2,672 passages in Modern Compilations & Folklore
Individual passages from Legends of the Jews, shown in source order. Page 42 of 56.
Legends of the Jews turns to Kingdom of Balaam of Balak. Balak, the King of Moab, was understandably nervous. A huge Israelite nation was camped nearby, and he wanted them gone. So...
In this case, it wasn't just a matter of personal preference; it was tied to a much larger destiny. Our sages tell us that Rebekah possessed a remarkable clarity of vision. She saw...
A powerful one. So powerful, in fact, that Balak, the King of Moab, got seriously worried when he saw the Israelites camped out nearby. He thought, "Uh oh, these guys are going to ...
We left off with the tribe of Dan backing down from their planned invasion of Judah. Good news for Judah. But, as often happens, one problem solved just paves the way for another. ...
The reason why might surprise you. In some traditions, it was actually thanks to the merits of his grandson, Jacob, that Abraham himself was rescued from the fiery furnace! The fai...
It turns out, this struggle isn't just a modern dilemma. Ancient Jewish texts confront this very tension: How much control do we really have over our choices, and how much does God...
Legends of the Jews turns to Kingdom of Abijah. It gets more complicated. Abijah had claimed that his war with Jeroboam was about restoring true worship of God. But did he really m...
Abraham actually died five years early. That's right. He was supposed to live to be a ripe old 180, the same age his son Isaac eventually reached. But something… someone… cut his l...
Remember him? Balak, the King of Moab, was terrified of the Israelites and their growing power. So, he sent messengers to Balaam, hoping he could curse them. The story takes a twis...
Asa started off strong. He was a more righteous ruler than his father. One of his first acts, as Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews, was to abolish the worship of Priapus, a ...
Esau. We know him as Jacob's brother, the one who traded his birthright for a bowl of stew. But there's so much more bubbling beneath the surface. According to Ginzberg's retelling...
The story begins with an ass – not just any ass, but one created on the sixth day of creation itself! According to Legends of the Jews, this creature was gifted to Balaam by Jacob,...
Legends of the Jews turns to Kingdom of Jehoshaphat. His military? Forget about it! Each division of his army boasted at least one hundred and sixty thousand warriors. That’s a ser...
The answer, according to Jewish legend, lies with Nimrod and some very special garments. The stories tell us that Nimrod, a mighty hunter and king, possessed clothes imbued with an...
That’s Balaam for you. He was on a mission, a dark one, and his poor donkey was having none of it. He’d been hired to curse the Israelites (Numbers 22), and he was determined to ge...
He was a king who knew a thing or two about impossible situations. Jehoshaphat, as we learn in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, was deeply devoted to the sanctity of the Temple in J...
Balaam, you might recall, was a non-Jewish prophet hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the Israelites. But Balaam’s journey to curse them takes a turn for the surreal when his d...
There's another king whose story is, well, complicated. A king whose reign was marked by both incredible power and profound sin. I'm talking about Ahab, king of Samaria. Ahab, acco...
The answer, as we find it in the story of Balaam and his talking donkey, might just surprise you. The familiar story is this: Balak, king of Moab, terrified of the Israelites, hire...
The familiar telling remembers Ahab's downfall being connected to his failure to heed the prophets, particularly when he let Ben-hadad go free. But according to the sages, as Ginzb...
It all boils down to a simple bowl of lentils. Yep, lentils. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, this encounter happens soon after the death of their grandfat...
Remember Balaam? The non-Jewish prophet hired to curse the Israelites? Well, even as all the drama was unfolding – his donkey seeing an angel, refusing to move, and eventually spea...
The patriarch Jacob and his brother Esau, those iconic twins, grappled with these very questions in a fascinating exchange, as recorded in Legends of the Jews. The scene. These two...
This story, recounted by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, paints a vivid picture of a man caught in a divine tug-of-war. Remember Balaam? The non-Israelite prophet hired to curse the Israelit...
Not a pleasant thought, I know. But the legends surrounding King Ahab, one of the more notorious figures in the Hebrew Bible, give us a glimpse into that shadowy realm. Ahab wasn't...
Especially when we explore the lives of figures like Jezebel. Jezebel. The name alone conjures up images of wickedness and idolatry. She's not exactly known for her charitable deed...
Legends of the Jews turns to Birth of Esau of Jacob. The traditional texts suggest there was much more at stake. The scene: Jacob, ever the thoughtful one, isn't so much interested...
It’s a theme that echoes through so many stories, and it's definitely front and center in the tale of Balaam. Balaam wasn't just some random guy. He was a powerful sorcerer, and he...
That’s kind of what we’re dealing with in the story of Joram, son of Ahab. Ahab wasn't exactly winning any "Father of the Year" awards. But according to Legends of the Jews, Joram ...
That, my friends, is Esau in a nutshell. The familiar story is this:. Esau, the elder twin, sells his birthright to his younger brother Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew. But what wa...
The story of Balaam and Balak is one wild ride, filled with ego, failed magic, and a divine sense of humor. In Legends of the Jews, when Balaam finally made his way to the border o...
Legends of the Jews turns to Joel in the Holy Land. In the first year, the stores ran dry. Everything tucked away in the houses, the carefully preserved harvests, vanished. Imagine...
There’s a powerful story in Jewish lore, found in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, about resilience in the face of famine that’s been echoing through generations. A land gripped by ...
These brothers, figures from the very dawn of our tradition, had a sibling rivalry that's… well, legendary. The familiar story centers on Jacob and Esau. Twins, but as different as...
The story of Balak and Balaam gives us a pretty potent example. So, Balak, king of Moab, is terrified of the Israelites. He's hired Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet with, shall we s...
The next morning, after their initial failed attempts to curse the Israelites, Balak, the king of Moab, took Balaam to the high places of Baal. Balak fancied himself quite the magi...
Take Isaac, for example. His life, as the great compilation Legends of the Jews tells us, reads like a mirror image of his father Abraham's. Abraham had to leave his homeland. So d...
He's hired by Balak, a Moabite king, to curse the Israelites. Balak is terrified of them, seeing them as a threat. Balaam, knowing he can't really curse them if God doesn't allow i...
Legends of the Jews turns to Isaac and the Patriarchs of Abimelech. Word of Rebekah's loveliness eventually reaches the king, Abimelech. Now, Abimelech wasn't a fool. He remembered...
The story of Balaam is a strange one, filled with prophecy, curses, and a talking donkey (yes, really!). But at its heart, it's a story about choice, and how our actions can either...
The roots go way back, further than it first appears, to the patriarch Isaac himself. In Ginzberg's retelling in, Legends of the Jews, after Isaac's interactions with King Abimelec...
Balaam, the non-Jewish prophet-for-hire, was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the Israelites (Numbers 22-24). He built seven altars – a huge number – and offered bullocks and...
The Torah hints at it in so many ways. the story turns to the story of Isaac and some very important wells. Isaac, as we know, was the son of Abraham, and he found himself in Gerar...
So, Balaam, the non-Jewish prophet hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the Israelites, is ready to get down to business. Balak and his princes are all waiting, anticipation thic...
You, almost miraculously, strike water. Not once, but repeatedly. That was Isaac. But his success? It only stoked the flames of envy in the hearts of the Philistines. The text says...
It wasn't a simple "Let there be light!" and, boom, the universe. There was some serious deliberation involved. God, contemplating the void. As we read in Legends of the Jews, God ...
Our story takes us back to Isaac, the son of Abraham, and a rather awkward encounter with Abimelech, king of the Philistines. Abimelech, was feeling a little… guilty? Anxious? Perh...
Legends of the Jews turns to Balaam Admits Israel Cannot Be Uprooted From the Earth. Balaam admitted, "I was in error when I believed Israel could be easily attacked, but now I kno...
