1,164 related texts · Page 18 of 25
One man, Kenaz, is tasked with a monumental mission: to bring forth the truth from each of the tribes. It's a daunting task, like trying to hold water in your hands. As the story g...
The story of Micah and his homemade sanctuary is a wild ride through the human tendency to, well, improvise. We find this tale tucked away in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, painti...
Not just any dinner party, but a celestial banquet in Paradise, a feast for all the righteous souls who've ever lived. And King David? He's about to play a very special role. Accor...
The ancient stories are full of that kind of energy. And no one knew it better than King Solomon, the wisest of all men. Imagine Solomon, holding court, his legendary wisdom radiat...
It wasn't a sudden plunge, but a slow slide fueled by choices… and a little help from the King of Demons himself. According to Legends of the Jews, Solomon’s troubles began to snow...
The split of the kingdom into Judah and Israel is definitely one of those. It wasn't just a political squabble; it was a seismic event with echoes that still resonate today. The ma...
That’s kind of what we’re dealing with in the story of Joram, son of Ahab. Now, Ahab wasn't exactly winning any "Father of the Year" awards. But according to Legends of the Jews, J...
The kings of Judah, weren't always paragons of virtue. They were...well, human. Just like the rulers of the northern kingdom of Israel. Take Ahaziah, for example. According to the ...
The Babylonians sacked the city, but did they get everything? Well, some say that not all the sacred objects fell into enemy hands. The prophet Jeremiah, according to tradition, ma...
Sometimes, even the most extraordinary events can bring unexpected anxieties. Take the story of those brought back from the dead – a true gift. Yet, according to Legends of the Jew...
Now, you might remember that Nebuchadnezzar looted the Temple in Jerusalem, taking sacred objects back to Babylon. According to Legends of the Jews, one day Darius—perhaps a succes...
He wasn't born to be king of Persia. Nope. No royal blood coursing through his veins, no divine right backing him up. How did he become king then? Money. Pure, unadulterated wealth...
We're talking about King Ahasuerus, from the Book of Esther – the guy whose poor judgment set the whole Purim story in motion. But before Esther, there was this legendary six-month...
The Book of Esther tells a tale of immense wealth and power, embodied by King Ahasuerus. He throws a lavish banquet, boasting of his riches. But where did all this splendor come fr...
It wasn't just some quiet little tea party, that's for sure. According to the Legends of the Jews, Vashti's banquet for the women was a spectacle in its own right, almost a mirror ...
What are the odds that a Jewish girl would become queen of Persia, just in time to save her people from annihilation? Well, let’s rewind a bit to the very beginning of the Book of ...
It's not always about opportunity; sometimes, it's about astrological calculations, twisted interpretations of history, and a whole lot of bad luck. to the story of Haman, the infa...
Ten of them served as governors in various provinces, according to Legends of the Jews. But their fate? Not so enviable. Ten of them died along with their father, and the other ten...
We often think of the classic texts – the Torah, the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) – but there's a whole other world of accounts out there, often written by those not ...
It comes to us from Apion, a Graeco-Egyptian intellectual who lived in the 1st century CE and who, shall we say, wasn't the biggest fan of the Jewish people. His writings, thankful...
Apion, see, had a laundry list of complaints against the Jews. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, takes each one head-on. And in this particular section, Apion throws a few zinge...
Josephus, in his work Against Apion, gives us a glimpse into the Jewish understanding of this concept, and it’s surprisingly profound. Josephus argues that there should be one cent...
The High Priest's breastplate could predict the outcome of wars. Josephus states this not as legend but as historical fact—the twelve gemstones mounted on the breastplate of the Ko...
Three bodyguards of King Darius entered a contest that would decide the fate of the Jewish Temple. The king had fallen asleep after a great feast and woke unable to sleep again. He...
In 63 BCE, two brothers tore Judea apart. Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, both sons of the Hasmonean queen Alexandra, fought each other for the throne. Hyrcanus was the elder and the hig...
Herod tore down the Second Temple and rebuilt it from scratch. Not because it was falling apart. Because it wasn't grand enough for him. According to Josephus in Antiquities XV, He...
That’s the scene we’re stepping into today, a scene that plays out once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Our focus? The High Priest, his heart pounding, preparing to en...
We all know the story from Genesis: the serpent, the forbidden fruit, the exile. But what then? Did the Garden just sit there, empty and forlorn? Not quite. According to Jewish lor...
Jewish mysticism offers some fascinating, and sometimes startling, perspectives on this very struggle. The text begins with a seemingly odd statement: offerings are always slaughte...
"Draw forth and take for yourselves": "Draw forth"—he who possesses his own; "and take" (i.e., acquire)—he who does not possess his own. R. Yossi Haglili says (The meaning is:) "Dr...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, captures the moment when Pharaoh finally broke. After the tenth plague — the death of every firstborn in Egypt — Pharaoh summoned Mos...
Variantly: The bechor of a man is likened to the bechor of a beast, and the bechor of a beast to the bechor of a man. Just as with a beast, a miscarriage (of the first pregnancy) e...
Shimon b. Azzai says: What is the intent of "Veha'avarta"? From (Leviticus 27:32) "Whatever (beast) passes ('ya'avor') under the staff" (for tithing), I would think that an orphan,...
The Mekhilta interprets the phrase "to the habitation of Your holiness" as a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem. God guided Israel through the wilderness in the merit of the holy...
The Mekhilta preserves a remarkable story about the descendants of Rechav — also known as the Rechabites, a family that had taken a perpetual vow to drink only water, never wine, a...
All this, until they entered Eretz Yisrael. Whence do I derive the same for (the period) after they entered Eretz Yisrael? From (I Kings 6:1) "In the four hundred and eightieth yea...
(Exodus 19:10) "And the L–rd said to Moses: Go to the people and make them ready today"—the fourth day—"and tomorrow"—the fifth day. (Ibid. 11) "And have them be ready for the thir...
(Ibid. 13) "No hand shall touch it": not (i.e., this does not apply to) Shiloh, not the tent of meeting, and not the Temple. "for stoned shall he be stoned": Whence is it to be der...
Why was the Temple — the dwelling place of the Divine Presence on earth — built specifically on the tribal territory of Benjamin? The Mekhilta provides two remarkable reasons, both...
(Exodus 20:21) "And you shall slaughter thereon": alongside it (i.e., alongside the top). You say "alongside it, but perhaps it is to be understood literally, i.e., "upon it"? And ...
R. Akiva says: "tachath ('in place of') the ox; "tachath the sheep"—to exclude (from "four and five" payment an animal [as opposed to a beast]). For it would follow (otherwise), vi...
Rabbi Nathan expanded the scope of the deposit laws beyond their most obvious application. The Torah says that when someone deposits "money" with a neighbor for safekeeping, certai...
(Deuteronomy 12:6) says: "And you shall bring there your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices and the first-born of your herds and flocks." This seems to require bringing the first-...
"They shall not appear before Me empty-handed" — the Torah requires that the pilgrims who come to the Temple on the three festivals must bring something. But what? The Mekhilta say...
On Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av, the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, something extraordinary is said to happen. While Jews gather at the Kotel...
Did you know that some traditions claim Jacob, father of the twelve tribes of Israel, never actually died? It sounds impossible, doesn't it? He was embalmed, buried… but the story ...
The story goes that after the Temple was torn down and Jerusalem was ablaze, God, in His infinite compassion, sought to soothe the city’s pain. As Pesikta Rabbati 30:3 tells us, Go...
You're not alone. But have you ever wondered why that wall, of all the Temple, still stands? There are many explanations, of course, both historical and theological. But Jewish tra...
