336 passages in Hellenistic Jewish Writers
Individual passages from The Midrash of Philo, shown in source order. Page 4 of 7.
After the Flood, after all that chaos and destruction, Noah releases this dove. He's hoping for good news, a sign that things are getting better. And what does the dove do? It flie...
Philo, in his exploration of Genesis, explores this very question. He points out that these five animals – the ox (represented by the heifer), the goat, the sheep (the ram), the tu...
Take Hagar, for example. Poor Hagar. A handmaiden, caught in the middle of Sarah and Abraham's struggle to have a child. She runs away into the desert, desperate and alone. And the...
Our sages saw layers of meaning in every word, every phrase. And when we slow down and look closer, we can too. Philo, the great Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, certainly did. He...
That feeling isn't exactly new. to a fascinating interpretation of a very famous moment: God calling out to Adam after he ate from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The ...
Philo's writings, sometimes called "The Midrash of Philo," offer a unique blend of Jewish tradition and Greek philosophy. They explore the deeper meanings behind the Torah, explori...
The Midrash of Philo turns to The Raven That Never Returned From Noah's Ark. The Midrash of Philo, a collection of interpretations and elaborations on the Hebrew Bible attributed t...
Sometimes, it feels like there's a whole hidden world waiting to be unlocked. Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher who lived in the first century CE, was absolutely convinced ...
Like there's a surface narrative, and then... something deeper, waiting to be uncovered? That's precisely what the ancient sages believed about the Torah. They saw layers upon laye...
God asks him, "Where is your brother Abel?" And Cain replies, cool as you please, "I do not know: am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9). this moment, this exchange, gets some se...
That iconic image from the Garden of Eden, planted right in the middle of Paradise (Genesis 2:9). What exactly was it? And why was it so important? Well, people have been pondering...
Philo, a Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria nearly two thousand years ago, offers a fascinating interpretation. He cuts right to the heart of it: the tree isn't just about som...
Where’s the headwaters for such majesty? (Genesis 2:10) tells us, "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." But...
What does it symbolize? The Torah is full of these deceptively simple questions that open up to reveal universes of meaning. Take the story of Cain and Abel. A primal scene. Siblin...
The Torah tells us (Genesis 8:10) that Noah waited seven more days and then released the dove again. But why? The Midrash of Philo tackles this head-on, asking a simple but profoun...
Sometimes, those tiny details hold the biggest secrets. Take (Genesis 15:10), for example. It’s a verse about Abraham, and God's covenant with him. Seems straightforward. "And he t...
The verse in (Genesis 17:10) states, "And every male of you shall be circumcised, and you shall circumcise, or you shall be circumcised, in the flesh of your foreskin." Seems strai...
One intriguing perspective comes to us from the writings attributed to Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher who lived in Egypt during the time of the Second Temple. In "The Mi...
We see potential, and we want to help it blossom. But how do you actually do it? The Midrash of Philo, a collection of interpretations and homilies attributed to the philosopher Ph...
That’s certainly true when we explore the deeper interpretations of brit milah, the covenant of circumcision. The familiar version gives us the physical act: the circumcision of th...
The Torah tells us in (Genesis 17:11) that God commands Abraham to circumcise all males as a sign of the covenant. But why only males? The Midrash of Philo dives deep into this ver...
The Midrash of Philo, a collection of interpretations and elaborations on the Torah, offers a profound perspective. It highlights the expression, "And he took unto him," suggesting...
Genesis doesn't waste words, so when it seems to ramble, the rabbis lean in. Look at (Genesis 2:14). It's not just that the Euphrates river is mentioned. Oh no, we also get that th...
The ancient sages certainly did. And they found answers in the most unexpected places. Take, for instance, the story Philo, the 1st century Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, tell...
These are the kinds of questions that our sages wrestled with, poring over every word of the Torah for hidden meanings. Let's consider Noah. The familiar story is this: the flood, ...
(Genesis 7:11) isn’t messing around. Why that precise moment for the deluge to begin? Specifically, the Midrash of Philo, a collection of interpretations and expansions on the Tora...
Sometimes, it's those little details that hold the biggest secrets. That single olive branch. (Genesis 8:11) tells us, "The dove returned to him in the evening, and there in its be...
In Jewish tradition, it's a profound promise. A covenant. A cosmic reassurance. What exactly is it reassuring us of? to a fascinating question posed in the Midrash of Philo: What d...
What does it even mean? The verse appears in the context of the brit bein ha-betarim, the “covenant between the pieces.” God makes a covenant with Abraham, promising him descendant...
The verse in question, from (Genesis 16:10), has an angel speaking to Hagar, Sarah's handmaid, who is pregnant with Abraham's child, Ishmael. The angel says, "I will multiply thy s...
Yet, when we explore ancient Jewish thought, we find just that kind of imaginative, symbolic thinking. Let's take a journey to explore one such fascinating idea, found in the Midra...
Much older. The Midrash of Philo, a collection of interpretations and expansions on the Hebrew Bible attributed to the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria, explores just that id...
Our tradition is rich with layers of meaning, isn't it? And sometimes, the smallest detail holds a hidden universe. Take the timing of the great flood. It wasn't just any time. The...
The story of Noah's Ark, far beyond just a children's tale, offers a tradition of symbolism, particularly in the return of the dove. But what do these signs really mean? The Midras...
Maybe you’re striving for perfection but keep falling short. Well, the ancient sages had something to say about that, something that resonates even today. Philo, a Jewish philosoph...
Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish philosopher who lived a long, long time ago, around the 1st century CE. He tried to bridge the gap between Jewish thought and Greek philosophy. And...
Philo, the great Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, grappled with this very idea centuries ago. In his writings, often called "The Midrash of Philo" by scholars, he touches upon the...
It all starts with the verse: "Abraham passed over and sat upon them" (Genesis 15:11). Simple enough. But what does it mean? What is Abraham sitting on? Some interpret this verse a...
Take the flood narrative in Genesis, for example. We read that "the fountains of the deep were broken open and the floodgates of the sky were opened" (Genesis 7:11). Straightforwar...
Did you ever notice something strange about how they pointed those fingers? The man, Adam, he's quick to say, "The woman gave me of the tree, and I did eat." He throws Eve right un...
He's just murdered his brother Abel, and God confronts him. The earth itself is now cursed because of the spilled blood. And Cain? He gets the specific curse of being a restless wa...
The Midrash of Philo explores this very question, picking apart the scripture and searching for deeper meaning. One passage in particular focuses on a specific verse from Genesis: ...
The Torah tells us Noah sent it out not once, but twice. The first time, it came back with an olive branch – a sign of hope! But the second time… nothing. It just... didn’t return....
Our ancestor Abraham felt it too. The Torah tells us, in (Genesis 15:12): "About the time of the setting of the sun a trance fell upon Abraham; and lo, a great horror of darkness c...
Philo, a Jewish philosopher who lived in Egypt during the Roman era, tried to harmonize Greek philosophy with Jewish scripture. The text Philo suggests that women are more prone to...
Philo, in his exploration of the Torah, grapples with this very idea. He's looking at the verse in Genesis (6:12) that describes the corruption of the world before the flood: "all ...
You remember the story: the floodwaters are receding, and Noah sends out a dove to see if there's dry land. The first time, she returns with nothing. The second time, with an olive...
Philo, the great Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, writing millennia ago, gives us a fascinating glimpse into this concept of divine ecstasis, or trance. He describes it as "a depa...
