Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
The Priestly Service
Now the service of the priests is not to be surpassed by anything in physical strength or in its state of decorum and silence. For all, of their own accord, work diligently at a greatly laborious…
The Temple Vessels Are Buried
And Jeremiah said, “Behold, Lord, we know now that you are delivering the city into the hands of its enemies, and they will carry the people off into Babylon. What do you want me to do…
Prayer Is like Sacrifice
R. Phineas in the name of R. Hoshaiah: He who prays in the synagogue is as if he had sacrificed a pure flour offering. What is the reason? As the children of Israel bring flour offering in a pure…
Qumran Daily Blessings
[When the sun] ris[es to shine on the earth they shall bless. They shall recite saying: Blessed is the God of Israel] who makes kno[wn . . . ] for…
Tobit’s Prayer of Confession
Then with much grief and anguish of heart I wept, and with groaning began to pray:
“You are righteous, O Lord,and all your deeds are just;all your ways are mercy and truth;you judge the world.And…
Poetic Fragment for the Sabbath Morning Tefillah
Moses rejoiced in the gift of his portion,
for You called him a faithful servant.
A glorious crown You placed on his head
as he stood before You on Mount Sinai.
Stone tablets he brought down in his…
The Origins of Idolatry
For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication,
and the invention of them was the corruption of life;
for they did not exist from the beginning,
nor will they last forever.
For…
Evil and Satan
Those captive [women] who were brought to Nehardea, [where they were redeemed,] were brought up to the house of R. Amram the Pious. They removed the ladder from before them [to prevent men from…
Torah Study with or without Work
The sages taught: What [is the meaning of that which] the verse states: And you shall gather your grain? Because it is stated: This Torah shall not depart from your mouths, [and you shall contemplate…
Commerce Is Less Worthy than Agriculture
And no alien god is bound to him (Deuteronomy 32:12)—there shall not be among you any who engage in commerce of any sort.
For it is stated: Let there be hands-full of grain in the Land (Psalm 72:16)…
Three Annual Pilgrimages
Let those from the far ends of the land that the Hebrews will come to possess assemble together three times each year in the city where the Temple will be, to give thanks to God for His bounty and…
Mass Exodus for the Festival
From Antipatris Cestius advanced to Lydda, and found the city empty, as the whole population had gone up to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles. [ . . . ] Seeing the war now coming close to the…