2,086 related texts · Page 18 of 44
(3) (Fol. 10b) We have been taught that R. Eliezer says: "In the month of Tishri the world was created; in the month of Tishri the Patriarchs [Abraham and Jacob], were born, and in...
(9) We are taught in a Baraitha: R. Juda taught in the name of R. Akiba: "Why does the Torah command (Lev. 23, 10) a sheaf of the first fruits to be brought on the Passover? Becaus...
(20) MISHNAH (the earliest code of rabbinic law): For the proclamation of six New Moon days, messengers are sent out: for Nissan, on account of the Passover; for Ab, on account of ...
The verse in question, (Numbers 6:15), describes the offerings brought by a Nazirite upon completing their term: “And a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of high quality flour mix...
The passage opens with the idea of kingship and privilege. The text tells us, "Craft for you – you use them, as you are king, but no one else may use them other than King David." T...
He sees the very first verses of Genesis as a foreshadowing of the choices we all face. "The earth was emptiness (tohu vavohu)" – he says, that represents the actions of the wicked...
That feeling resonates deeply within Jewish tradition. We see it reflected in the ancient text of Kohelet Rabbah, specifically in its interpretation of the verse "all the rivers go...
Specifically, they focused on the verse in (Ecclesiastes 5:16): "In addition, all his days, he eats in darkness, and has much anger, illness, and rage." What does it mean to live i...
It’s a question that’s intrigued Jewish thinkers for centuries. How did he know when a day had passed, when night had fallen, without the usual cues? The answer, as we find in Shem...
Jewish tradition grapples with this very idea, and sometimes finds surprising answers in unexpected places. The passage we're looking at unpacks the verse, "Place me as a seal upon...
It sounds radical, I know. According to some accounts, God bestowed immense honor upon Moses, gifting him dominion over the entire earth, the seas, the rivers – all the elements th...
They often hold some of the biggest secrets. Take the story of Cain and Abel. We all know the basics: brothers, offerings, jealousy, tragedy. But have you ever noticed a subtle dif...
Our ancestor Abraham felt it too. The Torah tells us, in (Genesis 15:12): "About the time of the setting of the sun a trance fell upon Abraham; and lo, a great horror of darkness c...
And the people took their dough before it was leavened … upon their shoulders (Exod. 12:34). This indicates that the dough did not have sufficient time in which to leaven. Similarl...
We all know the story: Moses goes up the mountain, gets the Ten Commandments, and comes back down. But what if there was more to the story? What if the Bible we know is just a glim...
It comes from the Book of Jubilees, specifically chapter 46. The Book of Jubilees, for those who aren't familiar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and ...
Today, we’re diving into Chapter 59, a chapter that, on the surface, seems like a simple list of names, but it’s so much more than that. It's a powerful reminder of family, legacy,...
The Book of Jasher, a fascinating and controversial text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), offers a compelling narrative. Chapter 65 plunges us rig...
We all know the story of the Exodus, the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea. But what about the years leading up to that moment? The Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text of...
We know about Mount Sinai, the thunder, the lightning, the booming voice... but what about the days that followed?Book of Jasher and see what unfolded. The story picks up right aft...
We all know about the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, and even receiving the Ten Commandments. But what about the nitty-gritty details of setting up their new life, their new r...
The Torah portion of Shmot – Exodus – introduces us to Moses, arguably the greatest prophet in Judaism. But even before the burning bush, before the plagues, before the parting of ...
The Torah touches on this in the Brit Bein Habetarim (ברית בין הבתרים), the Covenant Between the Pieces, in Genesis 15. But the story doesn't end there. The Legends of the Jews fil...
It’s a fascinating exercise, and sometimes, you stumble upon something truly surprising. Like this: who was the most righteous of Esau's sons? You might be surprised to learn it wa...
Sometimes, the answers are hidden in stories… stories that stretch back millennia. Take, for example, the story of Joseph, sold into slavery by his own brothers. A heartbreaking be...
That's the story of Moses and the coffin of Joseph as the Israelites prepared to leave Egypt. Moses knew something crucial: the Israelites couldn't truly be free until they fulfill...
The story of Joseph, his coffin, and Moses is one such tale. It's a powerful reminder that even in the chaos of escape and liberation, honoring a pledge matters deeply. Imagine the...
We all know the story of Moses, the plagues, and the Exodus. But what seeds of mistrust were sown long before the mitzrayim, the Egyptians, enslaved the Israelites? According to Gi...
Pharaoh, had a problem. He was terrified of the growing Israelite population in Egypt. His solution? A truly horrific decree: kill all newborn Hebrew boys. But even the cruelest pl...
Pharaoh, you'll remember, had ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all newborn baby boys. But these women – Shifra and Puah are their names in (Exodus 1:15) – defied him. They feare...
We all know the big picture – the enslavement, the plagues, the Exodus. But what about the countless untold stories of courage, faith, and divine intervention that kept hope alive ...
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...
We know the story of the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea, and the giving of the Torah at Sinai. But what about those missing years? Jewish tradition is filled with fascinating s...
We all know the story of the Exodus, but some of the details… well, they're chilling. According to Legends of the Jews, which draws from various Midrash (rabbinic interpretive comm...
It’s a question that echoes through the ages, and Jewish tradition offers a fascinating glimpse into the answer through the story of Moses. We often think of Moses as this towering...
Like the universe is asking you to do something impossibly huge, and all you can think is, "Who, me?" That's precisely where Moses found himself. Imagine the scene: Moses, tending ...
Would you still offer that help? That’s the dilemma, in a sense, that God faces in the lead-up to the Exodus. As we learn in Legends of the Jews, God, in speaking to Moses, lays ba...
Moses certainly did. Imagine being chosen to lead an entire nation out of slavery! No wonder he had a few… questions. Moses, as we know from the Book of Exodus, wasn't exactly thri...
He is the ultimate power in Egypt, and he is absolutely convinced of his own divinity. So, when Moses and Aaron come to him with their message – "Let my people go, that they may se...
And the story of his confrontation with God, as told in Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg), is a masterclass in divine clapback. Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler on earth, puffed up wi...
Our tradition is full of stories about people grappling with the divine, sometimes even arguing with God! And those moments, those messy, human moments, often reveal profound truth...
We all know the story of the ten plagues. God unleashing a series of devastating blows against Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. But there's often more than meets...
to a story from the book of Exodus, retold in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, where that's exactly what happened in ancient Egypt. Aaron, acting on divine command, stretched out hi...
Jewish tradition wrestles with these questions constantly, and the story of the Exodus is a prime example. : Pharaoh. He was the mastermind behind the oppression of the Israelites....
You offer a compromise, they seem to agree, and then, bam! Back to square one. That's Pharaoh in a nutshell. We're diving back into the Exodus story, specifically that tense back-a...
They're opposites. Always battling it out. But in one of the most dramatic stories in the Torah, the Exodus from Egypt, we see them working together in a truly terrifying way. I'm ...
We know the story: the final plague, the death of the firstborn, the Israelites’ dramatic escape. But have you ever stopped to consider the fear, the chaos, the sheer desperation o...
We're talking about the night of the slaying of the firstborn, the tenth plague that finally broke his iron grip on the Israelites. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of ...
