714 related texts · 5 related myths · Page 3 of 15
It contrasts Adam, the first man, with Job, the righteous sufferer, highlighting their very different responses to adversity. The passage begins with Adam's infamous excuse: "The w...
As (Genesis 28:11) tells us, "He took from the stones of the place..." but what did he do with those stones? That's where the Rabbis pick up the story and run with it in Bereshit R...
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin, quoting Rabbi Levi, shares a profound idea: God took the conversations of the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and transformed them into the very...
The story of Esau and Jacob is a classic example, and the Rabbis in Devarim Rabbah, a collection of homiletic interpretations on the Book of Deuteronomy, unpack it with incredible ...
We make choices every day about who or what we'll put our faith in. What if the best choice wasn't about picking the flashiest option, but choosing the source of all blessings inst...
"She took for him a wicker basket…" Why wicker, specifically? It's a fair question. Rabbi Elazar offers a powerful answer: "Because for the righteous, their property is dearer to t...
It's a declaration. The text connects it to the verse "Happy is the nation that the Lord is its God" (Psalms 33:12), suggesting a deep link between national identity, divine provid...
The familiar story is this: from Exodus, but the Rabbis in Shir HaShirim Rabbah, the collection of rabbinic commentary on the Song of Songs, really dig into the depths of that betr...
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that prayer is the essential weapon of the Messiah. Not a sword. Not an army. Prayer. The teaching begins with a striking image from the Zohar: the ...
How Confession Turns Harsh Judgment Into Mercy is the question behind this passage from Likutey Moharan (Rabbi Nachman). Through the Torah of lovingkindness, which the Talmud defin...
The true tzaddik (a righteous person), Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches, is the one who looks at every detail of creation and asks: why did God make it this way? Why does a lion ha...
Why travel to see a tzaddik (a righteous person) in person when you can read their teachings in a book? Rabbi Nachman of Breslov answered this question directly: there is an immeas...
Malkut stands at the border where one world ends and the next begins. In Pardes Rimmonim 2:7:11-12, Cordovero describes the chain of worlds as a series of thresholds. Malkut is the...
When the Egyptians were drowning in the Red Sea, the ministering angels wanted to sing. God stopped them cold. According to Megillah 10b, He said: "My handiwork is drowning in the ...
After Bar Kamtza's betrayal, the emperor sent Nero to conquer Jerusalem. According to Gittin 56a, Nero arrived and performed a series of divination tests. He shot arrows in every d...
After the destruction of the Temple, Nebuzaradan, captain of the Babylonian guard under Nebuchadnezzar, found blood bubbling up from the ground in Jerusalem. According to Gittin 57...
The verse calls them "the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold" (Lamentations 4:2). According to Gittin 58a, the Jewish children taken captive to Rome after the Temple's ...
The Roman emperor challenged Rabban Gamliel with a direct theological question: if your God is everywhere, why can He not be seen? According to Sanhedrin 39b, the conversation expo...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Sheni Ketuvim In the beginning God created etc. - To declare the might of the acts of creation to creatures, and to make it known to them...
Before the world was created, God hid the Torah. Not in a vault, not in a distant heaven, hidden in the fabric of things, waiting for the right person to find it. And then Abraham ...
Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau (Genesis 32:4). The Hebrew word is malachim, messengers, angels. The midrash says this literally: Jacob sent actual angels. He had t...
The question hung in the beit midrash: what happened to the ten tribes exiled by Assyria, and will they ever come home? The sages opened (Deuteronomy 29:28) and read: And the Lord ...
Here is a verse that looks like an accounting entry until you notice what the numbers are doing. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 25:20) records that Isaac was forty years old wh...
There was an incident involving Miriam bat Baitus, whom Yehoshua ben Gamla betrothed [to him], and the king appointed him to be the High Priest.173He was appointed to this position...
“He is like a bear in ambush to me, a lion in hiding” (Lamentations 3:10).“He is like a bear in ambush to me” – this is Nebuchadnezzar. “A lion in hiding” – this is Nevuzaradan. Al...
A single verse from Deuteronomy captured the entire emotional arc of Jewish exile. "In the morning you will say: Would that it were evening, and in the evening you will say: Would ...
Ben Sira, a sage whose wisdom echoes through the ages, certainly thought so. He dives straight into the heart of familial honor, and it's a message that still resonates powerfully ...
Take this seemingly straightforward statement: "Be the name of the Lord blessed henceforth and for ever." It’s a potent declaration, a turning point, a conscious choice to shift th...
That feeling, that connection, is at the very heart of the Book of Jubilees, a text brimming with blessings, covenants, and the destiny of a people. Specifically, These aren't just...
One of those today, straight from the Book of Jubilees. The Book of Jubilees is a fascinating text. It’s considered apocryphal by many, meaning it's not included in the standard Je...
We've all been there. But what if those fleeting moments of negativity had cosmic consequences? That’s a question that echoes powerfully from the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewis...
The Book of Jubilees, for those who aren't familiar, is an ancient Jewish text, considered part of the biblical apocrypha or pseudepigrapha – writings that hover around the edges o...
The people are desperate, their water supply dwindling, and their faith is being tested. The city leaders, Uzziah, Chabris, and Charmis, have made a desperate gamble: they've vowed...
Ginzberg, in Legends of the Jews, tells us that Noah wept bitterly at the sight of the destruction. He turned to God, saying, "O Lord of the world! Thou art called the Merciful, an...
Her death, according to Legends of the Jews, wasn't just a family tragedy. It was a blow to the whole land. Imagine the shift: while she lived, things flowed smoothly, blessings ab...
Jacob sent messengers ahead, bearing gifts, with instructions to address Esau as "my lord.. from his slave Jacob." It sounds deferential, doesn’t it? But according to the legends, ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Moses Read the Entire Torah Aloud Before the Covenant. Before that earth-shattering covenant, before the words were etched in stone, Moses, our teacher...
These weren’t just pretty rocks. Oh no. Each of the twelve stones corresponded to one of the twelve tribes of Israel, and according to the legends, they possessed unique properties...
It wasn't just a chaotic mass of people wandering aimlessly. Oh no, there was structure, order, and vibrant banners flying high! In Ginzberg's, Legends of the Jews, each of the twe...
We met Balaam before. He's that non-Jewish prophet hired by Balak, the King of Moab, to curse the Israelites. Only… it didn't quite work out that way, did it? Instead of curses, bl...
The sages teach us that God bestowed three gifts upon the world: wisdom, strength, and wealth. But these gifts, potent as they are, come with a caveat. If they originate from God, ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Kenaz Carries Glowing Stones That Light Up the Earth. Then, of course, there's the battle. After these preparations, Kenaz leads an army of three hundr...
This blessing, this goodness, isn't just about the taste in our mouths. It's about the health that flows through our bodies, whether we eat a little or a lot. As the Psalmist sings...
The idea behind it? Absolutely massive. The text is, essentially, a declaration of faith and reliance on God. It begins with a powerful affirmation: "Blessed be God for ever Amen! ...
Jewish mysticism suggests you might be right. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, explores the concept of divine rebuke, a daily reminder from the he...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, as many know, is a collection of commentaries that "repairs" or "rectifies" the deeper meanings of the Torah. It's not exactly light reading....
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a companion to the Zohar, explores the deeper meanings of the Torah. In one particular passage, it explores the verse "As Y”Y lives! Lie down...
There’s a secret tucked away in the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a particularly mystical section of the Zohar, that might just change the way you approach your daily devotion...
