Tree of Souls (Schwartz)

645 texts · Page 52 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.

An Ark In The Bulrushes

Tree of Souls

The story of Moses begins with an act of unimaginable cruelty. Pharaoh, fearing the growing number of Israelites, issued a horrifying decree: "Every boy that is born you shall thro...

MosesAdam & EveNoah & Flood

Pharaoh And The Child Moses

Tree of Souls

According to tradition, after Pharaoh's daughter discovered the infant Moses nestled among the bulrushes, she brought him back to the palace. She presented him to her father, claim...

AngelsHeavenMosesAdam & Eve

Pharaoh's Daughter

Tree of Souls

It’s a question that’s echoed through millennia, and Jewish tradition offers some truly remarkable answers. We all know the story: a baby, hidden in a basket, floating down the riv...

MosesAdam & EveHoly Land

The Burning Bush

Tree of Souls

We find him in the book of Exodus (3:1-6), a shepherd tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, a priest in Midian. One ordinary day, Moses leads the sheep to Horeb, also kno...

CreationAngelsTorahPatriarchs

Moses Swallowed By A Serpent

Tree of Souls

The great Moses himself had such an experience. As we read in Exodus 4:24, on the road one night, Adonai—God—encountered Moses and sought to kill him. Talk about a plot twist! Why ...

AngelsDemonsTorahMoses

Serah Bat Asher

Tree of Souls

Serah, daughter of Asher, one of Jacob's sons. We find her name nestled in the list of those who went down to Egypt with Jacob to escape the famine. You can find it in Genesis 46:1...

CreationTorahPatriarchsMoses

The Secret Of The Redeemer

Tree of Souls

It all begins with Abraham. God Himself entrusted him with a profound secret, "the secret of the mystery of the Redeemer," as Howard Schwartz puts it in Tree of Souls. A heavy burd...

PatriarchsMosesAdam & EveMysticism

The Coffin Of Joseph

Tree of Souls

We know from Genesis that before he passed, Joseph made his brothers swear a solemn oath: when God finally remembers them, they must carry his bones out of Egypt with them (Gen. 50...

CreationTorahPatriarchsMoses

A Vision At The Red Sea

Tree of Souls

We all know the story: Moses, the parting of the waters, a miraculous escape. But what if there was someone else there, seeing even more than meets the eye? That someone was Serah ...

AngelsHeavenMosesAdam & Eve