3,636 related texts · Page 41 of 76
It's a fascinating read, full of details you won't find anywhere else in the Torah. The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis, presents itself as a revelation given to ...
It's an ancient Jewish text, considered apocryphal by some, pseudepigraphal by others. Basically, it's an "outside book," a text that exists outside the traditionally accepted bibl...
We often trace them back to the Torah, to Moses at Sinai. But what if some of those traditions, the feel of them, actually predate the Torah itself? to the Book of Jubilees, a fasc...
It’s a theme woven deep into our sacred texts. And one place where this connection is powerfully articulated is in the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, a text not included in the canoni...
The Letter of Aristeas, a fascinating text from the Hellenistic period, gives us a glimpse into how the ancient Jewish community grappled with these very questions. It tells us tha...
It’s a question that’s led many a curious mind to explore texts outside the Torah itself.It offers us a glimpse into Abraham's early life and the world around him. Remember, the Bo...
But what about the generations that followed? What were they up to? The Book of Jasher, an ancient text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), offers so...
After Abram's bold declaration against idol worship (in the previous chapter), King Nimrod isn't too pleased. According to the Book of Jasher, Nimrod had Abram thrown into prison f...
Sefer haYashar, as it's known in Hebrew, is an ancient text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), though the version we have today is likely a medieval...
Gnats live for a single day. They're born, they swarm, they die. New ones replace them. So why do they exist at all? Nebuchadnezzar wanted to know, and Ben Sira had a two-part answ...
The Garden of Eden is not a meadow. It is a city of palaces. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, there are...
Cain was the first city builder. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, after marrying his wife Qalmana, Cain...
How many people were alive before the flood? According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, an exact census was taken...
Abraham's entire family were idol-makers. They carved images and sold them in the streets. But Abraham ran the stall like a philosopher. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a...
Haran, the eldest son of Terah, made his living selling his father's idols to the Chaldeans. His younger brother Abraham refused to worship them. When the Chaldeans came to test bo...
The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, preserves an unusual parallel timeline linking the rise of Rome with the suffering ...
The quarrel between Korah and Moses began with a poor woman and her single ewe-lamb. She fed the lamb from her own bread and let it drink from her own cup. When she sheared its woo...
Haman wrote one of the most chilling documents in Jewish legend. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Haman...
Ptolemy of Egypt was a book collector. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, the Macedonian king who ruled Eg...
I stumbled across a wild little story, and I just had to share it. It comes from Tree of Souls, Howard Schwartz's collection of Jewish folktales. It's a quick glimpse into a world ...
Nimrod is one of those names. He looms large in Jewish tradition, a figure of immense power, incredible arrogance, and profound sin. According to Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, i...
The story of the Tower of Babel is a classic tale exploring that very theme. It’s a story about ambition gone wild, about a collective "we can do anything" attitude that ultimately...
We know him as the ultimate liberator, the lawgiver, the one who spoke to God face to face. But there's a fascinating story, tucked away in Jewish legend, about Moses the King of E...
Take, for example, the story of Moses and the burning bush. Moses, tending his flock near Mount Horeb, a place already imbued with a sense of holiness – even the birds seemed to kn...
It’s easy to see them as just random acts of divine power, but Jewish tradition teaches us there’s so much more going on. It's not just about punishment, it's about midah k'neged m...
Plagues, parting of the Red Sea, freedom! But the details…they’re wild. Imagine the scene: the Egyptians, fresh from the devastation of the tenth plague, practically shoving the Is...
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...
Because according to some fascinating corners of Jewish tradition, even the animals weren't always as they are now. Take the serpent. We all know the serpent. The smooth-talking te...
It’s not just about a snake slithering around and causing trouble. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, this serpent was no ordinary animal. It was, in fact, t...
According to Legends of the Jews, God didn't hold back when addressing the serpent. It wasn't just a slap on the wrist; it was a complete overhaul of the serpent's very being. "I c...
According to the Legends of the Jews, compiled by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, the pronouncement of the serpent’s doom wasn't a solitary act. God convened a Sanhedrin – a court – of seven...
Paradise. Just the two of them and the lush, vibrant world around them. As it says in Legends of the Jews, God essentially told them, "The Lord has put us here to cultivate it and ...
And according to the legends, everyone was pointing fingers. The classic story. Adam, confronted by God, doesn't exactly take responsibility. Instead, as Ginzberg retells it in Leg...
Our tales are full of such figures, some righteous, some…not so much. to the story of one of the first: Nimrod. His origin is a bit unusual, right from the start. Nimrod was born t...
We often think of historical figures who became obsessed with their own greatness, but the story of Nimrod gives us a glimpse into the ancient roots of this phenomenon. Nimrod, a f...
Forget the pyramids; we're talking about the Tower of Babel. It all goes back to Nimrod. Remember him? The mighty hunter, the king who, according to tradition, was the first to rea...
It’s a dark picture painted in the Legends of the Jews, a world where humanity had truly lost its way. According to Ginzberg's retelling, the descendants of Noah were sinking deepe...
That's exactly what happened in the story of Abraham's birth. According to Legends of the Jews, Terah, Abraham’s father, married Emtelai, the daughter of Karnabo. A simple enough b...
But there's another tale, even older, that drips with similar horror: the story of Nimrod. So, Nimrod, the mighty hunter, the king who, depending on which source you read, either h...
It’s a story filled with fear, hope, and divine intervention. Imagine a woman, heavy with child, fleeing in terror. This isn’t just any woman; this is Abraham's mother. And she’s n...
According to legend, Nimrod, the king, wasn't exactly thrilled about the prophecies swirling around about a child who would challenge his authority. He wasn’t just a little worried...
The story of Abraham and Nimrod is a perfect example, and it's wild. We pick up the tale after Abraham has already begun to challenge Nimrod's authority, but now things are about t...
It wasn't exactly smooth sailing, especially when it came to his own family. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, Abraham actually encountered his parents in B...
It was more than just a theological debate; it was a showdown of epic proportions. As Abraham's voice rang out, something incredible happened. According to Ginzberg's retelling in ...
One day, as Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews, Abraham encountered an old woman. She was devoted to her idols, completely convinced they held power. Abraham, ever the truth-...
This is one of those. It starts with an old woman, unnamed in the texts, but strong as iron. Word of her devotion to a God other than King Nimrod reached the king’s ears, and, well...
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...
Abraham certainly did. Imagine being thrown into a dark, dank prison, left to starve and thirst, all for standing up for what you believe in. That's exactly where our patriarch fou...
