4,670 related texts · Page 8 of 98
The book of Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim) explores the depths of human and divine love, and the Rabbis, in their interpretations, find layers upon layers of meaning within its vers...
It's not just about taste or culinary use; there's a deeper story, a narrative woven through our texts that elevates olive oil above all other oils. Rabbi Ḥiyya, in Vayikra Rabbah ...
“Servants rule over us; there is no deliverer from their hand” (Lamentations 5:8).“Servants rule over us,” this is Egypt.11They descend from Ham, who was cursed by Noah that his de...
We all remember the flood, the ark, and the animals marching two-by-two. But the raven? And why did Noah send out a dove later? What's the deal? The text itself, (Genesis 8:7-8), s...
Philo, a Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria in the first century CE, delved deep into the Torah, seeking wisdom and hidden meanings. And in one particular midrash – a kind of ...
(Lev. 19:2:) “You shall be holy.” This text is related (to Ps. 20:3), “May He send you help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion.” From the sanctuary (qdsh) [means] from th...
Ben Sira, also known as Ecclesiasticus, is a book of wisdom literature, a treasure trove of insights into Jewish thought and practice, though it's not included in the Hebrew Bible'...
Ancient texts wrestled with this too, and the Book of Jubilees dives deep into the complexities of time, observance, and the potential for things to go terribly, terribly wrong. Th...
That’s the feeling I get when I read the story of Abram leaving Haran in the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, if you’re not familiar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories ...
And it's a little different than what you might expect. In Jubilees 14, we find Abraham in a very familiar role: making sacrifices. He offers up pieces of animals, birds, fruit-off...
The Book of Jubilees, a text bubbling with detail about the early days of humankind and covenants with God, offers a fascinating glimpse. In the 15th chapter, we find Abraham – sti...
Specifically, we're going to explore Chapter 15, which focuses on the covenant between God and Abraham. This is a foundational story, one that echoes through Jewish history and ide...
We're in the aftermath of a huge moment: God’s promise to Abraham. But it's not just any promise; it's a covenant. A sacred agreement. God tells Abraham, "My covenant shall I estab...
It’s a beautiful, almost intimate, scene from the life of Jacob, the patriarch who would become known as Israel. Specifically, we are looking at Chapter 22. Imagine old Jacob, his ...
Some say it's gravity, others dark energy. But what about love? What about a mother's love, strong enough to bind even the most volatile relationships? The Book of Jubilees, an anc...
The Book of Jubilees, also sometimes called Lesser Genesis, is considered apocryphal by many Jews and Protestants, but canonical in Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Christianity. Ap...
to a fascinating, and sometimes surprising, peek into the origins of Passover and Shabbat, as seen through the lens of a text called the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees, som...
It's not just about taste, folks. It's a whole symbolic system, pointing to deeper truths about ourselves and our relationship with the Divine. The Letter of Aristeas, an ancient t...
This is the world Megillat Antiochus throws us into. The story begins with a chilling proposition, whispered amongst the advisors of King Antiochus. "Come now," they urged, "let us...
That feeling echoes through the ages, all the way back to the time of the Maccabees. And it’s where our story begins. These aren’t my words, mind you. This is straight from The Sec...
The story continues, of course! And today, we're diving into Chapter 88 of the Book of Jasher to see what happened as the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land under the lea...
The opening columns of the Community Rule describe a yearly covenant renewal ceremony that reads like a cross between a monastic initiation and an ancient Israelite oath of allegia...
The persecution was methodical and savage. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, Phillipos, the officer left ...
According to Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, God revealed Himself to Abraham shortly after, to ease his conscience about the spilling of innocent blood, a scruple that caused him g...
It's a story about covenants, wells, and the surprising ways God's presence is revealed in the world. After living among the Philistines for 26 years, Abraham moves near Hebron. So...
The Torah is full of moments like that, and the story of Abraham and Abimelech is a perfect example. Before Abraham finalized his covenant with Abimelech, king of the Philistines, ...
That’s what the biblical Rebekah experienced during her pregnancy with Jacob and Esau. She suffered terrible pains, unlike anything she'd ever felt before. She asked other women if...
We all know the story: the coat of many colors, the dreams, the rise to power in Egypt. But what about before all that? What was Joseph really like as a teenager? According to Lege...
We all know the story – Joseph, sold into slavery, rises through the ranks in the house of Potiphar, an Egyptian official. But it wasn't all smooth sailing. Potiphar's wife, well, ...
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...
Let's look at a moment between Jacob and Joseph, a father and son bound by love, yet separated by doubt. Jacob, nearing the end of his life in Egypt, makes a request of Joseph: to ...
These figures offer drastically different perspectives on divine justice. Think about Abraham's plea regarding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He challenges God, saying, "Th...
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...
The story goes that God, wanting to leave a lasting reminder of His power for generations to come, instructed Moses to place a jar of manna—that miraculous food that sustained the ...
The ancient Israelites, fresh out of Egypt, thought they had that… but then Amalek came along. The story of Amalek is more than just a battle; it's a clash between faith and doubt,...
It turns out, the ancient stories have a lot to say on the matter. We find ourselves with Moses, after the giving of the Torah, setting up the legal system. He didn’t just appoint ...
The story goes that when it came time for God to reveal the Torah, all the mountains in the world began to vie for the honor. Imagine them, these colossal peaks, practically jostli...
Turns out, according to some pretty amazing stories, it wasn't as simple as just saying "yes." Before that earth-shattering covenant, before the words were etched in stone, Moses, ...
It wasn't exactly a picnic. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) paints a picture of intense anticipation, mixed with a healthy dose of terror. From the moment the Israel...
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...
According to Ginzberg's masterful retelling in Legends of the Jews, God wasn't just concerned with delivering the Torah to the Israelites. He was concerned with how it was delivere...
It’s a question as old as time, and one that even Moses, the great lawgiver himself, wrestled with. According to Ginzberg’s retelling in Legends of the Jews, while Moses was up on ...
The Israelites knew that feeling all too well. Remember the Golden Calf? A colossal screw-up. A moment of collective insanity that threatened to shatter everything. But what happen...
But the story, as always, is far more complex than it seems. Balaam, unlike some of the other characters we encounter in the Hebrew Bible, doesn't give up easily. After initially b...
He led the Israelites through the desert for forty long years, endured hardship after hardship, and finally, finally, the Promised Land was within sight. But he wasn't going to be ...
Sometimes, the answer might surprise you. Let's talk about Rabbi Isaac Loria, also known as the Ari, the Lion – a pivotal figure in Kabbalah. His teachings marked such a radical sh...
It all started with a vow – a solemn promise made by Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, to Nebuchadnezzar. But things went south, as they often do in these stories. Zedekiah, for re...
The text tells us that “the sound of their grief pierced to the very heavens.” It paints a vivid picture of despair. And where is Moses, their leader, during all this? He’s gone to...
