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.
The Festivals and the Calendar Controversy
For this reason it has been ordained and written on the heavenly tablets that they should celebrate the Festival of Weeks during this month—once a year—to renew the covenant each and…
Philo’s Explanation of Rosh Hashanah
Next comes the opening of the sacred month, when it is customary to sound the trumpet in the temple at the same time that the sacrifices are brought there, and its name of “trumpet feast” is derived…
Gentile Ridicule and Reasons for Circumcision
Now the practice which is thus ridiculed, namely the circumcision of the genital organs, is very zealously observed by many other nations, particularly by the Egyptians, a race regarded as pre-eminent…
Admonishing the
4. They bring her up to the great court which is in Jerusalem, and [the judges] solemnly admonish her in the same way that they admonish witnesses in capital cases. And they say to her, “My daughter…
Dying Souls Have a Vision of Their Future
It is written: She is clothed with strength and splendor; [she looks to the future cheerfully] (Proverbs 31:25, NJPS). The entire reward for the righteous is prepared for them in the future to come…
Greeting the Messiah
R. Yoḥanan ben Zakkai taught: If you are holding a sapling in your hand and someone says to you that the Messiah has come, stay and plant the sapling, then go to greet the Messiah.
Translated by Carol…
Eternal Agony in the Accursed Valley
At that moment, I said, “For what purpose does this blessed land, entirely filled with trees, (have) in its midst this accursed valley?” Then, Uriel, one of the holy angels, who was with me…
When to Let Blood
Samuel said: [Aramaic] The interval for blood[letting]: [Hebrew] every thirty days; in middle age one should decrease [this frequency]; at advanced age one should once again decrease [the frequency].…
The Physician
Honor physicians for their services,
for the Lord created them;
for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,
and they are rewarded by the king.
The skill of physicians makes them…
Cain and Abel Fight over Land and Women
And Cain said to his brother Abel, etc. (Genesis 4:8). What were they disputing? They said, “Come, let’s divide up the world.” One took the land and one took the moveable property. This one said,…
David as Author and Prophet
And David, son of Jesse, was wise, and a light like the light of the sun, /and/ learned, [ ] and discerning, and perfect in all his paths before God and men. And [ ] YHWH gave him a discerning and…