2,028 related texts · Page 11 of 43
The story revolves around a famine in Israel, a famine attributed to King Saul's transgression against the Gibeonites. long ago, Joshua had made a pact with the Gibeonites, promisi...
The karmic wheel turned quickly. Ginzberg, in Legends of the Jews, paints a grim picture: Joash didn't just die; he suffered. He fell into the hands of the Syrians, who, the text d...
He claimed they swore "by God, the Maker of the heaven, and earth, and sea, to bear no good will to any foreigner, and particularly to none of the Greeks." Now, Josephus, the Jewis...
Isaac was twenty-five years old when his father took him up the mountain to die. He didn't resist. According to Josephus, this is what makes the Akedah (עקידה), the Binding of Isaa...
The whole thing started with a bowl of soup. Esau came home from hunting one day—starving, exhausted, still a young man—and found his brother Jacob cooking lentil stew. It was brig...
And the answers? Well, they're as varied and beautiful as the stars in the night sky. Some say God dwells in the celestial realms, way up in the highest heaven, seated on the Kisei...
One powerful answer lies in the concept of the Shekhinah (שְׁכִינָה). The Shekhinah, often described as the divine feminine presence, the immanent glory of God, has a fascinating a...
There's a story, a haunting one, about a well within the Temple court in Jerusalem. It's known as the Weeping Well, and its story is woven into the very fabric of the Ninth of Av, ...
We often look at the human form and see… well, just a person. But what if I told you that even something as simple as a beard could be a map to the divine? Today, we're diving into...
Jewish mysticism speaks to this feeling, especially when it comes to understanding the Shekhinah – the Divine Presence. But what happens when even the Shekhinah seems to be…adrift?...
Jewish mysticism, especially the Zohar, wrestles with this very feeling. And in Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar 49, we find a particularly beautiful and intricate image of how th...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, offers a breathtaking glimpse into the celestial mechanics of prayer. It's not just about mouthing words, you see...
Specifically, the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a foundational text of Kabbalah, speaks of Israel as the "feet of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence)." Now, what’s the Shekhin...
to a fascinating passage from the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a companion to the Zohar, that explores this idea through the mystical lens of Hebrew letters. The Tikkunei Zoh...
It's there, woven into the verses, hidden in plain sight for those who know how to look. Take the Song of Songs, for instance. "A locked garden is my sister, my bride, a locked wav...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a profound commentary on the Zohar, speaks of the Shekhinah – the Divine Presence – in just that way. It describes Her as a "well-spring, sto...
In fact, the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah building upon the Zohar, dives deep into the heart's role, seeing it as far more than just a blood-pumpin...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a cornerstone of Kabbalistic literature, offers us a stunningly intimate glimpse into this very idea. Specifically, Tikkunei Zohar 104 speaks...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a mystical extension of the Zohar, speaks to this very feeling in its 105th section. It paints a vivid, and frankly, unsettling picture. The ...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central work of Kabbalah, delves into this very idea in its 113th section. It begins with a seemingly simple verse from Exodus (35:3), "You...
God wanted a home. Not in the highest heavens where angels sing without ceasing. Not in the dazzling worlds of pure spirit. God wanted a home in the lowest, darkest, most difficult...
The second heaven in Sefer HaRazim takes a dark turn. Where the first heaven teems with angels who serve human needs—weather, healing, agriculture—the second heaven is populated by...
R. Eliezer says: Sheep for the Pesach (Passover) and cattle for the chagigah. You say this, but perhaps both are for the Pesach? And how would I understand "an unblemished lamb, et...
Rabbi Eliezer Hakappar Berebbi posed a rhetorical question that reveals something extraordinary about the Israelites during their centuries of slavery in Egypt. Did Israel not poss...
R. Nehorai says; Upon my oath, not one in five hundred went out. For it is written (Ezekiel 16:7) "Numerous as the spouts of the field did I make you" (in Egypt), and (Exodus 1:7) ...
Rabbi Akiva ruled that a Jewish master may not keep uncircumcised male servants in his household. Circumcision — the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham — was required of ...
R. Eliezer says: What is the intent of "toshav and sachir"? (i.e., Is it not already written [(Exodus 12:43)] "No stranger may eat of it"?) To reason from Pesach (Passover) to teru...
Rabbi Eliezer agreed that the tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) belong on the upper arm rather than the palm, but he arrived at the conclusion through entirely dif...
In the past, Pharaoh's servants said to him (Exodus 10:7) "How long will this one be a stumbling block to us?" and now (Ibid. 14:5) "What is this that we did in sending Israel away...
An analogy: A man sent to his servant: Go and bring me a fish from the marketplace. He goes and buys him a rotten fish, at which the master says to him: Either eat the fish, or rec...
Rabbi Eliezer preserves a stunning exchange between God and Moses at the shore of the Red Sea. The Israelites were trapped — the sea raging before them, the Egyptian army closing b...
Rabbi Eliezer HaModai preserved one of the most extraordinary statements God ever made about the people of Israel. When Moses cried out at the Red Sea, God responded: "Why do you c...
The Egyptians drowned at the Red Sea — but they also received burial. The Mekhilta asks the obvious question: in what merit were the Egyptians granted burial? They had enslaved Isr...
R. Eliezer says: They journeyed by word of the L–rd. For in two or three places we find that they journeyed by word of the L–rd; and here, too, they journeyed by word of the L–rd. ...
R. Eliezer says: They journeyed by the word, for thus do we find in two or three places. What, then, is the intent of "And Moses made Israel journey?" He did so against their will,...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai offered a surprising claim about what life was actually like for the Israelites in Egypt. Contrary to what one might expect from a nation of slaves, Israel liv...
Rabbi Eliezer described one of the most vivid and beautiful scenes in all of rabbinic literature: the step-by-step process by which the manna descended from heaven each morning. Be...
R. Eliezer Hamodai says: "And the dew layer ascended": (homiletically) there arose the prayers of our forefathers who were buried in the earth, on the face of the ground. "and, beh...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael preserves two interpretations of the manna's name, both attributed to tannaitic authorities, and both reveal how the rabbis found layers of meaning in...
Centuries after the Exodus, the prophet Jeremiah faced a stubborn problem. The people of Israel had stopped studying Torah, and their excuse was entirely practical: "How will we fe...
Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai calculated exactly how long the manna lasted after the death of Moses: seventy days. Not a rough estimate — a precise count, worked out from the calendar itse...
Three miraculous gifts sustained Israel in the wilderness, and each one was tied to a specific leader. Rabbi Yehoshua teaches that when Miriam died, the well that had followed the ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael records a teaching by Rabbi Eliezer about the nature of Amalek's attack on Israel in the wilderness. His interpretation turns on a single word, reveal...
Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai offered a different interpretation of why Moses told Joshua to "go out" and fight Amalek—and his version cuts deeper. According to Rabbi Eliezer, Moses challe...
Rabbi Eliezer interpreted the mysterious rise and fall of Israel's fortunes during the battle with Amalek. When Moses raised his hands toward heaven, Israel grew strong. When he lo...
Rabbi Eliezer claimed that a single Hebrew word in the Torah contained an entire military history encoded as an acronym. The word is "vayachalosh," which appears in the account of ...
R. Eliezer says: The L–rd swears by His throne of glory: If there comes a man of all the nations to be proselytized, he will be accepted; but Amalek and his household will not be a...
R. Eliezer says: Yithro heard the splitting of the sea and came (to join Israel). For the splitting of the sea was heard from one end of the world to the other, viz. (Joshua 5:1) "...
