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At the end of days, God will host a banquet for the righteous, and the main course will be the Leviathan. According to Bava Batra 74b, this is not metaphor. The Sages described the...
The future Jerusalem will be built from precious stones so massive they defy imagination. According to Bava Batra 75a, God will take gems thirty cubits by thirty cubits, carve gate...
The righteous in the World to Come will not all share the same reward. According to Bava Batra 75b, there are tiers—and every righteous person who sees a canopy grander than their ...
Most of the month of Adar had passed, and still no rain. The fields were cracking. The people of Israel sent a desperate message to Choni HaMe'aggel—Choni the Circle-Drawer: pray f...
Rabbi Yosei from Yokrat was the kind of man who terrified his own family. The Talmud in Tractate Taanit calls him a person "who has no mercy on his own son and no mercy on his daug...
Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair owned a donkey with a conscience. The Talmud in Tractate Taanit tells the story: some thieves stole the donkey and hid it in their cave for three days. They ...
Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa and his wife lived in crushing poverty. Every Friday before Shabbat (the Sabbath), his wife would fire up the oven and throw in some kindling—not to bake bre...
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...
Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa once placed his foot directly over the hole of a deadly scorpion — and it was the scorpion that died. This brief but astonishing tale, preserved in the Exempl...
The most dramatic dispute in the history of Jewish law ended with a voice from heaven — and the sages overruled it. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 59b) records the famous argument between...
The Talmud (Berakhot 20a) records a peculiar observation: Rabbi Gidal used to sit at the entrance of the women's bathhouse. When asked how he could do such a thing — was it not imm...
Miraculous Herbs. Eisenstein, Oser, p. 348. Maase Buch No. 224. Helvicus, Historien I, ch. 39, p. 159. Levi, R. E. J. XXXIII, p. 67 ff. Ben Gorion I, 306, 380. Bolte & Polivka, II,...
Three brothers set out on a journey — and encountered a witch who tested them with riddles, tricks, and dark magic. The tale, preserved in Jewish and comparative folklore collectio...
The verse in Deuteronomy asks a haunting question: "How could one pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight?" (Deuteronomy 32:30). The answer, the Torah says, is that G...
Two words haunted ancient Israel: shedim (demons) and se'irim. The Israelites were forbidden from sacrificing to either. They sacrificed anyway. The se'irim were the hairy ones, sa...
The story of Bilam gives us a fascinating glimpse. We find ourselves in the Book of Numbers, Bamidbar in Hebrew. The Israelites are on the move, and their growing presence is makin...
That feeling isn't exactly new. to a fascinating interpretation of a very famous moment: God calling out to Adam after he ate from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. We a...
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...
Philo, a Jewish philosopher living in Alexandria in the first century CE, grappled with this idea. He saw that virtue, that inner goodness, could actually make someone "older" in a...
But it opens up a whole universe of questions. What was so special about Enos? What does it even MEAN to "call upon the name of the Lord?" We find this verse in The Midrash of Phil...
That feeling isn't new. In fact, it's something that the ancient sages grappled with too. One particular verse that sparked a lot of discussion is from (Genesis 6:3): "My spirit sh...
The ancient sages certainly thought so. And they weren't afraid to use vivid language to make the point. Take this passage from the Midrash of Philo. It's a bit intense, but stick ...
"I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of the Chaldaeans to give thee this land for an inheritance" (Genesis 15:7). It's not just a generic "Hey, I'm God!" introdu...
We find ourselves pondering this very question in a fascinating corner of Jewish thought, a place where ancient wisdom meets profound insight. The question arises from the Book of ...
And it came to pass after these things (Gen. 48:1). Scripture states in response to this verse: For such as are blessed of Him shall inherit the land; and they that are cursed of H...
This is the offering … and rams’ skins dyed red, and sealskins (Exod. 25:3). R. Judah and R. Nehemiah discussed this verse. R. Judah said: It was a large pure animal, with a single...
And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge (Exod. 35:31). Wisdom is mentioned, despite the fact that he had been endowed previousl...
See, he hath called by name Bezalel (Exod. 35:30). Observe what He did for Bezalel. The Holy One, blessed be He, instilled wisdom in his heart, as it is said: And he hath filled hi...
(Lev. 19:2:) “You shall be holy.” This text is related (to Ps. 20:3), “May He send you help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion.” From the sanctuary (qdsh) [means] from th...
(Lev. 22:27:) “When a bull or a sheep or a goat […].” This text is related (to Micah 6:3), “My people, what have I done to you and how have I wearied you; testify against Me.”51PRK...
(Numb. 19:2, cont:) “That they bring unto you [a red heifer without blemish].” R. Jose bar Hanina said, “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses. ‘To you I am revealing the reas...
(Numb. 27:15-16:), “And Moses spoke […], ‘Let the Lord, [the God of the spirits of all flesh], appoint….’” Let our master instruct us: What blessing does one say on seeing a human ...
It is written (in Prov. 3:9), “Honor the Lord with your wealth.” Thus if you are handsome, do not be uncontrolled in sexual matters, lest people say, “So and so is handsome but not...
