1,715 related texts · Page 29 of 36
It's easy to imagine despair settling in, but the Jewish spirit, as we know, is nothing if not resilient. Let's talk about Baruch. He wasn't just any guy; he was the scribe and dev...
Instant mood killer. That’s precisely what happened to King Belshazzar. As we read in the Book of Daniel, the writing was on the wall—literally. And it foretold doom. The prophet D...
And the Jewish tradition has some pretty incredible answers. According to the Legends of the Jews, when the Jews returned to Jerusalem under Ezra's leadership to rebuild the Temple...
The High Priest's breastplate could predict the outcome of wars. Josephus states this not as legend but as historical fact—the twelve gemstones mounted on the breastplate of the Ko...
The Ark of the Covenant—the holiest object in Israel—fell into enemy hands. And the man responsible for guarding it died the moment he heard the news. The Philistines launched a ma...
David never went to war without consulting God first. According to Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews, this was the defining principle of his military career—and when the Philisti...
King Josiah was eight years old when he inherited the throne of Judah. His grandfather Manasseh had been the worst king in the nation's history—a man who slaughtered prophets until...
Three bodyguards of King Darius entered a contest that would decide the fate of the Jewish Temple. The king had fallen asleep after a great feast and woke unable to sleep again. He...
Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world by age thirty, but Josephus tells a story about the one city he did not need to take by force. When Alexander marched on Jerus...
The crisis started from within. Josephus records that after the High Priest Onias III died, a power struggle erupted between his brothers. Jason and Menelaus each bribed the Seleuc...
Jewish tradition teaches that all of creation springs forth from the very Name of God, specifically the holiest Name: YHVH. The Zohar tells us that in the very beginning, God revea...
What happens when even the Divine weeps? What happens when home is lost, not just for us, but for God, too? We often think of God as unchanging, eternal, beyond our human messiness...
The holiday of Sukkot, as we know, is based on the biblical verse, "You shall live in booths seven days" (Leviticus 23:42). We build these temporary dwellings, the sukkot (plural o...
We all know the story from Genesis: the serpent, the forbidden fruit, the exile. But what then? Did the Garden just sit there, empty and forlorn? Not quite. According to Jewish lor...
We're talking about the Temple in Jerusalem, the Beit Hamikdash (the Holy Temple in Jerusalem). For centuries, it stood as the center of Jewish life, a place of pilgrimage, prayer,...
The Jewish tradition grapples with this very question, not just for individuals, but for the entire people of Israel. It's a theme woven throughout our sacred texts, a conversation...
It’s the word zot – "this." Sounds simple. But in the mystical tradition, particularly within the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, the zot is anything but simple. It's a doorway....
That, in essence, is the mystical idea behind the Sukah we find discussed in the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar. But what exactly is this Sukah? It’s not just the temporary dwel...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a companion work to the Zohar itself, dives deep into the mysteries of creation and the hidden meanings within the Torah. In Tikkunei Zohar 5...
The passage begins with a verse from Genesis (33:18): “And Jacob arrived complete…” Now, on the surface, this seems like a straightforward statement. Jacob, after his long journey ...
Not in a literal sense, of course, but in a way that might just change how you think about connecting with the Divine. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, in section 89, dives d...
That’s kind of the world of the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a mystical text that delves into the deepest secrets of creation and redemption. And sometimes, it all hinges on…...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), offers a fascinating, even breathtaking, image. It suggests our offerings, our qorbanot – and ...
Sometimes, they're more than just commandments; they're glimpses into a cosmic battle between good and… well, not-so-good. to a fascinating, and slightly strange, passage from Tikk...
But what sparks this joy? What ignites this closeness? The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar offers a striking image: an older person emerges from behind a wall. Now, walls in Kabb...
Sefer Raziel HaMalakh contains a detailed cosmological map of the seven heavens—a tradition rooted in early rabbinic literature (Chagigah 12b) and expanded dramatically in the Hekh...
Before King Solomon built the Temple on Mount Moriah, the divine presence had no fixed address. The Shechinah — God's indwelling presence — could rest anywhere within the city of J...
Rabbi Akiva taught that there were three things Moses could not visualize on his own, no matter how great his prophetic power. God had to physically point them out to him. The firs...
Scripture specified it (the fourteenth day) as mandatory. It is not the second assumption, then, that is to be accepted, but the first. "And it shall be to you for a keeping": Scri...
"And they shall place it on the two side posts and on the lintel": I might think that if he placed (the blood on) one before the other, he has not fulfilled his obligation. It is, ...
"Draw forth and take for yourselves": "Draw forth"—he who possesses his own; "and take" (i.e., acquire)—he who does not possess his own. R. Yossi Haglili says (The meaning is:) "Dr...
"and slaughter the Pesach (Passover): It is a mitzvah to slaughter it as a Pesach offering. If he does not offer it as such, he transgresses the mitzvah. I might think that in the ...
The Torah states a blunt exclusion about the Paschal lamb: "No stranger may eat of it." The Mekhilta explains who "stranger" includes, and the answer is broader than it first appea...
Variantly: The bechor of a man is likened to the bechor of a beast, and the bechor of a beast to the bechor of a man. Just as with a beast, a miscarriage (of the first pregnancy) e...
(Exodus 13:6) declares, "And on the seventh day, a festival to the Lord." The Hebrew word for festival, chag, is related to chagigah, the special festival offering brought at the T...
Shimon b. Azzai says: What is the intent of "Veha'avarta"? From (Leviticus 27:32) "Whatever (beast) passes ('ya'avor') under the staff" (for tithing), I would think that an orphan,...
The Torah draws a direct line between the tenth plague and a permanent commandment: "And the Lord killed every first-born... therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord every male first-bor...
(Exodus 13:17) "And it was, when G–d sent ("shalach") the people": "sending" in all places is accompaniment, viz. (Genesis 18:16) "And Abraham went with them to send them," (Ibid. ...
When the Israelites saw the Egyptian army bearing down on them and the Red Sea blocking their escape, the Torah says they "were exceedingly afraid." But what did they do with that ...
(Exodus, Ibid.) "Stand ready (hithyatzvu) to see the salvation of the L–rd": Moses said to them: Today the Shechinah will repose the Holy Spirit upon you; for "yetzivah" in all pla...
R. Yossi Haglili says: When Israel entered the sea, Mount Moriah was uprooted from its place, with the altar of Israel built upon it, and its woodpile upon it, and Isaac bound upon...
Thus said the Holy One Blessed be He: What reward will accrue to the sons of Benjamin, who went down first into the sea? The reposing of the Shechinah in his portion (i.e., the Tem...
The eighth, that of Solomon, viz. (Psalms 30:1) "A psalm, a song of the inauguration of the Temple of David." Now did David built it? Did not Solomon build it? viz. (I Kings 6:14) ...
The Mekhilta tells a parable. Robbers break into a king's palace. They despoil everything of value. They kill the king's courtiers — his loyal servants, the people who maintained h...
(Ibid. 20) "Then Miriam the prophetess took": Where do we find that Miriam was a prophetess? She said to her father (Amram): In the end, you will beget a son who will be the savior...
Three things were given conditionally: Eretz Yisrael, the Temple, and the kingdom of the house of David, but not the Torah scroll and the covenant of Aaron, which were not given co...
(Exodus 19:10) "And the L–rd said to Moses: Go to the people and make them ready today"—the fourth day—"and tomorrow"—the fifth day. (Ibid. 11) "And have them be ready for the thir...
(Exodus 20:22) instructs: "Do not build them gazith." The Mekhilta explains that "gazith" means "gezuzoth" — hewn stones, specifically stones upon which iron tools have been used. ...
