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.
Binah le-‘itim (Understanding of the Times)
First, we will explain the reason for the custom of all Israel to read from Tractate Avot on these Sabbaths. We would like to analyze the meaning of the name of the tractate, why it is called Avot…
Messiah
Son of fruitful Joseph, precious Ephraim,
child of joy, lush grove of magnificence,
you will exult and rejoice—for, with a vengeance,
the Just will arise over the House of the Barren
when the time…
Dedication (to Gracia Nasi): Ferrara Bible
It would not seem proper, most magnificent Lady, that now we are about to print the Bible in our Spanish tongue, translated from the Hebrew word for word—so rare a work never before known until our…
Spanish Translation of the Bible
In his De officiis, most discreet reader, Tullius Cicero writes that nothing can move us so powerfully as to see some form or kind of benefit, which must be esteemed all the more, the less it is of an…
Amude shesh (Marble Pillars)
And with this ethical teaching I saw fit to seal up the pillar of Torah, which in our generation is very much weakened, and on the verge of the abyss, as all its methods of study are corrupt from the…
Midrash Shemu’el (The Midrash of Samuel)
Furthermore, I say that another reason for this [commentary] is that since all of these ethical principles were given to Moses at Sinai and it is necessary to fulfill them, when one hears about them…
Moshia‘ ḥosim (Savior of Those Who Take Refuge)
On the signs of the plague and the poisonous fever that is called pestilence, and how a person should conduct himself to guard himself from them, in accordance with the nature of this lower…
Novelot ḥokhmah (Fallen Fruit of Wisdom)
[ . . . ] Now you know and are witness that I have composed several works on various topics. However, I did not write them in order to publish them; rather, I prepared them for my own use, to…
Letter to Mordechai Margoliot
To the great master, the stronghold and tower, his name is increasingly great, he is my beloved master, the juice of my pomegranate (Song of Songs 8:2), my olive brimming with oil, Josheb-basshebeth a…
A lovely fawn inspiring awe and love
A lovely fawn inspiring awe and love,
Her eyes shoot darts that penetrate men’s
hearts.
Her lips are like a scarlet thread, a rose
Dotted with dabs of myrrh. Her face is
bright as…
Lament on the Fire of Salonika
And yet she was the jewel of perfection to all far and near
Who had not seen such splendor, all who came from north and south
From all lands and gathered there, the distinguished
Who were drawn to…
I sinned, so Time has weighed me down with chains
I sinned, so Time has weighed me down with chains;
therefore I can’t attend you in your joy.
But though my chariots—my feet—are slow,
Do not refuse the wish of your anointed (Psalms 132:10).
…