12,014 related texts · Page 166 of 251
When Aristobulus I died after just one year on the throne, his widow Salome Alexandra did something audacious. She released Aristobulus's brothers from prison, where he had kept th...
After defeating the rebellion, Alexander Jannaeus returned to Jerusalem and made his enemies pay in the most horrifying way possible. Josephus records the scene: Alexander captured...
Herod had the throne, but the Hasmonean family still haunted him. His wife Mariamne was a Hasmonean princess. Her mother Alexandra was relentless in promoting Hasmonean claims. And...
Herod died the way he lived: in agony, surrounded by plots, and trying to control what happened after he was gone. His body was rotting while he was still inside it. According to J...
Agrippa went from debtor, to exile, to suicidal fugitive, to prisoner in chains, to king of all Judea. His life reads like the plot of a novel that an editor would reject as too im...
But in Jewish mystical tradition, the idea that humanity reflects God is a powerful and recurring theme. : (Genesis 1:27) states plainly that God created humanity in His image. But...
Think of it like this: the "Cause of all Causes" is above everything. I mean everything. There's no higher power, no celestial being pulling the strings of it. It's the ultimate or...
It might sound like a silly question, but Jewish tradition actually has some fascinating, even awe-inspiring, things to say about God's "robe of glory." Some mystical texts describ...
We often hear about God's word, God's actions... but what about God's beauty? It's a question that takes us deep into the heart of Jewish mystical thought. Forget the image of a ce...
That, according to some powerful Jewish mystical traditions, is how the universe came to be. Not a slow burn, not a gradual unfolding, but a single, instantaneous burst of divine e...
Jewish tradition offers us just such a vision: the Cosmic Tree. In the beginning, according to some mystical texts, God planted this tree, a being of unimaginable scale stretching ...
Today, we're diving into a fascinating, and frankly unsettling, corner of Jewish mystical tradition: the story of Samael (the angel of death) and Lilith. It's a story of intertwine...
It paints a picture of a moment teeming with… competition. Imagine this: Adam's body is there, perfectly formed. The first human. But he’s… inert. Lifeless. And according to the Zo...
According to some mystical traditions, there's a place, a hidden realm, far beyond our everyday perception, where souls reside in a truly remarkable way. Imagine a field. Not just ...
And there’s even an angel assigned to help. His name is Yode'a, the Angel of Losses. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, the great Hasidic master, seems to have conceived of this angel, thi...
We often hear about the benevolent angels, the messengers, the healers. But what about the ones who fall from grace? Let's talk about Dumah. According to Jewish tradition, Dumah wa...
It’s a question that’s haunted humanity for millennia, and Jewish tradition has some pretty specific – and unsettling – answers. According to Jewish folklore, demons can be born fr...
Jewish tradition has a concept called Gehenna, often translated as Hell, though it’s more of a purgatorial realm of purification. And guarding the gates, or at least playing a key ...
Jewish tradition has a fascinating, and ultimately hopeful, answer to that feeling. We're talking about Gehenna. It's a name that often gets translated as "hell," but in Jewish tra...
We usually think of pleasure as something physical. A good meal, a comfortable bed, a beautiful sunset. But what if true pleasure came from something else entirely? Rabbi Nachman o...
Jewish tradition suggests that might be truer than you think, especially when it comes to the relationship between us, the Torah, and the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). The Shekh...
Jewish tradition paints a picture far more intense and overwhelming than we might imagine. The idea that the Torah was given through a single voice? Well, that's just the beginning...
It’s a question that’s haunted mystics and storytellers for centuries, and it sits right at the heart of the legend of the golem. We usually think of the famous Golem of Prague, bu...
Let’s journey back to Prague, to the time of Rabbi Loew, the famed Maharal. The emperor had just decreed that the horrific blood libel accusations – the false claims that Jews used...
The Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, tells us that the angels hold their own Sabbath feast in heaven. Imagine thousands of them gathered in the fourth heavenly palace, a ...
There's a story, a haunting one, about a well within the Temple court in Jerusalem. It's known as the Weeping Well, and its story is woven into the very fabric of the Ninth of Av, ...
Jewish tradition paints a vivid picture of the Garden of Eden, and right at its heart stands something truly special: the Etz Chayim, the Tree of Life. It's not alone, of course. N...
But what about the other tree... the Tree of Life? Here's a mind-bender: God actually didn't forbid Adam from eating from the Tree of Life. He was free to partake! Genesis doesn't ...
The Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, apparently did – and according to one story, he nearly brought the Messiah himself into the world! The tale goes that the Ba'al Shem To...
Jewish mysticism, specifically through the lens of gilgul (reincarnation), offers an intriguing perspective on this feeling. The Sha'ar HaGilgulim, a core text on the Kabbalistic u...
It’s a question that’s wrestled with in the profound Kabbalistic text, Sha’ar HaGilgul (the reincarnation of souls)im (the reincarnation of souls), or “The Gate of Reincarnations.”...
The Kabbalists, especially in texts like Sha'ar HaGilgul (the reincarnation of souls)im, the "Gate of Reincarnations," offer a fascinating, intricate, and ultimately hopeful perspe...
In Jewish mysticism, particularly in the teachings of the Kabbalah, we find a concept called Ibur (עיבור), often translated as "impregnation." It's a fascinating idea about how sou...
Kabbalistic teachings delve into these mysteries, and today, we're going to explore a fascinating concept from the Sha'ar HaGilgul (the reincarnation of souls)im, the "Gate of Rein...
The Kabbalists certainly pondered these questions, and their explorations led them to the complex and fascinating concept of gilgul (the reincarnation of souls)im (the reincarnatio...
Jewish mysticism offers a fascinating, if complex, explanation: gilgul (the reincarnation of souls)im (the reincarnation of souls), or reincarnation. But it's not just about endles...
The concept of gilgul (the reincarnation of souls), or reincarnation, in Jewish mysticism offers some fascinating perspectives on just that. We find some intricate details in the S...
In Jewish mystical thought, particularly in the teachings about gilgul (the reincarnation of souls), or reincarnation, it's not just baggage, it's… well, it’s complicated. We’re di...
This isn’t just philosophical musing. It has real implications. The tradition teaches that Moshiach ben Dovid, the Messiah, won't arrive until all the Ruchos and Neshamot – all the...
The idea of reincarnation, or gilgul, is a thread woven deeply into the tapestry of Jewish mystical thought. It suggests that souls, after their time in this world, might return in...
And tackling it requires us to ask some fundamental questions of our own. But before you run screaming into the night, let’s clarify: We’re not talking about diving into the unknow...
We all grapple with these questions, especially when it comes to something as massive as, well, existence itself. Why are we here? What's the point of it all? One fascinating appro...
Some, particularly those who've distanced themselves from the yoke of Torah and mitzvot (commandments), argue that God created the universe and then, essentially, walked away. We'r...
This tension, this cosmic tug-of-war between giving and receiving, is actually a central theme in the mystical teachings of the Zohar. The Zohar, a foundational text of Kabbalah, d...
It’s a question that’s haunted mystics and theologians for centuries. And, believe it or not, the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, has something to say about it. Specific...
Is it the stuff you're made of, or something more... elusive? It’s a question that's been pondered for centuries, and it sits at the heart of what Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, has t...
Jewish mysticism has a lot to say about that feeling. Specifically, it delves into the nature of the guf, the body. But not just the physical shell we inhabit. In the teachings of ...
It’s a question that’s plagued philosophers and theologians for centuries. But Jewish mystical tradition, specifically as illuminated by Baal HaSulam in his introduction to the Zoh...
