13 myths
The suffering of the Jewish people across history, from Pharaoh to Haman, and the traditions that made sense of undeserved pain.
13 myths on JewishMythology.com retell how Jewish tradition imagines persecution, drawn from the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, and later Jewish literature. Each story below synthesizes primary sources into a single narrative; follow any myth to read it, and from there into the source passages behind it.
A hunted visionary guards secrets no one else carries while a woman screams in labor at Sheol's open gates and births a wonder.
A tyrant killed seven sons one by one for refusing an idol. Their mother answered Abraham with seven altars before heaven replied.
Jezebel's threat drove Elijah into the wilderness, where an angel fed him and God answered his zeal by sending him back.
A rabbi enters a Roman prison to test a captive child with a verse, and what the boy answers changes the course of a life.
Esau, Pharaoh, and Haman each studied the failure before him and designed a sharper plan. Esther Rabbah lets every scheme collapse.
When Saul disobeys God and spares the Amalekite king, he plants the seed of a genocide that blooms centuries later.
Haman used a royal banquet as a snare, hoping Israel's appetite would make God angry enough to leave the people exposed before the king.
The lions licked Daniel's hands. The priests of Bel, the jealous princes, and the empire's appetite for idols all waited outside the den.
When Bagris bans Shabbat observance in Jerusalem, Jews retreat to a cave. His soldiers offer food and wine. The answer is no.
A trap meant to burn Maimonides alive closes on his accuser, he turns into a lion to break cruel decrees, and Ibn Ezra comes hunting his equal.
Rabbi Berekhya saw the thorns of wicked empires in the tohu vavohu of Genesis. Two students in Roman disguise proved the thorns always show early.
Rome banned Torah and Rabbi Akiva gathered students in public anyway. When Pappos warned him, Akiva answered with fish who knew that dry land was death.
Antiochus builds his case against the Jews in a gold council chamber, sends Bagris to break Zion, and flees the coast wearing one word.
