1,400 related texts · Page 17 of 30
The infamous villain of the Purim story, the one who plotted to annihilate the Jewish people in ancient Persia. But have you ever stopped to consider the sheer audacity of his argu...
She wasn't done. This time, she wanted her story, the story of her courage and her people’s deliverance, enshrined within the Holy Scriptures. But the sages hesitated. Big time. Ad...
Today, we're diving into one such path, guided by the words of Josephus, a first-century Romano-Jewish historian. He's responding to some pretty harsh claims made by an Egyptian pr...
It comes to us from Apion, a Graeco-Egyptian intellectual who lived in the 1st century CE and who, shall we say, wasn't the biggest fan of the Jewish people. His writings, thankful...
That's the situation the Jewish people faced in antiquity, and it's what prompted Flavius Josephus to write his powerful work, Against Apion. You see, back in the day, not everyone...
It’s a charge that’s been leveled against the Jewish people for centuries. Even Josephus, way back in the first century C.E., tackled this very criticism in his work, Against Apion...
Our guide is Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish historian. In his work Against Apion, he defends Judaism against its detractors. And in doing so, he offers a fascinating, an...
It’s a question that’s haunted mystics and theologians for millennia. And the answer, as we find in Jewish tradition, is both breathtakingly beautiful and terrifyingly destructive....
Vital, as recounted in Sefer ha-Hezyonot, dreamed of a very unusual Simhat Torah, the joyous holiday that celebrates the completion of the annual Torah reading cycle. Imagine this:...
But what's happening on high? Well, according to a beautiful passage in the Zohar (2:40b-41a), the foundational text of Jewish mysticism, God isn't just observing. God's hosting a ...
You might be surprised. It’s not just about commemorating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. According to some mystical traditions, Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks) is actually...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a mystical text describing ascents through heavenly palaces, gives us a glimpse. And trust me, it's quite a trip! Imagine this: you've...
The Torah, our sacred scroll, is like that. And sometimes, that protection takes on a life of its own, becoming a story in itself. The tale I want to share with you is a tiny fragm...
And Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, offers a breathtakingly beautiful answer. a foundational concept from the Asarah Perakim, "Ten Chapters," of Rabbeinu Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, or Ramch...
We’re so used to having eyes that see and ears that hear, that we rarely pause to appreciate the sheer, intricate genius of it all. But according to Da'at (Knowledge) Tevunot, this...
At Sinai, the Israelites experienced the overwhelming presence of HaShem. But what did they actually see? Moses, in his wisdom, warns the Israelites, “And guard your souls very muc...
And to understand this, we need to dive into a fascinating concept discussed in Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a Kabbalistic text concerned with the "138 Openings of Wisdom." Think about...
That’s kind of what the Sefirot (the divine emanations) are all about. The Sefirot (סְפִירוֹת), these ten emanations of the Divine, aren't just random divine attributes floating in...
Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, offers us a glimpse into that design. And at the heart of that design lies a figure, a partzuf (divine persona) called Arich Anpin. Now, the Kabbalists ...
The Sefer HaBahir, one of the earliest and most important texts of Kabbalah, attempts to unravel this very question. It uses a beautiful analogy to paint a picture for us. Imagine ...
Take the creation story, for example. (Genesis 1:3) tells us, "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." Seems straightforward. But Rabbi Berachiah, in the Sefer Ha...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a profound commentary on the Zohar, certainly feels that way. It's filled with layers upon layers of symbolism, and sometimes, just sometimes...
Jewish tradition offers a powerful image for understanding this struggle, and a path towards liberation. It all revolves around the idea of "fifty gates of freedom." Where does thi...
And, believe it or not, even the simple act of shaking a lulav on Sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles) plays a part in this grand drama. to a fascinating passage from Tikkun (spiri...
Jewish mysticism certainly thinks so. Today, we're diving into a passage from Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar 48, a section of the Tikkunei Zohar, a companion volume to the Zohar...
Yeah, you heard me right. Tears. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah and a companion to the Zohar, tells us that the only gate that’s always open is t...
Sounds wild. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, in section 64, takes a verse from Psalms – (Psalm 118:20) – and unpacks it in a way that's both intricate and deeply meaningful....
For millennia, people have looked to the stars, seeking meaning, guidance, even a glimpse of the divine. And in the Jewish mystical tradition, the cosmos is far more than just a ba...
But according to the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, it holds the key to understanding exile, blessing, and ultimately, redemption. When the prophet saw Israel in exile, what ga...
Jewish tradition certainly recognizes that struggle. In fact, some texts get incredibly vivid about the forces at play. Imagine this: a group of sages are walking along, deep in co...
It's more complex than you might think, and sometimes, the line between them gets surprisingly blurry. Take Azazel, for example. We find this fascinating figure mentioned in Tikkun...
Here, we get a peek into a truly mind-bending scene involving God, the Shekhinah, and some seriously impressive angelic creatures. The text speaks of the Blessed Holy One – that's ...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a crucial text of Kabbalah, invites us to see something far deeper. It sees the candle as a representation of the divine, a microcosm of the ...
This passage speaks of a future time, a moment of profound transformation linked to Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, when we celebrate the giving of the Torah. The text tells us tha...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a mystical expansion on the Zohar itself, gives us a glimpse into just that – a cosmic tapestry woven with the threads of our festivals. In T...
We're diving into the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, specifically Tikkun 113. The Tikkunei Zohar is a later addition to the Zohar itself, a central text of Kabbalah, Jewish mys...
Jewish mystical tradition recognizes this struggle, particularly when it comes to connecting with the Divine Feminine. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a core text of Kabbala...
This passage is short, but it's packed with symbolism. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a companion to the more well-known Zohar, is a collection of mystical commentaries on ...
"And these are the names of the children of Israel" (Exodus 1:1). The Torah lists the twelve tribes again, even though they were already named in Genesis. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Be...
The transmission narrative in Harba de-Moshe (the Sword of Moses) is one of the most elaborate chains of divine authority in all of Jewish literature. It traces a path from God to ...
The heart of Harba de-Moshe (the Sword of Moses) is its catalog of divine names—and the greatest of these is the Great Name, composed of 70 component names. The number 70 is not ar...
When God told Moses in (Exodus 7:1), "See, I have made you an overlord to Pharaoh," a question immediately arose in the minds of the ancient rabbis. The verse seems to single out M...
The Torah's description of the tenth plague contains a phrase that seems redundant but actually expands the scope of the devastation far beyond Egypt's borders: "and I smote every ...
The tenth plague killed every firstborn in Egypt. But the Mekhilta asks a question that pushes the scope of the devastation further than most readers imagine: what about the firstb...
R. Yonathan says: "and I will skip over you." I will be compassionate to you, but not to the Egyptians. I might think that an Egyptian in a Jewish house would be rescued. It is, th...
R. Yoshiyah said to him: Why is this different from all of the "sayings" in the Torah, which were from Moses to say to Israel? Here, too, from Moses to say to Israel. Why, then, is...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic commentary on Exodus, arrives at one of the most dramatic prophetic verses in all of Scripture: "The glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh will ...
The prophet Joel declared, "And all who call in the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 3:5), a sweeping promise of deliverance for anyone who invokes God's name. But the Mekhil...
