938 related texts · 25 related myths · Page 2 of 20
Our tale begins with angels leaving Abraham at midday, their wings carrying them towards Sodom as evening approached. Now, usually, angels are all about speed. They deliver their m...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a companion volume to the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, offers a fascinating, and frankly, wild, answer. It sees the human body ...
"Vengeance shall be taken", the Torah declares this regarding a master who kills his bondservant. But what does "vengeance" mean in legal terms? The Mekhilta identifies it as death...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, explores this very question. Specifically, it looks at the verse that promises blessings "from...
Rain brings life. Torah brings life. Case closed. Hold on. Is it really that simple? The ancient sages, confronting this very question in Sifrei Devarim 306, weren't so sure. They ...
We mortals are bound by seconds, minutes, years. But what about the Holy One, Blessed be He? The Sifrei Devarim offers a glimpse into this very question, revealing a profound diffe...
The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, offers us a beautiful glimpse into this idea, through its exploration of Moses'...
"Listen to Me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He, I am the first, and I am the last as well" (Isaiah 48:12). God speaks with the full weight of eternity, before everythi...
A geographical footnote in (Genesis 14:3) becomes, in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, a small elegy. The Aramaic renders the location as the vale of the gardens (paredesaia), the place tha...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 19:24) preserves one of the most heartbreaking traditions in all of rabbinic literature about the destruction of Sedom and Amorah. "And the Word ...
The blessing Isaac pours over Jacob is compact, poetic, and nearly liturgical. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders it in solemn Aramaic. "Therefore the Word of the Lord give thee of...
That feeling is at the heart of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The familiar story is this: wickedness, fire, brimstone. But what about the sheer, physical devastation? How did it...
And the two angels came to Sodom (Gen. 19:1). May it please our master to teach us the number of death penalties the Beth Din (the court of seventy-one members) was empowered to im...
R. Judan of Gallia opened (with (Job 39:2)7), “Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high?” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Aaron. “At your comm...
What we see here is just a reflection of something far grander: the rainbow of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). The Shekhinah, often translated as "Divine Presence," is the asp...
Jubilees, considered deuterocanonical (meaning it's included in some versions of the Bible but not others), gives us some incredible detail about Abraham's life, filling in gaps an...
Sometimes, looking to other texts can give us a fuller picture. This passage from the Book of Jasher. It begins with a rumble of war. Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, rallies his allies...
Book of Jasher turns to Three Angels Visit Abraham Before Sodom's Doom. The tradition turns to the Book of Jasher. Now, this isn't part of the canonical Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. I...
Remember, this is an ancient Hebrew text, not considered canon, but full of fascinating stories filling in gaps in the biblical narrative. Our story picks up with Jacob and his son...
The period of the Judges was an era of divine intervention so direct that storms fought battles and fires executed corrupt leaders. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th...
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 lingered, hoping, perhaps against ...
Abraham wasn't one to linger where things got… unpleasant. With Sodom a smoldering memory, and whispers about Lot's daughters filling the air, Abraham packed up and headed for Gera...
Let me tell you a story that'll make your blood boil – a classic Sodom tale of deception, greed, and just plain audaciousness. You're traveling through the ancient world, weary fro...
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...
Our ancestors did the very same thing, as we learn from the story of Moses and the water from the rock. The scene: The Israelites are wandering in the desert, thirsty, desperate. T...
Right there, in front of everyone, Aaron and his sons were chosen, set apart for the holy task of serving as priests. Immediately following this ceremony, Aaron and his sons went i...
Here's a curious detail: this single mountain, according to some accounts, bore not one, but four names: Nebo, Abarim, Hor, and Pisgah. Why so many names for one place? Well, the L...
Legends of the Jews turns to Samael Gleefully Draws His Sword to Claim Moses. Samael, often identified with the angel of death, though some traditions paint a more complex picture,...
As Ginzberg retells it in Legends of the Jews, at that very moment, an angel descended, not to offer comfort, but to execute judgment. The angel slew four of David's sons, the prop...
King Ahasuerus, in the Book of Esther, was having one of those nights, and nothing seemed to calm him. That is, until… In Legends of the Jews, Ahasuerus only found a bit of peace w...
It explores how all of existence, from the highest heavens to the humblest creatures, is interconnected. Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a foundational text of Kabbalistic wisdom. It spea...
Jewish mystical tradition actually has a lot to say about the rainbow, and it's not all sunshine and well, rainbows. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbal...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a foundational text of Kabbalah, sheds some light on why that might be. It speaks of a "rock" – sel’a in Hebrew. This rock represents a sourc...
The familiar story is this: the Israelites are thirsty, Moses is frustrated, and God commands him to speak to a rock to bring forth water. Instead, in a moment of anger and doubt, ...
The mystical tradition of Kabbalah is all about finding those secrets, and the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a companion to the Zohar, is packed with them.Yes, a sword! This t...
Harba de-Moshe, the Sword of Moses, does not imagine a blade of iron in Moses's hand. It imagines a chain of names. Moses Gaster first published the work in 1896 from a manuscript ...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, examines a soaring promise from the prophet Isaiah: "Then you will rejoice in the Lord, and I will 'ride' you on the heights of the e...
The Mekhilta preserves a disturbing alternative reading of Pharaoh's boast. "Others say: It is not written 'I will draw my sword,' but 'I will empty my sword.'" The shift from "dra...
Rabbi Yossi ben Zimra noticed a single word in the Torah that most readers skip right past. And from it, he derived an astonishing claim about the staff of Moses. When God instruct...
Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Book of Psalms, grapples with that very feeling, using the story of Sodom and Abraham to explore themes of corruption...
(Psalm 94:1) cries out, "God of vengeance, shine forth!" And in Midrash Tehillim, the collection of rabbinic teachings on the Book of Psalms, this verse opens a fascinating door in...
The familiar version gives us the basic outline – wickedness, angels, fire and brimstone – but some of the details tucked away in Jewish tradition add layers of complexity and, fra...
I'm not talking about Miriam's tambourine (though that's definitely part of it!). I'm talking about something a little more.official. The trumpets. The Book of Numbers – Bamidbar i...
In the book of Bamidbar, also known as Numbers, we find a fascinating discussion about vows, and particularly, the power a father and husband have to either uphold them or, to use ...
It's a passage that sparks some interesting questions, and the ancient commentary, Sifrei Bamidbar, dives right in. "And the L-rd spoke to Moses, saying: Take the revenge of the ch...
Our source for today is Sifrei Devarim, a fascinating collection of early rabbinic legal interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy. It teaches us that the way the land receives wa...
Sifrei Devarim turns to The Sacred Timing of the Early and Late Rains. The passage focuses on two specific rains: the yoreh and the malkosh. The yoreh, we learn, falls in Marcheshv...
The familiar story is this: the great leader, having guided his people for forty years through the wilderness, gazes upon the Promised Land from Mount Nebo, and then…the Torah simp...
