4,193 related texts · Page 35 of 88
I'm talking about Joseph, of course, and his brothers. We know the story: Joseph, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, rises to power in Egypt, and then, years later, fate br...
Family dynamics are always in play. to a lesser-known tale, a sort of epilogue to the Joseph story, found in Ginzberg's fascinating Legends of the Jews. The story picks up on the t...
As Joseph lay on his deathbed, he made his brethren swear a solemn oath. He didn't just ask it of them, but instructed them to have their sons swear it too: when God would finally ...
The Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg recounts this scene, drawing from various rabbinic sources. Zebulon, at the ripe old age of 114 – two years after Joseph's death – calls his son...
The Legends of the Jews, Louis Ginzberg's masterful compilation of rabbinic lore, gives us a fascinating glimpse into the deathbed confession of Dan, one of Jacob’s sons. It's a ra...
Today, we're going to talk about Job, a righteous man who, according to tradition, almost made it into the inner circle. The Book of Job, of course, tells the story of a man who su...
What if the very people meant to lead us to freedom are born into the darkest of times? Times so bleak, even love itself seems impossible. That's the story of Amram and Jochebed, t...
Take Moses, for example. We know him as the liberator, the lawgiver, the one who spoke to God face to face. But what about Moses the baby? What was his story? According to Legends ...
The Bible tells us about the Israelites' enslavement in Egypt, but some of the most chilling details come from other sources, like Legends of the Jews by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg. Ginz...
The stories surrounding Moses, our great leader and prophet, offer glimpses into just such an experience. It's more than just receiving the Ten Commandments; it's about a complete ...
According to Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, as the time approached for the Israelites' redemption from Egyptian slavery, a dilemma arose. They hadn't accumulated enough goo...
It wasn't all smooth sailing, that's for sure. In fact, according to some fascinating threads in Jewish tradition, there was a bit of a rebellion right at the start. the separation...
Jewish tradition, particularly the wealth of stories that amplify the terse narratives of the Torah, offers some pretty compelling answers. to the consequences of that fateful bite...
Abraham knew that feeling well. Before he was Avraham Avinu, our father Abraham, before the brit bein ha-betarim—the covenant of the pieces—he was just a man with a promise and a p...
Can you imagine being the last to know? The very last? And about something so monumental, so life-altering? That was Jacob. Everyone else in his close family knew that Joseph was a...
It sounds like a dream. But what if everyone around you is dead-set against it? That's the situation Joseph found himself in, according to Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, when Phar...
That's the emotional powder keg about to explode in this story. We're diving into the heart of the Joseph narrative, as told in Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, a collection that d...
That’s the scene we find ourselves in, as we eavesdrop on the final moments between Jacob and his eldest son, Reuben. Jacob, on his deathbed, addresses Reuben. "Reuben, thou art my...
This particular passage feels like a father's desperate plea to his children, a warning whispered on the eve of exile. "Be not like Sodom, my children," it begins. Don't repeat the...
It's easy to think of Moses as a lone figure, leading his people to freedom. But according to tradition, his birth was intertwined with the fate of an entire generation. The text "...
The sun beats down, and the horizon shimmers with heat. But our journey isn't just a physical one; it's a journey into the heart of Jewish tradition. We're heading to a very specia...
Even MOSES himself couldn't get a straight answer. The story goes that Moses, in his insatiable quest for knowledge, posed this very question to Shamshiel, the prince of Paradise. ...
Our ancestor Moses knew that feeling all too well. Imagine this: God Himself appears to you, commissioning you to lead an entire nation out of slavery. Sounds pretty epic. But Mose...
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...
Moses sure did. Imagine this: you’re tending sheep in the desert, happily married, a father. Then, BOOM! God appears in a burning bush and tells you to go liberate an entire nation...
Because, according to some traditions, even the ten plagues weren't enough to soften the hearts of the Egyptians. The oppression of the Hebrews continued relentlessly, right up to ...
He's got the entire Israelite nation behind him, the relentless Egyptian army closing in, and a vast, unforgiving sea in front of him. What's a leader to do? The familiar story tel...
It's not just a matter of logistics. According to tradition, the timing was absolutely crucial, divinely ordained, and brimming with meaning. : The Israelites are freed from centur...
You’re marching towards… well, you don't exactly know where, but it's away from Pharaoh! Wouldn't you expect the Divine to hand down the ultimate instruction manual right then and ...
It’s not just a coincidence. Jewish tradition loves patterns, and the number three seems to be deeply woven into the fabric of our story, connecting the Torah, the people of Israel...
It wasn't always meant to be this way, you know. According to the Legends of the Jews, it all goes back to the Golden Calf. Imagine, if you will, a world where every single Israeli...
A huge mountain. And then, suddenly, it lifts up... and hovers over your head. That, my friends, is how the Israelites accepted the Torah. It wasn't exactly a spur-of-the-moment de...
We often picture it as a booming voice echoing across the desert, but the rabbinic tradition paints a far more intricate – and frankly, – picture. Imagine this: to truly drive home...
The ancient rabbis pondered this very question. They imagined a conversation between God and Israel, a dialogue about the ultimate reward for following the Torah, the sacred teachi...
He addressed them with words that still resonate today. He said: "God gave you the Torah and wrought marvels for you." It wasn’t just about receiving the law; it was about being ch...
We often picture him receiving the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, in a moment of serene revelation. But Jewish tradition suggests it was a far more intense, even ...
We find Moses in a rather… argumentative mood. It all starts when Moses witnesses God writing the attribute of "long-suffering" – in Hebrew, erekh apayim – into the Torah. Now, ere...
We all know the story: the Ten Commandments, the Golden Calf... but what about the moments in between? The feelings, the doubts, the sheer weight of responsibility? According to Gi...
We all know the story: Moses is up on Mount Sinai, receiving the Torah, and the Israelites, impatient and doubting, melt down their gold and fashion a false idol. Moses descends, s...
According to the legends, those forty days and nights were a whirlwind education. Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews tells us that Moses received it all up there: not just the Torah – ...
That’s precisely what Moses did on Mount Sinai. The story, as recounted in Legends of the Jews by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, is truly astonishing. Moses, up on the mountain receiving th...
It wasn't just a tent, it was a statement. A declaration of relationship. According to Legends of the Jews, the story begins with the people approaching God. They essentially say, ...
Build the Tabernacle first, and then create the Ark of the Covenant, the special chest to house the Torah. Makes sense. But then came Bezalel, the master craftsman, with a differen...
It goes way back. Imagine Moses, just after the giving of the Torah, gathering the entire Israelite nation. It wasn't just the elders or the leaders this time. Everyone. Why? Becau...
His sons, Nadav and Avihu, have died. The Torah tells us they offered "strange fire" before the Lord (Leviticus 10:1-2) and were consumed. Can you picture the anguish? The disbelie...
The laws surrounding leprosy, or tzara'at, were incredibly strict. Imagine being banished not just from your home, but from the entire community! While other forms of ritual impuri...
As recounted in Legends of the Jews, along with the instruction to illuminate the Mishkan (the Sanctuary), came another: to celebrate the Shabbat (Sabbath) by kindling lights. God'...
It's not just random. There's often a deeper meaning, a connection, a story waiting to be uncovered. to one of those pairings and see what we can find. Let's start with the tribe o...
