2,672 passages in Modern Compilations & Folklore
Individual passages from Legends of the Jews, shown in source order. Page 28 of 56.
Noah, his family, and all the animals are finally stepping off the ark, blinking in the sunlight, the world utterly transformed. The very first thing Noah does? He builds an altar....
That’s pressure! We read in Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg) that Moses reached his breaking point. He just couldn't bear the burden of the people alone any longer. And what was God'...
Jewish tradition sees that rainbow, the bow in the cloud, as a very specific promise. A promise from God. The Torah tells us that after the great flood, God set His bow – the rainb...
A reader can think of Moses as a lone figure, leading his people to freedom. But according to tradition, his birth was intertwined with the fate of an entire generation. The text "...
He met a tragic end, caught by his hair in a tree while fleeing battle. But the story doesn't end there. According to Legends of the Jews, Absalom died childless. All his children,...
Seems straightforward. God wanted the selection to happen at the Tabernacle – the Mishkan, that portable sanctuary that was the heart of their spiritual lives. The idea was to impr...
King David knew that feeling all too well. David, the shepherd boy who famously felled Goliath, now a king, is out hunting. But this isn't just any hunt. The Satan, the accuser, th...
Think about Noah for a second. The flood survivor, the righteous man who saved humanity and all the animals. In many ways, he was considered pious, a paragon of virtue. But accordi...
Legends of the Jews turns to Moses — Giving of the Torah. In Legends of the Jews, barely four months old, this tiny baby, still in his mother's arms, was already prophesying! He de...
It wasn't always straightforward, and the process of selection was often just as important as the people chosen. In the vast pattern of Jewish tradition, choosing leaders was a sac...
Legends of the Jews turns to Abishai's Transgression. The scene is set on a Friday, just as the Shabbat, the Sabbath, is about to begin. Abishai is preparing himself, getting ready...
The Torah gives us a fascinating glimpse into this when Moses, the ultimate leader, faces the challenge of delegation. Imagine: The Israelites are in the desert, a vast multitude, ...
King David knew that feeling well. David, the shepherd-king, the sweet singer of Israel, is locked in battle, far from home. He's facing Ishbi, a Philistine warrior, a descendant o...
Legends of the Jews turns to Bithiah Pretended to Be Pregnant Then Produced Moses. One charming detail, found in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, is how Bithiah, Pharaoh's daughter,...
A reader can picture Moses as the ultimate authority figure, standing atop Mount Sinai. But what about the practicalities of his rule? The elders certainly held a position of respe...
King David certainly did. The familiar version gives us David. Shepherd boy turned giant-slaying hero, then King of Israel. But even kings have their moments of doubt, their times ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Three-Year-Old Moses Grabbed Pharaoh's Crown Off His Head. The Ginzberg says 's retelling in Legends of the Jews, something utterly unexpected happens....
It’s a theme that pops up again and again, even in ancient stories. Take Moses, for example. He's tasked with appointing elders and bringing them to the Tabernacle to receive the R...
King David, the sweet singer of Israel, knew that feeling all too well. According to the Legends of the Jews, collected and retold by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, David’s reign wasn’t all...
Not the talking donkey one, though that’s the same guy! We find him popping up in all sorts of unexpected places in Jewish tradition, always stirring the pot. Here, we find him off...
Legends of the Jews turns to The Messianic Prophecies of Eldad and Medad. Their story, as retold in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, is a fascinating little corner of Jewish prophet...
It’s a heavy idea, and in the vast pattern of Jewish legend, we find a powerful example of this in the story of King David and the Gibeonites. We pick up the story after the earlie...
It involves Noah, freshly off the ark, and a very persuasive Satan. Noah, according to this legend found in Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, decides to plant a vineyard. A no...
Ever have one of those moments where you hear something so earth-shattering, so potentially disruptive, that your first instinct is... well, to shut it down? To make it go away? Th...
Abraham is often remembered as the paragon of faith, but this passage paints a picture of him as a strategist, a man who wasn't afraid to. well, let's just say "bend the truth" to ...
There's a fascinating little story tucked away in Legends of the Jews that gives us a glimpse into the lives of two lesser-known prophets, Eldad and Medad. These weren't just any o...
The story revolves around a famine in Israel, a famine attributed to King Saul's transgression against the Gibeonites. long ago, Joshua had made a pact with the Gibeonites, promisi...
Take Noah, the righteous man who saved humanity from the flood. You’d think he’d be on a pretty straight path after that whole ordeal. But nope. The story takes a turn, and it invo...
Legends of the Jews turns to David's War Gold Was Too Tainted to Build God's House. The answer, according to some traditions, isn't as straightforward as it first appears. It goes ...
The Torah portion of Noah certainly gives us food for thought on that subject. It's a story of survival, new beginnings..and a rather unfortunate curse. The familiar version gives ...
Take Jacob, for example. The narrative surrounding Jacob in Jewish tradition is… well, let's just say it's complicated. He’s a patriarch, one of the foundational figures of our peo...
Legends of the Jews turns to Egypt — Manna from Heaven. Remember, the Israelites have just been freed from slavery in Egypt. They've witnessed incredible miracles, the splitting of...
Even kings, even the "sweet singer of Israel," aren't immune to mistakes. And one mistake, in particular, almost cost him everything: the census. You might be thinking, what’s so b...
He’s a figure shrouded in a bit of… well, let's call it unfortunate circumstances. Canaan, grandson of Noah, didn't exactly have an easy go of things. According to the ancient text...
Seriously close. The familiar story is this: Pharaoh, terrified by the growing Israelite population, orders all newborn Hebrew boys to be thrown into the Nile. A brutal decree born...
Legends of the Jews turns to David's Transgression of Abishai. David had committed a grave sin: taking a census of the people. Now, The first reading, counting your population does...
The familiar story is this: Noah gets a little too happy with the grape juice after the flood, and..well, let's just say he wasn't dressed for the occasion. His son Ham sees him th...
The stakes were unbelievably high. Pharaoh, consumed by his fears of a Hebrew savior, wasn't just passively waiting for something to happen. He was actively trying to prevent it. A...
The story unfolds after the appointment of the seventy elders. Imagine the scene: these men are now elevated to the status of prophets, and the women of the community celebrate wit...
Sometimes, the answer lies in the smallest of actions, the purest of intentions. Think about Noah. After the flood, things weren’t exactly smooth sailing. There’s that infamous epi...
It’s a story ripe with divine intervention, clever tests, and a whole lot of fire. As the tale goes, when Moses was just a babe in arms, the king – some say it was Pharaoh himself,...
The Torah tells us that Moses, our great leader, was the humblest man on Earth. Now, that’s a big claim, isn’t it? In ancient texts, Moses’ humility wasn't a one-off thing. It was ...
As Ginzberg retells it in Legends of the Jews, at that very moment, an angel descended, not to offer comfort, but to execute judgment. The angel slew four of David's sons, the prop...
The story goes that after God addressed Aaron and Miriam, they started interrupting Him! Can you imagine? It's a bold move. But what's even more fascinating is God's response. Rath...
The familiar telling remembers Shem, Ham, and Japheth, but what were their lives really like after they stepped off the ark? The blessing Noah bestowed upon them speaks volumes. It...
The young Moses, raised in Pharaoh's court, becomes a student. But not just any student. According to Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, teachers were brought in from all over to edu...
David's death, in Legends of the Jews, is less an ending than a change of scene. The king leaves the earthly stage and enters a court grander than anything he ruled below. In the h...
The familiar story centers on Noah, the ark, and the animals. But what happened after the waters receded? Did life just magically reset? Well, according to the Legends of the Jews,...
