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.
A Sacred Race of Pious Men
There will again be a sacred race of pious men
who attend to the counsels and intention of the Most High,
who fully honor the temple of the great God
with drink offering and burnt offering and sacred…
Cain and Abel as Gladiators
R. Simeon bar Yoḥai says: It is a difficult thing [even] to say and [almost] impossible for the mouth to speak it explicitly. [The story of Cain and Abel is comparable] to two gladiators who are…
R. Ḥisda’s Daughter
[And in] what [way was prophecy given] to children? [It was] like this [incident involving the] daughter of Rav Ḥisda, [who when she was a child] was sitting on her father’s lap. […
Mishnah Shabbat
If a non-Jew lights a lamp, a Jew may make use of its light. But if [he does it] for the sake of the Jew, it is forbidden. If he draws water to give his own animal to drink, a Jew may water his…
Tosefta Kippurim
Why did he turn aside and weep? Because it was necessary to impose an oath on him. And why did they turn aside and weep? Because they had to impose an oath on him.
And why was there a need to impose…
Bavli Bava Kamma
Why [pay compensation]? The Merciful One says an eye for [taḥat] an eye (Exodus 21:24). Perhaps one should say it refers literally [to putting out] the eye [of the offender]?
Let this not enter your…
Ecclesiastes Rabbah
2:24:1. Nothing is good for a person but to eat and drink (Ecclesiastes 2:24). R. Tanḥuma says it [in the name of] R. Naḥman the son of R. Samuel bar Naḥman, and R. Menaḥema [says it in the name of] R…
Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II
Meanwhile Alexandra fell ill, and her younger son Aristobulus seized the opportunity. With all his many friends—all won over to his cause by his dashing nature—he took control of all the fortresses…
Renovation of the Temple
In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Herod, after the acts recorded above, he undertook a very great task, namely the renovation of the Temple of God at his own expense. He both expanded it and…
Pilate Imports Standards to Jerusalem
Pilate was sent by Tiberius to Judaea as procurator, and in a covert operation at night he smuggled into Jerusalem under wraps those portrait plaques of the emperor which are called standards. When…
A Thwarted Plot to Surrender to the Romans
[Matthias] had given Simon his possession of the city, and yet Simon had him not only killed but tortured as well. Matthias was the son of Boethus, a member of a high-priestly family, and absolutely…
Jewish Unrest and Its Suppression in Alexandria and Cyrene
With Masada thus captured, the Roman general left a garrison in the fortress and went back with his army to Caesarea. By now there were no enemies left in the land, and the whole…