12,014 related texts · Page 11 of 251
Well, according to Legends of the Jews, a year after Sarah's death, Abimelech also passed away, at the ripe old age of one hundred and ninety-three! Can you imagine living that lon...
It’s a poignant moment, and the Torah is silent about Isaac's immediate reaction. But Jewish tradition, ever eager to fill in the gaps, gives us a fascinating glimpse into what mig...
According to some fascinating strands of Jewish tradition, not necessarily! The Legends of the Jews hints that even after Abraham's passing, his work wasn't finished. It paints a p...
The people of Hebron certainly did, right before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Imagine this: It's the eve of the holiest day of the year, a time for communal prayer and reflect...
Legend tells us Isaac wasn't just Abraham's son; he was his counterpart. The Legends of the Jews tells us he resembled his father "in beauty, wisdom, strength, wealth, and noble de...
Consider Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt. It’s a story we all know, but have you ever thought about the smell of the story? Normally, the Ishmaelite traders, the ones who bought...
Not just a little hunger pang, but the gnawing, desperate emptiness that turns societies upside down. That’s the scene we’re walking into. "The grain that we put aside during the g...
In the story of Joseph and his brothers, that desperation takes center stage, laced with guilt and suspicion. Imagine the scene. Joseph, now a powerful figure in Egypt, is testing ...
We know him for his dreams, his betrayal, and his rise to power in Egypt, but according to tradition, there was so much more to him. Joseph earned the title "the God-fearing one"—a...
Let’s journey back, way back, to the funeral procession of Jacob, or as he was also known, Israel. Now, this wasn't just any funeral. This was Jacob, the father of the twelve tribe...
He's lived a long life, seen triumphs and hardships, and now he has one final, crucial instruction. "I command you, my children," he says, his voice perhaps a little frail but firm...
The frogs were gone. Vanished! You'd think he'd be thanking his lucky stars. You'd think he’d be packing up the Israelites and sending them on their way with a "Godspeed!" But nope...
Ginzberg, in Legends of the Jews, presents a fascinating, almost unsettling, answer. when the time for redemption drew near, fulfilling the promise to Abraham, there was a problem....
But instead of beelining straight for the Promised Land, they wandered in the desert for what felt like forever. Why? Well, it turns out there's more to it than just getting lost. ...
And the story of the Exodus, specifically the crossing of the Red Sea, offers a fascinating glimpse into this idea. Imagine the scene: the Israelites, finally free from slavery, st...
That’s the tightrope Moses walked, and according to Legends of the Jews, his bold words weren't without repercussions. Remember the Golden Calf? The Israelites, fresh from their li...
Did they just pop out to a Bedouin bazaar for some gold thread and acacia wood? Of course not! The story, as you might expect, is far more… divine. We all know the biblical account...
Especially trekking through the desert! But imagine if those clothes were actually…miraculous. The Torah tells us about the Israelites wandering in the desert for forty years after...
The Israelites knew that feeling intimately after the incident with the spies. God, though He relented from completely wiping them out, wasn't exactly thrilled. And that distance m...
It's a story filled with nuance and, frankly, a little bit of surprise. These two nations, Moab and Ammon, were neighbors of the Israelites, descendants of Lot (Abraham's nephew) t...
That’s the feeling that clings to the story of Moses and his unfulfilled dream of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land. We all know the story: Moses, the reluctant prophet...
You return, weary but victorious, only to find… things aren't exactly as you left them. That's what happened to the two and a half tribes who ventured east of the Jordan River in t...
Today, let's dive into one such fragment, courtesy of Flavius Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish scholar. He's quoting an Egyptian historian named Manetho in his work Agains...
Every nation on earth traces back to one of three men. That's the claim Josephus makes in the Antiquities, and he spends two chapters proving it—mapping the seventy nations descend...
Everyone in Mesopotamia worshipped the stars. The sun, the moon, the constellations—they were the gods of Chaldea, and no one questioned it. No one except Abraham. According to Jos...
Jewish tradition paints a vivid picture of just such a place: a heavenly otzar, a treasury. But this isn't just any vault filled with gold; it's the Treasury of Merits, a repositor...
Today, let's peek into Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, specifically section 16, and witness a gathering of some of the greatest sages in Jewish history. The scene opens w...
Jewish tradition grapples with this feeling in fascinating ways, especially when it comes to ritual purity, or taharah. One particularly intriguing story comes from Heikhalot (the ...
"The foe said, etc.": How did Israel know what Pharaoh thought of them in Egypt? The Holy Spirit reposed upon them and they knew it. Pharaoh said: It really does not befit us to pu...
A small detail in (Exodus 16:1) caught the attention of the rabbis of the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael. The verse states that the Israelites journeyed from Eilim and arrived in the Wi...
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah made a bold claim about how deeply the Torah regards circumcision. The foreskin, he taught, is so repulsive in the eyes of God that Scripture uses "uncircu...
Abraham called himself a stranger. (Genesis 23:4): "A stranger and a sojourner am I with you." David called himself a stranger. (Psalms 119:19): "I am a stranger in the land." And ...
According to some fascinating old stories, Abraham wore a glowing stone around his neck. What was it? A pearl, some say. Others claim it was a magnificent jewel. But whatever its c...
(Genesis 24:1) tells us that in his old age, God blessed Abraham in all things. We usually think of that in terms of wealth and a long life. But what if there was more? What if "al...
Jewish tradition offers some fascinating glimpses into those final moments, and the stories are often breathtaking. The story goes that on the day Abraham was to die, he received a...
The ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of stories and interpretations, suggests that there just might be. The text draws our attention to the fifth day. ...
We all know the story of Passover, the Korban (a sacrificial offering) Pesach, the Paschal lamb. But there's a layer to the story that adds so much depth, a detail that speaks volu...
The scene: The Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, the ancient burial ground purchased by Abraham himself. Jacob, also known as Israel, has passed away in Egypt, and his sons are bringing...
The Torah provides a fascinating and compassionate solution: cities of refuge, places where an unintentional manslayer could flee and find sanctuary. But how did these cities work,...
It’s a question that’s resonated throughout Jewish history, and the answer, surprisingly, is all about perspective. Our tradition teaches us that the way we count time is intimatel...
Abraham married again after Sarah's death. The Torah calls his new wife Keturah. The Targum reveals her true identity in a single phrase: "She is Hagar, who had been bound to him f...
The Torah describes Jacob's burial as a solemn procession to Canaan. Targum Jonathan turns it into an epic confrontation complete with a golden deathbed, a eulogy comparing Jacob t...
Rabbi Ishmael ben Jose was making his way to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage when a Samaritan stopped him on the road. The Samaritans — who lived on and around Mount Gerizim and claimed ...
The story of the spies sent to scout the Land of Canaan in the Book of Numbers is a powerful example of how fear and negative speech can derail even the most promising journeys. Th...
And in Bereshit Rabbah, one of our most beloved collections of Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) – stories that expand upon the Hebrew Bible – we find a fascinating perspe...
Our ancestor, Abraham, knew that feeling well. God promised him descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth and an eternal inheritance of land. But what did that really mean? ...
The Book of (Genesis 14:15) tells us, "He divided up against them at night, he and his servants, and he smote them and pursued them until Ḥova, which is north of Damascus." But it’...
Meanwhile, weeds seem to sprout up effortlessly, choking everything in their path. Jewish tradition grapples with this very question, especially when it comes to something as funda...
