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.
A Recipe for Illness
Aramaic
R. Abahu [said] in the name of R. Yoḥanan: Therefore, tsafdina’ [or, tsifduna’] illness constitutes danger [to life].
[Once] R. Yoḥanan suffered from this [illness], and he was treated by the…
Conception, Gestation, and Determination of Fetal Sex
If someone’s wife conceived, and he said [a prayer], “Let it be [God’s] will that my wife shall give birth to a male [child]”—this is a prayer in vain. [ . . . ]
[Hebrew] It has been taught [in a…
Joseph the Wise
Artapanus says in his work Concerning the Jews that Joseph was a descendant of Abraham and a son of Jacob. Because he surpassed his brothers in intelligence and prudence, they plotted against him. But…
David’s Song of Praise
A Hallelujah of David the Son of Jesse
I was the smallest among my brothers,
and the youngest among the sons of my father; and he made me shepherd of his flocks,
and…
Daniel’s Penitential Prayer for Judean Restoration
In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, by birth a Mede, who became king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years…
Lament for Sitis, Job’s Wife
Who is not amazed that this is Sitis, the wife of Job?
Who used to have fourteen draperies sheltering her chamber and a door within doors, so that one was considered quite worthy merely to gain…
The Grapevine in the Garden of Eden
And the angel said to me, “When God made the garden and commanded Michael to gather two hundred thousand and three angels so that they could plant the garden, Michael planted the olive and Gabriel…
A Young Wife and an Old Wife
R. Ammi and R. Assi sat before R. Isaac Nappaḥa. [One] sage said to [R. Isaac Nappaḥa,] “Let the Master say [words of] halakhah,” and [the other] sage said to [R. Isaac Nappaḥa,] “Let the Master say…
Unequal Treatment under the Law
Simeon ben Shetaḥ was working with flax. His students said to him, “Let us ease things for you. We will buy you a donkey, and you will not have to work as hard.” They went and bought him a donkey from…
Tosefta Shevu‘ot
3. R. Simeon used to say: Rendering the sanctuary and its holy things impure is more serious than all other transgressions listed in the Torah.
All other transgressions listed in the Torah are atoned…