3,287 related texts · Page 14 of 69
"And the El Shaddai grant you mercy" (Genesis 43:14). Jacob is sending Benjamin to Egypt — his youngest, his only remaining connection to Rachel, the son he can least afford to los...
He commanded them, saying; “Thus shall you say unto my lord Esau” (Gen. 32:5). R. Judah the son of Simon began the discussion with the verse: As a troubled fountain, and a corrupte...
42:1). Scripture states elsewhere in allusion to this verse: He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it (Prov....
It tells us, plainly and powerfully, that "Abram was very glorious by reason of possessions in sheep, and cattle, and asses, and horses, and camels, and menservants, and maidservan...
The Book of Jubilees gives us glimpses into just such moments. In chapter 22, we find Isaac sending a thank-offering to his father, Abraham, via Jacob. A "best thank-offering," no ...
That feeling echoes through the lives of our ancestors, too, especially in the complicated family dynamics of Jacob. Today, let's dip into the Book of Jubilees, a fascinating, thou...
The Book of Jubilees, also known as the Lesser Genesis, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis, but with some extra details. Think of it like a director's cu...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text, gives us a beautiful glimpse into that very moment. Picture this: Rebecca, Jacob's mother, is waiting, her heart pounding. She’s been ...
Our ancestors grappled with it too. to a moment with Jacob, a patriarch wrestling with destiny in the Book of Jubilees. What's the Book of Jubilees, you ask? Think of it as a retel...
The Book of Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells stories from Genesis and Exodus, but with a unique spin, adding details and interpretations not f...
The birth of a child, for instance, can be a moment of overwhelming happiness tinged with the pain of labor, the worry for their future. The story of Benjamin's birth, as recounted...
And then BAM! Disaster strikes. "They announced this to Jacob saying: 'Behold, the kings of the Amorites have surrounded thy sons, and plundered their herds.'" Can you imagine the ...
The Book of Jubilees, a text considered canonical by some but excluded from the Hebrew Bible, gives us a glimpse into just such a time of profound loss for Jacob. It's a raw, emoti...
The Book of Jubilees, for those who aren't familiar, is an ancient Jewish text, considered part of the biblical apocrypha or pseudepigrapha – writings that hover around the edges o...
Have compassion on thyself, father, and on us and on all our house, for they have come against thee to slay thee and to destroy thy house." And Jacob girded his loins with strength...
The Book of Jubilees, a fascinating text expanding on the Torah’s narratives, takes us into just such a moment with Judah, son of Jacob. It’s a raw, human story, full of mistakes a...
In case you're not familiar, the Book of Jubilees is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis from a slightly different angle, adding details and interpretations ...
That feeling, that primal dread of exposure, is at the heart of this little snippet from the Book of Jubilees, chapter 43. Now, the Book of Jubilees, for those less familiar, is a ...
We're diving into the Book of Jubilees, specifically chapter 46. Now, the Book of Jubilees isn't part of the standard Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, that you'd find in most synagogues. ...
It comes from the Book of Jubilees, specifically chapter 46. The Book of Jubilees, for those who aren't familiar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and ...
to one of those today, a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of Moses' infancy. We all know the story: Pharaoh, gripped by fear of the Israelites' growing numbers, decrees that ...
The Book of Jubilees, a fascinating Jewish text from around the 2nd century BCE, gives us a peek behind that curtain. It’s like a director's cut of the Torah, filling in details an...
We all know the story from Genesis 34: how Jacob's daughter Dinah is defiled by Shechem, son of Hamor, and how Simeon and Levi exact a brutal revenge, slaughtering all the men of t...
After Simeon and Levi destroyed the men of Shechem, a great terror fell over every city in the region. The nations said: "If two sons of Jacob could exterminate an entire town, wha...
Esau had moved away from his brother Jacob, but the sages in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel say it was not because his hatred had cooled. "His anger did he bear perpetually, and he ke...
When Amram separated from his wife after Pharaoh's decree to drown all Hebrew boys, it was his young daughter Miriam who brought them back together. The Spirit of God came upon the...
When Pharaoh sought counsel on what to do about the growing Israelite population, he summoned three men: Reuel the Midianite, Job, and Balaam of Petor. Their answers determined the...
Zebulun, sixth son of Jacob and Leah, was dying in his hundred and fourteenth year, two years after Joseph. He gathered his sons and said: "I am not conscious that I have sinned al...
It's a tale of ambition, cunning, and a whole lot of grave-robbing... or, well, almost. Our story begins not in Egypt, but in the land of Shinar. There lived a man named Rakyon – m...
According to Legends of the Jews, that sign came with the birth of his son, Joseph. Jacob believed that Joseph's descendants would ultimately triumph over Esau's – his own brother,...
The Torah tells us that after wrestling with an angel all night, Jacob was left with a limp. But that wasn't the end of the story! According to Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, the...
But imagine the weight of a vow to the Almighty, left unfulfilled. According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, Jacob found himself in just such a predicament. He'd mad...
That's the story of Joseph, whose relationship with his brothers is one of the most dramatic and heartbreaking in the Torah. It all started with Joseph's "talebearing," as Ginzberg...
Let’s talk about Joseph, and that infamous pit. The story begins with Jacob's sons, out tending their father's flocks near Shechem. They were gone a long time, and Jacob, naturally...
His story, a cornerstone of the Hebrew Bible, is filled with dramatic turns, betrayal, and ultimately, triumph. But let's zoom in on one particularly painful chapter: his journey i...
It all revolves around Joseph’s coat – that infamous coat of many colors. The story goes that after selling Joseph into slavery, Jacob's sons were immediately overcome with regret....
We all face temptations, big and small. But imagine being Joseph, sold into slavery in Egypt, and facing down the relentless advances of his master's wife, Zuleika. It's a story of...
According to these accounts, Joseph's imprisonment wasn't just a random act of misfortune. It was, in a way, a consequence for speaking ill of his brothers before their father, Jac...
His brothers, the very ones who sold him into slavery years ago, bow before him, desperate for grain. They don't recognize the beardless youth they betrayed in this imposing figure...
Today, we get a glimpse into such a moment, as we explore the final words of Judah, son of Jacob, before his death. According to Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, these were Judah's...
Today, we're diving deep into the story of Pharaoh and the Israelites in Egypt, a tale of manipulation, exploitation, and ultimately, resilience. Imagine the scene: Egypt, a mighty...
The Jewish tradition offers a fascinating answer, one beautifully illustrated in the story of Moses, the great lawgiver. Before he led the Israelites out of Egypt, before the burni...
It's a painful scene. The text tells us he was in tears, his body bowed with the weight of it all. He didn’t want to do it! But Rebekah, driven by her own convictions, was insisten...
Take Isaac, for instance, getting ready to bless his son. It wasn't just a simple, "May good things come your way." This was a prophetic act, shaping the future of generations. Isa...
According to the Legends of the Jews, that's precisely what happened to Jacob in one of his prophetic dreams. Can you even fathom it? God, in His infinite wisdom, showed Jacob noth...
He finds a group of shepherds just standing there, killing time. "Why aren't you watering your sheep?" he asks, a little puzzled. "Are you day laborers? It's early to stop working....
to one of those, focusing on the marriage of Jacob to Leah and Rachel. It’s a tale more nuanced than you might remember. We all know Jacob worked for seven years to earn Rachel's h...
That’s kind of what happened to Laban after Jacob left Haran. The story goes that Jacob, after his... let's call it a complicated stay with Laban, finally packed up and headed towa...
