12,014 related texts · Page 1 of 251
Each prophet saw God differently. Amos saw Him standing — "I saw the Lord standing beside the altar" (Amos 9:1). Isaiah saw Him sitting — "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high ...
Why does the world hold together? Jeremiah gives the unlikely answer: "If not for My covenant day and night, I would not have established the fixed order of heaven and earth" (Jere...
King David grew old, and no one could warm him (1 Kings 1:1). The doctors tried blankets. They tried attendants. His body, which had survived lions and bears and Goliath and armies...
King David was sick and bedridden for thirteen years. His enemies waited. "When will he die and his name perish?" (Psalm 41:6). The midrash reports that seven sheep were laid besid...
Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years (Judges 9:22). Aggadat Bereshit uses this strange opening — about a king in the book of Judges — to arrive at the first murder. The path...
The rabbis of Esther Rabbah made a stunning claim: every time the Hebrew word vayhi ("it was") appears in the Torah, it signals disaster. Rabbi Tanhuma, Rabbi Berekhya, and Rabbi H...
"Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob" (Jeremiah 2:4). Not the word of Jeremiah. Not the word of the priesthood. The word of the Lord — direct, unmediated, demanding attenti...
The phrase "until Dan" appears not only in Moses' vision but much earlier in the Torah, when Abraham "pursued them until Dan" (Genesis 14:14) during his rescue of his nephew Lot. T...
“The adversary extended his hand over all her delights; for she saw the nations entering her Sanctuary, whom You had commanded that they should not enter Your assembly” (Lamentatio...
After the conquest of Canaan, God deliberately left certain nations in the land — not because He couldn't remove them, but to test Israel (Judges 3:1-2). The rabbis found this prac...
Today, we're diving into the Book of Jubilees, a fascinating ancient Jewish text that expands on the narratives in Genesis. It's considered apocryphal by many, meaning it's not par...
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that the root cause of exile is a lack of faith. And the cure for exile is the Land of Israel. The connection is not sentimental. It is structural. ...
The essence of life comes from prayer. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov derives this from a single verse: "Prayer to the God of my life" (Psalms 42:9). Prayer is not merely an appeal to th...
Hell has seven names. This is what Aggadat Bereshit says when Malachi promises "the day is coming, burning like an oven" (Malachi 3:19). The rabbis did not flinch from the geograph...
The land was barren. A terrible famine gripped the region, forcing Abraham and Sarah to seek refuge in Egypt. They first tried Hebron, but the hunger was everywhere. So, they journ...
While not part of the accepted biblical canon, Jasher (meaning "Upright" or "Correct Record") offers a fascinating, if sometimes embellished, account of biblical events. And Chapte...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. And they found evidence of it woven right into the fabric of the Torah itself. Take the story of Abraham, our forefather. He goes down to Egypt to...
The Torah tackles this very question, and the answer is surprisingly nuanced. We find a fascinating passage in Vayikra Rabbah 23, which delves into (Leviticus 18:3): “You shall not...
The vision was nearly complete. God spoke His final words to Abraham, circling back from the cosmic future to the personal promise that had started everything. "Therefore hear, O A...
That’s kind of what happened to Abraham. God promised him the entire land of Canaan, a massive inheritance for him and his descendants. But when his beloved wife Sarah passed away,...
The Egyptians, according to Legends of the Jews, actually mourned Jacob. Why? Because they believed his presence had lessened the severity of the famine. Instead of lasting the div...
Three hundred and eighteen men against four armies. That's what Abraham brought to the battle—and he won. According to Josephus, the trouble started when the cities of Sodom fell u...
Not just for a little while, but potentially… forever. What would you do? How far would your trust in the divine stretch? That’s the kind of situation Abraham faced, according to P...
The Hebrew Bible says God told Abraham, "Fear not, I am your shield" (Genesis 15:1). Targum Onkelos renders this as "My Word is your strength." The shield becomes a Word. The prote...
Our ancestors dealt with that too, as we see in the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot. The book of Genesis (12:4) tells us, "Abram went, as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot we...
It's easy to imagine them springing forth, fully formed, ready to face any challenge. But what about the times before the heroism, the moments of vulnerability, the struggles that ...
Let’s look at Isaac, the son of Abraham. The book of Genesis tells us, "There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was during the days of Abraham, and Isaac went...
The voice came again. Twice it called his name: "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am." "It is I. Fear not, for I am before the worlds, a mighty God who has created the light of the world...
They walked together for forty days and forty nights. Abraham ate no bread and drank no water. His food was the sight of the angel beside him. His drink was Iaoel's speech. This wa...
The sun went down. Smoke rose from the ground like the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 15:17). The angels who held the portions of the sacrifice ascended from the top of the smoking fu...
"Do not be hasty with your words, and let your heart not rush to bring a matter before God" (Ecclesiastes 5:1). Jacob had said: "My way is hidden from the Lord." The rabbis found t...
They were promised descendants as numerous as the stars, yet years went by in the land of Canaan, barren and seemingly forgotten by destiny. The Torah tells us, “Sarai, Abram’s wif...
The Eternal Mighty One said: "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am." "Look down at the stars beneath your feet. Count them for me. Make known to me their number." Abraham looked down from...
Zechariah saw a horseman in a vision of the night (Zechariah 1:8). The rabbis identified this figure as the prince of Edom — the heavenly guardian angel of the nation that had rule...
The story of Lot is a fascinating example. We know him best, perhaps, for his narrow escape from the fiery destruction of Sodom. But did you know that his salvation wasn't just a s...
Sometimes, those hidden depths hold the most fascinating secrets. Take the story of Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael. We all know the basics, but what about the details? The Torah tells...
Let’s look at one of those now, a fraught and painful scene from Genesis, chapter 21. We're talking about the expulsion of Hagar and her son Yishmael. The verse tells us, "Abraham ...
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,...
[1] "And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, etc." (Exodus 20:1-2) Blessed is the Place, blessed is He, who chose Israel from all His handiwork and acquired ...
“In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Aḥashverosh, he had cast a pur, that is, the lot, before Haman for each day and for each month, to the tw...
His nephew, Lot, has just departed, choosing a different path, and perhaps a more materially prosperous one. Abram might be feeling a little…lost. But then, something incredible ha...
It's right there in the Torah: "Abraham said to God: 'Would that Ishmael might live before You.'" (Genesis 17:18). Seems straightforward. But like so much in our tradition, there's...
Jubilees, considered scripture by some and an important historical text by others, paints a picture of Abraham's unwavering faith in the face of, let’s just say, a lot of challenge...
Let’s talk about Abraham. Scarcely had Abraham settled in Canaan when a devastating famine struck. Now, famines aren’t exactly rare in the grand scheme of things. In fact, the lege...
We know that CANAAN, son of HAM, and his descendants settled in the land. But the story goes that they didn’t exactly have permission. According to Legends of the Jews, Canaan disr...
And it wasn't a coincidence. See, the famine that struck during Abraham's time? It wasn’t just a random act of nature. According to Legends of the Jews, specifically volume one, th...
You're not alone. Even Joseph, the powerful vizier of Egypt, had to navigate those tricky waters. Imagine the scene: Jacob, Joseph's father and the patriarch of the Israelite peopl...
We're diving into a moment of profound disillusionment and rebellion in the Israelite camp, right after the spies return from scouting the land of Canaan. The people, as Ginzberg r...
