3,277 related texts · 11 related myths · Page 2 of 69
The Sabbath is called menucha, rest. But Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Exodus 35:2) makes clear it was never optional. The verse commands six days of work, then on the seventh day the...
The story of Bilam gives us a fascinating glimpse. We find ourselves in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew. The Israelites are on the move, and their growing presence is makin...
It’s the fifth belief discussed in Da'at (Knowledge) Tevunot, a profound work of Jewish philosophy. This isn’t about making mistakes, or even just choosing a wrong path. This is ab...
Four rabbis were walking together on Mount Scopus, looking down at the ruin of Jerusalem. They saw a fox running out of the Holy of Holies. The three older sages began to weep. Rab...
Ben Sira doesn't mince words, does he? He calls him "wide in stupidity and lacking in wisdom." Reḥov'am, was the son of King Solomon, a hard act to follow to begin with. But his po...
This is the world Megillat Antiochus throws us into. The story begins with a chilling proposition, whispered amongst the advisors of King Antiochus. "Come now," they urged, "let us...
Two false prophets in Babylon, Ahab ben Kolaya and Zedekiah ben Maaseyah, used their religious authority to commit adultery and fraud. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 1...
The Rechabites were not born Israelite, but the sages imagined them earning seats in the Sanhedrin. These weren't Israelites, not in the traditional sense. They were descendants of...
There's a remarkable deathbed scene tucked into the legends of the Judges, a moment starring Kenaz, a Judge who reigned for fifty-seven years. As his life neared its end, Kenaz had...
Like Samuel, for instance. He stands at the crossroads between the era of the Judges and the rise of the Kingdom, anointing both Saul and David as kings. But Samuel didn't just app...
Asa started off strong. He was a more righteous ruler than his father. One of his first acts, as Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews, was to abolish the worship of Priapus, a ...
Legends of the Jews turns to Kingdom of Jehoshaphat. His military? Forget about it! Each division of his army boasted at least one hundred and sixty thousand warriors. That’s a ser...
The story of Elijah the prophet gives us a lot to think about. Remember the story of King Ahab? He wasn't exactly known for his piety. And as the Legends of the Jews tells us, a de...
It's a story of faith, resourcefulness, and the enduring power of good deeds. Like his mentor Elijah, Elisha was known for his compassion. He wasn’t just some aloof spiritual figur...
The story of Hosea offers us a glimpse into just that, a peek behind the curtain of divine communication. Hosea was the elder statesman of this prophetic trio. He was the son of Be...
He wasn't your typical prophet. He came after Hosea, before Isaiah, and as the Legends of the Jews tell us, he even had a speech impediment! But when God calls, you answer. So, Amo...
The story of Amos, the prophet, gives us a glimpse. He was fearless, wasn't he? But that very fearlessness, sadly, led to his demise. Legend has it that King Uzziah, enraged by Amo...
He was one of the most righteous kings of Judah, a real standout. He lived way back when, around the 8th century BCE. And he's remembered for some seriously impressive things. The ...
King Josiah, a righteous ruler of Judah, found himself in just that position. The prophecies were grim. Destruction loomed. And Josiah, desperate to protect his people, decided on ...
Take the story of King Josiah, a righteous ruler who met a tragic end. Josiah was a king known for his piety and his efforts to purify the land of idolatry. He reigned during a tum...
Even though he messed up big time by breaking his oath, he was, at heart, a good and just ruler. So good, in fact, that God almost changed His mind about punishing the wicked gener...
The prophet Jeremiah certainly knew. Even as tragedy unfolded around him, he refused to sugarcoat the truth. Imagine him, standing before the king, knowing that his words could sea...
This is one of those stories. It features a king so puffed up with pride that he believes himself immortal, only to be brought crashing down to earth – quite literally! Hiram, prov...
You might remember that Nebuchadnezzar looted the Temple in Jerusalem, taking sacred objects back to Babylon. According to Legends of the Jews, one day Darius, perhaps a successor,...
Legends of the Jews turns to Balaam and the King. Well, some ancient texts give us a clue. Imagine a conversation around a crackling fire, maybe a worried counsel of kings, discuss...
Mordecai, in the Book of Esther, certainly did. He had to communicate with Esther, his niece and now Queen, without raising suspicion. So how did he do it? Well, according to Legen...
A prophet named Jadon traveled from Jerusalem to Bethel to deliver one of the most dramatic prophecies in Israelite history. And was killed on the way home because he stopped for d...
A single prophet against four hundred. That was the lineup on Mount Carmel, and Elijah liked his odds. The backstory is bleak. King Ahab had married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, k...
King Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper chamber and was badly injured. Instead of praying to the God of Israel, he sent messengers to consult the Fly, the god of Ekron. ...
It's one that the ancient prayers, particularly those connected to seeking blessing and abundance, address head-on. we ask for blessing, but we also ask for protection from that wh...
Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, offers a fascinating, and frankly mind-bending, explanation. It involves shattering, divine light, and a cosmic repair project We're continuing our expl...
Ever wake up from a dream and think, "Wait, how did that happen?" One minute you're flying, the next you're giving a presentation naked, and then suddenly you're a talking teapot. ...
This teaching essentially breaks down the process of prophetic vision into two key parts. First, where do these images of prophecy come from? And second, what good are they to us a...
An answer that involves contraction, hiddenness, and a spark of light that makes everything possible. Imagine, if you will, the Eyn Sof (אין סוף), the Infinite. Boundless, limitles...
Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah offers a blueprint for how Eyn Sof (the Infinite), blessed be He, interacts with creation. The core idea? Everything, every level of existence, is known by ...
It's one that the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar uses to explore the nature of divine access and spiritual authority. The Tikkunei Zohar, a later and more esoteric section of th...
Before David was chosen (as king) every Israelite was kasher for kingship. Once David had been chosen, the other Israelites (i.e., those not in his line) were excluded. As it is wr...
Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael turns to three kinds of prophets and asks what each one chose to defend when God's honor and Israel's honor stood in tension. Jeremiah claimed both. He de...
Rabbi Yonathan taught a striking principle about eclipses. Both solar and lunar eclipses, he declared, were given as signs. But not for Israel. They were relegated entirely to the ...
The Mekhilta turns to the prophet Daniel's vision of the four kingdoms, focusing on the terrifying image assigned to Greece. In (Daniel 7:6), the kingdom of Greece appears as a leo...
King Jehoshaphat marched his army into the desert of Tekoa and won a battle with nothing but faith. The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, a 3rd-century CE halakhic midrash (rabbinic inter...
(Exodus 15:20) introduces Miriam with a curious title: "the prophetess, the sister of Aaron." The Mekhilta immediately spots the problem. Miriam was the sister of both Aaron and Mo...
Rabbi Yossi offered a provocative comparison: just as a prophet reveals what is hidden, the manna did the same. The wordplay is built into the Hebrew, the word maggid (one who tell...
Yithro told Moses to select judges from among the people, but he specified five qualities they must possess (Exodus 18:21). R. Yehoshua explained what each qualification meant in p...
(Exodus, Ibid. 16) "And they said to Moses: Speak, you, with us, and we will hear, (and let G–d not speak with us, lest we die.") We are hereby apprised that they lacked the streng...
Rabbi Levi suggests a difference in timing. When the Holy One, blessed be He, judges the nations of the world, it happens at night, a time when they are asleep, supposedly free fro...
That betrayal playing out on a national, even cosmic, scale. That's the drama we find ourselves plunged into in Midrash Tehillim 11, a fascinating exploration of Psalm 11. Our stor...
Rabbi Samuel bar Nachmani kicks things off, wondering why we sweat during times of transition. He suggests it's connected to the fall of one kingdom and the rise of another. He poi...
