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.
Responsum: On a Dispute over a Vineyard
Question: From Rhodes. When the Lord expanded the borders [see Deuteronomy 19:8] of the dispersion of the diaspora and granted us a remnant and remainder in the kingdom of Turkey, He treated us with…
Acordos (Regulations): Against Libelous Verses
The gentlemen of the Mahamad [board of governors—Ed.] have received a letter from the very illustrious gentlemen of the Mahamad of the Holy Congregation of T: T: [Talmud…
Liturgy for the Ashmoret ha-boker (Morning Watch) Confraternity
The Zohar, in the portion of Naso on the verse and in the night His song shall be with…
She’elot u-teshuvot yeshanot (Old Responsa): On Marital Deception
This rabbinic responsum, a “response” to a question of Jewish law, addresses the issue of marital deception and its legal ramifications.
Bet Yehudah (The House of Judah)
The Hakham Rabbi Abraham Monson, may God protect him, was a resident of Tétouan, where he was born and raised among his siblings and relatives. When he reached the appropriate age he married a woman…
Mapah (Tablecloth) to Shulḥan ‘arukh
Says Moses, son to my Master, my father, R. Israel—may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing for the world to come—seeing that the illustrious author [Joseph Karo] of the Bet Yosef [Th…
To Know If an Evil Spirit Has Possessed a Person
To know if an evil spirit has possessed a person, utter three times in his right ear:
TsIP"A TsIP"A TRAYY"T GWTAN"T, that is to say: Of the Rock that begat you, you are unmindful, etc. (Deuteronomy 32…
Adjuration for a Person in Shock and Falling Sickness
An adjuration for a person in shock and for a person with the falling sickness [epilepsy—Ed.]. When you go to a person in shock or a person with the falling sickness recite the following:
In the…
Nishmat ḥayim (Breath of Life)
Behold, we have before us the head of the rationalists [or “rational theologians”], Maimonides, may his memory be for a blessing. In chapter three of Hilkhot teshuvah [Mishneh Torah, Laws of…
Livro da união geral da nacão: On a Book by Manuel de Pina
Joining the meeting [of the Mahamad; board of governors] was ḥakham [R.] David Cohen who reported that it was brought to his attention that a very scandalous book from…
Sefer ha-ḥayim (The Book of Life)
In which it is explained that the essence of the Torah is the performance of the commandments, not intellectual knowledge; and also the reason why it is called the Talmud…
Letter to Jarig Jelles
From B. d. S.
[Dear Friend],
As far as Politics is concerned, the difference you ask about, between Hobbes and me, is this: I always preserve natural Right…