13,506 related texts · 43 related myths · Page 5 of 282
This is perhaps the single most important identification Targum Pseudo-Jonathan makes in the Abram cycle. On (Genesis 14:18) the Aramaic declares: Malka Zadika, who was Shem bar No...
Ten camels left Beersheba with a mission no caravan had ever carried before. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 24:10) notes something most readers breeze past: "all the goodly tre...
“Pay them retribution, Lord, according to their handiwork” (Lamentations 3:64).“Pay them retribution” – Jeremiah said: “Pay them retribution.” Asaf said: “Pay our neighbors retribu...
Book of Jubilees turns to Abram Burns Down the House of Idols. So, what does Jubilees have to say about Abraham's early life? It all starts in the fortieth jubilee – Jubilees uses ...
Abraham is often remembered as this towering figure of faith, but the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text from the Second Temple period, gives us a stark look at the consequen...
It tells us that Abraham, wise as he was, gave Ishmael and his sons, along with the sons of Keturah, gifts before sending them off. He then bequeathed everything else to his belove...
More specifically, it's the year Abraham passed away. And where are his sons, Isaac and Ishmael? They’re making a journey. The Book of Jubilees, a text considered canonical by the ...
The familiar version gives us the dramatic ending – sold into slavery, rising to power in Egypt, and eventually saving his family from famine. But what about those missing pieces, ...
There's a whole world of fascinating texts out there, bubbling with stories and details that expand on the familiar narratives. one of them: the Book of Jubilees. Specifically, Now...
That’s kind of what happened after Joseph's incredible rise to power in Egypt. Remember Joseph? Sold into slavery by his brothers, then, through a series of unbelievable events, ri...
Legends of the Jews turns to Nimrod Read the Stars and Feared Abraham's Birth. In Legends of the Jews, Terah, Abraham’s father, married Emtelai, the daughter of Karnabo. A simple e...
Legends of the Jews turns to Abraham Gathers His Disciples to Rescue Lot. What happened? According to the story, alarmed by his warning, not a single one of them stepped forward. T...
You might imagine sibling rivalry, but perhaps you haven't imagined this level of one-upmanship. The story goes that Ishmael, brimming with pride, decided to brag to Isaac. Accordi...
The reason why might surprise you. In some traditions, it was actually thanks to the merits of his grandson, Jacob, that Abraham himself was rescued from the fiery furnace! The fai...
The Biblical figures is often remembered as these grand, larger-than-life heroes and villains. But sometimes, when you really dig into the stories, you find details that are just… ...
The story of Joseph being sold into slavery is one The familiar version gives us. But have you ever stopped to really consider his experience in those first agonizing moments? Ginz...
Legends of the Jews turns to Abraham and the Fires of Gehenna of Egyptians. Pharaoh, stubborn as ever, had ignored the previous warnings. He wouldn't release the Israelites, wouldn...
Forty days to explore an entire country, a mission impossible made possible by… well, by something a little miraculous. That's the story of the spies sent to scout out the land of ...
The familiar picture has a triumphant march towards the Promised Land, but the reality, according to our sages, was far more complex, fraught with fear and even internal conflict. ...
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, one of the most prominent Tannaitic sages, made a bold claim about why God chose to liberate Israel from Egypt. It was not because of anything the enslave...
"by way of the land of the Philistines, for it was near": Near (i.e., "close") is the thing of which the Holy One Blessed be He spoke to Moses (Exodus 2:12): "When you take the peo...
A passage from the Pesikta deRav Kahana, specifically section 13, where Rabbi Abba bar Kahana unpacks a verse from the prophet Isaiah (10:30): “Raise your voice, Bat-Galim, listen,...
That feeling, that sense of wonder and a connection to something vast, is at the heart of this story about Abraham, our patriarch. In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collecti...
It's far more than just a nice story about hospitality. According to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating early medieval text that weaves together biblical narrative and rabbinic ...
Sometimes, those threads are stronger than we imagine, woven with love and a touch of the divine. Our story today comes from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating work of Jewish li...
We meet her after the death of Sarah, when Abraham – yes, that Abraham – takes her as his wife. But who was she, really? Some traditions identify her with Hagar, the mother of Ishm...
The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of stories and interpretations from the early Middle Ages, gives us a glimpse. It tells us that Isaac was thirty-seven years ol...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, an ancient Jewish text, speaks of seven such wonders. Not the kind you find on a travel brochure, but events that shook the foundations of belief. What tops...
Abraham stepped out of the cave where he had been hidden as an infant, and for the first time saw the world above ground. He looked up and saw the sun climbing, enormous and warm, ...
The Torah in (Genesis 25:17) gives us a short obituary for Ishmael: one hundred and thirty-seven years, and then he "expired and was gathered to his people." Targum Pseudo-Jonathan...
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:31) maps Israel's inheritance: I will set thy boundary from the sea of Suph, to the sea of the Philistaee, and from the desert unto the ...
Like, you're on your path, feeling good, and then BAM! Suddenly, everything changes. Maybe it's a job loss, a health scare, or just a general feeling of being lost. How do we react...
A fascinating little debate from Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis. Specifically, The verse in question is (Genesis 13:14): "...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Abraham — Abram at the Dawn of Creation. What’s truly fascinating isn't just the event, but Abram's reaction. Bereshit Rabbah 43 uses this moment to explor...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to God's Covenant with Abraham Under the Stars. The verse in question is (Genesis 15:8): “He said: My Lord God, how can I know that I will inherit it?” It’s a...
It centers on Sarai (later Sarah) and Abram (later Abraham), a couple whose journey to parenthood was anything but straightforward. We find them facing a heartbreaking reality: Sar...
The Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, is so concise, that every word, every phrase, even a name, can hold layers of meaning. Take Ketura, for example. Who was she, r...
It's like peeling an onion – each layer reveals something new, something unexpected. Take the verse from (Genesis 39:1): "Joseph was taken down to Egypt and Potiphar, the official ...
Our journey begins with a seemingly simple verse from (Genesis 42:5): "The sons of Israel came to acquire grain among [betokh] those who came, as the famine was in the land of Cana...
The Torah tells us, "God did not lead them [naḥam]" that way. (Exodus 13:17). So, what gives? There's more to this story than meets the eye. The Rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic int...
The scene unfolds like this: the Israelites are trapped between the pursuing Egyptian army and the seemingly insurmountable Red Sea. Moses, holding his staff, is their leader, thei...
It’s an allegory, a conversation between God and the people of Israel. Rabbi Berekhya paints a powerful picture. He says the congregation of Israel is speaking directly to God, say...
The ancient sages certainly did. And they found profound meaning in that feeling. to a fascinating interpretation of a well-known biblical passage, explored in the Midrash of Philo...
One such moment comes to us in (Genesis 17:18). Abraham, after hearing God's promise of a son, Isaac, through Sarah, turns to God and says, "O may my son Ishmael live before thee!"...
Abraham's journey is often remembered as beginning with the covenant God made with him, the "covenant of the pieces," promising him descendants as numerous as the stars. But as Leg...
The Ishmaelites who’d taken him to Egypt began to suspect something wasn't right. They'd heard whispers: "This Joseph... he's not just some runaway. He's the son of Jacob, a powerf...
It all starts with a command. A voice. God says to Abram (that's Abraham's name before it was changed, much like his wife was originally Sarai, not Sarah), "Lekh Lekha" – "Go forth...
The ancient rabbis certainly did. And they found evidence of it woven throughout the stories of our ancestors. to a fascinating little gem from Midrash Tehillim (a collection of ra...
