249 related texts · Page 4 of 6
That’s kind of how Moses felt about Korah's rebellion. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Moses took Korah's transgression deeply to heart, fearing that afte...
It’s easy to imagine him as this larger-than-life figure, divinely guided, but sometimes he acted with remarkable prudence, almost bordering on… politeness. We find an example of t...
Not just any giant, but the giant. The one with a bed... well, you won't believe it. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Og had this bed—fashioned out of ivor...
The rabbis of old certainly thought so. They saw names as holding the very essence of a thing, a little piece of its soul. Think about the Israelite tribes staking their claim to t...
Let’s delve into a deeply human moment from the life of Moses, as depicted in Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg. It’s a scene filled with both profound faith and heartbreaking ...
The story of Moses’ death in Jewish tradition is so much more than just an ending; it's a testament to his unparalleled relationship with the Divine. After receiving the decree of ...
We know him as the great lawgiver, the one who led the Israelites out of Egypt. But the rabbis didn't just see him as a historical figure. They elevated him to almost cosmic propor...
The story of Achan gives us a glimpse. It's a tale of transgression, communal strife, and ultimately, redemption – or at least, the possibility of it. See, after the miraculous cro...
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...
That’s exactly what happened to Elisha, the devoted disciple of the fiery prophet Elijah. Elijah had promised Elisha a "double portion" of his spirit. And according to Legends of t...
Remember Pekah? He was the king who, well, didn’t exactly get to savor his victories. Because right after he came to power, the king of Assyria swooped in and, as Ginzberg tells us...
The story goes that after the destruction of the First Temple, the prophet Jeremiah found himself with a daunting task. He was told to bring the news to the Avot, the Patriarchs th...
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 ...
And let me tell you, these journeys are not for the faint of heart. The stakes are incredibly high. The text we're looking at today deals with the consequences of disrespecting som...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a foundational text in the Heikhalot literature (think early mystical journeys into the divine realms), gives us a glimpse into this a...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a text from the Heikhalot literature – a collection of mystical writings detailing heavenly ascents and visions – gives us a glimpse. ...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, one of the central texts of the Heikhalot literature, offers us just such a glimpse, a breathtaking vision of King David's ascent to t...
And while the Torah itself seems to discourage the idea, hinting at the impossibility of seeing God and living, the mystical tradition, particularly the Heikhalot (the heavenly pal...
The ancient Israelites felt that way too. Imagine them, fresh from the Exodus, facing a mountain of mitzvot (commandments), commandments. Build a sanctuary! Study the Torah! Live a...
Da'at (Knowledge) Tevunot, a profound work of Jewish thought, offers a fascinating explanation, linking our desires directly to the boundaries of our minds and the spiritual light ...
Jewish mystical tradition speaks to this very tension, and it offers a path through it. to a fascinating passage from the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, specifically Tikkun 109...
The Mekhilta records a disagreement between two sages about the verse "And they came to Marah" (Exodus 15:23). Rabbi Yehoshua says that Israel came to three places at that time. Ra...
The phrase "until Dan" appears in the vision God granted Moses from Mount Pisgah (Deuteronomy 34:1). But the Mekhilta raises an obvious problem: at the time of Moses, the land had ...
Moses stood on the summit of Mount Nebo, and God showed him the entire Land of Israel. The Torah specifies that he saw "the valley of Jericho" (Deuteronomy 34:3). The Mekhilta find...
(Exodus 23:19) prohibits: "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk." Rabbi Shimon asked why this prohibition is stated three times in the Torah — here, in (Exodus 34:26), and...
But for Elijah, the prophet, and his devoted disciple Elisha, it was reality. Our story begins as the Lord is about to take Elijah up to heaven. Elijah and Elisha are journeying fr...
It might seem arbitrary, a blip on the calendar. But according to Jewish tradition, the month of Tishrei isn't just any month. It's the month of beginnings, endings, and profound t...
It wasn't always that way, you know. Imagine a bare, deserted landscape, just desolate mountains stretching as far as the eye could see. Not exactly the Promised Land we know and c...
But Jewish tradition is full of surprises. And one of the most striking is the image of the Messiah, not as a triumphant king, but as someone held captive, waiting for us to set hi...
There's a folk tradition, a whisper passed down through generations, that paints a rather surprising picture. It begins not with wailing, but with joy. Imagine: on the very day the...
They turned to midrash, a method of interpreting scripture that fills in gaps, answers questions, and breathes life into the text. Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage fr...
Our tradition is full of stories that remind us that even the most unexpected journeys can lead to greatness. Take David, for example. Midrash Tehillim, a collection of homiletic i...
That feeling of a long, hard journey – that's exactly what's captured in the Psalm of Ascents. But it's not just about the struggle; it's about the song that rises with each step. ...
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. ...
It tells us that on the sixth day of creation, God brought forth from the earth a beast so massive it sprawls across a thousand hills. Imagine that! A creature so large it uses ent...
It’s a concept that resonates deeply within Jewish tradition, and the story of King David’s actions after the death of Saul offers a powerful example. The text we’re exploring toda...
Let me tell you a story from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, chapter 33, that might just change your perspective. It’s about a man named Shallum, son of Tikvah. Now, Shallum wasn't a king ...
Rab Huna, a prominent Amoraic Sage of the 3rd century, has something quite striking to say about it, preserved for us in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer. He suggests that the location of ou...
Tonight, we're diving into a fascinating passage from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, specifically chapter 35, that does just that. It centers on Jacob, later known as Israel, and a pivota...
to a fascinating moment from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, specifically chapter 42, where Moses himself is in conversation with the Holy One, blessed be He. The Israelites are on the cus...
That's the situation Moses faced in a powerful story found in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (chapter 45). The story opens with a terrifying decree: God, in his anger, sends not one, but f...
He’s the one who, in a moment of righteous zeal, stopped a plague by taking decisive action against public immorality (Numbers 25). It’s a complex story, filled with passion and qu...
Our story comes from Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 550, a compilation of rabbinic teachings and interpretations of the Hebrew Bible. It fleshes out the familiar tale of Yonah in surprisin...
The Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Bible, in section 869 on Nach (the books of Prophets and Writings), brings up a fascinating idea about the verse "Th...
It’s a theme that echoes throughout Jewish history, a bittersweet dance between redemption and exile. that a bit. The Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of Midrash (rabbinic interpretiv...
R’ Shim’on ben Lakish makes a startling claim: Pinhas is Eliahu! Yes, Pinhas, the zealous priest who took action to stop the plague, is none other than the prophet Elijah, who will...
Our tradition wrestles with this question constantly, and one striking example comes from the Yalkut Shimoni, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Bible. Specifically, Yalku...
Jewish tradition has some pretty strong feelings about collective responsibility, and it's not always who you'd expect who bears the weight. The Yalkut Shimoni, a fascinating compi...
