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.
Matrona
4:6. Matrona asked Rabbi Yose: Why is it not written “that it was good” for the second day? He said to her: Nevertheless, in the end he . . . included them all, for it is said: And God saw everything…
Mishnah Demai
He who purchases produce from one who is not [deemed] trustworthy in the matter of tithing, and forgot to tithe it, [and—Ed.] inquires of him [of the vendor] on the Sabbath, may eat at his [the vendor…
Mishnah Niddah
All women are presumed to be ritually pure for [the purpose of sexual intercourse with] their husbands; those that return home from a journey—their wives are presumed to be ritually pure…
Bavli Ḥagigah
The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened are those that are composed in collections; they are given from one shepherd (Ecclesiastes 12:11).
Why are matters of Torah compared to a…
Leviticus Rabbah on Care for the Soul and the Poor
A merciful person does good for his soul [ . . . ] (Proverbs 11:17). This refers to Hillel the Elder. When he would take leave of his disciples, he would go out walking. His disciples asked him,…
Aristobulus I
After their father Hyrcanus died, the eldest son, Aristobulus, saw fit to transform the government into a kingdom, which he judged to be the…
Octavian Confirms Herod’s Claim to Kingship
“Caesar,” he said, “I was made king by Antony, and I acknowledge that I have throughout served Antony’s interests. I will not conceal from you either that, if I had not been occupied with the Arabs…
Salome
When these letters were brought, the women stopped their efforts to flee to the Romans, which they had conceived under the assumption that Herod was dead…
Titus Marches toward Jerusalem
Titus was now on the march from Caesarea, having concentrated part of his forces there under his own command and ordered the rest to meet him at Jerusalem. He…
Riots in Alexandria, 38 CE
For it was more than clear that the rumor of the destruction of the synagogues that started in Alexandria would spread immediately to the districts of Egypt and speed…
Forced Conversion of the Jews
Now, however, to proceed with my narrative, a throng of Christ’s servants, greater than was thought to reside in that town, gathered together and prepared for the departure from Jamona [a town with a…
Judaism as a “Bad Law”
Those of pure laws and good tradition [dēn] are we, and also of the teachers of old. Those of mixed laws are practicing the strangeness of Sēn. Those of bad laws are the Manichaeans, Christians, Jews…