22 texts
We hear about the ark, the dove, the rainbow... but then what? Turns out, things weren’t exactly smooth sailing. Imagine this: The world is starting over. Noah and his family are t...
Here, we get a glimpse into a celestial negotiation, a cosmic bargain struck about the fate of humanity. It's a negotiation that hinges on a character you might not know so well: M...
Think of it as a kind of expanded, annotated Genesis, written sometime in the Second Temple period. It offers us a glimpse into how some ancient Jews understood their own history. ...
Reuben, firstborn son of Jacob and Leah, lay dying in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. Two years had passed since Joseph fell asleep forever. Now Reuben's own sons ga...
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...
We all know Solomon as the wise king, the builder of the Temple. But there's another layer to his story, a secret history whispered in the ancient texts. A history of power over de...
We often hear about the Nefesh (the vital soul), Ruach, and Neshama – the soul's vital spark, spirit, and higher soul. But how do these relate to the different realms of existence?...
Jewish mystical thought, particularly as explored in the Sha'ar HaGilgul (the reincarnation of souls)im – the "Gate of Reincarnations" – grapples with this very idea when discussin...
It’s more than just going through the motions. According to the wisdom of Baal HaSulam in his introduction to the Zohar, it's about a profound inner transformation, a journey of li...
Baal HaSulam, a towering figure in 20th-century Kabbalah, gave us invaluable keys to unlocking the Zohar, a foundational text of Jewish mysticism. And one of those keys has to do w...
The Ramchal, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, in his work Derech Etz Chayim ("The Path of the Tree of Life"), delves into this very feeling. He suggests that a crucial step in our spiri...
It’s a question that has captivated Kabbalists for centuries, and one particularly fascinating exploration comes from the text Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah (Wisdom). This text delves in...
It’s a bit like Kabbalistic spiritual embryology. Think of it this way: the Sefirot (the divine emanations), those divine emanations through which God manifests in the world, are o...
The Tikkun (spiritual repair)ei Zohar, a later expansion and "repair" of the Zohar itself, dives deep into these mystical sounds, exploring how different combinations of letters an...
It’s astonishing how much profound symbolism is packed into each curve and stroke. The passage deals with different methods of execution, but it's not simply a gruesome description...
Which came first — heaven or earth? The Torah seems to give contradictory answers. In (Genesis 1:1), the verse reads: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Heav...
"There are four corners in the earth. From the eastern corner, light comes into the world. From the southern corner, the dew of blessing comes into the world. From the western corn...
The Talmud in Berakhot records a teaching that reads like a warning from a horror story: "For three reasons shall no person enter a ruin." The three dangers listed are suspicion, s...
An heathen said to R. Johanan b. Zakkai: “The ceremonies of the red heifer look like witchcraft/' He replied: “What are you doing against demoniac possession?’’— “Herbs and fumigat...
Onkelos — known in some traditions as Aquila — was a Roman nobleman, a nephew of the Emperor himself, who converted to Judaism. His conversion scandalized the imperial court and be...
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...
The verse that phrase alludes to, of course, comes from (Genesis 3:19), part of the consequences faced by Adam after eating from the Tree of Knowledge. God tells him, "Till you ret...
