3,050 related texts · Page 13 of 64
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi was walking on the road when he met the prophet Elijah. "Would you like to see the gates of Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death)?" Elija...
The contest before King Darius began with the first prince arguing that nothing on earth is as powerful as a king. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew c...
Cyrus conquered the known world because God strengthened his hand. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, God...
Abraham left the room to cool his father's anger. But Terah called after him: "Abraham!" "Here I am." "Gather the wood splinters from the gods I carved before you came, and prepare...
"Now look again in the picture," God said. "See who it is that seduced Eve and what is the fruit of the tree. You will know what shall be and how it shall be for your seed among th...
The city was already dead. It just hadn't fallen yet. In the twenty-fifth year of King Jeconiah's reign over Judah, the word of God came to Baruch son of Neriah — the faithful scri...
Even the great prophet Elijah, the fiery champion of God, reached that point. Imagine this: Elijah, fresh from his triumph over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (I Kings 18), i...
It wasn't all smooth sailing. There were threats, escapes, and a family's journey toward a new destiny. to the story of how Abraham, or Avram as he was originally known, found hims...
The traditional texts give us some fascinating, and sometimes surprising, details. So, picture this: Jacob, having blessed each of his sons individually, gathers them all together ...
According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, an angel whisked Moses away – not just across the border, mind you, but forty days' journey away! That’s a serious relocati...
Even Moses, arguably the most important prophet in Judaism, tried to avoid his divine calling. And, as the Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg) tells us, he paid a price for that relucta...
The stories we have… they’re just incredible. Take the fifth day, for example. According to tradition, that's when God brought forth the creatures of the sea. And how did He do it?...
Genesis tells us that on the fifth day, God populated the waters with fish and the skies with birds. But did you know that Jewish tradition sees a deeper connection between these c...
According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Hezekiah's wicked father, King Ahaz, tried to offer him as a sacrifice to Moloch. Imagine the horror! But Hezekiah's mothe...
Not according to some powerful Jewish legends! They paint a picture of a world created specifically for us, for the people of Israel. It’s a pretty bold claim, isn't it?According t...
Today, let’s talk about Methuselah. Yes, that Methuselah, the guy famous for living almost a thousand years. But there's so much more to his story than just longevity. According to...
Our story begins with Terah, Abraham's father, falling ill. He needed cash – specifically, money to cover expenses. And his solution? "Sell these idols!" he tells his sons Haran an...
Let me tell you a story about Abraham, long before he was Abraham Avinu, our father, and a pivotal moment that shaped his destiny. Imagine a young Abraham, surrounded by idols in t...
Days turn into weeks. Hope dwindles. You cry out... and someone actually answers. That's essentially the scene we find ourselves in with Abraham in this incredible passage from Gin...
Let me tell you a story about a man who faced that very situation, and how his unwavering faith defied even the sharpest steel. We're talking about Abraham, of course, and a little...
Forget the sanitized Sunday school version. Some traditions paint a picture wilder than you might imagine. Imagine this: Abraham, having challenged the religious norms of his time,...
It's human, unfortunately, and as we delve into the story of Abraham, we find his father, Terah, doing just that. Terah, was in a bit of a pickle. He had, shall we say, misled the ...
It paints a vivid picture, doesn't it? The story goes that a king – we don't know his name, but his actions speak volumes – decided to impose a truly… unique… tax. A tax on the dea...
It’s closer than you might think. Imagine the scene: Sodom, ripe for the taking, its riches and food plundered by victorious armies. But amidst the spoils, they seize Lot, Abraham’...
He'd just pulled off a daring rescue, freeing his nephew Lot from the clutches of invading kings. And in doing so, he'd recovered a great deal of stolen goods. Now, the King of Sod...
Fire and brimstone, a pillar of salt, and some very unhappy angels. But the details… the details are truly something else. According to Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews, it wasn’t ju...
The Torah is full of moments like that, and the story of Abraham and Abimelech is a perfect example. Before Abraham finalized his covenant with Abimelech, king of the Philistines, ...
Well, according to Legends of the Jews, a year after Sarah's death, Abimelech also passed away, at the ripe old age of one hundred and ninety-three! Can you imagine living that lon...
He knew that Esau, his brother, harbored murderous intentions. The tension was thick, a palpable danger hanging in the air. But running wasn't exactly Jacob’s first instinct. As th...
He was marrying Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. What a guy. Thinking he could finally win over his parents, Isaac and Rebecca, by marrying within the family, a granddaughter of ...
According to the Legends of the Jews, that's precisely what happened to Jacob in one of his prophetic dreams. Can you even fathom it? God, in His infinite wisdom, showed Jacob noth...
It’s a story filled with rivalry, love, and… well, a whole lot of children. to one little nugget of that complicated family dynamic. Leah. Remember Leah? Jacob's first wife, tricke...
We all know the story of Jacob working for Rachel's hand, being tricked into marrying Leah, and eventually leaving Laban to return to his homeland. But what about those little deta...
Birthright, blessings... sibling rivalry taken to epic proportions. But the Bible only gives us so much. What was Esau thinking? What fueled his rage? Well, the ancient texts fill ...
We're talking about the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and the events that unfolded in the city of Shechem. Now, you probably know the basic outline: Dinah is taken by Shechem,...
It’s a question that echoes through the stories of our ancestors, a question of faith, fear, and the unseen hand of providence. : Isaac and Jacob, their families growing, their pre...
They were terrified. "How long shall we fight with these devils?" they cried. "Let us return to our land, lest they exterminate us root and branch, without leaving a remnant." Can ...
According to Ginzberg's recounting, Judah found himself smack-dab in the middle of the allied kings' infantry. His immediate target? Jashub, the king of Tappuah. Now, Jashub wasn't...
The story of Rachel's burial offers a powerful glimpse into this very idea. The Torah tells us simply that Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin and was buried on the road to Ephrat...
That feeling… it's a heavy one. And it's something Judah, one of Jacob's sons, knew all too well. See, Jacob was utterly devastated by the supposed death of his beloved son, Joseph...
Judah, one of the sons of Jacob, walks right past her. Doesn't even give her a second glance. Imagine! But Tamar? She’s not about to let this opportunity slip away. She looks up to...
After all the drama with his brothers, being sold into slavery, and landing in Egypt, Joseph finally caught a break. He rose through the ranks, becoming a powerful figure in Potiph...
The ancient texts hint that such intense feelings aren't always random. Sometimes, they're woven into the very fabric of destiny, though perhaps not in the way we expect. Think abo...
I'm thinking about Joseph in Egypt, that iconic figure from the book of Genesis. He was sold into slavery, remember? And he ended up working for Potiphar, an Egyptian official. Now...
It sounds like a dream. But what if everyone around you is dead-set against it? That's the situation Joseph found himself in, according to Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, when Phar...
According to Legends of the Jews, a monumental work compiled by Louis Ginzberg, the brothers spoke freely, thinking their words were veiled by the interpreter, Manasseh. Little did...
We find ourselves in Egypt, where Joseph, having risen to power, confronts his brothers. Remember, these are the very brothers who sold him into slavery years before. Now, disguise...
But sometimes the Bible itself leaves you wanting more detail. That’s where the legends come in, filling in the blanks and adding layers of depth to the story. Ginzberg, in Legends...
