2,672 passages in Modern Compilations & Folklore
Individual passages from Legends of the Jews, shown in source order. Page 24 of 56.
The princes of the tribes of Israel certainly felt that way when it came time to dedicate the Mishkan (Tabernacle). In Ginzberg's retelling in, Legends of the Jews, these tribal le...
Our tale comes from Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, a treasure trove of stories expanding on what we find in the Bible. It tells us about the offerings brought by the princes of th...
The dedication of the Tabernacle in the desert is a great example. We read about the princes of each tribe bringing identical offerings (Numbers 7). But the Midrash (rabbinic inter...
It’s not always as simple as it seems. Take the dedication offerings in the desert, for example. The scene: the Tabernacle is complete, the tribes are eager to present their offeri...
They each had their own strengths, their own roles to play. And some, like the tribe of Zebulun, were particularly fascinating. The tradition says after Nahshon, the temporal king,...
Take the story of the offerings brought by the tribes of Israel in the desert. Each tribe, a unique thread in the tradition of the nation, brought their own special gifts to the Mi...
The sages certainly thought so. Let's consider Simeon, for instance. Just as Reuben stepped in to save Joseph's life, Simeon rose up to avenge his sister Dinah after the terrible e...
The offerings each tribe brought to the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, give us some fascinating clues. Take the tribe of Gad, for instance. Remember Simeon, sword in hand, battling to de...
Take the tribe of Ephraim, for example. Did you know they were granted a unique honor? The Torah tells us, and the sages elaborate, that God allowed the prince of Ephraim to make h...
When we look at the story of Joseph, the biblical hero, we find a fascinating answer. Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt, faces temptation at every turn. But he remains steadfastly...
the sanctuary's placement – first in Shiloh, within Joseph's territory, and later in Jerusalem, within Benjamin's – meant that Benjamin's tribe and its sacrifices followed the patt...
In the Book of Genesis, Jacob, nearing the end of his life, bestows blessings upon his sons, the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. When he blesses Dan, he likens him to Juda...
Take, for instance, the blessings and offerings associated with the tribes of Israel. They're not just historical details; they're packed with symbolism, reflecting the unique role...
Legends of the Jews turns to Naphtali's Offerings Honor the Patriarchs and Torah. Then comes a silver bowl, used for sprinkling blood. Its weight? Seventy shekels. Who lived to sev...
The tribal offerings at the Tabernacle look repetitive until Ginzberg lets them carry the whole history of the world. These weren't just offerings. According to the Legends of the ...
Take the gifts of the twelve princes, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, as described in the Torah (Numbers 7). A reader can skim over those lists of offerings – chargers of...
A reader can see them as just… well, sacrifices. But in the Jewish mystical tradition, everything has deeper significance, a symbolic echo connecting the earthly and the divine. Th...
Legends of the Jews turns to Shabbat Before the Altar. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) tells us something astonishing. The gifts weren't just similar; they were iden...
It plays out in a beautiful way in the story of Moses. In Ginzberg’s retelling in, Legends of the Jews, Moses, ever humble, believed his work was done once the Mishkan, the Taberna...
It wasn't just a party. It was so much more. The Mishkan, or Tabernacle, was the portable sanctuary the Israelites carried through the desert after the Exodus. A physical represent...
This tribe, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, held a special place. They were the ones dedicated to the sanctuary, the ones who served God in the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, and lat...
Originally, it was the firstborn sons who were meant to serve in the sanctuary. But, as Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews, when the Israelites succumbed to idolatry and wors...
We picture this grand, awe-inspiring moment, but Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews paints a rather. different picture. After generations of brutal slavery in Egypt, the Israelites wer...
The laws surrounding leprosy, or tzara'at, were incredibly strict. While other forms of ritual impurity only kept people away from the sanctuary, those afflicted with leprosy were ...
It involves… a second chance Passover! The Israelites are in the desert, fresh out of Egypt. God is laying down the law, literally. Among the instructions is the commandment to cel...
Aaron, the High Priest, brother of Moses. We find ourselves at a somber moment: Aaron has just lost his two sons. A devastating blow. But something remarkable happens. Instead of r...
His sons, in a moment of unauthorized zeal, offered "alien fire" before the Lord and were consumed. A devastating blow. How could joy ever return? Yet, according to Legends of the ...
Twelve days of celebration, twelve days of dedication… and Aaron's tribe, the Levites? Nowhere to be seen. According to Legends of the Jews, Aaron was deeply troubled. "Woe is me!"...
As recounted in Legends of the Jews, along with the instruction to illuminate the Mishkan (the Sanctuary), came another: to celebrate the Shabbat (Sabbath) by kindling lights. God'...
The Talmud tells us that the menorah was made of a single piece of gold. But how did Moses, blessed be he, actually make it? The story goes that when God commanded Moses to create ...
The Torah tells us about such a person: Moses. When he descended from Mount Sinai after those momentous forty days and nights, he was… different. The text says his body was bathed ...
Pharaoh, wasn't just a generic bad guy. According to tradition, he had a dream. A rather unsettling one. In this dream, all of Egypt was balanced on scales, and a single, solitary ...
Today's story? It centers around the birth of a very, very special child – Noah. Yes, that Noah, of ark fame. Before the floods, before the animals two-by-two, there was his birth....
Legends of the Jews turns to When Jacob Died the Eyes of All Israel Closed Too. Here’s the thing: true enslavement didn’t grip them immediately. Why? As long as one of Jacob's sons...
The old stories, the aggadah, are full of fascinating hints. Take the way He kept track of the Israelites back in the desert. It's said that God, in His infinite love, insisted on ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Birth of Methuselah. It all begins with Lamech, Methuselah's son, and the birth of his own son. Something about this child, this newborn, stirred a dee...
Life was good... for a while. Initially, the Egyptians welcomed Jacob and his family with open arms. Joseph, after all, had saved their entire kingdom from famine! But as time pass...
Consider the twelve princes of the tribes of Israel. Their names weren't just randomly chosen, oh no. They were, according to tradition, packed with meaning, little historical mark...
When we look at David, the "elect of God," as he's often called, it seems to be a fascinating combination of all three. David wasn't just some random shepherd boy plucked from obsc...
Legends of the Jews turns to Why Noah Had Two Names. The name Noah wasn't the only one he went by. According to Legends of the Jews, a monumental compilation of Jewish folklore by ...
Jesse, David's father, was a righteous man, no doubt. But even the most devout aren't immune to temptation, are they? The Legends of the Jews tells us of a moment when Jesse found ...
The earth itself was rebelling. That "wheat being sown, yet oats would sprout and grow." A frustrating, chaotic agricultural landscape. It’s a powerful image of disharmony, isn't i...
The familiar story centers on Moses, the plagues, and the Exodus. But what seeds of mistrust were sown long before the mitzrayim, the Egyptians, enslaved the Israelites? The Ginzbe...
Shelumiel carries peace in his name, but the tribe behind him carries the wound of Zimri's sin. Take Shelumiel, for instance. Prince of the tribe of Simeon. Shelumiel means "My God...
The familiar story is this: Pharaoh, threatened by the growing Israelite population in Egypt, decides to enslave them. But how did he start? It wasn't just snapping his fingers and...
That’s kind of the story of David, the future king of Israel. Let's be honest, David didn’t exactly have a royal upbringing. He wasn’t raised in a palace, groomed for leadership. Q...
More often, it's a slow, insidious creep. The story of the Israelite enslavement in Egypt, as told in the Book of Exodus, is a stark illustration of this. But the Legends of the Je...
Before he was battling Goliath or leading armies, David spent a lot of time alone in the desert. The midbar, the wilderness, can be a pretty intense place, but it’s also where hero...
