15 texts
The serpent did not act alone. Behind the serpent stood a jealous angel -- and behind the angel stood a grudge older than humanity itself. Eve gathered all her children and grandch...
The serpent wept for her. That was the cruelest part. It pretended to grieve for her ignorance while plotting her destruction. "May God live!" the serpent said to Eve, its voice dr...
God pronounced three curses. One for the man. One for the woman. One for the serpent. And with those three curses, the world as it had been ended forever. To Adam, God said: "Since...
The story of the Israelites and the serpents in the wilderness offers us a powerful glimpse. You remember the story. After complaining yet again about their circumstances, God send...
Rabbi Akiva shares a story he heard directly from Rabbeinu Hakadosh — Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law). The tale concerns a man...
And they found a pretty startling image to describe it. Imagine this: wine, normally a symbol of joy and celebration, transformed into venom. That's the core of an unsettling passa...
After Aaron died, the protective Cloud of Glory vanished. Amalek, who had disguised himself by taking the throne of Arad, saw his opportunity. The Targum's version of (Numbers 21) ...
The sages taught that God created no creature without a purpose — not the serpent, not the spider, not the scorpion. The story preserved under the title "Saved from Serpent" illust...
Grateful Dead. Farhi, O. P. Ill, f. 11 to 1 7. Burton, Supplemental Nights, IV, p. 325. Wife making Tapestry. cf. Gas ter, Gypsy Tales. Scala Celi, s. v. Clema- sina. Simrock, Gute...
We all know the story – the forbidden fruit, temptation, and the fall. But tucked away in the rich tapestry of Jewish tradition, there are layers upon layers of interpretation that...
Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" (Genesis 3:11). I mean, come on, God knows everything. So why the question? The rabbis of old grappled with this to...
But Jewish tradition loves to peel back the layers, and Bereshit Rabbah, that incredible collection of rabbinic interpretations of Genesis, dives deep into this very verse. The tex...
It's easy to see him as just a sneaky snake, but Jewish tradition, especially in the writings we call midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), often sees things on a deeper, sym...
The story in Genesis, as we all know, tells of a serpent who tempts the woman, leading to the eating of the forbidden fruit and the expulsion from paradise. But the ancient sages w...
But did you ever notice something strange about how they pointed those fingers? The man, Adam, he's quick to say, "The woman gave me of the tree, and I did eat." He throws Eve righ...
