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.
Bar Kokhba’s Defeat
The rebellion of the Jews once more progressed in character and extent, and Rufus, the governor of Judaea, when military aid had been sent him by the Emperor, moved out against them, treating their…
A Reference to the Patriarchate in Jerome’s Letter to Pammachius
At the outset before I defend my version, I wish to ask those persons who confound wisdom with cunning, some few questions. Where did you get your copy of the letter? Who gave it to you? How have you…
Iranians Visiting the Synagogue at Dura-Europos
The Sasanians conquered and destroyed the Roman garrison town of Dura-Europos in 256 CE. Dura-Europos was a multicultural city and the home of a sizable Jewish community that worshiped in a stunning…
Battle between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II
A man should not teach his son Greek. Our rabbis taught: When the Hasmonean kings laid siege to each other, Hyrcanus was outside [of the city of Jerusalem] and Aristobulus was inside [the city]. Every…
Antoninus and Judah the Prince
[Antoninus] had a certain daughter whose name was Gira, [who] performed a prohibited action, [i.e., she engaged in promiscuous intercourse. Antoninus] sent a rocket plant [gargira] to [Rabbi, to…
Sadducee Rejection of the Law of Eruv
1. One who lives in a courtyard with a non-Jew or with one who does not acknowledge the [principle of] eruv, that [person] restricts him [from making use of the eruv]—the words of R. Meir. R. Eliezer…
Pesher Psalms
[ . . . ] [ . . . He will make your justice come out like the dawn and your rights like mi]dday (Psalm 37:6). [Its interpretation concerns the congregation of the poor who are ready to…
John’s Birth and Naming
In the days of King Herod of Judaea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them…
David and the Sabbath
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look…
The Gerousia Sends Representatives to Antiochus IV Epiphanes
When the king came to Tyre, three men sent by the senate [gerousia] presented the case before him.
Translation from the New Revised Standard Version.
Selling a Slave outside the Land of Israel
The sages taught (t. Avodah Zarah 3:18): [With regard to] one who sells his slave to [a Jew] outside of Erets [Yisrael, the slave] is emancipated, but [he nevertheless] requires a bill of manumission…
Twenty-Two Books
And this is naturally done, or rather by necessity, given that not everyone is permitted to become a writer of his own accord; nor is there any disagreement as to what has been written. But only the…