Josephus identifies Gihon with the Nile. According to Rabbi Aaron Marcus, some people identify it with the Amu-dar'ya, which now flows from Afghanistan into the Aral Sea in Russia, and once flowed into the Caspian Sea. He says that it also might be the Qezal Owzan River, which flows northward through Iran into the Caspian Sea, or the Khabur, a tributary of the Euphrates …

The legends retold in Louis Ginzberg's classic work Legends of the Bible (the first volume was published in 1909) are a variation of the stories in the Scriptures as told and retold in the ancient east since the days of Abraham.In similar fashion, the great Hebrew poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik collected legends from ancient, medieval and modern Arabic and Jewish sources, publishing …

Jewish Heritage Online Magazine (Jhom.com) is an innovative web monthly with some 2000 screens devoted to the study of classic and modern Jewish texts, culture and heritage.

Dr. Joseph Lowin is Executive Director of the National Center for the Hebrew Language (NY). He has written extensively (in both popular and scholarly formats) on Jewish narrative, modern Jewish literature, and Hebrew language.

No other biblical figure, not even Moses, has enjoyed as much popularity in the Jewish folk imagination as Eliyahu Ha-Navi, Elijah the Prophet.Paradoxically, the biblical prophet of wrath and intolerance bears little resemblance to this popular Elijah, whom later legend transformed into a compassionate champion of the poor and a heralder of the Messiah.

The role of the seven species in the battle for monotheism becomes even more apparent with the revelation that only they could brought as offerings of the first fruits (bikkurim) to the Temple in Jerusalem.The Mishna[2] tells us "One does not bring offerings of the bikkurim (first fruits) except from the seven species."

Part one: How the shamir* cut through the Temple stones, readying them for building According to legend, the stones themselves built the Holy Temple in the days of King Solomon. In the Book of Kings it is written : "For the house, while it was in the building, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house …

At the head of the angelogical system described in rabbinic literature are four archangels, corresponding to the four divisions of the army of Israel as described in Numbers 2: "As the Holy One blessed be He created four winds (directions) and four banners (for Israel's army), so also did He make four angels to surround His Throne — Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael.

Jewish Heritage Online Magazine (over 2000 screens) is devoted to the study of Jewish texts, culture and heritage.

The Rabbis teach that upon the death of the latter prophets, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, "the Holy Spirit departed from Israel"; the prophets continued to be informed of God's will, choice or judgment to humankind by means of a heavenly or divine voice — a bat kol. Bat kol literally means "daughter of a voice," the word "bat" (daughter) suggesting that this was not a direct …