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.
Judith’s Prayer for Success against Holofernes
Then Judith prostrated herself, put ashes on her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing. At the very time when the evening incense was being offered in the house of God in Jerusalem…
Penitential Posture and Rhetoric
Rav [once] happened [to come] to Babylonia on a public fast. He stood and read from a [Torah] scroll. [When] he began [to read,] he recited a blessing, [but when] he concluded, he did not recite a…
Poetic Introductions to Malkhiyot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot for Rosh Hashanah
The Teki‘ata elaborates on the requirement of m. Rosh Hashanah 4:5–6 that the shofar be blown during the Rosh Hashanah Musaf Tefillah after the recitation of ten scriptural verses apiece, relating to…
The Sayings of the Patriarchs
1:16. Rabban Gamaliel used to say: Appoint for yourself a teacher, avoid doubt, and do not make a habit of tithing by guesswork.
17. Simeon, his son, used to say: All my days I grew up among the sages…
The Martyrdom of R. Ḥaninah ben Teradyon
When they captured R. Ḥaninah ben Teradyon, it was decreed that he should be burned together with his [Torah] scroll. They said to him, “It is decreed that you should be burned together with your…
The Parable of the Sower
Again he [Jesus] began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. He…
Merchant Behavior in the Marketplace
A merchant may buy from five threshing floors and put the produce into a storage chamber, or from five winepresses and put [the wine] into one jug, as long as he does not intend to mix them [for…
Philo’s Explanation of Passover
After the New Moon comes the fourth feast, called the Crossing-feast, which the Hebrews in their native tongue call Pascha. In this festival many myriads of victims from noon till eventide are offered…
Philo’s Explanation of Yom Kippur
The next feast held after the “Trumpets” is the Fast. Perhaps some of the perversely minded who are not ashamed to censure things excellent will say, What sort of a feast is this in which there are no…
Neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision Counts for Anything
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of…
The and the Grain Offering
[The husband] brings her meal offering in a basket of palm twigs and places it upon her hands in order to weary her. With all other meal offerings, their beginning and their end are in ministering…
The Fear of Death
Rava sat before R. Naḥman and saw that R. Naḥman was slipping into death. R. Naḥman said, “Master, say something to him [the Angel of Death] so he will not torment me.” Rava replied, “Master, are you…