1,012 related texts · Page 3 of 22
(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...
Jewish tradition has some fascinating ideas about the lifespan of the world, and what happens when it's time to, well, hit the cosmic reset button. One compelling idea, explored in...
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 so...
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 On...
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 everyt...
“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...
That’s the feeling I get when I read passages like this one from the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis, is an ancient Jewish religious work. I...
We often gloss over 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 cosmic bluepr...
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...
The Book of Jubilees, a text not included in the Hebrew Bible but considered sacred by some, gives us a fascinating glimpse into this. It tells us about Adam burning incense, "swee...
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...
to a fascinating, if troubling, passage from the Book of Jubilees. Now, the Book of Jubilees isn't part of the standard Jewish biblical canon, the Tanakh. But it's a hugely importa...
The passage we’re looking at today comes from chapter 6, and it's all about Noah and the flood. But it's not just a retelling of the familiar story. It's about marking time, about ...
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...
That disconnect, that inability to understand each other, it goes way back. Like, really way back. We're talking about the Tower of Babel. You know, that ambitious, some might say ...
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...
That’s the feeling I get when I read the story of Abram leaving Haran in the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, if you’re not familiar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories ...
Let’s talk about brit milah, circumcision, and a fascinating text called the Book of Jubilees. This ancient Jewish work, considered scripture by some but not included in the standa...
That’s the heart of one of the most powerful, and frankly, disturbing stories in the Hebrew Bible: the Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac. We all know the basic story from Genesis 22. G...
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 text says: "offer them all together on the altar of burnt-offering; it is a sweet savour before the Lord." So, the whole animal, a burnt offering (olah), is going up in smoke. ...
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...
The Book of Jubilees, a fascinating text considered canonical by some but relegated to the Apocrypha by others, offers a glimpse into such a reality. Specifically, Chapter 23 paint...
That’s the feeling I get whenever I read the story of Jacob’s dream in the Book of Jubilees. Here’s the scene: Jacob, all alone on a journey. The sun is setting, and he’s far from ...
The Book of Jubilees, also known as the Lesser Genesis, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis, but with some extra details. Think of it like a director's cu...
Let’s delve into a fascinating corner of Jewish thought to explore just that. We're turning to the Book of Jubilees, a text considered apocryphal by some, but a treasure trove of i...
Sometimes, the answers are tucked away in unexpected corners of our history, like in the Book of Jubilees. Now, the Book of Jubilees isn't part of the standard Hebrew Bible we read...
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...
It’s a universal human experience, and it echoes through our sacred stories. Take the tale of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, for example. We know the story well from Genesis, but the ...
Today, let's talk about the number seventy. Specifically, the seventy souls of Jacob’s family who went down to Egypt. It's a seemingly simple statement, isn’t it? "And all the soul...
We all know the story of Joseph. Sold into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned, but ultimately rising to become second-in-command in Egypt. But what happened after he interpreted ...
According to Legends of the Jews, on the second day of Creation, God didn't just whip up one thing, but four: the firmament, hell, fire, and the angels. Talk about a busy day! We'r...
We often think of it as a commandment straight from Mount Sinai, a divine decree etched in stone. And it is. But the story, as it often does in Jewish tradition, has layers and nua...
According to Legends of the Jews, as Moses neared the mountain, he immediately sensed its holiness. He saw that even the birds passing overhead wouldn't dare land upon it. Imagine ...
