Patriarchs

3,059 texts · Page 285 of 340

Explore 3,059 Jewish texts related to the theme of Patriarchs, drawn from Midrash, Kabbalah, Apocrypha, and classical Jewish literature.

Jacob at the Dawn of Creation

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

It's more than just good manners. It's a whisper echoing from a very, very old story. A story about Jacob, and a world without sickness as we know it. According to Pirkei DeRabbi E...

Miriam and the Patriarchs

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

It sounds gross, I know, but stay with me. There’s a fascinating passage in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer (chapter 54) that throws light on the number seven and its significance in Jewish...

Abraham and the First Humans

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, a fascinating collection of early Jewish stories and interpretations, grapples with just that. Chapter 54 gives us some intriguing food for thought. It's a ...

Moses Among the Fathers and Zutta

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

The Seder Olam Zutta (סדר עולם זוטא), meaning "The Lesser Order of the World," is a historical chronicle believed to have been composed sometime after the completion of the better-...

Shem and the Ark of Peleg

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

It's not as well-known as its older sibling, Seder Olam Rabbah, but it offers us a peek into rabbinic understandings of history. In this particular section, the text lays out the l...

Birth of Abraham and Jacob

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

One place they did this was in Seder Olam Zutta, a later, shorter version of the Seder Olam Rabbah, a 2nd-century CE rabbinic text that attempts to chronicle history from creation ...

David in Exile

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

The Seder Olam Zutta, a lesser-known chronicle of Jewish history, offers a glimpse into this fascinating, and sometimes tragic, narrative. Our story begins in Babylonia, in a world...

David's Transgression and the Covenant

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

King David certainly did. In the ancient text Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah, we hear David, may his memory be a blessing, express this very sentiment: "My fear is within my joy, and m...

Joseph: Esau at the Dawn of Creation

Midrash Aggadah Midrash Aggadah

The Jewish tradition grapples with these questions constantly, and sometimes the answers are found in the most unexpected places. Today, we're diving into a fascinating passage fro...