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Abraham rose and saw the one who had grasped his hand and lifted him to his feet. The sight was overwhelming. Iaoel's body was like sapphire. His face shone like chrysolite. The ha...
They walked together for forty days and forty nights. Abraham ate no bread and drank no water. His food was the sight of the angel beside him. His drink was Iaoel's speech. This wa...
Abraham did everything the angel commanded. He slaughtered the animals, divided them, and gave the portions to the angels who had appeared beside him. Iaoel took the birds. Abraham...
The angel turned back to Abraham. "Know from this moment that the Eternal One has chosen you. Be of good courage and use this authority, as far as I bid you, against him who slande...
The sun went down. Smoke rose from the ground like the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 15:17). The angels who held the portions of the sacrifice ascended from the top of the smoking fu...
Abraham turned to the angel in distress. "Why have you brought me up here? I cannot see anymore. I am already grown weak, and my spirit is departing from me." The mortal body was f...
While Iaoel was still speaking, fire closed in around them on every side. A voice was inside the fire, like the voice of many waters (Ezekiel 1:24), like the roaring of the sea in ...
While Abraham was still reciting the song, the fire on the surface rose up on high. He heard a voice like the roaring of the sea. The fire would not stop. And as it climbed, ascend...
A voice came from the midst of the fire. "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am." "Consider the expanses beneath the firmament on which you are now placed, and see that on no single expans...
The Eternal Mighty One said: "Abraham, Abraham!" "Here I am." "Look down at the stars beneath your feet. Count them for me. Make known to me their number." Abraham looked down from...
God told Abraham to look beneath his feet at the firmaments and understand the creation that was foreshadowed in the expanse, the creatures existing upon it, and the age prepared a...
Abraham asked: "O Eternal, Mighty One! What is this picture of the creatures?" God answered: "This is my will with regard to those who exist in the divine world-counsel. It seemed ...
"Now look again in the picture," God said. "See who it is that seduced Eve and what is the fruit of the tree. You will know what shall be and how it shall be for your seed among th...
The vision shifted. Abraham saw something that struck closer to home than the cosmic sins of Cain and Desire. He saw an idol standing inside a Temple. The idol of jealousy. It look...
Abraham asked the question that every prophet and mystic after him would ask: "O Eternal, Mighty One! Why have you established that things should be this way, and then proclaimed t...
The picture in the vision swayed. From its left side, a heathen people emerged. They fell upon those on the right side, the people of Abraham's seed, and pillaged them. Men, women,...
Abraham could no longer contain himself. "O Mighty, Eternal One, hallowed by Your power! Be favorable to my petition. As you have brought me up to your height, so make known to me,...
Abraham asked again: "How long a time is an hour of the Age?" God answered: "Twelve years have I ordained of this ungodly age to rule among the heathen and in your seed. Until the ...
The vision was nearly complete. God spoke His final words to Abraham, circling back from the cosmic future to the personal promise that had started everything. "Therefore hear, O A...
Wherever he went, wherever he made his home, he planted a tree. Not just any tree, mind you, but a special one. It was a kind of spiritual barometer, a way to gauge a person's conn...
That's exactly what happened in the story of Abraham's birth. According to Legends of the Jews, Terah, Abraham’s father, married Emtelai, the daughter of Karnabo. A simple enough b...
It all starts with Terah, Abraham's father. He marries Abraham's mother, and soon enough, she’s pregnant. But something’s… off. After just three months, she looks like she's about ...
That feeling, that fleeting nature of time, echoes in a powerful story about Abraham from Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews. Imagine this: Abraham, not yet the patriarch we know, but ...
It was more than just a theological debate; it was a showdown of epic proportions. As Abraham's voice rang out, something incredible happened. According to Ginzberg's retelling in ...
Our story begins with Terah, Abraham's father, falling ill. He needed cash – specifically, money to cover expenses. And his solution? "Sell these idols!" he tells his sons Haran an...
Let me tell you a story about Abraham, long before he was Abraham Avinu, our father, and a pivotal moment that shaped his destiny. Imagine a young Abraham, surrounded by idols in t...
Days turn into weeks. Hope dwindles. You cry out... and someone actually answers. That's essentially the scene we find ourselves in with Abraham in this incredible passage from Gin...
The story of Abraham offers a powerful lesson on this very topic. It's not just about being righteous, but about doing righteous deeds, about actively choosing faith even when it's...
How would you react? Overwhelmed? Maybe a little puffed up with pride? That's the situation Abraham found himself in, according to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews. Afte...
To leave their home and their lives behind. Why? Because Abraham had discovered something profound, something Terah, mired in the world of idols and royal favor, couldn't quite gra...
But what if that destiny also put your child in mortal danger from the moment they were born? That's exactly the predicament Terah, Abraham's father, found himself in. The story, a...
The stories surrounding Abraham's birth are filled with suspense, danger, and a father's desperate choices. The king, in his paranoia and cruelty, demanded Terah hand over his youn...
It wasn't exactly a straight and narrow path, at least according to some fascinating stories tucked away in Jewish tradition. Let's go way back. Young Abraham is living with his fa...
It wasn't exactly a smooth transition. to a story from Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, a collection that pieces together fascinating narratives from the Talmud, Midrash, and...
It’s quite a story, and one of the most vivid tales comes from Ginzberg's _Legends of the Jews_. Imagine this: Abraham, still a young man, is surrounded by idols. These aren't just...
We often think of him as this revered figure, almost from birth. But what about his younger days? Did he always believe? to a fascinating, and somewhat irreverent, story about his ...
Our story comes from Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews, drawing on ancient midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic traditions, which paints a vivid picture of Abraham’s early lif...
Forget the sanitized Sunday school version. Some traditions paint a picture wilder than you might imagine. Imagine this: Abraham, having challenged the religious norms of his time,...
It's human, unfortunately, and as we delve into the story of Abraham, we find his father, Terah, doing just that. Terah, was in a bit of a pickle. He had, shall we say, misled the ...
Even the great Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish people, faced trials. And, according to tradition, not just one or two, but ten! The Midrash, ancient collections of rabbinic te...
You know the story: Abraham, victorious in battle, refuses to take any spoils. Not a single thread. Not even a shoe-latchet. A tiny thing. But according to the Legends of the Jews,...
Now, to ensure he gets some rest, God does something… unusual. He makes the day intensely hot. How hot? The Zohar tells us that God bored a hole into Gehinnom (the place of spiritu...
They were promised a child in their old age – a miracle, really. But when faced with the seemingly impossible, did they truly believe? The Torah tells us that when God says Sarah w...
And the story, as told in Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews, is a real nail-biter. We all know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were, shall we say, not exactly shining ex...
The story of Lot, Abraham's nephew, gives us a masterclass in hospitality gone wrong. We all know the basics: God, displeased with the wickedness of Sodom, sends angels to investig...
Take the story of Lot, Abraham's nephew, and the destruction of Sodom. We all know the story. God, disgusted by the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, decides to destroy them. But A...
Talk about a wake-up call! He and his people were terrified, convinced a similar fiery doom might be headed their way. Can you blame them? Abimelech, understandably shaken, summons...
And imagine the joke being about your future descendants! That’s precisely what happened at a feast hosted by none other than Abraham himself, as recounted in Ginzberg’s Legends of...
