3,200 related texts · Page 53 of 67
We know that CANAAN, son of HAM, and his descendants settled in the land. But the story goes that they didn’t exactly have permission. According to Legends of the Jews, Canaan disr...
(Yes, that's the title of the whole collection.) It's a wild ride through the aggadah – the stories, the embellishments, the "filling in the blanks" that surrounds the more straigh...
According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, when Abraham and his entourage finally arrived back in Canaan, they made a point of seeking out the same lodgings they'd u...
Abraham knew that feeling well. Before he was Avraham Avinu, our father Abraham, before the brit bein ha-betarim—the covenant of the pieces—he was just a man with a promise and a p...
Her death, according to Legends of the Jews, wasn't just a family tragedy. It was a blow to the whole land. Imagine the shift: while she lived, things flowed smoothly, blessings ab...
It wasn't your typical baby shower, that’s for sure. The atmosphere was thick with anticipation, but also… something else. Something a bit unsettling, perhaps? The story, as told i...
Take the tale of Jacob and Esau. As babies, they were basically indistinguishable. Like a myrtle and a thorn bush just sprouting – you can't tell them apart yet. But give them time...
The patriarch Jacob and his brother Esau, those iconic twins, grappled with these very questions in a fascinating exchange, as recorded in Legends of the Jews. Imagine the scene. T...
These brothers, figures from the very dawn of our tradition, had a sibling rivalry that's… well, legendary. We all know the story of Jacob and Esau. Twins, but as different as coul...
Esau was out on a hunting trip, a rugged figure making his way through the mountainous region of Mount Seir. It was there, according to Legends of the Jews, that he met Judith, a w...
The Torah tells us that Rebekah, knowing what was right and divinely inspired, took matters into her own hands to make sure that Jacob, not Esau, received Isaac’s blessing. But tha...
Rebekah, wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau, certainly did. Imagine this: Isaac, old and blind, is about to bestow a blessing – a powerful, almost magical blessing – on his...
We often think of Rebekah's role in the story of Jacob and Esau as somewhat manipulative, but when you dig into the legends, you find a fierce maternal love driving her actions. : ...
But what if I told you the story doesn't end with Jacob receiving the blessing? What if there's more to the conversation, a divine rebuke even? According to Legends of the Jews, th...
According to Legends of the Jews, a monumental compilation of Jewish folklore by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, Rebekah, overcome with distress, began to weep as soon as Jacob departed. Isa...
What does he do? Does he stand back, waiting for someone to acknowledge him? Nope. He takes the initiative. "My brethren, whence be ye?" he asks. A simple question, but oh-so-power...
Jacob certainly did when dealing with Laban. Can you blame him? Laban wasn’t exactly known for his straightforward dealings. We pick up the story of Jacob from Ginzberg's Legends o...
It's easy to skim over names and births, but hidden in those details are tales of longing, rivalry, and divine intervention. Take the story of Issachar, Jacob's son. His very name,...
Take the tale of Jacob and Leah, for instance. It’s more than just a family drama; it’s a glimpse into destiny, divine intervention, and the very essence of Jewish values. Imagine ...
And the story of how she found a way forward, a way to reclaim her dignity, is a powerful one. Remember Jacob, the son of Isaac? He was tricked into marrying Leah, even though he l...
According to Legends of the Jews, he was just waiting for Joseph to be born so he could finally head home. Why? Because Jacob had a sense – a ruach (spirit) hakodesh, a holy spirit...
Jacob, after years of working for Laban, finally asked for something concrete as payment: he wanted all the speckled and spotted goats, and the black sheep. Sounds fair. Laban, alw...
The trickster uncle. Father to both Leah and Rachel, Jacob's wives. And in this story, he's about to confront Jacob in a big way. Imagine this: Jacob has finally left Laban's house...
We pick up the story after Jacob, urged by his mother Rebekah, has just received Isaac's blessing, a blessing meant for his brother, Esau. The text tells us, "And when Jacob heard ...
According to Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg, naturally drawing on earlier Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic sources), things were still pretty tense. See, Jacob, ever the...
The story goes that after Jacob finished praying – really pouring his heart out, connecting with the Divine – he got down to brass tacks. He started organizing. See, Jacob was no f...
He wasn't just miffed at his brother Jacob. He was incandescent with rage. Remember, Jacob had received the blessings meant for Esau, and Esau wasn't about to let that go. He wante...
Our story today dives right into that murky territory, exploring the story of Shechem, the son of Hamor, and his burning desire for Dinah, Jacob's daughter. We last left off with S...
We're talking about the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and the events that unfolded in the city of Shechem. Now, you probably know the basic outline: Dinah is taken by Shechem,...
This one's from the Book of (Genesis 34:25-29), amplified and expanded in the Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, and it's... intense. It all begins with Dinah, Jacob's daughter...
That's the scene as described in Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, drawing upon a wealth of midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic and talmudic sources. The story unfold...
According to Legends of the Jews, a moment came when Jacob, sensing impending danger, turned to his sons. But he didn't just hand them swords and send them off to battle. No, his f...
Today, let’s pull back the curtain on one of them: Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse. You might think, "A nurse? What's so special about that?" But in the ancient world, nurses were more th...
It wasn’t exactly a warm reunion. The story, as retold in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, paints a picture of simmering tensions boiling over. Judah, ever the pragmatist, wasn't bu...
According to Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, the drama was far from over. Imagine the scene: Jacob's sons, fired up, chasing the remnants of Esau's army all the way to Adora. Esau'...
It's often because the story isn't just about one family or one kingdom, but about the tangled web of relationships between them all. Take, for instance, the story of Esau and Jaco...
We all know the story of the coat, but sometimes we forget about the dreams that really kicked things off. The second dream is the real kicker. Joseph dreams that the sun, the moon...
We're talking about the dream where he saw a ladder stretching to heaven, angels ascending and descending (Genesis 28:12). According to Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, Jacob...
Jacob, bless his heart, sends young Joseph off to check on his brothers and the flocks. But before he does, he gives Joseph a very specific instruction: travel only by daylight. Wh...
That’s the situation Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob, found himself in with his younger brother, Joseph. Reuben had good reason to worry. As the eldest, he knew that if anything ha...
Take the story of Joseph, for instance. We all know the highlights: jealousy, betrayal, slavery, imprisonment, and ultimately, triumph. But what about the in-between moments? We pi...
Let's set the scene. Jacob, anxious and yearning for news of his sons and the flock, sends Joseph out to check on them. Time passes. Too much time. A knot of unease tightens in Jac...
Judah, one of Jacob's sons, married a Canaanite woman, and their firstborn was named Er, which poignantly means "the childless." As fate would have it, Er’s name was a prophecy. He...
After the whole heartbreaking ordeal of selling Joseph into slavery to the Midianites, Judah's brothers came to him with a proposition. "If things were normal," they said, "our fat...
Sometimes, their stories are tucked away in unexpected places, waiting to be discovered. Take Asher, for instance, one of Jacob's sons. We know he founded one of the twelve tribes,...
That's precisely where we find Joseph, the dreamer, in a rather precarious position. He ends up in the service of Potiphar – or Poti-phera as he's sometimes known – an Egyptian pri...
After all the drama with his brothers, being sold into slavery, and landing in Egypt, Joseph finally caught a break. He rose through the ranks, becoming a powerful figure in Potiph...
He faced a test that could have changed his life forever. The story goes that when Potiphar's wife, Zuleika, tried to seduce him, he refused. "I fear my master," he said, according...
