906 related texts · Page 7 of 19
It all started in a place called Elim. : when the world was first formed, the Almighty set up twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees there. Why those numbers? Well, they corr...
We're talking about a fire so intense, so utterly divine, that it brought utter chaos, particularly amongst the tribe of Dan – and those "mixed multitude" who joined them on their ...
The Legends of the Jews, that incredible collection of stories and expansions on the biblical narrative compiled by Louis Ginzberg, recounts just such a moment. We find Moses facin...
Remember how Moses desperately wanted to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land? We've talked about that burning desire before. But Samael (the angel of death), that ever-prese...
The stories surrounding the giving of the Torah are filled with this kind of fiery devotion. In fact, the text tells us that at a certain point, overcome with emotion, Israel decla...
He's one of those figures in Jewish tradition that just makes your skin crawl. Doeg's most terrible act, as recounted in Legends of the Jews, was his betrayal of the priests of Nob...
But his story doesn't end there. According to tradition, Elijah didn't die. Instead, he ascended to heaven in a whirlwind, riding a chariot of fire (2 (Kings 2:1)1). And that's whe...
It's fascinating to consider. According to Legends of the Jews, those who settled in Samaria after the Assyrians deported the Ten Tribes weren’t exactly quick to embrace the Jewish...
One particularly fascinating legend, recounted in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, tells of the Sons of Moses and their miraculous escape. Imagine this: After a devastating massacre...
One figure who lived through this unimaginable time was Baruch, the loyal scribe and companion of the prophet Jeremiah. The Talmud tells us that Baruch ben Neriah was not just a sc...
You stand up for what you believe in, only to see those around you suffer because of it. That’s the pickle a few brave souls found themselves in during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,...
We left Belshazzar throwing a wild party, desecrating the sacred vessels from the Temple in Jerusalem (Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, Vol. 4). It was a brazen act of arrogance, a s...
He was trying to rally the Jewish people to return to Palestine, to rebuild their lives and their Temple. It sounds like a monumental, spiritually charged moment. A chance to rebui...
That feeling isn't new. It echoes down through generations, all the way to the story of Mordecai in the Book of Esther. Imagine the scene: The Jewish people are facing annihilation...
The mountain was on fire, the sky had turned black, and every person in the camp was convinced they were about to die. That was the scene at Mount Sinai when God spoke the Ten Comm...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a text within the Heikhalot literature – those mystical explorations of heavenly palaces and divine encounters – gives us a glimpse in...
Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a mystical text describing heavenly ascents and visions, gives us a glimpse into that pivotal moment. It wasn't just about laying stones a...
It's not just random notes! There's a whole mystical drama unfolding with each tekiyah, shevarim, and teruah. This teaching comes from the Sefer HaKanah, a Kabbalistic text. Imagin...
We're diving into the world of Klipot, Partzuf (a divine configuration)im, and Sefirot (the divine emanations), concepts found in the teachings of the Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lu...
And the answer, in its purest form, is surprisingly simple: God wanted to share the goodness. That's the core idea we find in Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a Kabbalistic text whose name...
Not hot enough, and it's a gooey mess; too hot, and you've got charcoal. There's a sweet spot, isn't there? The perfect temperature for the perfect result. Well, imagine the Creato...
It's a radical idea, isn't it? The thought that instead of a perfectly balanced cosmic scale where punishment always fits the crime, something else can step in: pure, unadulterated...
We all have. But where does it come from, and what happens to it as we age? The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, or "Hall of the Openings of Wisdom," wrestles with this very question, usin...
The Sefer Yetzirah (the World of Formation), or Book of Formation, one of the foundational texts of Jewish mysticism, dives right into that question. We’ve talked about the Sefer Y...
It pops up in mystical texts, hinting at something beyond our ordinary perception. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a core text of Kabbalah expanding on the Zohar, that found...
The mystical tradition of Judaism has some pretty amazing ideas about that. , shall we? The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, offers a fascinating glim...
But what if I told you that even within the chaos, there's a hidden path to the Divine? The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a profound and mystical text, delves into this very i...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, delves into that very feeling, exploring what can obstruct our connection to the Divine. It speaks of "clouds" th...
It's not always easy to grasp, but the rewards are immense. Our passage starts with this image of fire: "At first, in the heart of the fire of prophecy, and then in the final exile...
Jewish mystical tradition has a powerful image for that: a defective knife. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah and a companion to the better-known Zo...
The third heaven in Sefer HaRazim is a realm of fire and celestial light—but not the destructive fire of the second heaven. Here, fire is creative and purifying. The angels of the ...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the redactor of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) and the most authoritative sage of his generation — weighs in on the Passover cooking ...
And, what is more, with (the casket of) Jacob there went up the servants of Pharaoh and the elders of his household, while with Joseph there went up the ark and the Shechinah and t...
When the Israelites left Egypt and marched into the wilderness, they did not travel unprotected. God surrounded them with clouds of glory—miraculous pillars that shielded, guided, ...
Variantly: "Stand ready to see the salvation of the L–rd": They: When? Moses: Tomorrow. They: Moses our teacher we do not have the strength to wait. At that time Moses prayed and t...
R. Tarfon and the elders were once sitting in the shade of the grove of Yavneh when this question was once asked before them: Why need it be written (Genesis 37:25) "and their came...
In (Exodus 16:9), Moses instructed Aaron to tell the entire congregation of Israel to "draw near before the Lord." Two rabbis in the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael disagreed about what ...
Once, R. Tarfon and the elders were sitting, and R. Elazar Hamodai was sitting before them, when he said to them: The height of the manna was sixty cubits. R. Tarfon: "Modai, until...
When God told Moses to take the staff that had struck the Nile, the Mekhilta explains the reason: it was because of Israel's "murmurings." The people had been complaining, and now ...
Before God ever asked Israel to accept His kingship, He proved Himself through action. The Mekhilta lays out the sequence with deliberate precision, and the order matters. First, G...
Rabbi Eliezer, one of the greatest sages of the Mishnaic period, fell gravely ill. Four distinguished elders came to visit him at his bedside: Rabbi Tarfon, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi E...
(Exodus 22:5) "If fire go out and it find thorns … pay shall pay he that lights the fire": Why need this be written? It is derivable a fortiori, viz. If he is liable (if the fire p...
"If fire go out and it find thorns" (Exodus 22:5). A person lights a fire on his own property, and it escapes. It reaches a neighboring field and destroys crops, haystacks, or stan...
"Pay shall he pay, the lighter of the fire": Why is this written? From (22:4) "a man," I would know only of a man. Whence do I derive (the same for) a woman, a tumtum (one of indet...
(Exodus 35:3) commands: "You shall not light a fire in all of your dwellings" on the Sabbath. The Mekhilta connects this verse to a completely different discussion about the shemit...
Variantly: "You may not light a fire in all of your dwellings": From (Leviticus 6:6) "A perpetual fire shall burn on the altar," I might think, both on the weekdays and on the Sabb...
The Mekhilta concludes its treatment of the Sabbath fire prohibition with a clean summary of the legal principle. Lighting a fire was one of the thirty-nine proto-labors forbidden ...
Jewish tradition has some fascinating, and surprisingly relatable, ideas. One captivating story, found in Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Aleph Bet (5:8-9), suggests tha...
