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Korah was the richest man who ever lived — and his wealth destroyed him. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) teaches that three hundred mules were needed just to carry t...
The sages taught that ten kings have ruled — or will rule — over the entire world. The list reads like a history of power itself, stretching from the beginning of time to its end. ...
The birth of Moses was no ordinary event. According to the ancient chronicles preserved in Jerahmeel and the writings of Josephus, the arrival of Israel's greatest prophet was prec...
“Mordekhai knew everything that had been done, and Mordekhai rent his garments and donned sackcloth and ashes. He went out in the midst of the city and cried a loud and bitter cry”...
Then Judah came near unto him (Gen. 44:18). Scripture states elsewhere in reference to this verse: And the envy of Ephraim shall depart (Isa. 11:13). Concerning whom did Isaiah utt...
And Joseph made ready his chariot (Gen. 46:29). R. Yudan said in the name of R. Aibu: Two men were accorded more homage than any other men in all the world; they were Jethro and Ja...
God told Noah to enter the ark, and then, after the flood, He told him to leave it. "Go out from the ark" (Genesis 8:16). A simple command — except the rabbis hear in it a whole th...
Hell has seven names. This is what Aggadat Bereshit says when Malachi promises "the day is coming, burning like an oven" (Malachi 3:19). The rabbis did not flinch from the geograph...
At the end of days, the prophet Malachi says, you will be able to tell the righteous from the wicked at a glance: "You shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked...
The story of Judah confronting Joseph in Egypt is just that—a dramatic face-off fueled by family secrets, accusations, and the desperate need to protect a brother. The scene is set...
Her story takes a dramatic turn in Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, and it involves treachery, divine intervention, and a whole lot of pebbles! Imagine this: Asenath, surroun...
David made one mistake that cost seventy thousand lives. He counted his people. The Torah had been explicit: if you number Israel, every person counted must pay a half-shekel to Go...
..."Let not the rich person glorify themselves with their wealth (Yirm 9:22)." This [refers to] Korach the Levite, who had three hundred mules just to carry the load of the keys to...
Korah's riches were legendary — and his fall was proportional to his wealth. The Talmud (Pesahim 119a, Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 10:1) and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer describe a fortun...
The evil eye is a supposed power of bewitching or harming by spiteful looks, attributed to certain persons as a natural endowment. This belief was widespread among ancient civiliza...
We find ourselves doing just that in this week's story, wrestling with an ancient blessing and its surprising recipients. Our tale begins with God speaking to Jacob, saying, "I am ...
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen. 49:28). Elsewhere it is written: Twelve princes shall he beget (Gen. 17:20). These are the number of the tribes, and the world is ar...
The land was barren. A terrible famine gripped the region, forcing Abraham and Sarah to seek refuge in Egypt. They first tried Hebron, but the hunger was everywhere. So, they journ...
The birthright, the trickery, the stolen blessing... But what about the aftermath, the settling of scores, the final chapter of their fraught relationship? Well, the Book of Jubile...
When Amram separated from his wife after Pharaoh's decree to drown all Hebrew boys, it was his young daughter Miriam who brought them back together. The Spirit of God came upon the...
When Pharaoh sought counsel on what to do about the growing Israelite population, he summoned three men: Reuel the Midianite, Job, and Balaam of Petor. Their answers determined the...
Let’s talk about Abraham. Scarcely had Abraham settled in Canaan when a devastating famine struck. Now, famines aren’t exactly rare in the grand scheme of things. In fact, the lege...
It's a tale of ambition, cunning, and a whole lot of grave-robbing... or, well, almost. Our story begins not in Egypt, but in the land of Shinar. There lived a man named Rakyon – m...
His story, a cornerstone of the Hebrew Bible, is filled with dramatic turns, betrayal, and ultimately, triumph. But let's zoom in on one particularly painful chapter: his journey i...
"Throw the stick up in the air," goes the saying, "it will always return to its original place." And perhaps that's how Zuleika, Potiphar's wife, felt about her growing desire for ...
We all face temptations, big and small. But imagine being Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt, and facing down the relentless advances of his master's wife, Zuleika. It's a story of...
His brothers, the very ones who sold him into slavery years ago, bow before him, desperate for grain. They don't recognize the beardless youth they betrayed in this imposing figure...
The story of Joseph in Egypt, as retold in Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, offers us a powerful lesson in these very qualities. After years of hardship, Jacob and his family final...
According to Legends of the Jews, compiled by Ginzberg, in his 132nd year, Naphtali invited his children to a banquet. The next morning, he announced his impending death, which the...
There was a transition, a gradual dimming of the light. It’s almost like the Egyptians were waiting for something… or someone. Ginzberg tells us that as long as the sons of Jacob w...
Today, we're diving deep into the story of Pharaoh and the Israelites in Egypt, a tale of manipulation, exploitation, and ultimately, resilience. Imagine the scene: Egypt, a mighty...
The Torah tells us that Pharaoh rose in the night, after the plague of the firstborn. But the Legends of the Jews, drawing on various midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic s...
The story of Joseph, as retold in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, opens with just that kind of primal animosity. Imagine the scene: Joseph, the favored son, approaches his brothers...
We know the story: the final plague, the death of the firstborn, the Israelites’ dramatic escape. But have you ever stopped to consider the fear, the chaos, the sheer desperation o...
The story of the Exodus, the Israelite's escape from Egypt, is one of the most powerful narratives in Jewish tradition. We all know the broad strokes: slavery, Pharaoh, plagues, th...
Josephus begins by expressing his astonishment at those who insist on relying solely on Greek sources when seeking information about the most ancient events. Why, he asks, should w...
Apion, see, had a laundry list of complaints against the Jews. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, takes each one head-on. And in this particular section, Apion throws a few zinge...
Josephus, a fascinating figure from the first century – a Jewish historian who lived through the Roman conquest of Judea – grappled with this very question in his writings. In his ...
It’s a question that sits at the heart of Jewish identity, and one that Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish historian, grapples with in his work, Against Apion. He's essentia...
Jewish mysticism grapples with this feeling, this sense of lack, in the concept of the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence. And one passage in the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, spe...
The confrontation between Judah and Joseph in Egypt was not simply a family dispute. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev reads it as a cosmic collision between two forms of kingship....
"And Judah approached him" (Genesis 44:18). The verse says Judah "approached him"—but does not specify whom. Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk takes the ambiguity and runs with it: the t...
"And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt" (Exodus 1:1). Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk opens his commentary on Parashat Shemot with a strange claim: a pers...
The night of the tenth plague was unlike anything Egypt had ever witnessed. Every firstborn in the land — from the heir of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the cap...
(Exodus 13:19) "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him": This apprises us of the wisdom and saintliness of Moses. All of Israel were occupying themselves with the spoils (of E...
"and I will be honored through Pharaoh": Scripture here apprises us that when the L–rd exacts punishment of the nations, His name is aggrandized in the world, as it is written (Isa...
"And the heart of Pharaoh was reversed" (Exodus 14:5). The Mekhilta reads this reversal not as a change of mind about letting Israel go, but as the collapse of an empire. When Isra...
Variantly: "and shalishim": Three (Egyptians) against every one (Israelite). Others say: three hundred against one. And how did Pharaoh know how many Israelites died in the three d...
