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Our story comes to us from the Book of Maccabees I, a historical account filled with drama, faith, and fierce battles. As Antiochus felt his life slipping away, he attributed his t...
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...
The seventh heaven nearly destroyed him. The two angels lifted Enoch upward once more, and what he saw stole the breath from his body. A very great light — not sunlight, not fireli...
Cherubim and Seraphim surrounded the throne. Six-winged, many-eyed, they never departed — standing before God's face, doing His will, covering the entire throne with their wings as...
We often think of historical figures who became obsessed with their own greatness, but the story of Nimrod gives us a glimpse into the ancient roots of this phenomenon. Nimrod, a f...
Take Jacob, for instance. His story isn't just about wrestling an angel; it's about the very human cost of that struggle. We all know the story: Jacob, alone in the darkness, grapp...
He was absolutely floored by the sight of the Egyptian king. The text paints a vivid picture, doesn't it? It wasn't just the king himself, arrayed in princely garments with a golde...
We often picture them singing sweetly, but some legends paint a far more dramatic, awe-inspiring picture. Take the story of SANDALFON, an angel so immense it would take five hundre...
Forget your gavels and stern judges. Imagine something far more… theatrical. The image comes to us from Legends of the Jews, that incredible compilation of rabbinic lore put togeth...
Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a text from the Heikhalot literature – these are mystical Jewish texts describing ascents to the divine realm – gives us a glimpse. It pai...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, a foundational text in Jewish mystical literature describing ascents into the heavenly realms, gives us a glimpse. It asks a staggerin...
It’s a question that's been wrestled with for millennia. And, surprisingly, one answer comes to us from a rather… unexpected source. We find it tucked away in Heikhalot (the heaven...
The Heikhalot (the heavenly palaces) Rabbati, one of the key texts of the Heikhalot literature – that's the mystical tradition focused on ascensions to the divine realms – gives us...
And it's precisely where we begin our journey into the depths of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. "What should make me believe that there is a Ruler of the world?" That's the question t...
It involves something called Partzuf (a divine configuration)im, and a concept of a Throne that carries its bearers. Sounds wild. Let's unpack it. The Kabbalah uses these Partzufim...
The seventh heaven in Sefer HaRazim is where the text's ascending structure reaches its climax—the Kisei HaKavod (כסא הכבוד), the Throne of Glory, where God sits in unapproachable ...
Maaseh Merkavah (מעשה מרכבה), the Work of the Chariot, is a Hekhalot (the heavenly palaces) text that provides a first-person account of the mystic's ascent through the seven heave...
The climax of Maaseh Merkavah (the Divine Chariot) is the mystic's arrival in the seventh palace—the throne room of God. After passing through six gates, surviving the challenges o...
"from the first-born of Pharaoh sitting on his throne": Scripture hereby apprises us that Pharaoh (himself) was a first-born, (the throne passing in succession to the first-born). ...
(Exodus 17:16) preserves a cryptic declaration: "For the hand is by the throne of Kah: the L-rd is at war with Amalek from generation to generation." The Mekhilta, through Rabbi Ye...
Rabbi Elazar Hamodai taught that God did not merely command the destruction of Amalek—He swore it. And the oath was no ordinary vow. God swore by His throne of glory, the highest a...
R. Eliezer says: The L–rd swears by His throne of glory: If there comes a man of all the nations to be proselytized, he will be accepted; but Amalek and his household will not be a...
It tells us that the Chajjôth – these powerful, celestial beings that stand beside God’s throne – are constantly declaring, "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place" (Ezeki...
Sifrei Devarim, that ancient commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, gives us a fascinating glimpse into this question. It's a short and sweet passage, really, but packed with meani...
Exodus chapter 4 tells how Moses received miraculous signs to convince Israel of his mission. The Targum Jonathan transforms this chapter into something far stranger—especially whe...
It was said before Abraham was born. Nimrod was a heretic concerning the truth of the lord blessed be he. He was conceited and he said that he himself was a God. And the people of ...
Midrash on the death of Aaron "I lost the three shepherds in one month" (Zecharia 11:8); and thus, in one month, Aaron, Miriam, and Moses died. Miriam died on the 1st of the month ...
The Feast of the Garden of Eden [in Seder Rav Amram Gaon 13b, and Beit haMidrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) vol. 5, 45] In the future to come, the Holy Blessed One will rev...
The Book of Gehinnom (the place of spiritual purification after death) [Reishit Chochmah: Gate of Fear: Chapter 12; Beit haMidrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary): Section 1] It...
The Holy One of Blessing is High and Exalted, His throne is [also] High and Exalted. And from where do we know that the Holy One of Blessing is called "High and Exalted"? From (Isa...
...It is written, "The Lord established the earth with wisdom"—this is the Torah. The Torah, where was it and where will it be? Why is it called Torah? Because a teaching descended...
Seventy Names of Metatron: The book "Seventy Names of Metatron", which Rabbi Yishmael revealed, 23 of which he received when he ascended on high. The book was brought to print by R...
Book of Eldad the Danite A Question and Answer between the People of Kairouan and Rabbi Zemach Gaon [Epstein, Eldad the Danite, Story I] Before the chariot of Israel and its horsem...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Chacham HaRazim" (The Sage of Secrets): A Midrash regarding angels and gematria (Jewish numerology). According to Stein Schneider, this i...
The Book of the Wellspring of Wisdom When Moses ascended on high, a cloud came up against him, and Moses our teacher did not know if one rides it or holds it. Immediately, the clou...
Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) Sheni Ketuvim In the beginning God created etc. - To declare the might of the acts of creation to creatures, and to make it known to them...
[From the Sefer Raziel] Rabbi Ishmael said, "I saw the King of Kings sitting on a high and exalted throne, with His legions standing before Him, upon His right and upon His left. T...
These are the ten questions that Rabbi Eliezer asked regarding the resurrection of the dead: The first one is - will God resurrect some of Israel or all of them? The answer is that...
Hiram, king of Tyre, was one of the most audacious men in all of scripture. God had given him wealth, beauty, and a lifespan that stretched across centuries — some sages say he liv...
Three days after his circumcision, Abraham sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day — sore, exhausted, ninety-nine years old. And God appeared to him (Genesis 18:1). ...
After the conquest of Canaan, God deliberately left certain nations in the land — not because He couldn't remove them, but to test Israel (Judges 3:1-2). The rabbis found this prac...
David lifts his eyes to the mountains and prays — "A song of ascents" — and God answers him through a text he might not have expected: Moses's blessing of Judah. "And this is the b...
“In the third year of his reign, he made a banquet for all his princes and his servants, the elite of Persia and Media, the nobles and governors of the provinces before him” (Esthe...
Another matter: “The elite of Persia and Media” – sometimes Media precedes Persia and sometimes Persia precedes Media. When the throne is in Media, Persia is secondary to it; when ...
“It was on the third day, Esther donned royalty and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, facing the king’s palace, while the king was sitting on his royal throne in the t...
Another comment on Who is the King of Glory? (Ps. 24:10). He is the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, who apportions honor to those who fear Him. Therefore it is written:...
These are the accounts of the tabernacle (Exod. 38:21). It is written elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Thou throne of glory, on high from the beginning, thou place of our Sanct...
