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.
Path Jumping
For contracting the path [magically speeding one’s travel—Ed.]: take a kosher parchment and write on it in purity and cleanliness. This requires great intention [kavanah] in the names: “In the name…
Colophon: Solomon Ibn Gabirol’s Mivḥar ha-peninim
And the work was finished on the eve of Sabbath, in
the month of Shebat, in the year 307, in the great
city of Venice which is under the rule of
the Signoria, may God increase their
glory, and in the…
Ta‘ame sukkah (Discourse on Sukkot): Account of His Printing Problems
And in it they will find a commentary appropriate to everyone and in it many precious midrashim, sharp pilpulim, light and weighty, Sinai and uprooter of mountains (Berakhot 64a, that is both breadth…
Mateh Dan (The Tribe of Dan)
My friends desired me to record the discussions I have had with those who reject the authority of the Oral Law; and, in compliance with their desire, I have gathered all that I found bearing on that…
A fountain surges from my verse’s house
A fountain surges from my verse’s house.
Its flowing waters quench the thirst of men—
A fountain from the rock of perfect rhyme,
With waters cold to please the yearning man—
A flow unending…
A woman beautiful in every way
A woman beautiful in every way
I give you—pedigreed, with every skill—
And all you want to know is what’s the dowry!
That’s not the way to think; that’s faulty judgment.
If you’d appraise her…
Of a Repentant Sinner
Already (Lord) with humility,
fearing my perdition,
in a sea of contrition
I seek port in Thy pity.
Against Thy immense goodness
I sinned. My sorrow warns me,
that of the error of Thy offending
my…
Memoirs of a Fortunate Jew
At the end of King George Boulevard stood a tall building with two black, cavernous entrances. It served as a brothel, first for Arabs and later for Allied troops. When passing in front of this…
Slave Sale
On the twentieth of Adar, the second year (of Arses), the accession year of Darius, the king, in Samaria the citadel, which is in Samaria the province, Hananiah son of Beyadel sold a certain Yehohanan…
The Place of the Bible in Israeli Society
The Bible, once at the center of the cultural scene, has become marginalized, its magic has faded. A new Israeli generation no longer believes that, to be considered educated, one must be well-versed…
Revolutions in Halakhah
The process that ultimately enabled women to serve as pleaders in the rabbinical courts began thanks to the initiative of one woman, Ruth Margarit Neiger of Raananah…
Solomon’s Senior Officials and His District Prefects
These were his officials:
Azariah son of Zadok—the priest;
Elihoreph and Ahijah sons of Shisha—scribes;
Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud—recorder;
Benaiah son of Jehoiada—over the army;
Zadok and…