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.
Rescuing Sacred Writings
All sacred writings may be saved from a fire, whether we read from them or not [on the Sabbath]. And even if they are written in any language, they must be stored. And why do we not…
Jesus Travels to the Temple
When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord,…
The Priestly Vestments
Those of priestly descent who could not officiate because of some physical defect were still allowed within the parapet along with their unblemished colleagues, and received the benefits to which they…
A Christian Response to Julian’s Efforts
He [Julian] was daily growing more infuriated against us, as though raising up waves by other waves. First he went mad and trampled on holy things, acting contemptuously toward the spirit of grace. It…
Treating the Synagogue as Part of the Temple
It happened in the days of R. Ḥalafta and R. Ḥananiah ben Teradyon that a man passed before the ark [as shaliaḥ tsibur] and completed the entire benediction, and they did not respond, “Amen.” [The ḥaz…
Hymn to the Creator
Great and Holy are you, Yhwh,
the Most Holy from generation to generation.
In front of him walks glory
and behind him the din of many waters.
Kindness and truth are around his face,
truth, uprig…
Christian Prayer Sequence Modeled on the Rabbinic Tefillah
Our eternal Savior:
the King of the gods,
who alone is Almighty and Lord,
the God of all…
Qumran Covenant Ceremony Blessings and Curses
And the priests shall bless all the men of the lot of God who walk perfectly in all his ways, saying: “May he bless you with all good, and preserve you from all evil! May he lighten your heart with…
Preexistent Wisdom as Torah
Wisdom praises herself,
and tells of her glory in the midst of her people.
In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth,
and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory:
“I came…
Mastering the Emotions
It is evident that reason rules even the more violent emotions: lust for power, vainglory, boasting, arrogance, and malice. For the temperate mind repels all these malicious emotions, just as it…
Wisdom versus Labor
How can one become wise who handles the plow,
and who glories in the shaft of a goad,
who drives oxen and is occupied with their work,
and whose talk is about bulls?
Translation from the New…
Synagogue Seating according to One’s Craft
R. Judah [b. Ilai] said, “Whoever has never seen the double stoa [i.e., colonnade] of Alexandria has never in his life seen the glory of Israel. It is a kind of large basilica, a stoa within a stoa…