838 related texts · 4 related myths · Page 3 of 18
(Ibid.) "If you buy (lit.,) a servant Hebrew": Is Scripture speaking of a servant who is a Hebrew, or the servant of a Hebrew? And how am I to understand (Leviticus 25:46) "And you...
"and he shall go out alone": We are hereby apprised that a (Canaanite) bondswoman does not require a get (a divorce) from a Jew. Whence do we derive the same (i.e., that she does n...
R. Eliezer says: Scripture speaks of a Canaanite (as opposed to a Hebrew) man-servant. You say this, but perhaps it speaks of a Hebrew? (This is not so, for) it is written here "hi...
"Vengeance shall be taken", the Torah declares this regarding a master who kills his bondservant. But what does "vengeance" mean in legal terms? The Mekhilta identifies it as death...
(Exodus 21:26) "And if a man strike the eye of his (Canaanite) man-servant": What is the intent of this? From (Leviticus 25:26) "Forever shall you have them serve you," I might thi...
One compelling idea, explored in Tree of Souls by Howard Schwartz, revolves around the concept of a "Great Sabbath." It's not just a day of rest; it's a millennium-long pause, a co...
When the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea, the ministering angels wanted to sing. God stopped them cold. According to Megillah 10b, He said: "My handiwork is drowning in the ...
The future Jerusalem will be built from precious stones so massive they defy imagination. According to Bava Batra 75a, God will take gems thirty cubits by thirty cubits, carve gate...
The rabbis once overruled God. And God laughed. According to Bava Metzia 59b, the incident began with an argument about an oven. Rabbi Eliezer declared a certain oven ritually pure...
Rabbi Simlai made one of the most ambitious claims in the entire Talmud. He said: 613 commandments were given to Moses at Sinai, 365 prohibitions corresponding to the days of the s...
Ten decrees were decreed upon Adam, ten upon Eve, ten upon the serpent, and ten upon the earth: Ten upon man: He was clothed in garments of splendor, but God stripped them from him...
King Solomon stood before God and prayed at the dedication of the Temple. "Master of the Universe," he said, "let everything else be set aside and focus on my prayer and supplicati...
"Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power" (Exodus 15:6). The rabbis tracked the right hand of God through every book of scripture and found the same pattern everywhere: when ...
Jacob saw the leaders of Esau listed in the Torah, king after king after king (Genesis 36:31-43). And was afraid. "How can I stand against all of them? I am one man." The Holy One ...
The Assembly of Israel in exile cries out: "See, O Lord, the distress I am in! My heart is in anguish; outside the sword deals death; inside, the plague" (Lamentations 1:20). There...
"Listen to Me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He, I am the first, and I am the last as well" (Isaiah 48:12). God speaks with the full weight of eternity, before everythi...
The Roman governor Turnus Rufus thought he had caught Rabbi Akiva in a contradiction. "If your God loves the poor," he pressed, "why doesn't He feed them Himself?" Akiva did not he...
The Talmud in Maccoth preserves a remarkable teaching: Moses pronounced four severe judgments over Israel, and four later prophets rose up and softened them. This is not rebellion....
“The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word. Hear now all you peoples, and see my pain: My young women and young men have gone into captivity” (Lamentations 1:18).“The Lord ...
“Remember my affliction and my anguish, wormwood and gall” (Lamentations 3:19).“Remember my affliction and my anguish [umrudi]” – the congregation of Israel says before the Holy On...
“Esther said, to respond to Mordekhai” (Esther 4:15). She said to him: “Go, assemble all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast on my behalf; do not eat and do not drink for...
God told Israel three separate times: do not go back to Egypt. According to Esther Rabbah, they violated every single warning and paid for every single one. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai ...
God made a promise embedded in the Torah's harshest chapter of curses, and the rabbis of Esther Rabbah turned it into one of the most powerful statements of divine loyalty in all o...
Book of Jubilees turns to Jubilees Retells Genesis with a Unique Spin. The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis, is an ancient Jewish religious work. It retells the st...
Those passages are easy to skim those opening chapters of Genesis, but the details… they’re breathtaking. And what if I told you there's another ancient text that expands on that c...
There's a whole world of fascinating detail in texts that didn't quite make it into the biblical canon. to one of them: the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Gene...
The Book of Jubilees, also known as Lesser Genesis, is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters, considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Ethiopian J...
Book of Jubilees turns to Four Sacred Places God Chose on Earth. Here's the thing: according to Jubilees, God has four places on earth that are particularly special. Think about th...
The Book of Jubilees, a text not included in the standard Hebrew Bible but considered sacred by some, gives us a peek into how this concept was understood long ago. It states, quit...
The Book of Jubilees isn't part of the standard Jewish biblical canon, the Tanakh. But it's a hugely important ancient Jewish text, offering a unique perspective on biblical narrat...
Book of Jubilees turns to Marking Time After the Flood in the Book of Jubilees. "And on the new moon of the fourth month the mouths of the depths of the abysses beneath were closed...
It offers a unique perspective on the calendar, one that's surprisingly precise... and maybe a little controversial. The passage focuses on dividing time: "from the first to the se...
Book of Jubilees turns to Noah Plants a Vineyard - A Scandalous Scene in Jubilees. It's considered apocryphal by some, meaning it's not included in the canonical Hebrew Bible, but ...
Book of Jubilees turns to Shem's Sacred Inheritance Includes the Garden of Eden. The Book of Jubilees, in chapter 8, describes the division of the world among Noah's sons after the...
That disconnect, that inability to understand each other, it goes way back. Like, really way back. The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text that expands on the stories we find ...
It offers a unique perspective on the early generations after the Flood. In Jubilees 11, we learn that SÊRÔH was born to Noah's descendants in the seventh year of a particular week...
That tension, that agonizing silence in the face of wrong, that’s the heart of our story today, drawn from the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genes...
This ancient Jewish work, considered scripture by some but not included in the standard Hebrew Bible, offers a unique perspective on a whole host of biblical narratives. And when i...
Book of Jubilees turns to The Binding of Isaac Retold in Jubilees. The familiar version gives us the basic story from Genesis 22. God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, ...
The ultimate test of faith, a moment of divine intervention, and the substitution of a ram in the nick of time. But where exactly did this all go down? The Book of Jubilees, an anc...
The altar is ready, the fire is burning, and the priests are preparing the offering. Jubilees says: "offer them all together on the altar of burnt-offering; it is a sweet savour be...
It’s a theme woven deep into our sacred texts. And one place where this connection is powerfully articulated is in the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, a text not included in the canoni...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text, speaks to this feeling with a stark warning. It paints a picture of a future where people have drifted far from their spiritual and et...
Book of Jubilees turns to Calendar of Jubilees. " This isn’t just about rote memorization. It speaks to a deep, internalized understanding and embrace of halakha, the way of Jewish...
Book of Jubilees turns to Jacob Dreams of the Heavenly Ladder in Jubilees. Here’s the scene: Jacob, all alone on a journey. The sun is setting, and he’s far from home. He finds a s...
Book of Jubilees turns to Reuben and the Patriarchs of Bilhah. Chapter 33. It's a short passage, but it packs a punch. The core message? Incest is absolutely, unequivocally forbidd...
Sometimes, the answers are tucked away in unexpected corners of our history, like in the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees isn't part of the standard Hebrew Bible we read in s...
It’s a book filled with fascinating expansions on the stories we find in Genesis, and here, we find a heartfelt plea passed down through generations. This passage comes in the 36th...
