5,406 related texts · 40 related myths · Page 5 of 113
What did Mordekhai say to someone who would say to him: “Why are you violating the king’s command?” (Esther 3:3) Rabbi Levi said: Mordekhai would say: ‘Moses our master cautioned u...
The birthright, the trickery, the stolen blessing... But what about the aftermath, the settling of scores, the final chapter of their fraught relationship? Well, the Book of Jubile...
The Bible gives us glimpses, but the Book of Jasher, an ancient Hebrew text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13, (2 Samuel 1:1)8), offers a more detailed narrative. The ch...
The Aramaic Levi Document (ALD) is one of the oldest texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, parts of it may date to the 3rd century BCE, making it older than most of the books of ...
His story of wrestling with an angel is one of the most powerful and enigmatic in the entire Torah. As Jacob journeyed back to Canaan, anticipating a tense reunion with his brother...
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 made a vow at B...
In the house of Jacob, that dance of happiness and grief played out on a grand scale. Let's rewind. Remember Deborah, Rebekah's nurse? She wasn't just a caregiver; she was family. ...
Consider the story of Joseph and his brothers. We know about the coat, the jealousy, the slavery in Egypt… but what about their lives outside of that central drama? The year that J...
Jacob was grievously ill, and it’s no wonder. Think about all he’d been through! Remember his years of relentless toil while working for Laban? Day and night, he labored. And what ...
One of the most remarkable claims in rabbinic tradition is that the Israelites preserved their identity throughout centuries of Egyptian bondage by refusing to change their names. ...
The Torah gives us one of the most powerful and mysterious stories of just such a struggle: Jacob wrestling with the angel. The scene is set. Jacob, alone after sending his family ...
It’s a fascinating story that takes us from the biblical Jacob to the very Throne of Glory, with a little help from the angel Michael. In Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating work...
That’s definitely not a new phenomenon. to a story from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 38, a text filled with midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) interpretations and expansions of...
The Blessing of Moses in (Deuteronomy 33) gets the full Targum treatment, every tribe's destiny expanded, every blessing loaded with specifics the Torah never mentions. It opens wi...
"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 lose...
There is a line in Jacob's blessing so strange the ancient translators could not leave it alone. In the Hebrew, Jacob asks an angel to bless his grandsons. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan k...
The Torah tells us in (Genesis 32:28) that after wrestling with a mysterious figure, Jacob is told, "No more shall Jacob be said to be your name; rather, Israel, for you have striv...
Shir HaShirim Rabbah turns to Reuben and Creation of Egypt. The rabbis of the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) see in this verse a powerful statement about the people of ...
The ancient rabbis pondered such a moment, centered on our patriarch, Jacob, and a vision of a ladder reaching to the heavens. The scene is set in Genesis, where Jacob dreams of a ...
Rabbi Levi said: Accursed are the wicked who are engaged in evil counsel against Israel, and each one of them counsels in his way and says: ‘My counsel is better than your counsel....
This is a tale you won't soon forget. In Legends of the Jews, Isaac, son of Abraham, was a chip off the old block. He mirrored his father in every way, beauty, wisdom, strength, we...
The familiar story is this: Isaac, old and blind, intends to bless his elder son Esau. But Rebekah, favoring her younger son Jacob, orchestrates a deception. She dresses Jacob in E...
Legends of the Jews turns to Jacob and the Angels of Eliphaz. Jacob, penniless and vulnerable after Eliphaz's robbery, stumbles upon this scene. It's a strange, almost unbelievable...
The Torah tells us of Jacob's famous dream, but the Legends of the Jews fills in fascinating details. It wasn't just any ladder, you see. It was a ladder connecting earth and heave...
Jacob sent messengers ahead, bearing gifts, with instructions to address Esau as "my lord.. from his slave Jacob." It sounds deferential, doesn’t it? But according to the legends, ...
After years of estrangement, Jacob, returning to his homeland, prepares for his reunion with his brother Esau. He sends messengers ahead, laden with gifts, hoping to appease Esau's...
I'm talking about Jacob and Esau. We know their story. The birthright, the blessing… but there’s so much more simmering beneath the surface. A reader can look at Jacob and see him ...
Ginzberg, in Legends of the Jews, presents a fascinating, almost unsettling, answer. when the time for redemption drew near, fulfilling the promise to Abraham, there was a problem....
The ancient rabbis certainly thought so. And they found echoes of this idea even in the seemingly simple words of the Psalms. Specifically, in Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rab...
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan quietly drops a cosmic detail into the meal. When Isaac asks for wine, the Hebrew text does not explain where it comes from. The Targum does. "He had no ...
Jacob dreamed, and a ladder stood from earth to heaven (Genesis 28:12). The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan fills the rungs with specific traffic. The two angels on the ladder were not anon...
A discussion about "messengers" (malakhim). Were they ordinary people, or something more? Some Rabbis suggest they were actual angels! It blurs the lines between the mundane and th...
In Shemot Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Exodus, we find a fascinating exploration of this very question. It begins with a verse: "Behold, I am sen...
Book of Jubilees turns to The Massacre at Shechem and the Zealotry of Levi. Chapter 30 tells us about someone who lives righteously, someone who follows God's path. In doing so, ac...
Legends of the Jews turns to Reuben Told His Children to Follow Levi and Study Torah. Well, according to Legends of the Jews, Reuben, despite his past failings, had a powerful mess...
The Mekhilta continues its grammatical investigation of the Song at the Sea and finds yet another future-tense verb. (Exodus 15:7) does not say "He has consumed them as stubble", p...
About understanding what makes the Promised Land so, well, promising. But what exactly is the comparison trying to tell us? The Sifrei Devarim, a collection of early rabbinic legal...
It seems like a simple question, but the answer, like so many things in Jewish tradition, is layered with meaning. The Sifrei Devarim, an ancient commentary on the Book of Deuteron...
The Targum Jonathan on (Deuteronomy 9) contains one of the most dramatic expansions in all of Aramaic literature. When Moses recalls the golden calf, the Hebrew says God was angry ...
Twenty generations passed between Adam and Abraham without old age being mentioned once. Not because people didn't age. But because no one had earned the particular beauty of visib...
The Midrash preserves a legend that the Tanakh only whispers at. When Isaac died, his two sons came to bury him. "His sons Esau and Jacob buried him" (Genesis 35:29), the written T...
"I will make his countenance friendly by the gift which goes before me, and afterward I will see his face: perhaps he will accept me." Targum Pseudo-Jonathan preserves Jacob's priv...
The Torah says Joseph told his steward to "slaughter an animal and prepare" a meal for his brothers. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan hears more than catering. It hears halacha. "Bring the m...
Pharaoh asked Jacob his age, and Jacob's answer in (Genesis 47:9) is one of the rawest sentences in Torah. The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan renders it with all its weight: "The days of t...
It's often through layers of interpretation, connecting seemingly unrelated verses to reveal deeper truths. the story turns to a fascinating example from Bereshit Rabbah, a collect...
(Deut. 27:9:) “Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, ‘Pay attention and listen.’” What is the meaning of pay attention (hasket) and listen? Be silent (h...
There’s this fascinating ancient text, the Book of Jubilees, a work that retells the stories of Genesis and Exodus but with a very particular slant. It’s not part of the Hebrew Bib...
The Book of Jubilees, an ancient Jewish text that expands on the stories of Genesis and Exodus, gives us a peek into that moment. It’s like a family reunion, generations connecting...
