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.
Jehoash’s Fable
He [Amaziah] defeated ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and he captured Sela in battle and renamed it Joktheel, as is still the case. Then Amaziah sent envoys to King Jehoash son of…
From “The Proverbs of Solomon”
Better a dry crust with peace
Than a house full of feasting with strife.
A capable servant will dominate an incompetent son
And share the inheritance with the brothers.
For silver—the crucible;
Fo…
Advice and Further Reflections
When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. For He has no pleasure in fools; what you vow, fulfill. It is better not to vow at all than to vow and not fulfill. [ . . . ]
If…
David’s Letter to Joab
In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, which he sent with Uriah. He wrote in the letter as follows: “Place Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest; then fall back so that he…
Jacob’s Descendants
These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt.
Jacob’s first-born Reuben; Reuben’s sons: Enoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. Simeon’s sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad…
Praise of the Man’s Body
My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy,
Preeminent among ten thousand.
His head is finest gold,
His locks are curled
And black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
By watercourses,
Bathed in milk…
The Mishnah Begins: Debate and Daily Practice
The Mishnah’s opening debate about when to recite the Shema‘ models how the rabbis shaped Jewish life through debate.
Oppression and Exodus
From movies to civil-rights movements, the Exodus stands at the center of Western thought and culture. You will still be surprised by what is, and what isn’t, in the account.
Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah and Elisha
Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of King Asa of Judah, and Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years. Ahab…
Nehemiah’s Prayer
The narrative of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:
In the month of Kislev of the twentieth year, when I was in the fortress of Shushan, Hanani, one of my brothers, together with some men of Judah, arrived…
Sacrifice
The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying: Speak to the Israelite people, and say to them:
When any of you presents an offering of cattle to the Lord, he…
Kingship
If, after you have entered the land that the Lord your God has assigned to you, and taken possession of it and settled in it, you decide, “I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,”…