10,602 related texts · Page 80 of 221
And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights (Exod. 34:28). How did Moses know when it was day? When the Holy One, blessed be He, taught him the Written Law he knew i...
And Bezalel made the ark of acacia-wood (Exod. 37:1). Because it was known to Him-who-spoke-and-the-world-came into-being that Israel will sin at Shittim, the Holy One, blessed be ...
"Command the Children of Israel" (Numbers 34:2:). This is what is stated in the verse (in (Numbers 23:1)9), "God is not a man to be deceitful," [meaning] a man will not make God de...
Something went terribly wrong in the early days of the world. According to the Book of Jubilees, a group of ancient texts dated to approximately 160-150 BCE, the children of men mu...
We're talking about a time when the memory of the cataclysm was still fresh, a time of rebuilding, both literally and figuratively. And smack dab in the middle of this is Arpachsha...
That feeling, that connection, is at the heart of this passage from the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Gene...
Now, the Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis, often filling in gaps and offering unique perspectives. In this part...
Sometimes, the little snippets, the moments in between the big events, can be just as fascinating. Take the story of Isaac, Esau, and Jacob. We know the highlights. But what about ...
While Genesis gives us the basic family tree, other ancient texts fill in fascinating details, sometimes even offering slightly different accounts. Today, we’re diving into one of ...
And just when things seem darkest, light breaks through. Chapter 13 of the Book of Tobit isn't just a story; it's an explosion of joy, a testament to faith, and a reminder that eve...
Ever hear of the Maccabees and think, "Yeah, Hanukkah, I got it?" Well, there's more to the story than just latkes and dreidels. : how did word of the Maccabees' exploits spread so...
We all know the highlights – the Nile turning to blood, the frogs, the darkness. But some sources really dial up the intensity, giving us a truly nightmarish vision of divine retri...
Ben Sira's teacher is freaking out. The boy has just rattled off proverbs for every letter of the Hebrew alphabet with the confidence of a seasoned sage, and his educator can only ...
Nebuchadnezzar noticed something odd about the human body and asked Ben Sira to explain it. Everywhere on the body, each hair follicle holds two hairs. But on the head, each follic...
The opening columns of the Community Rule describe a yearly covenant renewal ceremony that reads like a cross between a monastic initiation and an ancient Israelite oath of allegia...
Zerubbabel won the riddle contest, but when King Darius offered him any reward up to half the kingdom, he asked for something no treasure could buy. According to the Chronicles of ...
Abraham turned to the angel in distress. "Why have you brought me up here? I cannot see anymore. I am already grown weak, and my spirit is departing from me." The mortal body was f...
After the ten plagues, after the final convulsions of the dying age, God revealed to Abraham the moment everything would change. "Then I will sound the trumpet out of the air and w...
The fourth heaven was a machine. The angels carried Enoch upward and showed him the workings of the sun and moon — not as distant lights in the sky, but as colossal engines of fire...
Solomon pressed Beelzeboul further. "If you want a respite from your labor, tell me about the things in heaven." The prince of demons leaned forward. "If you burn gum, incense, and...
According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, just as fish were formed from water and birds from boggy earth, mammals were formed from solid earth. And among these, we ...
I’m talking about Noah, the hero of the Ark, the one chosen to rebuild humanity after the Great Flood. But before the ark, before the flood, there was a birth story so extraordinar...
Sounds… intense. That’s what Noah faced. But what happened after the floodwaters receded? You might think it was all sunshine and rainbows, but the story, as the Legends of the Jew...
It wasn't exactly smooth sailing. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, things got a bit…complicated. Ham, you see, was not thrilled about his father's curse. S...
The story of the Tower of Babel is a classic tale exploring that very theme. It’s a story about ambition gone wild, about a collective "we can do anything" attitude that ultimately...
The sages tell us that there were ten generations between Noah and Abraham. Ten generations! And the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) emphasizes that this long span shows...
The story goes that Nimrod, a powerful and wicked king, grew furious with Abraham (who was, of course, not called Abraham yet at this point in the narrative—but we'll call him that...
It wasn't all smooth sailing. There were threats, escapes, and a family's journey toward a new destiny. to the story of how Abraham, or Avram as he was originally known, found hims...
That’s the kind of fire that burned in the heart of a young Abraham. We all know the story of Abraham, the patriarch, the father of monotheism. But have you ever considered his ori...
We often think of Abraham's journey as beginning with the covenant God made with him, the "covenant of the pieces," promising him descendants as numerous as the stars. But as Legen...
to the legends and find out. According to the Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, the people of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (the cities of the plain) were… well, let's j...
The story of Abraham pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah, as recounted in Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, is a powerful exploration of just that. God, seeing that the inhabitants of t...
According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, the angels who were sent to destroy these cities didn't rush in with fiery vengeance. No, these were angels of mercy. They ...
According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Abraham wasn't one to linger where things got… unpleasant. With Sodom a smoldering memory, and whispers about Lot's daught...
According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, the story starts with a prayer. Abraham had prayed for Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, and when Abimelech recovere...
It's a story about covenants, wells, and the surprising ways God's presence is revealed in the world. After living among the Philistines for 26 years, Abraham moves near Hebron. So...
The story, as we find it elaborated upon in Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, takes us far beyond the spare verses of Genesis. It paints a vivid picture, filled with dialogue and em...
According to Legends of the Jews, that's precisely what happened to Abraham. The story goes that the archangel Michael, under divine command, took Abraham on a whirlwind tour high ...
His journey to Haran was no ordinary trip – it was, according to tradition, a day absolutely packed with divine intervention, a veritable whirlwind of the wondrous! Ginzberg, in hi...
The Bible is full of them, but sometimes the stories between the lines are even more fascinating. to the tale of Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban, a story ripe with tension, accu...
The story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and the events that unfolded in Shechem, offer a stark and troubling example of just that. According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Gin...
His story doesn't end there. His descendants play a fascinating, sometimes unsettling, role in Jewish legend. , shall we? Apparently, the most righteous of Esau's sons was Eliphaz....
Let’s talk about Joseph, and that infamous pit. The story begins with Jacob's sons, out tending their father's flocks near Shechem. They were gone a long time, and Jacob, naturally...
It all revolves around Joseph’s coat – that infamous coat of many colors. The story goes that after selling Joseph into slavery, Jacob's sons were immediately overcome with regret....
"Throw the stick up in the air," goes the saying, "it will always return to its original place." And perhaps that's how Zuleika, Potiphar's wife, felt about her growing desire for ...
Today, we're diving into the fascinating story of Pharaoh's dreams, a pivotal moment in the biblical narrative of Joseph. Now, Joseph, as you might remember, was languishing in an ...
They'd already made one harrowing trip to Egypt for food during a devastating famine. But now, the meager supplies they brought back were gone. The little children were crying, beg...
It all starts with Jacob, also known as Israel, nearing the end of his life in Egypt. Asenath, Joseph's wife, notices Jacob's declining health. Knowing the power of a righteous man...
