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.
Jewish Seafarers
Hear my story then, that you may have no further leisure for your mocking wit, and I will tell you first of all how our crew was made up. Our skipper was willing to die on account of his bankrupt…
Passover Observance
Now, the appointed time had drawn near for the festival during which the Jews have as their ancestral law to serve unleavened bread, whose feast is called Passover and is a memorial of their…
Repentance
Good and upright is the Lord because He instructs sinners in the way (Psalm 25:8). When Wisdom is asked, “The sinner—what is to be his punishment?” Wisdom answers: Evil pursues sinners (Proverbs 13:21…
Hadrian’s Prohibition of Circumcision
R. Nathan says: Of them that love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:6) refers to those who dwell in the land of Israel and risk their lives for the sake of the commandments. “Why are you being…
Discontinuation of the Ordeal
When murderers multiplied, the [ceremony of] breaking a heifer’s neck ceased. That was from the time of Eliezer ben Dinai, who was also called Teḥinah ben Perishah and was later renamed “son of the…
Michael, the Great Prince
At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that…
Pharisees’ Belief in Immortality
They also believe that souls have an immortal power within them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according to how they have pursued either virtue or vice in this life…
Description of Hell
[Here they showed Enoch the frightful place and various tortures. Word “9.”a]
And those men carried me to the northern region; and they showed me there a very frightful place; and all kinds of…
Plants and Knots
The boys go out with knots, and the son of kings with bells.
[Aramaic] What [are these] knots? Ada Mari said [in the name of] R. Naḥman bar Barukh, [in the name of] R. Ashi bar Avin, [in the name of]…
Who Is Considered a Sorcerer?
The sorcerer [mekhashef] who performs a deed is liable [to death by stoning] but not he who creates an optical illusion. R. Akiva said in the name of R. Joshua: [What is a scenario in which] two men…
Abraham and the Idols
Haran died in the presence of Terah, his father (Genesis 11:28). R. Ḥiyya taught: Terah was a maker of idols. He once went away to a certain place and placed Abraham in charge in his stead. A man came…