560 related texts · 2 related myths · Page 4 of 12
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 ...
A person trapped on a low spiritual level might assume that deep Torah understanding is beyond their reach. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov says the opposite is true: the pathway from the...
This is a text from the Apocrypha, a collection of Jewish writings not included in the Hebrew Bible but considered sacred by some. Ben Sira tackles a question that's plagued humani...
Book of Judith turns to Judith Demands God Strike Down the Assyrian Army. "Throw down their strength in your power and bring down their force in your wrath..." Can you feel the des...
The Sefer haYashar, or Book of Jasher, a collection of Jewish legends and lore, gives us a glimpse. Chapter 87 opens with a divine instruction. "At that time the Lord said to Moses...
While the Israelites traveled through the wilderness, seven clouds of glory surrounded them on every side. One cloud went in front, one behind, two flanked them on each side, and o...
A cloud rose from a vast sea. Baruch watched it ascend, enormous, churning, filled with waters both black and bright, shot through with colors, and crowned at its summit by a bolt ...
As the time approached for the Israelites' redemption from Egyptian slavery, a dilemma arose. They hadn't accumulated enough good deeds to merit their freedom! So, what did God do?...
The air is thick with the scent of flowers you can't even name, and the light shimmers with an impossible brilliance. And then, a voice. Calm, resonant, but laced with…disappointme...
Legends of the Jews turns to Dust Rose Like a Cloud as Jacob's Sons Mourned. It wasn't just Jacob's immediate family who mourned. Asenath, Joseph's wife, upon hearing the news, arr...
That’s essentially the choice presented to MOSES in this powerful moment we find in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews. God speaks to Moses, commanding, "Put off thy shoes from off thy...
Moses, the parting of the waters. but what about the Egyptian side of things? It wasn't just a failed chase; it was a full-blown divine smackdown. The Egyptians, so confident, so r...
Legend tells us that when King Josiah knew the Temple was about to be destroyed, he took decisive action. He concealed the Aron HaKodesh, the Holy Ark itself. But he didn't stop th...
It wasn't exactly a picnic. The Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) paints a picture of intense anticipation, mixed with a healthy dose of terror. From the moment the Israel...
Did they just pop out to a Bedouin bazaar for some gold thread and acacia wood? Of course not! The story, as you might expect, is far more… divine. The familiar version gives us th...
Build the Tabernacle first, and then create the Ark of the Covenant, the special chest to house the Torah. Makes sense. But then came Bezalel, the master craftsman, with a differen...
It wasn't just a quick anointing, you see. It was an entire week of living in the shadow of the Tabernacle, a period of seclusion from the everyday world, a real immersion into hol...
The ancient Israelites must have felt something like that when the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, was finally erected in the desert. But according to our tradition, it wasn't just a buil...
Picture it: trekking from tent to tent, peering into every dwelling, trying to keep an accurate tally. A logistical nightmare! As Ginzberg recounts in Legends of the Jews, Moses ba...
The ancient Israelites knew it well, and their experience is a powerful lesson about faith, doubt, and the persistent shadow of enmity. In Legends of the Jews, when the protective ...
Being in his sandals, standing in the very presence of God. It's a question that has captivated Jewish scholars and storytellers for centuries. The Legends of the Jews, that incred...
It’s a story filled with twists, turns, and a whole lot of hidden potential. The Bible tells us Samuel anointed David in secret (1 (Samuel 16:1)3), and according to Legends of the ...
Jewish mysticism speaks to this feeling, especially when it comes to understanding the Shekhinah – the Divine Presence. But what happens when even the Shekhinah seems to be…adrift?...
Tikkunei Zohar turns to The Mystical Sukkah and the Divine Shelter. What exactly is this Sukah? It’s not just the temporary dwelling we build during the festival of Sukkot (the Fes...
Tikkunei Zohar turns to Jacob Arrived Complete - A Sukkot Teaching. It tells us that "At that time, when He is joined with Her… the tabernacle will be complete." The "He" and "Her"...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, offers a breathtaking glimpse into the celestial mechanics of prayer. It's not just about mouthing words, you see...
What’s the Shekhinah? Imagine the Divine Presence, not as some distant, unreachable force, but as an immanent, feminine aspect of God dwelling among us. The Shekhinah is often desc...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a companion to the Zohar, that mystical masterpiece of Kabbalah, suggests exactly that. In its 75th Tikkun, it unveils a hidden dimension wit...
The Tikkunei Zohar, specifically in section 77, tells us that all the "channels" are irrigated from the letter Vav (ו). The Vav, shaped like a connecting line, is described as a ri...
In fact, the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah building upon the Zohar, dives deep into the heart's role, seeing it as far more than just a blood-pumpin...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, explores that very feeling, exploring what can obstruct our connection to the Divine. It speaks of "clouds" that ...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a cornerstone of Kabbalistic literature, offers us a stunningly intimate glimpse into this very idea. Specifically, Tikkunei Zohar 104 speaks...
The Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a central work of Kabbalah, explores this very idea in its 113th section. It begins with a seemingly simple verse from Exodus (35:3), "Your d...
God wanted a home. Not in the highest heavens where angels sing without ceasing. Not in the dazzling worlds of pure spirit. God wanted a home in the lowest, darkest, most difficult...
Gaster's exemplum No. 365 preserves one of the most vivid Kabbalistic legends from medieval Ashkenazi Jewry, a tale about the Chasidei Ashkenaz, the mystics of the Rhine Valley in ...
The Torah states that God "did not dispel the pillar of cloud in the day, and the pillar of fire at night." The Mekhilta reads this verse carefully and discovers two teachings hidd...
(Exodus 14:20) "And it (the cloud) came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, and it was cloud and darkness", cloud for Israel and darkness for Egypt; Israel in the lig...
The Mekhilta interprets the phrase "to the habitation of Your holiness" as a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem. God guided Israel through the wilderness in the merit of the holy...
"and, behold, the glory of the L–rd appeared in the cloud": R. Yossi Haglili says: So long as Israel railed against Moses and Aaron, at once, "the glory of the L–rd appeared in the...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael examines God's words to Moses in the days before the revelation at Sinai: "Behold, I shall come to you in the thickness of the cloud" (Exodus 19:9). T...
The Mekhilta brings one more example to illustrate its principle about biblical language. (Ezekiel 43:2) describes the return of God's glory to the Temple: "And the glory of the Go...
Targum Jonathan turns to The Seven Clouds Of Glory. Well, our tradition offers a beautiful image: the Seven Clouds of Glory. The Targum Pseudo-Yonathan, an ancient Aramaic translat...
Who shall sojourn in Your holy mountain?" The Talmud in Tractate Berachot (7b) highlights that the verse doesn't ask "who shall live" but "who shall dwell." There's a crucial diffe...
Our ancestors certainly did. And they sought to understand that vastness, to find God within it. That impulse, that search, is beautifully captured in Midrash Tehillim, a collectio...
That’s a question that’s wrestled with in Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Psalms. Our passage today comes from Midrash Tehillim 65, and it...
It sounds like a simple thing, but when you're surrounded by endless sand, under a blazing sun, or a star-filled sky that all looks the same... well, you need a little divine help!...
Midrash Tehillim turns to What Clouds Teach Us About Divine Inspiration. The passage begins with a debate, a hallmark of rabbinic literature. It's a friendly disagreement between t...
The ancient text Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating work of Jewish tradition, offers a powerful image. It speaks of clouds drawing water from the very depths – "He causeth the v...
