813 related texts · Page 2 of 17
"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 everyt...
That feeling is at the heart of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. We all know the story: wickedness, fire, brimstone. But what about the sheer, physical devastation? How did it actu...
And according to some mystical teachings, what we see here is just a reflection of something far grander: the rainbow of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). The Shekhinah, often t...
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. Take, for example, this passage from the Book of Jasher. It begins with a rumble of war. Chedorlaomer, king of Elam,...
We know the broad strokes of Abraham, the patriarch, and the destruction of Sodom. But what about the details? Sometimes, the lesser-known texts fill in the gaps, offering a richer...
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...
According to Legends of the Jews, 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 ...
According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Abraham wasn't one to linger where things got… unpleasant. With Sodom a smoldering memory, and whispers about Lot's daught...
Let me tell you a story that'll make your blood boil – a classic Sodom tale of deception, greed, and just plain audaciousness. Imagine you're traveling through the ancient world, w...
This particular story plunges us into the land of the Philistines. Imagine the scene: A night filled with inexplicable terror. A "great crying" echoes across the land as people wit...
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. Imagine the scene: The Israelites are wandering in the desert, thirsty, desp...
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...
Jewish tradition paints a vivid picture of his ascent to Mount Nebo, a place shrouded in significance. But here's a curious detail: this single mountain, according to some accounts...
That's what the ancient texts hint at when they describe Samael (the angel of death)'s mission to confront Moses. Now, Samael—often identified with the angel of death, though some ...
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… According to Legends of the Jews, Ahasuerus only found a bit ...
It explores how all of existence, from the highest heavens to the humblest creatures, is interconnected. The text we're diving into today comes from Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a foun...
Jewish mystical tradition actually has a lot to say about the rainbow, and it's not all sunshine and well, rainbows. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbal...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei 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...
We all know the story: 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, Moses...
The mystical tradition of Kabbalah is all about finding those secrets, and the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a companion to the Zohar, is packed with them.Yes, a sword! The te...
Harba de-Moshe (חרבא דמשה), the Sword of Moses, is one of the most important Jewish theurgic texts from the Geonic period. First published by Moses Gaster in 1896 from a unique man...
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...
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...
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...
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 instruc...
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...
We all know the basic outline – wickedness, angels, fire and brimstone – but some of the details tucked away in Jewish tradition add layers of complexity and, frankly, a lot of hea...
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...
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...
It's more than just geography; it's about sustenance, blessing, and the very way it drinks in life. Our source for today is Sifrei Devarim, a fascinating collection of early rabbin...
We often take it for granted, but in Jewish tradition, even something as fundamental as rain carries layers of significance, tied to specific times of the year and even reflecting ...
We all know the story: 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 simply te...
The passage begins, "Listen, O heavens, and I shall speak." Rabbi Yehudah b. Chananiah, a wise sage, taught that when Moses spoke those words, the heavens – not just the heavens we...
One particularly evocative image is that of an eagle, caring for its young. This imagery appears in Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)...
We're going to dive into a powerful, and frankly, a little scary verse from Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal interpretations on the book of Deuteronomy. Specifically, we're lo...
That feeling, that struggle… it’s ancient. And it’s right there in the Torah. Sifrei Devarim, a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, grapples with this very question. It's not ju...
We all know the story of Moses. The great leader who led the Israelites out of Egypt, received the Torah at Mount Sinai... a figure of immense stature. But even Moses, the humblest...
And while definitive answers might elude us, Jewish tradition offers tantalizing hints and comforting assurances. Our exploration begins in Sifrei Devarim, a collection of legal an...
When Miriam died on the tenth day of the month Nisan, the well that had sustained Israel throughout their desert wanderings vanished. The Targum makes this connection explicit in a...
Gog makes his plans in secret. He thinks his strategies are hidden — the alliance-building, the schemes against Israel, the invasions planned in quiet rooms. "On that day, thoughts...
"But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me'" (Isaiah 49:14). And God answers — not with proof of presence but with a reminder of what "remembering" actual...
