12,014 related texts · Page 50 of 251
Today, we're diving into one such path, guided by the words of Josephus, a first-century Romano-Jewish historian. He's responding to some pretty harsh claims made by an Egyptian pr...
We're diving into the writings of Manetho, an Egyptian priest and historian, and specifically, his account of the Exodus. Now, Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, wasn’t ...
That’s exactly what we find ourselves facing when we delve into the writings of Lysimachus, a figure who, according to Josephus in his work Against Apion, spun a tale so incredibly...
The Jewish people have faced that challenge for centuries, and in his work Against Apion, Josephus steps up to the plate to set the record straight against a particularly virulent ...
Twenty pounds of silver. That was the price of a human life—the amount Joseph's own brothers accepted from a passing caravan of Ishmaelite merchants in exchange for their seventeen...
The moment Joshua and Eleazar the high priest died, Israel began to unravel. Josephus does not soften this. The generation that had conquered Canaan gave way to one that could not ...
After Judas Maccabeus fell in battle, everything he had fought for nearly collapsed. Josephus opens Book XIII of his Antiquities with a bleak picture: the lawless and the disloyal ...
Julius Caesar did something remarkable for the Jews. In a series of decrees preserved by Josephus in his Antiquities (written c. 93 CE), the Roman dictator formally guaranteed Jewi...
A queen from Mesopotamia converted to Judaism, moved to Jerusalem, and saved the city from famine. Her name was Helena of Adiabene, and she was one of the most remarkable converts ...
It’s a question that’s haunted mystics and theologians for millennia. And the answer, as we find in Jewish tradition, is both breathtakingly beautiful and terrifyingly destructive....
Some traditions suggest there isn't just one Lilith, but two! Imagine this: It's Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, a day of atonement and intense prayer for the Jewish peopl...
But what's happening on high? Well, according to a beautiful passage in the Zohar (2:40b-41a), the foundational text of Jewish mysticism, God isn't just observing. God's hosting a ...
We all know the story: he led the Israelites out of Egypt, received the Torah on Mount Sinai, and brought his people to the edge of the Promised Land. But then… he just disappears ...
Not just any war, but a great and boundless war, raging in the very heavens! And mirroring this cosmic conflict, a corresponding war breaks out here on earth. It's a terrifying ima...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a fascinating and complex text from the early Kabbalistic tradition, offers a glimpse into just that – a vision of heavenly ascent and...
Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a text steeped in the mystical traditions of the Heikhalot literature, offers us a glimpse into just such a chilling negotiation. It's a n...
That feeling is at the heart of the Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) literature, mystical Jewish texts that describe ascents to the heavenly realms. And there's a passage in Heikha...
Rabbi Ishmael, a central figure in the Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a key text of early Jewish mysticism, once shared a chilling account. It's a story of earthly torme...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a mystical text focused on heavenly ascent and visions, gives us a glimpse – a mind-bending glimpse, at that – into the sheer awe and ...
The ancient mystics of the Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) texts, specifically here in Heikhalot Rabbati 13, believed there was. They weren't shy about going straight to the sourc...
Specifically, we're looking at section 16, which plunges us into some pretty heady stuff. Imagine this: three times a day, a spectacle of "wonderful loftiness and strange lordship"...
But what if there was a way to bypass all that? That's the fascinating scenario we encounter in Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a key text in the Heikhalot literature – a...
Not just in spirit, but…well, that's what the Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati tries to describe. It's an ancient mystical text, part of the Heikhalot literature—a collecti...
That’s the feeling I get every time I delve into the mysteries of the Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) literature – the ancient Jewish texts that explore mystical visions and ascen...
That's the kind of intimacy we find in Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a mystical text that gives us a peek into the heavenly realms. In one particularly striking passage...
It's not like there was an instruction manual from IKEA! Rabbi Ishmael, relaying a teaching from Rabbi Akiba in the name of Rabbi Eliezer the Great, gives us a pretty amazing insig...
That tension between honoring their wisdom and standing your ground. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, especially in the context of Jewish scholarship and legal interpret...
In Mitpachat Sefarim, a collection of Jewish writings whose name literally means "wrapping of books," we find a raw, unflinching look at a generation seemingly gone astray. The aut...
It's like staring into the night sky – you see the stars, but you know there's so much more you can't see. That's kind of how we grapple with understanding God. Da'at (Knowledge) T...
It turns out, according to some mystical interpretations, it's a lot more than just a marker of time. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a profound and intricate expansion of t...
Jewish mysticism has a way of naming those feelings, of giving them a context within the cosmic drama. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a later expansion on the Zohar itself,...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a cornerstone of Kabbalistic literature, speaks to just such a feeling. It delves into the secrets hidden within the Torah, offering interpre...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a crucial text in Kabbalistic literature, gives us a pretty fiery picture. It focuses on Esau and Ishmael, often seen as representing forces ...
Specifically, Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar 121 calls out to the very foundations of our faith, the patriarchs themselves. "Rise O Patriarchs, Masters of the Covenant!" the tex...
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 ...
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught that there is a reason why Torah scholars so often oppose the true tzaddik (a righteous person)im (the righteous). It is not a flaw in the system. I...
R. Yochanan said: Jonah went (on that voyage) only to cast himself into the sea, as it is written (Jonah 1:12) "And he said to them: Lift me up and cast me into the sea." All this ...
R. Oshiyah said: When the Holy One Blessed be He decrees good and bad decrees for Israel, a report is returned to Him for the good, but not for the bad, viz. (Ezekiel 9:2-11) "And,...
(Exodus 12:2) records God's instruction to Moses: "This month shall be to you the beginning of months." It is the very first commandment given to Israel as a nation, even before th...
The Mekhilta raises a question that cuts to the heart of the Passover story: why did God command the Israelites to select the Passover lamb four full days before slaughtering it? W...
Moses told the Israelites to take a lamb for the Passover offering, and they were terrified. The Mekhilta preserves their fearful protest: "Will we slaughter the abomination of Egy...
Rabbi Yehoshua disagrees. In his reading, the "haste" of the Passover meal belongs to the Israelites themselves, not to the Egyptians. And he flips the proof texts to make his case...
When God said "And I shall see the blood" regarding the Passover in Egypt, the Mekhilta offers a stunning alternative reading. The "blood" God would see was not the blood of the Pa...
And thus do you find with the forefathers, that they deported themselves with circumspection (in this regard), viz.: (Genesis 22:3) "And Abraham arose early in the morning," (Ibid....
R. Nehorai says; Upon my oath, not one in five hundred went out. For it is written (Ezekiel 16:7) "Numerous as the spouts of the field did I make you" (in Egypt), and (Exodus 1:7) ...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, captures the moment when Pharaoh finally broke. After the tenth plague — the death of every firstborn in Egypt — Pharaoh summoned Mos...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, takes up a question about the Israelites' first stop after leaving Egypt: a place called Succoth. "And they traveled from Rameses to ...
(Exodus 12:3)7) "six hundred thousand men": sixty ten thousands, as in (Song of Songs 3:7) "Behold, the couch of Shlomoh, (acronymically, 'He who spoke and brought the world into b...
