. To whom? To Chokhmah, Wisdom. "Let us make man," He says, as it's written in Genesis 1:26. A seemingly simp...

Creation

Adam's Choice

Tree of Souls

to one. Before Adam was even a twinkle in God's eye, the Big G was contemplating a cosmic dilemma. As we learn from Tree of Souls, there were already two kinds of beings populating...

CreationAngelsHeavenAdam & Eve

Adam's Breath

Tree of Souls

The creation story, as we know it, unfolds over six days. But have you ever noticed how God seems to be balancing things? Like a cosmic choreographer, making sure everything is jus...

CreationDemonsHeavenAdam & Eve

The First Twelve Hours Of Adam's Life

Tree of Souls

Jewish tradition offers a fascinating, almost dizzying glimpse into that unimaginable period. We know that on each of the first five days of Creation, God brought forth a multitude...

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