3,765 related texts · 59 related myths · Page 4 of 79
The Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan never lets a wilderness story pass without asking why the suffering. In Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 21:15), the answer is uncomfortable: when they cam...
Before he walks down the mountain, Abraham offers one more prayer. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 22:14), the Aramaic paraphrase turns the Hebrew's terse place-naming into a...
Book of Jubilees turns to Lot Separates From Abraham and Grief Follows. The story picks up with Lot, Avram’s nephew, deciding to separate from him. Now, Lot wasn't just any relativ...
It's a feeling that pops up in some pretty surprising places, even in our sacred stories. to one of those moments, found in the Book of Jubilees. It's considered apocryphal by some...
Book of Jubilees turns to Abraham Torn Between Sarah and Hagar. It all centers around Sarah, Abraham’s beloved wife, and Hagar, her handmaid. Sarah, in her older years, had been un...
Jubilees, considered scripture by some and an important historical text by others, paints a picture of Abraham's unwavering faith in the face of, let’s just say, a lot of challenge...
Legends of the Jews turns to Destruction of Sodom of Abraham. The story goes that God, observing the rampant wickedness in Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities, had reached ...
For many years, Abraham dwelled in Beer-sheba, and his primary occupation wasn't just tending flocks, but spreading the word, the dvar Hashem, of God. He wasn't content to keep his...
Take Abraham's journey to Mount Moriah, the place where he was commanded to sacrifice his son, Isaac. It’s a story we think we know, but the tradition turns to The Torah tells us t...
The story goes that after Abraham proved his unwavering faith by being willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, God intervened. A ram, caught in a thicket, was offered instead. But wha...
Abraham and Isaac returned to Beer-sheba after the binding on Mount Moriah, but Sarah wasn't there. A knot of worry tightens in their hearts. Where is she? They learn she's gone to...
Legends of the Jews turns to Kingdom of Abraham of Abimelech. His story doesn't end there, though. His twelve-year-old son, Benmelek, took over the throne, adopting his father's na...
It’s a poignant moment, and the Torah is silent about Isaac's immediate reaction. But Jewish tradition, ever eager to fill in the gaps, gives us a fascinating glimpse into what mig...
Sounds epic. But Moses wasn't so sure. He argued. He pleaded. According to Legends of the Jews, compiled by Louis Ginzberg, Moses didn't just meekly accept his divine mission. He s...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Sarah — The Binding of Isaac. The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of stories and interpretations from around the 8th century, tells...
Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Abraham — Moses and the Angels. The story opens with a terrifying decree: God, in his anger, sends not one, but five angels to destroy Israel. These...
The Binding of Isaac is terrifying in the Torah. In the Targum, it is something else entirely. Isaac was not a passive child led to slaughter. He was thirty-six years old, and he v...
Buried in Leviticus 22's rules about blemished offerings, the Targum Jonathan inserts one of the most beautiful passages in all of Targumic literature, a theology of sacrifice root...
A voice cries in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3). The Aggadat Bereshit connects this voice, the heral...
After Abraham routed the four kings and rescued his nephew Lot, the king of Sedom came out to meet him with an offer that looked generous and was actually a trap. Take the spoil, t...
In the wilderness, Hagar meets an angel. And the angel does what angels rarely do, he names a child. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 16:11) keeps the name-meaning the Hebrew enc...
Jewish tradition certainly has something to say about that, especially when it comes to the story of Abraham and his monumental tests of faith. to Bereshit Rabbah, a classic collec...
The story of Sodom, as recounted in Bereshit (Genesis), is full of chilling moments, but one particular exchange, elaborated upon in Bereshit Rabbah 50, really gets to the heart of...
The story revolves around the destruction of Sodom, a city known for its wickedness. Lot, Abraham's nephew, is being led to safety, and the angel says to him, "Hurry; escape there,...
It's one of those stories from Genesis that's always felt a little... abrupt. "His wife looked behind him, and she became a pillar of salt" (Genesis 19:26). Poof! Salt. But the Rab...
That feeling isn't new. Our ancestors knew it well. Take Abraham, for instance. The Torah tells us, "Abraham traveled from there to the region of the south; he lived between Kadesh...
The story of Lot, Abraham's nephew, is a powerful example of this very idea. We find a fascinating, if somewhat harsh, interpretation of Lot's choices in Bereshit Rabbah 52, a coll...
The Torah tells us, "The matter was greatly distressing in Abraham’s eyes, regarding his son" (Genesis 21:11). This refers to the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. But why was Abraha...
The story of Abraham and the binding of Isaac, the Akeidah, is a powerful lens through which to explore this idea. Our text today comes from Bereshit Rabbah 55, a collection of rab...
Bereshit Rabbah turns to Ishmael and Creation of Abraham. "Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Makhpela, in the field of Efron, son of Tzohar the Hittite, that is ...
One such moment comes to us in (Genesis 17:18). Abraham, after hearing God's promise of a son, Isaac, through Sarah, turns to God and says, "O may my son Ishmael live before thee!"...
And the two angels came to Sodom … and he said: “Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet” (Gen. 19:1–2). Th...
"Far be it from You to do such a thing!" Abraham said it to God's face. He was standing between Sodom and heaven, and he was arguing (Genesis 18:25). The Hebrew word is chalilah. G...
(Genesis 19:26) is famously brief. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is not. "And his wife looked after the angel, to know what would be in the end of her father's house, for she was of the d...
(Genesis 20:5) continues Abimelech's defense: "Did he not tell me, She is my sister? and did not she also say, He is my brother? In the truthfulness of my heart and the innocency o...
Abraham lifts his eyes and sees a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. In Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 22:13), the Aramaic adds the detail that places this animal outside or...
Book of Jubilees turns to The Covenant Sealed With Isaac Not Ishmael. So what does Abraham do? Does he sit around and wait? Nope. He gets to work. "And Abraham did according as God...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text, gives us a glimpse. It’s like a backstage pass to some of the most pivotal moments in the Torah. The scene: Abraham is visited by ange...
Book of Jubilees turns to Isaac — Kingdom of Abraham. The Book of Jubilees tells us that this grand weaning party happened in the third month. We don't know exactly which calendar ...
Abraham is often remembered as this towering figure of faith, but the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text from the Second Temple period, gives us a stark look at the consequen...
He said, "Because thou hast obeyed My voice, and hast not withheld thy son, thy first-born, but hast offered him up to Me, in order that I might make a great nation of thee, and (b...
It tells us that Abraham, wise as he was, gave Ishmael and his sons, along with the sons of Keturah, gifts before sending them off. He then bequeathed everything else to his belove...
The Book of Jubilees, a text not found in the Hebrew Bible but considered sacred by some, gives us a peek behind the curtain, fleshing out stories we think we know. And one of thos...
When you're talking about someone like Abraham, the father of monotheism, the grief takes on a whole new dimension. The tradition turns to the Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish t...
Isaac, son of Abraham, certainly knew that feeling. Our story picks up with him journeying towards Gerar, a Philistine territory, seeking refuge with King Abimelech. (Jubilees 24)....
Book of Jubilees turns to Isaac Blessed Because Abraham Obeyed God's Voice. The impact is immediate and profound. The narrative continues with a fascinating detail: "And Abimelech ...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text expanding on the Torah, speaks to just that feeling. It tells a story of wells, oaths, and the sometimes-difficult path to peace. We pi...
Book of Jasher turns to Covenant of Isaac of Abraham. The Book of Jasher, a non-canonical Jewish text mentioned in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), gives us som...
