4,614 related texts · Page 45 of 97
Twenty pounds of silver. That was the price of a human life—the amount Joseph's own brothers accepted from a passing caravan of Ishmaelite merchants in exchange for their seventeen...
The Egyptians who chased the Hebrews into the sea did not drown quietly. According to Josephus, the water came crashing back accompanied by storms, rain, thunder, lightning, and th...
Moses struck a rock and a river came pouring out. Not a trickle, not a seep—a full river, bursting from dry stone in the middle of the desert, clear and sweet enough to make an ent...
Twelve men walked into the land of Canaan. Twelve came back. And with a few terrified words, they nearly destroyed an entire nation's future. Moses had brought the Israelites to th...
Moses did not die in any normal sense. According to Josephus, writing in the first century CE, the greatest prophet who ever lived simply vanished—swallowed by a cloud on a mountai...
A famine drove one family out of Bethlehem and into the land of Moab. Elimelech took his wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chillon, across the border to survive. The sons m...
The Amalekite thought he was delivering good news. He arrived at David's camp in Ziklag carrying Saul's golden bracelet and royal crown, claiming he had personally killed the wound...
John Hyrcanus escaped his father's assassination and seized control of Jerusalem before his treacherous brother-in-law could reach it. But the early years of his reign were brutal....
Julius Caesar did something remarkable for the Jews. In a series of decrees preserved by Josephus in his Antiquities (written c. 93 CE), the Roman dictator formally guaranteed Jewi...
It’s a question that might sound irreverent, but Jewish mystical tradition actually gives us a fascinating answer, one deeply intertwined with our own actions and the fate of the w...
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...
Jewish mystical tradition paints a breathtaking picture of the Sabbath – not just as a day of rest, but as a sacred marriage, a cosmic coronation, a weekly reunion between God and…...
Not just any war, but a great and boundless war, raging in the very heavens! And mirroring this cosmic conflict, a corresponding war breaks out here on earth. It's a terrifying ima...
Jewish mystical tradition has a fascinating way of addressing that feeling, a concept called gilgul (the reincarnation of souls) – reincarnation. And within gilgul, there's an even...
You're not alone. Jewish tradition, especially Kabbalah, is deeply interested in the idea of inner and outer, of the pnim (internal) and chitzon (external) – and it applies this co...
No, we're not talking about geopolitics here! We're talking about the inner landscape of the soul. The great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam, in his introduction to the Zohar, that mystical...
And Jewish tradition has a framework for understanding why that might be. According to Baal HaSulam, in his introduction to the Zohar, there’s this dynamic at play between the “int...
We all probably have at some point. But what happens when that unwavering commitment actually causes harm? That's the kind of sticky situation that Baal HaSulam, in his remarkable ...
After all, isn’t it written in the Torah, in Deuteronomy (4:15), "For you did not see any image"? So, how can we then turn around and describe the Divine using names and the Sefiro...
It's not just some vague, formless energy. In Kabbalah, the divine manifests in intricate structures called partzuf (a divine configuration)im (divine countenances or configuration...
Think of them as filters, each one expressing the divine light in a different way. Now, within this framework, we encounter Yisrael Sabba and Tevuna. These are elevated spiritual c...
We're diving into a concept from the "Introduction to Sulam Commentary," specifically section 34, that deals with the re-emergence of the left line in the partzuf (divine persona) ...
Jewish mysticism understands that struggle, and sees it reflected in the very structure of the cosmos. We've been exploring the intricate world of the Sefirot, the emanations of th...
The key, according to the teachings of the Sulam commentary, is that Ḥokhma can't truly shine without the "light of giving." What does that mean, exactly? Well, it all comes down t...
In Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish mystical tradition, the answer lies, at least in part, in something called the "rectification of lines." And it's a bit more complex than just drawi...
We've all been there. Today, let's grab onto something solid: the Sulam commentary. It's like a ladder, see, designed to help us climb into a deeper understanding of the Tree of Li...
We're talking about the "second level of brains of maturity." What does that even mean? Well, in Kabbalistic thought, it refers to the seven lower sefirot (divine attributes or ema...
That's a feeling the Kabbalists knew well, and it's at the heart of what we're going to explore today. Specifically, we're diving into the idea of the "feminine waters" (mayin nukv...
There's this principle, a kind of cosmic law of reciprocity. It says that when a lower partzuf (a divine configuration)—think of it as a spiritual configuration or "face" of God—ca...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a text from the Heikhalot literature – a collection of mystical writings detailing heavenly ascents and visions – gives us a glimpse. ...
But then comes the angel Hadariel, who revives him, gives him back his breath and spirit, and sets him back on his feet. "My friend," Hadariel asks, "what came over thee?" Our visi...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, one of the central texts of the Heikhalot literature, offers us just such a glimpse, a breathtaking vision of King David's ascent to t...
But sometimes, the wheels of the divine grind with a satisfying, almost theatrical flourish. Let me tell you a story from the Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a text fille...
It's a powerful, intimate glimpse into the relationship between us and the Divine. The text imagines God saying, "For I have no pleasure in all My world which I have created like i...
It’s a powerful image, isn’t it? The freedom, the potential… “Blessed be thou, O Lord, who art wise in secrets and master of hidden things. Amen. Amen...." But what if that ladder ...
The ancient Israelites felt that way too. Imagine them, fresh from the Exodus, facing a mountain of mitzvot (commandments), commandments. Build a sanctuary! Study the Torah! Live a...
That's the kind of intimacy we find in Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a mystical text that gives us a peek into the heavenly realms. In one particularly striking passage...
The ancient mystics certainly did. And in the Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a text that pulls back the curtain on the heavenly realms, we find a powerful message about ...
The Maggid Meisharim, a fascinating text attributed to the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Joseph Karo (the same Joseph Karo who compiled the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law!), purpo...
That’s a feeling that echoes through the ages, and it’s captured with raw emotion in the ancient text, Mitpachat Sefarim. Imagine the scene: The Knesset Yisrael, the assembly of Is...
The text emphasizes that knowing God's singularity – His absolute oneness – isn't enough. It can't just be a mental exercise. It has to sink deep, becoming a bedrock of our being, ...
Ever hear someone say, "They had their chance and blew it?" That Israel, the Jewish people, messed up so badly that redemption is just... off the table? It’s a tough idea to grappl...
At Sinai, the Israelites experienced the overwhelming presence of HaShem. But what did they actually see? Moses, in his wisdom, warns the Israelites, “And guard your souls very muc...
But what are they, and where do they fit into the cosmic order? Now, we know about the Sefirot (the divine emanations) of Holiness. These are the ten emanations through which God m...
And while there aren't easy answers, Jewish mystical thought offers a fascinating perspective. to a concept explored in the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a profound text of Jewish wisdo...
The Jewish tradition grapples with this very question, not just for individuals, but for the entire people of Israel. It's a theme woven throughout our sacred texts, a conversation...
We're going to delve into a concept from the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a text that explores the intricate pathways of wisdom. It talks about how light, specifically divine light, re...
In Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish mystical tradition, they thought about this a lot. And they created a complex and beautiful system to explain how divine influence flows – or someti...
