5,341 related texts · 2 related myths · Page 6 of 112
Legends of the Jews turns to Zepho Won with God's Help Then Kept Worshipping Idols. Despite God's help, Zepho, the king of Kittim – often associated with Cyprus and sometimes Rome ...
Six hundred thousand families, all on foot. That's already a crowd beyond imagining. But picture each family, not just with mom and dad, but with FIVE children riding horses! It's ...
Beneath the surface of the biblical narrative, the aggadah – the Jewish tradition of storytelling and interpretation – reveals a deeper, almost mystical struggle. It wasn't just ab...
When he built the Beit Hamikdash, the Holy Temple, in Jerusalem, he constructed a brand new altar for offerings. But Solomon, in his wisdom, retained the original name for his new ...
It turns out, even the number of curtains held a profound significance. eleven curtains made of goats' hair. Why eleven? Well, according to tradition, it mirrors the eleven heavens...
Legends of the Jews turns to The Deadly Danger of Carrying the Ark of the Covenant. Their most sacred duty, as we learn in Legends of the Jews, was transporting the Holy of Holies,...
Moses knew something profound. He understood that, more than anything else, God valued mercy. Remember the story of the Golden Calf? When the Israelites went completely astray, Mos...
The Legends of the Jews, that incredible collection of stories and expansions on the biblical narrative compiled by Louis Ginzberg, recounts just such a moment. We find Moses facin...
Remember Balaam? The non-Jewish prophet hired to curse the Israelites? Well, even as all the drama was unfolding – his donkey seeing an angel, refusing to move, and eventually spea...
Sometimes, it's not who you expect. In the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert, fresh from their Exodus from Egypt, readers often focus on the big figures: Moses, Aaron...
The rabbis of old certainly thought so. They saw names as holding the very essence of a thing, a little piece of its soul. Think about the Israelite tribes staking their claim to t...
The familiar story centers on Samson – the strongman betrayed by Delilah, his hair cut, his strength gone, his eyes gouged out by the Philistines. A tragic hero, to say the least. ...
The prophet Jeremiah certainly did, and the story of his choice after the destruction of the First Temple is a powerful one. The scene: Jerusalem has fallen. The Temple is in ruins...
That's Sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles). You might know it as the Feast of Tabernacles or the Festival of Booths. It's a time of harvest celebration and remembrance of the Isra...
Zohar turns to The High Priest Enters The Holy Of Holies. Our focus? The High Priest, his heart pounding, preparing to enter the Kodesh HaKodashim, the Holy of Holies, the innermos...
Jewish tradition often speaks of a profound connection between the heavens and the earth – “as above, so below,” as the Kabbalists say. But what happens when tragedy strikes here? ...
That delicious meal, that beautiful song, that perfect moment.. it just replays in your mind, over and over. Now, That's the level of love He paints a picture of someone so consume...
Peri Etz Hadar turns to David and the Holy Sanctuary. We’ve talked before about the power of speech in Kabbalah, how words can stir the sefirot (the divine emanations), those divin...
In Da'at (Knowledge) Tevunot, a profound work of Jewish thought, we find a powerful assertion: that God built the world on justice. Not just any kind of justice, but a "straight an...
It suggests that the very actions of the Divine will prove that Yichud, the Singularity, will eventually be revealed. How so? We see it in the prophecies themselves. These propheci...
Even for a split second, it's blinding, overwhelming. Now, imagine something infinitely brighter. Something beyond comprehension. That's kind of what Specifically, we're pondering ...
That movement, the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah (Wisdom) suggests, isn't random. It’s a direct reflection of how the divine attributes are influencing the world at any given moment. som...
It whispers about an "underlying perfect likeness" – a fundamental unity binding all of creation together. Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a profound text whose title roughly translates t...
The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a key text in Kabbalah, explains it beautifully. It tells us that a Sefirah (a divine emanation) is a single power, one of ten overall powers that make...
Jewish mystical tradition, particularly the Kabbalah, wrestles with this in fascinating ways. one particularly intriguing perspective from the text Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah (lit. "1...
Jewish mystical tradition, particularly Kabbalah, loves to explore these connections between the macrocosm – the vast universe – and the microcosm – little old us. And one of the m...
Jewish mystical tradition, particularly the Kabbalah, offers a fascinating perspective, especially when we explore the relationship between Imma (the archetypal Mother) and Zeir An...
Jewish mystical tradition, particularly the Kabbalah, offers a fascinating answer, a cosmic dance of masculine and feminine energies that bring creation into being. The Kalach Pitc...
While it might not hand us the cheat sheet, it does give us glimpses, whispers of this underlying structure. The source turns to a particularly enigmatic corner of Kabbalah, explor...
You're not alone. Jewish tradition grapples with this very idea. The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a profound and somewhat mysterious Kabbalistic text, dives deep into the cosmic balanc...
Jewish mystical tradition, particularly in texts like Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah (which translates roughly as "Key to the Gates of Wisdom"), grapples with this very idea – the extent ...
Like sometimes you're firing on all cylinders, and other times. well, not so much? Jewish mystical thought, particularly in the Kabbalah, offers a fascinating framework for underst...
These aren’t names of people, but rather represent aspects of the divine. Zeir Anpin, often translated as “Small Face” or “Short Countenance," is associated with the masculine prin...
The mystics of old felt that way too. And their journey to grasp the divine led them down some pretty fascinating paths. to one of those paths today, guided by the Idra Zuta, a sec...
The mystics of the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, certainly did. They saw the world as fractured, in need of repair. And at the heart of that repair lies a profound cry...
Jewish mysticism explores this very feeling, using beautiful imagery to explore the soul's journey and its yearning for connection. a passage from the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Z...
Jewish tradition has a way of confronting these feelings, of acknowledging the darkness even while holding onto hope. one small but powerful idea from the Tikkunei (spiritual repai...
Tikkunei Zohar turns to Holy Names That Map the Sefirot. When these Holy Names reside in "Father" and "Mother," on the right and the left, each name stands alone. Think of it like ...
Jewish mysticism wrestles with that very feeling. It explores the times when even the most righteous seem to be met with silence. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a foundatio...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, explores this very tension using some fascinating metaphors. It talks about a concept called hatzrakhah (הַצְרָכָ...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, speaks directly to this feeling. It explores the forces that can separate us from the ultimate source of goodness...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a core text of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), offers a powerful image of divine protection. It speaks of the Shekhinah – the feminine aspect of...
Tikkunei Zohar turns to Enter Holy Hosts to Witness the Bride Being Adorned. Who is this bride? Who is this groom? Rabbi Shimon doesn't leave us hanging. He clarifies that the groo...
The Shechinah (שכינה), God's indwelling Presence, rests in the Holy of Holies. But if God fills the entire world with His glory, what does it mean for the Shechinah to "rest" in on...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, records a teaching from Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov about how the Israelites knew exactly what to ask from the Egyptians. And how the Eg...
"and they emptied out Egypt": We are hereby apprised that their idols melted and returned to their former state, (so that they were now permitted to take them.) And whence is it de...
The Torah states: "And if there live with you a stranger, and he would offer a Pesach (Passover) to the Lord" (Exodus 12:48). The Mekhilta immediately identifies a potential misund...
Thus did the Holy One Blessed be He impress upon the nations of the world His love of Israel. He Himself walking before them, so that they (learn to) treat them honorably. And let ...
