3,050 related texts · Page 64 of 64
“Also, Vashti the queen made a women’s banquet in the royal palace of King Aḥashverosh” (Esther 1:9). Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Simon began: “My people, its oppressors are babes an...
Another interpretation: “Also, Vashti the queen” – Shmuel began: “When they are inflamed, I will set out their banquet [and get them drunk, that they revel and then sleep an endles...
“Who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exile that was exiled with Yekhonya king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylonia exiled” (Esther 2:6).“Who had been exiled from...
“It was contemptible in his eyes to lay hands on Mordekhai alone, for they had told him of Mordekhai’s people; Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were in the whole kingdom o...
“The text of the document was that an edict be issued in every province, to be publicly displayed to all the peoples: Be ready for that day” (Esther 3:14). “The text of the documen...
“And you, write about the Jews as is pleasing in your eyes in the name of the king” (Esther 8:8), and send to all the provinces “to destroy and to kill and to eliminate” (Esther 8:...
“The Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Aḥashverosh, to lay hand on those who sought their harm. And no one stood against them for the fear of them had fall...
From the very first moment of creation, God assigned every major figure in history a specific role. Esther Rabbah preserves a remarkable list, attributed to Rabbi Berekhya, that re...
The exile of the Jewish people under Ahasuerus was not an accident. According to Esther Rabbah, it was prophesied in detail centuries before it happened, embedded in verses from Is...
It sounds radical, I know. According to some accounts, God bestowed immense honor upon Moses, gifting him dominion over the entire earth, the seas, the rivers – all the elements th...
Maybe that feeling is a tiny glimpse into the ultimate truth: that everything is sacred. Philo, the 1st-century Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, certainly thought so. He envisio...
Isn't it frustrating when someone twists your words, puts ideas in your mouth, and generally acts in bad faith? That's the vibe I get from this next section of "The Wars of God." S...
Someone is being called out for criticizing the act of diligently seeking to understand the sacred texts. The response is sharp: "Who gave you the authority to seek and investigate...
You're not alone! The tradition teaches that deep understanding requires dedication, effort, and a willingness to truly delve into the text. The power to investigate and inquire wi...
And it's a desire that sometimes leads to conflict, as we see when examining certain debates within Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. In this particular instance, we're divi...
Philo, the 1st-century Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, grappled with this very question in his own way. In what we call "The Midrash of Philo," he argues that Adam must have be...
We often think of death as the end, a full stop. But what if it's just a… transition? Philo, that brilliant Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, wrestled with this very idea. He was...
But what if I told you there's a perspective, woven into ancient Jewish thought, that offers a slightly different angle?Now, midrash (מדרש) itself, broadly speaking, is a way of in...
It’s a question that’s puzzled thinkers for ages, and surprisingly, we find some intriguing early thoughts on it in the writings attributed to Philo of Alexandria, an important Jew...
The ancient sages certainly did. And they found profound meaning in that feeling. to a fascinating interpretation of a well-known biblical passage, explored in the Midrash of Philo...
That’s the feeling swirling around in this passage from the Midrash of Philo, an ancient commentary attributed to Philo of Alexandria, as it grapples with the moment someone encoun...
The mystics imagined it, and what they saw is The story goes that when God decided to create Adam, it wasn't a snap of the fingers. It was a process. A cosmic sculpting project, if...
The story of Abraham and Isaac, the Akeidah (the binding), grapples with these very questions. Abraham and Sarah, living in the Land of Israel, yearned for a child. Their lives wer...
According to Jewish tradition, the very concept of the Temple in Jerusalem, that sacred place, was envisioned at the dawn of creation itself. As Howard Schwartz recounts in Tree of...
The Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying: “fear not” (Gen. 15:1). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Then Thou spokest in vision to Thy godly ones, and saids...
And the Lord remembered Sarah, as he had said (Gen. 21:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man, that H...
