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.
Midrash on the Sayings of the Fathers
There was once a king who built a beautiful palace and hired two painters to paint it to the best of their abilities. He would pay them well.
And the painters said, “We will work diligently and…
Torat ha-‘olah (Law of the Burnt Offering): On the Lunar Calendar
I found it written somewhere that the eleven offerings brought on Rosh ḥodesh [the New Moon] correspond to the eleven extra days of the solar year over and above those of the…
Fuente clara (Clear Fountain)
The polemical Judeo-Spanish work (written in Hebrew characters) Fuente clara (Clear Fountain; drawing on Psalm 84) was published in Salonika. Its anonymous author, a philosopher and physician…
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…
Phoenician Ship
Phoenician ship in Assyrian relief from palace of Sennacherib (reigned 705–681 BCE), Nineveh. Transport galleys flee Tyre in the face of Sennacherib’s attack in 701 BCE. Soldiers and passengers stand…
When to Sound an Alarm for Jews Abroad?
When should Jews in one country start protesting about what they perceive as the peril of Jews in another country?
To answer the question, we must first analyze the specific conditions of the…
Chosen Voices: The Story of the American Cantorate
Twenty-three Jews came to America in 1654 and some five million live in the United States today. Though this seems like a long story, it is but a short chapter in the history of Judaism. Anything…
Remarks at Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Swearing-In Ceremony
Thank you, Chief Justice. Mr. President, distinguished guests, colleagues, and friends. Not yet two months ago, President Clinton announced his intention to nominate me as Associate Justice of the…
Jerusalem and Athens: The Congruity of Talmudic and Classical Philosophy
The Talmud is one of the great, classical writings of human civilization—enduring, influential, nourishing. It claims its place among the most successful pieces of writing in the history of humanity…
Sacred Fragments: Recovering Theology for the Modern Jew
Why does a book on Jewish philosophy begin with a discussion of revelation? First, because it is revelation that creates Judaism as a religion. […] Without God’s…
Avinu Malkeynu
We have strayed off the path, missed the mark.
We address the Parent of the Universe,
the Majesty of Life.
There is no other.
We pray for renewal this year,
that harsh decrees be annulled,
that…