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.
under the Law
22. Once R. Eleazar b. Damma was bitten by a snake. Jacob of Kefar Samma came to heal him in the name of Yeshua b. Pantera [i.e., Jesus], but R. Ishmael would not let him.
He [R. Ishmael] said, “You…
Mishnah Sanhedrin
1. Once the verdict has been sealed, they take him out to stone him. The place of stoning was outside the courthouse, as it is said: Take out the blasphemer (Leviticus 24:14). One…
Yerushalmi Nedarim
R. Simeon ben Lakish discoursed: If one were to know that taking a vow of abstinence is like putting one’s neck in an iron collar would one take a vow? It is like a guard who passes a fortress and…
Genesis Rabbah Proems
1. R. Oshaya began: I was beside him as an ’amon. I was his delight every day [ . . . ] (Proverbs 8:30). ’Amon [may mean] “a tutor” [lit., a pedagogue]; ’amon [may mean] “covered”; ’amon [may mean]…
Antiochus III Rewards the Jews
King Antiochus to Ptolemy [probably Ptolemy, son of Thraseas, governor of Coele-Syria under Antiochus III] sends a greeting.
“Since the Jews, upon our first entrance into their country, demonstrated…
Parthian Invasion, Phasael’s Death, and Herod’s Flight to Rome
Two years later, Barzaphanes, the Parthian satrap, together with the king’s son, Pacorus, occupied Syria. Lysanias had now inherited the principality of Chalcis on the…
Antipas as Tetrarch
Now Herod the tetrarch, who was in great favor with Tiberius, built a city and called it Tiberias. He built it in the best part of Galilee, at the lake of Gennesareth, which is near a village called…
Revolt in the Galilee
When the Jews who had pursued Cestius returned to Jerusalem, they either forced or persuaded any remaining pro-Romans to join their movement, and held a mass meeting at the temple to appoint further…
The Sack of Jerusalem
Now masters of the walls, the Romans planted their standards on the towers and clapped and sang in joyful celebration of their victory. They had found the final stages of the war much…
Constantine’s New Jerusalem
Such was the situation when another memorable work of great importance was done in the province of Palestine by the Godbeloved [Constantine I]. It was this. He decided that he ought to make…
Rava and the Queen Mother
Ifra Hormiz, the mother of King Shapur, sent blood before Rava. Rav Ovadiah was sitting in front of him. [Rava] smelled it. He said to her, “This is blood of desire.” She said to her son, “See how…
Alexander the Great and Simeon the Just
The hare: this refers to Greece; because it chews [lit., raises up] its cud (Leviticus 11:6): for it raises up righteous individuals. Alexander the Macedonian, when he saw Simeon the Just, rose up on…