1,204 related texts · Page 8 of 26
The Tanya's twentieth chapter asks a question with a startling answer: why will even the most secular, disconnected Jew choose death rather than worship an idol? This is not theore...
Rabbi Nechemiah painted a vivid picture of the chaos that engulfed the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. When God unleashed thunder from the heavens, the physical world below shattered...
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house"—general. "and his man-servant, and his maid-servant, and his ox, and his ass—particular. general-particular (The rule is:) There exists ...
We often picture Moses on Mount Sinai, receiving the divine word directly from God. Forty days and forty nights of dictation. But what if I told you there's another story, a fascin...
The Book of Jubilees, a text not included in the Hebrew Bible but considered sacred by some, gives us a fascinating glimpse into this. It tells us about Adam burning incense, "swee...
And it's one that the Book of Jubilees tackles head-on. Jubilees, for those unfamiliar, is an ancient Jewish text that retells the stories of Genesis and Exodus, but with a distinc...
We all know the story: Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Epic. But what about the moments before all th...
We all know the story of their destruction, but the Book of Jasher, a non-canonical Jewish text that elaborates on stories from the Hebrew Bible, really paints a vivid picture. Cha...
In Babylon there lived a man named Jehoiachin whose wife Susanna was known for her beauty and her devotion to God. Her parents had raised her according to the Torah of Moses, and s...
The Torah tells us about such a person: Moses. When he descended from Mount Sinai after those momentous forty days and nights, he was… different. The text says his body was bathed ...
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...
Take Joseph, for instance. You remember Joseph. Sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers, rises through the ranks, interprets Pharaoh's dreams, becomes a powerful leader....
It’s a scene ripe with drama, intrigue, and conflicting advice. The story begins, as many of the best stories do, with a betrayal. Jethro, also known as Reuel—later to become Moses...
The tale begins when Moses, at the ripe old age of 67, leaves Ethiopia. Ginzberg, in Legends of the Jews, tells us this was the moment divinely appointed to liberate Israel from th...
He's seeking refuge after fleeing Egypt, and what does he find? Shepherds behaving… well, terribly. The Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, paints a vivid picture. It wasn’...
We pick up the tale after Moses has helped Zipporah and her sisters at the well, driving away the rowdy shepherds. After sharing the story of her father’s miraculous rod – yes, tha...
The man who spoke to God face-to-face, led the Israelites out of slavery, and received the Ten Commandments. Surely, he was perfect. Not quite. The story goes that when God first c...
Sometimes, it's not those who’ve lived with the miraculous all their lives, but rather a newcomer, a convert, who can see it most clearly. Our story begins with Jethro, the father-...
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...
The air is thick with the aroma of roasting meat, the sounds of laughter and song echoing through the desert. The Israelites, newly freed from slavery in Egypt, are gathered togeth...
It wasn't as simple as picking names out of a hat, that's for sure! After delivering his blessings, Moses tasked the people with finding suitable individuals to serve as judges and...
You remember Jethro. Moses' father-in-law? The Midianite priest who recognized the greatness of God even before the Israelites fully grasped it? Well, according to the legends, his...
That’s the kind of burning desire the Israelites had for the Torah. After all the trials and tribulations of escaping Egypt, they were finally at the foot of Mount Sinai, ready to ...
According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, the very voice of the Divine, booming forth, caused heaven and earth to shake. Can you picture it? The sheer power of it w...
They're interwoven, interconnected, almost like a single, complex instruction. The breaking of one, it's said, can lead to the breaking of another. But there's something even more ...
The Torah tells us that Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, the sacred law, from God. Before he left, Moses told the people he would return in forty days with the divi...
Impatient, fearful, they construct a golden idol, a symbol of their own making. A betrayal that cuts deep. The immediate aftermath was devastating. According to Ginzberg's retellin...
The answer, as often in Jewish tradition, is layered with meaning. : God spoke to Moses face-to-face, more clearly than to any other prophet. Yet, when Moses asks to see God's full...
That’s precisely what Moses did on Mount Sinai. The story, as recounted in Legends of the Jews by Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, is truly astonishing. Moses, up on the mountain receiving th...
We all know the story: The Israelites, fresh out of Egypt, get impatient waiting for Moses on Mount Sinai. They demand a god they can see, and Aaron, in a moment of weakness, fashi...
We know the menorah was originally housed in the Tabernacle, that portable sanctuary that accompanied the Israelites through the desert. Later, it found its permanent home in the T...
See, before the Mishkan was built, the world was apparently crawling with demons. Ginzberg, in Legends of the Jews, recounts how these spirits had free rein, wandering wherever the...
The laws surrounding leprosy, or tzara'at, were incredibly strict. Imagine being banished not just from your home, but from the entire community! While other forms of ritual impuri...
I've been pondering the story of the Levites, and how they came to be chosen in place of the firstborn sons. It's a fascinating tale, but it raises a question: What happens when th...
Consider the story of the division of the people into tribes, when they were setting up camp in the wilderness. Picture it: thousands upon thousands of people, meticulously organiz...
The ancient Israelites certainly did. And sometimes, loss can make that feeling even more intense. Imagine this: You're trekking through the desert, following a cloud that miraculo...
Jewish tradition is filled with these poignant moments, often involving the greatest figures in our history. Take the story of Moses, and a seemingly small slip-up that had surpris...
That's just a glimpse of the awe-inspiring power we're about to explore. This isn't just about destruction; it's about the raw, untamed force of the Divine, a power that both terri...
What about the truly sacred objects? Well, let's talk about the Ark of the Covenant, that legendary chest that held the tablets of the Ten Commandments. We know it vanished from hi...
The little shepherd boy who takes down the giant. But did you ever stop to think about why David was so determined to face him? It wasn't just bravery, or youthful exuberance. Acco...
The story comes to us courtesy of Ginzberg's masterful retelling in Legends of the Jews, drawing from the wellspring of Jewish tradition. The air is thick with unspoken accusations...
There was a goat that carried the sins of an entire nation into the wilderness and was never seen again. Every year on Yom Kippur—the tenth day of the seventh month—the Israelites ...
That’s the idea behind a powerful myth found in the Zohar (l:4b-5a), the central text of Kabbalah. It speaks of God constantly creating new heavens and a new earth. But where does ...
You might be surprised. It’s not just about commemorating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. According to some mystical traditions, Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks) is actually...
The Zohar, meaning "splendor" or "radiance," is the foundational text of Jewish mysticism, of Kabbalah. It's a sprawling, enigmatic work filled with secrets, allegories, and dazzli...
And it’s been guarded fiercely. The text recounts a divine voice, almost exasperated, saying, "Nay, My servitors, nay, My servants, trouble Me not in this matter!" It's like God is...
We've been talking about the big picture, about creation itself, about the rules that govern everything. But now, it's time to get down to the nitty-gritty. At the heart of it all ...
It all comes down to mastering our soul, ruling over our inner world. Da'at (Knowledge) Tevunot, a Kabbalistic text focused on understanding and wisdom, teaches that when we truly ...
