4,035 texts · Page 8 of 85
The night Abraham was born, a star appeared in the sky and swallowed four other stars from the four corners of heaven. Nimrod's astrologers saw it and rushed to the king with a war...
Haran, the eldest son of Terah, made his living selling his father's idols to the Chaldeans. His younger brother Abraham refused to worship them. When the Chaldeans came to test bo...
After Simeon and Levi destroyed the men of Shechem, a great terror fell over every city in the region. The nations said: "If two sons of Jacob could exterminate an entire town, wha...
Esau had moved away from his brother Jacob, but the sages in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel say it was not because his hatred had cooled. "His anger did he bear perpetually, and he ke...
When Naphtali grew old and felt his strength fading, he gathered his children and gave them one final command. It was not about silver or gold. "I speak to you about a very easy ma...
The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, preserves an unusual parallel timeline linking the rise of Rome with the suffering ...
In the 130th year after the Israelites went down to Egypt, Pharaoh had a dream. Sitting on his throne, he saw an old man holding a merchant's balance scale. The old man gathered up...
When Amram separated from his wife after Pharaoh's decree to drown all Hebrew boys, it was his young daughter Miriam who brought them back together. The Spirit of God came upon the...
When Pharaoh sought counsel on what to do about the growing Israelite population, he summoned three men: Reuel the Midianite, Job, and Balaam of Petor. Their answers determined the...
God told Moses that the time had come for Aaron to leave this world. Moses prayed all night, agonizing: "How can I tell my brother his life is ending?" God answered with a promise—...
Why did God Himself attend to the burial of Moses? Because of what Moses had done decades earlier in Egypt, when everyone else was busy loading up silver and gold for the exodus. W...
When Moses ascended to heaven to receive the Torah, a cloud crouched before him like a living creature. He did not know whether to ride it or grab hold of it. The cloud opened, swa...
While the Israelites traveled through the wilderness, seven clouds of glory surrounded them on every side. One cloud went in front, one behind, two flanked them on each side, and o...
After Joshua died, Israel had no leader. The people asked God who should fight the Canaanites, and God told them to cast lots. The lot fell on Kenaz, from the tribe of Caleb, who b...
From the Exodus to the destruction of the First Temple, Israel was exiled eight times. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses...
The destruction of the Temple happened on the eve of the ninth of Av, on the outgoing of the Sabbath, in a Sabbatical year. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century...
The most detailed account of the lost tribes of Israel comes from Eldad the Danite, a traveler whose report is preserved in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chron...
Two false prophets in Babylon, Ahab ben Kolaya and Zedekiah ben Maaseyah, used their religious authority to commit adultery and fraud. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 1...
God drew up the blueprints for a world. They failed. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jerahmeel ben Solomon and first translate...
Three men approach death. Each begs their family for something to bring to the next world. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jer...
All of a person's sins are engraved on their bones. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jerahmeel ben Solomon, Rabbi Isaac ben Par...
Cyrus conquered the known world because God strengthened his hand. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, God...
Esther stripped off her royal garments and the ornaments of her majesty. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 189...
Haman wrote one of the most chilling documents in Jewish legend. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Haman...
Haman did not just plot in the Persian court. He plotted in heaven. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, Ha...
On the night King Ahasuerus could not sleep, something far stranger was happening in heaven. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by ...
Solomon's throne was not a chair. It was a machine—a towering structure of ivory, gold, and living mechanisms that no king could ever replicate. According to the Chronicles of Jera...
Mattathiah was dying. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, the father of the Maccabean revolt called his fiv...
That feeling is at the heart of our story today, a tale I call "The Cottage of Candles," retold from Howard Schwartz's Tree of Souls. Once, there was a Jew driven by an unshakeable...
Tzadkiel isn't just any celestial being. He's the one who lovingly clothes each soul arriving in Paradise with garments of incredible purity, woven by the "Bride of God." – the car...
It's a concept that's woven deep into Jewish lore, appearing in various forms throughout our sacred texts and stories. One particularly compelling tale features Rabbi Loew, the leg...
That's a glimpse into the world of the dybbuk. Our story begins in the mystical city of Safed, a center of Kabbalah in the Galilee. There lived a widow, known throughout the commun...
Some believe that certain figures, especially the patriarch Abraham, never truly died. The idea of Abraham continuing to wander the world, making his presence known, is surprisingl...
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...
on the second day, God brought forth four distinct creations: the firmament (rakia in Hebrew), hell, fire, and the angels. Now, the firmament isn't just the heavens we saw on day o...
Before the third day, the earth was a watery expanse. Then, God commanded, "Let the waters be gathered together," and suddenly, mountains and hills burst forth, creating basins for...
Jewish tradition certainly has, and the figure of Adam, the first man, looms large in that contemplation. to some fascinating stories about him, drawn from the rich tapestry of Jew...
It all starts, according to some traditions, with a clash of egos, a refusal to bow, and a trial of wit gone wrong. The Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, gives us a fasci...
We often focus on the eating of the fruit itself, but the consequences, as described in Jewish tradition, are pretty fascinating, and, frankly, a little terrifying. According to Gi...
It wasn’t just carpentry; it was cosmic-level engineering! Turns out, according to some fascinating legends, he had a little help… in the form of a very special book. This wasn’t j...
We all know the story – the flood, the animals, the rainbow. But have you ever stopped to imagine the sheer logistical nightmare of keeping all those creatures alive and well for o...
It wasn't exactly smooth sailing. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, things got a bit…complicated. Ham, you see, was not thrilled about his father's curse. S...
We know that Noah and his family were spared, a fresh start for humanity. But, well, it didn't take long for things to go sideways again, did it? According to Ginzberg’s retelling ...
The sages tell us that there were ten generations between Noah and Abraham. Ten generations! And the Midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary) emphasizes that this long span shows...
We know the destination, the covenant, the near-sacrifice of Isaac... but what about the very beginning? According to Legends of the Jews, a vast compilation of Jewish folklore by ...
The stories are… well, let's just say they’re anything but ordinary. According to Legends of the Jews, as retold by Louis Ginzberg, Abraham's birth was shrouded in secrecy, hidden ...
Abraham didn't just decide one day to challenge the status quo. No, he was commanded by God, through the angel Gabriel, to confront Nimrod in Babylon. Can you picture it? The angel...
When Abraham reached the ripe old age of twenty, his father Terah, an idol maker, fell ill. Now, Terah needed some cash, so he asked his sons, Haran and Abraham, to sell a couple o...
