3,813 related texts · Page 66 of 80
There's a whole world of fascinating texts out there, bubbling with stories and details that expand on the familiar narratives. Today, let's peek into one of them: the Book of Jubi...
It's considered apocryphal – meaning it's not part of the biblical canon for most Jewish denominations. But it’s still a treasure trove of information about ancient Jewish thought ...
The Book of Jubilees claims that Moses received far more on Mount Sinai than the Ten Commandments—he received a cosmic download about the very fabric of time itself. The text prese...
Our heroes, Tobiyyah and the angel Raphael (disguised as a human, of course), are on a journey. They arrive at Agbatauis (Ecbatana), and Raphael drops a bombshell. "My brother," he...
We're diving into the Letter of Aristeas, a fascinating text that offers a glimpse into the world of Hellenistic Judaism. Imagine you're an advisor to a powerful king, and you're t...
The First Book of Maccabees, a historical text not included in the Hebrew Bible but considered canonical by some Christians, offers a powerful glimpse into this very question. It r...
The kind of betrayal that shakes your faith in humanity. That's the kind of situation we find ourselves in with a particular passage from the Book of Maccabees I. We're in the thic...
Then you remember who you are, what you stand for, and you fight back. That's the spirit that leaps off the page when we delve into the story of Maccabees. Picture this: the Temple...
Specifically, the fire of divine approval. The Second Book of Maccabees, a historical and religious text not included in the Hebrew Bible but important for understanding the Second...
That feeling, that unsettling awareness, is at the heart of the story we're about to dive into: the tale of Susanna. Our story opens with Susanna, daughter of Hilkiah. The text tel...
We've been following her story, a tale of beauty, faith, and unjust accusation in ancient Babylon. Two corrupt elders, consumed by lust, had falsely accused her of adultery. Her li...
According to Jasher, after Sarah's death, Abraham took another wife named Keturah, said to be from the land of Canaan. And she bore him six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Is...
It’s a relentless chronicle of life and death, battles and betrayals. We're in Egypt, some seventy-nine years after Jacob and his family arrived. The years are marked by a somber r...
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi wanted to see Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death). The Messiah refused. "It is not fitting for the righteous to see it," he said, "for ...
After the flood, the entire earth was split into three portions. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, each ...
Potiphar's wife tried every day to seduce Joseph. She dressed in her finest ornaments, changed her clothes constantly, and spoke to him with increasing urgency. But Joseph mastered...
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...
After Joshua died, Israel had no leader. The people asked God who should fight the Canaanites, and God told them to cast lots. The lot fell on Kenaz, from the tribe of Caleb, who b...
The period of the Judges was an era of divine intervention so direct that storms fought battles and fires executed corrupt leaders. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th...
Jephthah the Gileadite made a vow before battle: whatever came out of his house first to greet him upon his victorious return would be offered as a sacrifice to God. He crushed the...
From the Exodus to the destruction of the First Temple, Israel was exiled eight times. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses...
The destruction of the Temple happened on the eve of the ninth of Av, on the outgoing of the Sabbath, in a Sabbatical year. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century...
The most detailed account of the lost tribes of Israel comes from Eldad the Danite, a traveler whose report is preserved in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chron...
In Babylon there lived a man named Jehoiachin whose wife Susanna was known for her beauty and her devotion to God. Her parents had raised her according to the Torah of Moses, and s...
Isaiah son of Amos saw all five kinds of punishment in Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death). According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew c...
Zerubbabel won the riddle contest, but when King Darius offered him any reward up to half the kingdom, he asked for something no treasure could buy. According to the Chronicles of ...
Esther stripped off her royal garments and the ornaments of her majesty. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 189...
Haman did not just plot in the Persian court. He plotted in heaven. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Ha...
Solomon's throne was not a chair. It was a machine—a towering structure of ivory, gold, and living mechanisms that no king could ever replicate. According to the Chronicles of Jera...
The story of Israel's return from exile reads like a cascade of empires, each rising and falling at breathtaking speed. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Heb...
The persecution was methodical and savage. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, Phillipos, the officer left ...
Seven brothers and their mother were seized and brought before King Antiochus. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster i...
The fourth beast in Daniel's vision had arrived. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, the kingdom of Rome ro...
We often think of Abraham's journey as beginning with the covenant God made with him, the "covenant of the pieces," promising him descendants as numerous as the stars. But as Legen...
And that’s exactly what happened to Jacob when he arrived in Haran. : Eliezer, Jacob, Moses, even Saul. As Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg) points out, they all met young women upon ...
His story doesn't end there. His descendants play a fascinating, sometimes unsettling, role in Jewish legend. , shall we? Apparently, the most righteous of Esau's sons was Eliphaz....
The story, as told in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, begins with Judah. After the sale of Joseph into slavery, Judah's brothers urged him to take a wife, reasoning that their fath...
As we read in Legends of the Jews, a masterful retelling of Jewish lore by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, Joseph began to reap the rewards for his unwavering commitment to virtue. It's a po...
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 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...
Not just buzzing, practically vibrating with anticipation! The viceroy, Joseph, is about to be reunited with his father, Jacob, after years of separation. And the entire country is...
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...
It all starts with Jacob, also known as Israel, nearing the end of his life in Egypt. Asenath, Joseph's wife, notices Jacob's declining health. Knowing the power of a righteous man...
We know the big names – Abraham, Moses, David. But what about the supporting cast, the characters who, while not central to the main narrative, still managed to leave their mark, h...
The Torah focuses on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on Joseph and his brothers. But the world didn't stop spinning just because the Israelites were having family drama. According to Gi...
I'm talking about Joseph, of course, and his brothers. We know the story: Joseph, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, rises to power in Egypt, and then, years later, fate br...
Take Joseph, for instance. His story is one of dramatic ups and downs, from slavery to becoming second-in-command in Egypt. But how did he find love? The answer, according to the a...
Family dynamics are always in play. to a lesser-known tale, a sort of epilogue to the Joseph story, found in Ginzberg's fascinating Legends of the Jews. The story picks up on the t...
