Mysticism

1,464 texts · Page 142 of 163

Explore 1,464 Jewish texts related to the theme of Mysticism, drawn from Midrash, Kabbalah, Apocrypha, and classical Jewish literature.

Kingdom of David and Shmuel

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

That’s the feeling Rabbi Shmuel bar Rav Naḥman evokes in his teaching on the verse, "Rather the matter is very near to you" (Deuteronomy 30:14). It's a beautiful passage about the ...

Covenant of Moses and Joshua

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

It sounds almost unbelievable, doesn't it? Yet, according to Devarim Rabbah, this is precisely the monumental struggle Moses faced at the end of his life. Rabbi Yoḥanan tells us th...

Levi: Eve and Creation

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, touches on this very feeling. It asks: "Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is new'? It has already existed long ago, before o...

Golden Calf and the Origins of the World

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

But Ecclesiastes 4:3 dances with it: "Better than both of them is one who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil actions that are done under the sun." Now, Kohelet Rabbah, a c...

Wisdom of Rabbi Shimon and Eila

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

That’s a feeling woven deep into the tapestry of Jewish tradition, a feeling the rabbis grappled with intensely. how they expressed it. The story begins with the passing of Ḥiyya b...

Court of Solomon

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

And they weren’t afraid to call it out. In Kohelet Rabbah, a commentary on the book of Ecclesiastes, we find a fascinating passage tied to the verse, "This, too, I have seen as wis...

Pharaoh: Amram and Moses

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

That idea is right at the heart of a beautiful passage from Kohelet Rabbah, a collection of rabbinic interpretations on the Book of Ecclesiastes. The verse in question is Ecclesias...

Rabbi in Paradise

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

The book of Ecclesiastes, or Kohelet, as it’s known in Hebrew, ends with this rather stark line: "For every action God will bring to judgment, for every unknown, whether good or ev...

Pharaoh's Compassion

Midrash Rabbah Midrash Rabbah

Take this one from Exodus 2:6, describing Pharaoh’s daughter discovering the infant Moses adrift in the Nile: "She opened it and saw the child [yeled], and behold, a boy [na’ar] cr...