266 related texts · Page 4 of 6
Legends of the Jews turns to Dathan and Abiram Join Korah's Rebellion Against Moses. Korah wasn't alone. Oh no, discontent rarely travels solo. According to the ancient texts, seve...
That’s kind of how Moses felt about Korah's rebellion. The Ginzberg's says retelling in Legends of the Jews, Moses took Korah's transgression deeply to heart, fearing that after so...
A reader can 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. In Ginzberg's retelling in, Legends of the Jews, Og had this bed, fashioned out of ivory, no less...
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...
It’s a scene filled with both profound faith and heartbreaking resignation. Moses, having led the Israelites through unimaginable trials, stands on the precipice of the Promised La...
The story of Moses’ death in Jewish tradition is so much more than just an ending; it's a evidence of his unparalleled relationship with the Divine. After receiving the decree of h...
The Torah tells us he died on Mount Nebo, overlooking the Promised Land he would never enter. But is that the whole story? The Book of Deuteronomy (34:6) states rather cryptically ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Moses Elevated to Almost Cosmic Proportions. Ginzberg, in his Legends of the Jews, recounts this idea in vivid detail. He says that on the first day, G...
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...
Legends of the Jews turns to Elisha Receives a Double Portion of Elijah's Spirit. Elijah had promised Elisha a "double portion" of his spirit. And according to Legends of the Jews,...
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...
Legends of the Jews turns to Death of King Hezekiah. The sheer scale of it is staggering. This wasn't just an army; it was a mobile city. The camp stretched for four hundred parasa...
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 ...
Let me tell you, these journeys are not for the faint of heart. The stakes are incredibly high. The text What happens if you mess with someone on that trip? The text is pretty clea...
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...
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 palaces...
The ancient Israelites felt that way too. Them, fresh from the Exodus, facing a mountain of mitzvot (commandments), commandments. Build a sanctuary! Study the Torah! Live a life of...
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 Tikkunei (spiritual repair) 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...
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 ...
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 from G...
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...
A bare, deserted landscape, just desolate mountains stretching as far as the eye could see. Not exactly the Promised Land we know and cherish. Then, something incredible happened. ...
Mashiach is not first seen here as a crowned king, but as a captive bound before the Throne of Glory. In some stories, for generations, the Messiah has been sitting chained before ...
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...
Midrash Tehillim turns to Mount Nebo and the First Humans. "For He founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers." Sounds poetic. But the Midrash (rabbinic interpret...
They turned to midrash, a method of interpreting scripture that fills in gaps, answers questions, and breathes life into the text. a fascinating passage from Midrash Tehillim (Midr...
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 Rabbis grappled with these very questions, and their answers, found within the Midrash Tehillim (a collection of homiletical interpretations on the Book of Psalms), are...
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. A creature so large it uses entire mountain r...
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, It centers on Jacob, later known as Israel, and a pivotal dream he had while resting his head on a rather unusual pillow. The story goes that Jacob, in his travels, took t...
The Israelites are on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, a moment fraught with both hope and trepidation. Moses, ever the shepherd of his people, pleads with God. "Sovereign o...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Abraham — Moses and the Angels. The story opens with a terrifying decree: God, in his anger, sends not one, but five angels to destroy Israel. These...
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...
