2,285 related texts · Page 40 of 48
And not just any skull, but the skull of Araunah (also known as Araniah or Aravnah), the very man from whom King David purchased the land upon which the Temple stood! Now, you migh...
He wasn't born to be king of Persia. Nope. No royal blood coursing through his veins, no divine right backing him up. How did he become king then? Money. Pure, unadulterated wealth...
The Book of Esther tells a tale of immense wealth and power, embodied by King Ahasuerus. He throws a lavish banquet, boasting of his riches. But where did all this splendor come fr...
It wasn't just some quiet little tea party, that's for sure. According to the Legends of the Jews, Vashti's banquet for the women was a spectacle in its own right, almost a mirror ...
One that echoes powerfully in the story of Mordecai and Haman. Let's rewind a bit. Remember Bigthan and Teresh, those disgruntled chamberlains who plotted against King Ahasuerus? T...
Mordecai, in the Book of Esther, certainly did. He had to communicate with Esther, his niece and now Queen, without raising suspicion. So how did he do it? Well, according to Legen...
The Jewish tradition offers some pretty powerful ways to navigate those moments, drawing strength from the stories of our ancestors. Imagine Esther, poised to enter the court of Ki...
We all know the story of Purim. But have you ever stopped to think about the sheer physical and emotional toll it must have taken on her? According to Legends of the Jews, Ginzberg...
That’s where we find Esther in the story, right after that fateful banquet. King Ahasuerus, still riding high on the wine and the atmosphere, repeats his offer. He's practically be...
Take the story of Haman and Mordecai from the Book of Esther. We know Haman planned to hang Mordecai on a towering structure, but have you ever considered what that structure was m...
Ten of them served as governors in various provinces, according to Legends of the Jews. But their fate? Not so enviable. Ten of them died along with their father, and the other ten...
He’s wading into a historical debate, and it's more tangled than you might think. Josephus brings up Berosus, a Babylonian priest and historian, who wrote a Chaldean History. Beros...
Today, we're diving into one such path, guided by the words of Josephus, a first-century Romano-Jewish historian. He's responding to some pretty harsh claims made by an Egyptian pr...
We often think of the classic texts – the Torah, the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) – but there's a whole other world of accounts out there, often written by those not ...
Our guide for this adventure is Flavius Josephus, the first-century Romano-Jewish scholar and historian, and the story comes from his work, Against Apion. This book is essentially ...
The Jewish people have faced that challenge for centuries, and in his work Against Apion, Josephus steps up to the plate to set the record straight against a particularly virulent ...
Apion, see, had a laundry list of complaints against the Jews. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, takes each one head-on. And in this particular section, Apion throws a few zinge...
The people brought so much gold that Moses had to tell them to stop. That detail, preserved by Josephus, captures something remarkable about the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle...
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...
David knew he was dying. Cold had settled into his bones so deeply that no amount of clothing could warm him. So he summoned Solomon and gave him the kind of deathbed speech that k...
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...
The Temple was rebuilt, but the real crisis was internal. Josephus records that when the returnees from Babylon laid the foundation, the Samaritans—descendants of foreigners whom A...
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...
After routing the Seleucid armies, Judas Maccabeus did not rest. Josephus records that the surrounding nations, alarmed by the sudden revival of Jewish power, attacked Jewish commu...
In 63 BCE, two brothers tore Judea apart. Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, both sons of the Hasmonean queen Alexandra, fought each other for the throne. Hyrcanus was the elder and the hig...
Herod tore down the Second Temple and rebuilt it from scratch. Not because it was falling apart. Because it wasn't grand enough for him. According to Josephus in Antiquities XV, He...
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...
In Jewish mysticism, this presence is often understood through the concept of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence). But here's something fascinating: it's not just one Shekhinah, bu...
Jewish tradition often speaks of a profound connection between the heavens and the earth – “as above, so below,” as the Kabbalists say. But what happens when tragedy strikes here? ...
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,...
It’s a question that has echoed through generations, and the Idra Zuta, a profound section of the Zohar, offers us a glimpse into its mystical significance. The text tells us that ...
Take the very first letter of the Torah, the Beiyt (ב) in Be-REiShYT (בראשית) – "In the beginning." The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah, sees this let...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a later extension of the Zohar, that foundational text of Jewish mysticism, tackles this feeling head-on. In Tikkunei Zohar 46, we find ourse...
The Jewish mystical tradition knows that feeling intimately. The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah and a companion to the Zohar itself, wrestles with th...
It’s more than just reciting words. According to the Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a foundational text of Kabbalah, something truly remarkable happens in the celestial realms ...
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…...
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...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a companion volume to the Zohar, that foundational text of Kabbalah, offers a fascinating, and frankly, wild, answer. It sees the human body ...
The longest and most carefully guarded section of Sefer Raziel HaMalakh catalogs the divine names—the Shemot (שמות), the names of God through which creation was brought into being ...
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...
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...
(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...
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. ...
"and I will be honored through Pharaoh": Scripture here apprises us that when the L–rd exacts punishment of the nations, His name is aggrandized in the world, as it is written (Isa...
(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...
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...
