1,715 related texts · Page 16 of 36
We all know King Solomon. The wisest of men, builder of the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. But this story isn't just about Solomon's glory; it’s about how his father, David, play...
He was, let's just say, very enthusiastic about idol worship. And he wasn't shy about flaunting it. As Ginzberg retells it in Legends of the Jews, Ahab taunted Elijah, basically sa...
According to Legends of the Jews, he ingested a noxious reptile. Yikes! Now, you might expect a divine plague, or some sort of cosmic retribution. But instead, Elijah appears. Not ...
We remember him most vividly, perhaps, from the Binding of Isaac, the Akeidah. A moment of ultimate faith, ultimate sacrifice averted at the last possible second. But what about th...
The Babylonians sacked the city, but did they get everything? Well, some say that not all the sacred objects fell into enemy hands. The prophet Jeremiah, according to tradition, ma...
It's more than you might think. Imagine the scene: After decades in exile, a weary but hopeful band of Jews finally returns to Jerusalem. Among them are three figures of immense im...
The Book of Esther tells a tale of immense wealth and power, embodied by King Ahasuerus. He throws a lavish banquet, boasting of his riches. But where did all this splendor come fr...
That's exactly where Esther found herself, as the story unfolds in the Book of Esther and expands in the rich tapestry of Jewish legend. Before her fateful meeting with King Ahasue...
In his work, Against Apion, he outlines some of the core principles embedded in Jewish law. And they go way beyond the usual "be nice" platitudes. He points out that our legislator...
Not a single hammer blow was heard during the entire construction. According to Josephus, Solomon's Temple rose from the earth in total silence—the massive stones fitted together s...
A one-year-old baby survived a massacre that wiped out the entire royal family of Judah. Athaliah, daughter of the infamous Ahab, heard that her brother Joram, her son Ahaziah, and...
In the first year of his reign, Cyrus king of Persia did something no conqueror had ever done: he freed an enslaved nation and paid to rebuild their God's house. Josephus explains ...
Herod tore down the Second Temple and rebuilt it from scratch. Not because it was falling apart. Because it wasn't grand enough for him. According to Josephus in Antiquities XV, He...
Agrippa did something no Jewish king had done in a generation: he made the people feel like they had a ruler who was actually one of them. According to Josephus in Antiquities XIX,...
That’s the scene we’re stepping into today, a scene that plays out once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Our focus? The High Priest, his heart pounding, preparing to en...
That's the picture painted in the Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, one of the central texts of the Heikhalot literature, the mystical writings that explore heavenly palace...
It's more than just a simple pleasure; it's a connection to something profound. This blessing, this goodness, isn't just about the taste in our mouths. It's about the health that f...
It’s a question that has intrigued mystics for centuries. The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a profound Kabbalistic text, offers a beautiful and comforting image. It suggests that when l...
We're not just talking about a gold star or a pat on the back. We're talking about something far more profound. Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a Kabbalistic text, hints at a reality wher...
The passage in Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar 56 dives deep into a pivotal moment: the sin of the Golden Calf. Remember that story? Moses is up on Mount Sinai receiving the Tora...
Jewish mysticism, especially the Zohar, the central text of Kabbalah, grapples with this feeling. It explores the idea of completeness, and how we achieve it, not just as individua...
And it's one that the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar uses to explore the nature of divine access and spiritual authority. The Tikkunei Zohar, a later and more esoteric section o...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a later expansion and sort of "fix" to the foundational Zohar, gives us a glimpse into this celestial postal service. It paints a picture of ...
The passage focuses on the Hebrew word for gold, ZaHaB (זהב). But it's not just about shiny metal. In Kabbalah, everything is interconnected, and words are seen as vessels brimming...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a later, more mystical expansion on the Zohar (the foundational text of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism), delves into the depths of Moses's plea a...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, offers a fascinating perspective. It tells us that the offerings, the qorbanot – literally, the means of drawing ...
That feeling, that tension, is woven right into the fabric of the cosmos, according to some of the deepest mystical teachings in Judaism. Let's turn to the Tikkun (spiritual repair...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, speaks to just that feeling, issuing a powerful call to awaken and protect something precious. Imagine a world wh...
But trust me, in the mystical world of Jewish thought, especially as revealed in the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, it all weaves together in a surprisingly beautiful way. The ...
You cannot receive complete divine providence until you shatter your desire for money. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught this as a direct spiritual mechanism, not a moral platitude. ...
(Exodus 12:1) "And the L–rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying": I might think that both Aaron and Moses were being addressed; it is, therefore, written (Exod...
The Torah speaks "to Moses and to Aaron" — in that order. Moses first, Aaron second. A natural reading would assume this reflects a hierarchy: Moses is the greater, Aaron the lesse...
Before God chose the land of Israel as His special territory, every land on earth was equally suitable for divine speech. Prophecy could happen anywhere. But once Israel was chosen...
Before Aaron was chosen for the priesthood, every member of Israel was eligible to serve as a priest. The entire nation stood on equal footing when it came to approaching God throu...
Rebbi — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi — offered an alternative reading of (Deuteronomy 16:2): "And you shall slaughter the Passover to your God — sheep and cattle." Rather than identifying ...
Variantly: "And he called to Moses and to Aaron": What is the intent of this? Pharaoh had said to him (Ibid. 10:28) "Go from me." (29) "And Moses said: "True have you spoken" (and ...
The Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus, captures the moment when Pharaoh finally broke. After the tenth plague — the death of every firstborn in Egypt — Pharaoh summoned Mos...
"This is the statute of the Paschal offering." Scripture speaks of (both) the Pesach (Passover) of Egypt and the Pesach for all the generations. These are the words of R. Oshiyah. ...
Rabbi Yoshiyah tackled a question about the scope of the commandment of first fruits, bikkurim. (Deuteronomy 26:2) commands, "Then you shall take of all the fruits of the earth." R...
The Mekhilta preserves a rapid-fire debate about what exactly earned the tribe of Judah the right to kingship over Israel. The exchange is compressed and dramatic, as rabbinic dial...
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...
In (Exodus 16:9), Moses instructed Aaron to tell the entire congregation of Israel to "draw near before the Lord." Two rabbis in the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael disagreed about what ...
Three men climbed to the top of the hill before the battle against Amalek: Moses, Aaron, and Chur (Exodus 17:10). The Mekhilta explains that their ascent was not a military decisio...
The verse records a startling act (Exodus 18:12): "Yithro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and peace-offerings for sacrifice to God." The Mekhilta says that Scripture d...
The Mekhilta preserves a remarkable story about the descendants of Rechav — also known as the Rechabites, a family that had taken a perpetual vow to drink only water, never wine, a...
And the sages say twelve monuments for each tribe. He built an altar, sacrificed thereon a burnt-offering and peace-offerings, took of the blood of the burnt-offering in two recept...
At Mount Sinai, God issued a specific invitation: "Go up, you and Aaron with you." The Mekhilta notices something crucial about this command. It names Moses and Aaron by implicatio...
(Exodus 20:21) "And you shall slaughter thereon": alongside it (i.e., alongside the top). You say "alongside it, but perhaps it is to be understood literally, i.e., "upon it"? And ...
