25 passagesc. 500 CEHebrew / AramaicCC-BY
Individual passages from Talmud Bavli, Hagigah, indexed for close reading, source verification, and myth source-checking.
Before the sun, the moon, the stars. What illuminated the very first moments of creation? Jewish tradition tells us that the first thing God created wasn't a physical object, but p...
Some ancient Jewish texts suggest something far more dramatic. On the first day of creation, God brings forth fire and water, mixing them to form the very heavens. But these heaven...
God, at the very beginning, taking up a brilliant covering and spreading it out like a garment. That's how it all started, according to some accounts. It's right there in scripture...
There are seven heavens stacked above the earth, each with a distinct name and function. Reish Lakish listed them: Vilon, Rakia, Shehakim, Zevul, Ma'on, Makhon, and Aravot. Vilon i...
Jewish mystical tradition offers us some pretty imagery. A vision of ultimate authority and divine presence. Where do we find this described? Well, the imagery pops up in various p...
One of my favorite images is this: God carries everything beneath His arms. Not just a gentle embrace, but a sustaining act of holding. According to some mystical traditions, God's...
Some traditions say it was all water. Just a vast, unending universe of water. How did we get from that to the world we know? Well, according to one beautiful myth, God took snow f...
The image of the world resting on pillars is a powerful one, found in creation myths across cultures. But what kind of pillars? How many? Some said twelve, a number rich with symbo...
Jewish mystical tradition takes that question head-on, describing not just one heaven, but seven! Seven distinct realms, each with its own unique purpose and wonder. Think of it li...
Talmud Bavli, Hagigah turns to The Chorus Of The Righteous. In these visions of the future, Picture this: God, sitting among the most righteous souls, in Paradise. And they, overco...
The Talmud in Chagigah 12b asks a foundational question: what holds up the world? The answer, according to Rabbi Yosei, is a chain of impossible supports, each one resting on somet...
Talmud Bavli, Hagigah turns to The Living Creatures. The upper world and the lower world, created in the same instant. But there's a key difference: the creatures "upstairs" are no...
Jewish tradition, while often speaking of seven heavens, hints at something even beyond that: an eighth heaven, a realm of ultimate mystery. We’re pretty familiar with the concept ...
Every word, every intention, every heartfelt plea rising up and being woven into something beautiful and holy. The Talmud, specifically B. Hagigah 13a, tells us something fascinati...
Not literally, of course. But what if it could? There's an old story, a cautionary tale really, that speaks to just that. It's found tucked away in the Talmud (B. Hagigah 13a), and...
Our prayers, all of them, rise up and become a crown for God. The image comes to us from several sources, each adding its own unique detail. We learn that three times each day, the...
Jewish mystical tradition offers a stunning image: a ceaseless cycle of angelic creation, service, and dissolution, all fueled by a river of fire. Not just any fire, but the Rigyon...
Talmud Bavli, Chagigah turns to The Image Of Jacob Cast Down From Heaven. Tradition tells us that in the lead-up to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, a profound sense of ...
It's about four great sages who dared to enter Pardes – Paradise. The implications of this seemingly simple story have echoed through Jewish mysticism for centuries. Who were these...
This journey, often called "descending to the Merkavah (the Divine Chariot)" – the divine chariot – is fraught with peril. And perhaps the most dangerous point of all? The entrance...
Four rabbis entered the Pardes (פרדס), the orchard, a code word for the deepest levels of mystical knowledge. According to Chagigah 14b, only one came out whole. The four were Ben ...
Elisha ben Abuya, the rabbi the Talmud calls "Aher" (אחר), "the Other", became a heretic because of something he saw in heaven. According to Chagigah 15a, the vision that broke his...
After Elisha ben Abuya became a heretic, his student Rabbi Meir never stopped trying to bring him back. According to Chagigah 15b, the attempts were heartbreaking. And futile. Elis...
Talmud Bavli, Hagigah turns to Creation From A Mold. The verse, “And God created man in His image” (Genesis 1:27), is key here. Usually, we understand tzelem – the Hebrew word tran...
These beings are, in a way, leftovers from the very first week of existence. The story goes that God was creating, creating, creating, all day long for six straight days. But as th...
