Sources

260 works · 26,180 passages

These are the primary Jewish texts behind the myths. Each work links to its authoritative external edition.

Rabbinic Midrash

The classic midrash collections, including Midrash Rabbah. These retell and expand the Bible through parables, legends, and close readings of single verses.

Talmudic Aggadah

The story parts of the Talmud, drawn from the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud, the Mishnah, and Ein Yaakov. Narrative rather than law.

Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha

Jewish books left out of the Hebrew Bible, including the Dead Sea Scrolls. They carry old traditions about angels, the afterlife, and the end of days.

Kabbalah & Mysticism

Jewish mystical writing, from the early Heikhalot texts and the Zohar to the Hasidic masters. It reads the Torah for what is hidden inside it.

Hellenistic Jewish Writers

Jews who wrote in Greek in the ancient world, chiefly Philo of Alexandria and Josephus. They explained the Bible to readers raised on Greek learning.

Modern Compilations & Folklore

Modern collections and encyclopedias that gathered the older stories in one place, above all Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews.

Other Sources

Targums, Bible commentary, medieval law and ethics, and other sources that do not sit inside the groups above.