2,285 related texts · Page 8 of 48
We get a fascinating, if slightly scandalous, glimpse in the Book of Jubilees. Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and Exo...
We often think of holidays as something ancient and unchanging, but every tradition has a beginning. Let’s peek into one possible origin story, found in the Book of Jubilees, a tex...
The Book of Jubilees gives us a peek into the morning after. Imagine Jacob, still buzzing with the memory of his encounter with the Divine, rushing to tell his father, Isaac. He re...
The Book of Jubilees, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is an ancient Jewish text. Think of it as a retelling – and slight expansion – of the Book of Genesis and the first part...
That's the situation Judith finds herself in, and her prayer in the Book of Judith, chapter 9, is a raw, impassioned plea for divine intervention. "Throw down their strength in you...
Then you remember who you are, what you stand for, and you fight back. That's the spirit that leaps off the page when we delve into the story of Maccabees. Picture this: the Temple...
The scene is set: the people have just finished pouring out their hearts in prayer, their voices rising in heartfelt supplication. And then, the priests begin to sing. Imagine the ...
We all know the ending – the angel intervenes, a ram is sacrificed, and Isaac is spared. But what about the emotional turmoil, the agonizing choices, and the sheer human drama unfo...
It wasn't always peaceful. The story of Cain and Abel, the first brothers, is a chilling tale of jealousy, resentment, and ultimately, fratricide. But according to tradition, the s...
The story, as we find it elaborated upon in Legends of the Jews by Ginzberg, takes us far beyond the spare verses of Genesis. It paints a vivid picture, filled with dialogue and em...
Noah, his family, and all the animals are finally stepping off the ark, blinking in the sunlight, the world utterly transformed. The very first thing Noah does? He builds an altar....
Abraham, Avraham Avinu, our father Abraham, grappled with just such a question. He believed in God’s promise that his descendants would flourish, but he yearned to understand how t...
Sometimes, it’s about setting aside your own prestige, your own sense of self-importance, to serve. To truly see the other person’s needs. We find a beautiful example of this in th...
And Jewish tradition, with its rich tapestry of stories, doesn't shy away from tackling it head-on. Take the story of Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, the High Priest. We encounter ...
The story of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, plunges right into that question. It's a tale filled with both tragedy and a strange kind of… merit? We find this story in Leviticu...
The Torah tells us about such a moment in the life of Aaron, the High Priest, after the devastating death of his sons, Nadav and Avihu. Imagine the scene: Aaron’s sons, in their ze...
Take, for instance, the story of Aaron, Moses, and Aaron’s surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, after the tragic deaths of Nadab and Abihu. Remember Nadab and Abihu? They were cons...
Moses, desperate, remembers a secret he learned during his time on Mount Sinai, when he ascended to receive the Torah. It's a pretty wild story, actually. Each angel he encountered...
When we look at David, the "elect of God," as he's often called, it seems to be a fascinating combination of all three. David wasn't just some random shepherd boy plucked from obsc...
The story of Amos, the prophet, gives us a glimpse. He was fearless, wasn't he? But that very fearlessness, sadly, led to his demise. Legend has it that King Uzziah, enraged by Amo...
And the Jewish tradition has some pretty incredible answers. According to the Legends of the Jews, when the Jews returned to Jerusalem under Ezra's leadership to rebuild the Temple...
It's more than you might think. Imagine the scene: After decades in exile, a weary but hopeful band of Jews finally returns to Jerusalem. Among them are three figures of immense im...
King Josiah was eight years old when he inherited the throne of Judah. His grandfather Manasseh had been the worst king in the nation's history—a man who slaughtered prophets until...
The holiday of Sukkot, as we know, is based on the biblical verse, "You shall live in booths seven days" (Leviticus 23:42). We build these temporary dwellings, the sukkot (plural o...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a central text of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), offers a fascinating, even breathtaking, image. It suggests our offerings, our qorbanot – and ...
(Exodus 12:1) "And the L–rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying": I might think that both Aaron and Moses were being addressed; it is, therefore, written (Exod...
Before God chose the land of Israel as His special territory, every land on earth was equally suitable for divine speech. Prophecy could happen anywhere. But once Israel was chosen...
The Mekhilta makes a striking claim about the moral character of the Israelites in Egypt: they were not guilty of sexual immorality. The proof comes from an unexpected source — a v...
"And they shall place it on the two side posts and on the lintel": I might think that if he placed (the blood on) one before the other, he has not fulfilled his obligation. It is, ...
The Torah warns that whoever eats chametz during Passover will have their soul "cut off from Israel." The punishment is kareth — spiritual excision from the community. But the Mekh...
The Torah declares in (Exodus 12:16), "On the first day, a calling of holiness." The Mekhilta asks what it actually means to "call" a day holy — and the answer is surprisingly conc...
The Torah states in (Exodus 12:16) that "all labor shall not be done" on the festival days. The Mekhilta asks a pointed question: who exactly is covered by this prohibition? The an...
"And you shall guard this day": What is the intent of this? Is it not already written (16) "all labor shall not be done in them"? This tells me only of labor per se. Whence do I de...
The Mekhilta, the halakhic midrash on Exodus from the 2nd century CE, examines one of the starkest either-or passages in the Prophets. Isaiah delivers God's ultimatum: "If you acqu...
How often must a person inspect their tefillin (leather phylacteries worn during prayer) to make sure the scrolls inside are still intact? The Mekhilta derives the answer through a...
R. Acha says: The Holy One Blessed be He said: If not for your outcry, I would have destroyed them for the idolatry in their midst, viz. (Zechariah 10:11) "And tzarah crossed the s...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai offers a striking interpretation of the word "statutes" as it appears in the Torah's legislation. Where one might expect this term to refer to ritual laws or c...
The Mekhilta preserves a remarkable story about the descendants of Rechav — also known as the Rechabites, a family that had taken a perpetual vow to drink only water, never wine, a...
R. Yossi says: It is written (Isaiah 45:19) "Not in secrecy did I speak, in a place of darkness, etc." In the very beginning, when I gave it, I did not give it in secret or in a da...
"And the whole mountain trembled" (Exodus 19:18) — when God descended onto Mount Sinai, the mountain shook. But the Mekhilta reveals that Sinai was not the only mountain trembling....
(Exodus 19:22) "And also the Cohanim, who draw near to the L–rd": We are hereby apprised that the Cohanim are not included in "the people" (above, 21). And thus is it written (Levi...
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai reads the second commandment, "There shall not be unto you any other gods before My presence," as the conclusion of a divine dialogue that began long before...
(Ibid. 4) "You shall not make for yourself an idol (lit., "a carving")": I might think that he may not make one that projects but he may make one that is flat. It is, therefore, wr...
You shall not take": What is the intent of this? (Leviticus 19:12) "You shall not swear falsely in My name" speaks only of swearing. Whence is it derived that it is also forbidden ...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael derives the practice of Kiddush, the sanctification of Shabbat (the Sabbath) over wine, from the commandment to "sanctify it." The phrase "to sanctify...
The Torah's treatment of adultery presents a puzzle that the Mekhilta refuses to ignore. In one verse, the commandment thunders from Sinai: "You shall not commit adultery." In anot...
The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael identifies a critical distinction in the commandment "You shall not steal." The eighth of the Ten Commandments is not about stealing property. It is a...
R. Akiva says: What is the intent of "And these are the judgments"? From (Leviticus 1:2) "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them," I would think, only once. Whence do I de...
