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.
“Testimonium Flavianum” of Josephus
Now Jesus, a wise man, was living around this time—if indeed one should properly call him a man. For he was a performer of incredible works, a teacher of those men who receive the truth with pleasure…
Polemic against the Sabbath
“Since you, Trypho, admit that you have read the teachings of him who is our Savior, I do not consider it out of place to have added those few short sayings of his to the quotations from…
Moses Establishes the Gerousia
For it is not fit that causes should be openly determined out of regard to gain or to the status of the suitors, but rather, the judges should esteem what is right before all other things. For…
Pompey’s Conquest
His triumph had such a magnitude that, although it was distributed over two days, still the time would not suffice, but much of what had been prepared could not find a place in the spectacle, enough…
A Wisdom Poem
Hear the commandments of life, O Israel;
give ear, and learn wisdom!
Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the land of your enemies,
that you are growing old in a foreign…
Scribes Slain by Seleucids
Then there came to him [Demetrius son of Seleucus] all the renegade and godless men of Israel; they were led by Alcimus, who wanted to be high priest. They brought to the king this accusation…
The Altar as Source of Life
Both the stones of the altar ramp and the stones of the altar were from the valley of Beth Kerem. They dug from the virgin ground below and brought whole stones [to the Temple] over which no iron had…
Priestly Politics and the Cause of War
At the same time things were happening in the temple. Eleazar, the son of the high priest Ananias, a young radical who was Captain of the Temple at the time, persuaded the ministers in charge of…
The Sale of the Priestly Service
Thus shall Aaron enter [the holy place] (Leviticus 16:3): R. Berekhiah [said] in the name of R. Levi: Thus [be-zot]: Scripture makes known that [Aaron] lived 410 years [the numerical equivalent of the…
The Relative Sanctity of the Synagogue and the Study Hall
And R. Pappi said in the name of Rava: [To convert a building] from a synagogue into a study hall [is] permitted, [but] from a study hall into a synagogue [is] prohibited, [as he…
Magnificat and Benedictus
And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will…
Jesus’ Prayer on Jewish Models
But do not let your fasts fall on the same days as “the hypocrites,” who fast on Monday and Thursday. Rather, you should fast on Wednesday and Friday. Nor should you pray as “the hypocrites” do, but…