1,351 related texts · 28 related myths · Page 4 of 29
"And Jacob called unto his sons" (Genesis 49:1). The Torah records the great final blessing, all twelve sons gathered around the dying patriarch, each receiving something tailored ...
"I will assemble Jacob, all of you; I will bring together the remnant of Israel" (Micah 2:12). The end of Aggadat Bereshit's prophetic arc arrives here: not the death of Jacob, not...
The Sages had a quiet problem to solve. The Torah insists that on the seventh day God rested from all the work of creation. But the world is full of objects that seem to lie outsid...
Rabbi Hoshaya ben Levi discovered a numerical poem in an old Aggadah book. Gaster's Exempla (1924), No. 285, preserves it in four lines. The Torah contains one hundred seventy-five...
Scripture says that Jacob's family went down to Egypt numbering seventy souls (Genesis 46:27). When the sages sat down to count the names listed in the chapter, they reached only s...
The rabbis preserved a strange little tradition about how Og, the giant king of Bashan, survived the Flood. The Torah never explains it. Og appears later, towering over the Israeli...
Joseph's promise to the butler is both specific and ordinary. At the end of three days the memory of thee will come before Pharoh and he will lift up thy head with honour, and rest...
The number is almost casual in the text, but the sages could not stop noticing it. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 41:46) records it: "And Joseph was a son of thirty years when ...
Gad chose land east of the Jordan. The Hebrew blessing in (Genesis 49:19) puns on the name, gad sounds like gedud, a raiding band. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan expands the pun into a bat...
The Torah lists Shimeon's sons with a single odd note about the last one: Shaul, born of a Canaanite woman (Exodus 6:15). The Aramaic paraphrase of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodu...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:31) maps Israel's inheritance: I will set thy boundary from the sea of Suph, to the sea of the Philistaee, and from the desert unto the ...
In the book of Numbers, Bamidbar, we find a census being taken. But there's a twist. "However, the tribe of Levi you shall not count" (Numbers 1:49). Why this exclusion? Bamidbar R...
It seems like such a simple detail, but the Torah dedicates a lot of space to describing the precise arrangement of the tribes around the Mishkan, the Tabernacle. And the Rabbis, n...
It all goes back to a fascinating swap, a divine exchange, that re-shaped the spiritual landscape of ancient Israel. We find the seeds of this story in Bamidbar Rabbah, specificall...
In the book of Deuteronomy (Devarim), we find Moses at a pivotal moment. God tells him, "Ascend to the top of the peak, and lift your eyes to the west, and to the north, and to the...
The book of Exodus tells us that God spoke, but the how… that’s where the Jewish tradition gets truly wondrous. Our exploration starts with a seemingly simple verse: “The Lord said...
“They heard that I sigh; there is no comforter for me; all my enemies heard of my misfortune, were glad because You acted. May You bring the day that You proclaimed, and they will ...
“We bring our bread at the peril of our lives due to the sword of the wilderness” (Lamentations 5:9).“We bring our bread at the peril of our lives.” Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said:...
“Haman said: ‘Indeed, Queen Esther gave a feast and besides the king she did not bring anyone but me. And tomorrow too I am invited by her along with the king” (Esther 5:12).“Haman...
And the Lord said to Aaron: “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses” (Exod. 4:27). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: God thundereth marvelously with His voice; gr...
Rabbi Akiva taught that there were three things Moses could not visualize on his own, no matter how great his prophetic power. God had to physically point them out to him. The firs...
Four are called "inheritance": the Temple, viz. "in the mountain of Your inheritance." Eretz Yisrael, viz. (Devarim 15:4) "in the land which the L–rd Your G–d gives You as an inher...
(Ibid. 20:8) "Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it": "Remember" and "Keep" (the Sabbath day to sanctify it [Devarim 5:12]) were both stated in one pronouncement. (Exodus 31:14) ...
(Ibid.) "And Moses entered into the mist": This (his closeness to the L–rd) was a function of his humility, viz. (Numbers 12:3) "And the man Moses was extremely humble, etc." Scrip...
Torah turns to A Scapegoat For Azazel. What in the world was that about? This custom – sending a scapegoat into the desert as an offering to Azazel – it just screams of something o...
There's a story in the Torah, a rather unsettling one, about two brothers, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, and it's been echoing through Jewish tradition for millennia. We find...
"Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Esfah": This midrash is based on the verse "Gather for me seventy men" (Numbers 11:16), explaining the names of those seventy individual...
Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva (Nusaḥ II) [according to the Krakow and Amsterdam printings] Said Rabbi Aqibha: these are the 22 letters with which the Torah was given to the tribes of Isr...
"These are the generations of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac" (Genesis 25:19). The verse says it twice, and the rabbis asked why. Their answer: to show that the gift gi...
A Tzeduki, a Sadducee, member of the party that rejected the Oral Torah, once came to Rabbi Abhu with a question meant to sting. "Your God is a priest," he said, "for it is written...
Once Solomon had chained the demon king Ashmedai, he held him captive until the Temple was completed. When the work was done, the king grew curious. "What is your superiority over ...
Benjamin was the youngest, and Jacob's last blessing might be the most exalted. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan reads the Hebrew "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf" (Genesis 49:27) as a declarati...
“The adversary extended his hand over all her delights; for she saw the nations entering her Sanctuary, whom You had commanded that they should not enter Your assembly” (Lamentatio...
“The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, are silent. They have placed dust on their heads, have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem have lowere...
Rabbi Yitzḥak began: “But you did not call Me, Jacob, for you wearied of Me, Israel” (Isaiah 43:22). Rabbi Yoḥanan understood it [the verse in (Isaiah 43:22)] from this, as it is w...
This book, considered apocryphal by some but deeply important to others, offers a unique perspective on familiar biblical stories. Jacob, asleep, dreaming. Not just any dream, but ...
The Genesis Apocryphon transforms Abraham from a terse biblical figure into a vivid first-person narrator. In the Aramaic retelling of Genesis 13, Abraham climbs to a high place af...
While the Israelites traveled through the wilderness, seven clouds of glory surrounded them on every side. One cloud went in front, one behind, two flanked them on each side, and o...
After Eve was created, God divided Paradise between her and Adam. Adam got the east and the north, along with all the male animals. Eve, she was mistress of the west and the south,...
Legends of the Jews turns to Teachings of Eve. Well, according to some traditions, Eve wasn't alone at the start. Before her, there was Lilith. Stick with me. This isn't your Sunda...
One day, as Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews, Abraham encountered an old woman. She was devoted to her idols, completely convinced they held power. Abraham, ever the truth-...
For many years, Abraham dwelled in Beer-sheba, and his primary occupation wasn't just tending flocks, but spreading the word, the dvar Hashem, of God. He wasn't content to keep his...
The familiar story centers on Jacob, later named Israel, and his brother Esau. Their relationship? Let’s call it “fraught.” But according to the Legends of the Jews, peace didn't l...
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, ...
Before asking for something big, wouldn't you acknowledge the power and greatness of the one you're asking? That's exactly what Moses did before blessing Israel. He didn't just div...
A concept so subtle, yet so fundamental, that it shapes the very fabric of reality: the transformation of Zeir Anpin. Zeir Anpin. The name literally means "Small Face" or "Short Co...
The Bahir, whose name means "Book of Illumination," doesn't give us straightforward answers. It presents a series of dialogues, riddles, and allegories that invite us to think, to ...
Some traditions point to a fascinating text called the Sefer Yetzirah, the "Book of Creation." We've already dipped our toes into this mystical work, and now The Sefer Yetzirah lay...
