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.
The Sicarii
The countryside may thus have been swept clear, but a new breed of terrorists was growing like a cancer in Jerusalem, the so-called Sicarii who murdered people right in the middle of the city in broad…
Famine and Desertion
For all this emotional appeal by Josephus, the insurgents would not budge, and thought it far from safe to change their course. The people, though, took it as a spur to desertion. Some sold their…
Historical Summary of the Revolt
At Jerusalem he founded a city in place of the one which had been razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple to Jupiter. This…
Libanius’ Letters to the Jewish Patriarch
To the same [Priscianus—Ed.]
Some disturbance has arisen among our Jews because [of a rumor that] a certain wicked old man is going to come into office, whom they had expelled when he…
Samuel and the Destruction of Caesarea Mazaca
They said to Samuel, “Shapur the king killed twelve thousand Jews in Caesarea Mazaca.” And he did not rend [his garments. . . .]
And did Shapur kill the Jews? Behold, Shapur the king said to Samuel,…
King Yannai’s Advice to His Wife Shelamzion
King Yannai said to his wife [before he died]: Do not be afraid of the Pharisees, and neither [should you fear] from those who are not Pharisees [i.e., the Sadducees]; rather, [beware] of the…
A Clash between Judah the Prince and Resh Lakish
Resh Lakish said: The patriarch who sins, we lash him in a court of three [judges]. [ . . . ] R. Judah the Prince heard and grew angry. He sent a soldier to catch Resh Lakish. They tried to catch him…
Pharisees and Ritual Purity
The garments of an ‘am ha’arets [a common person] possess midras-impurity for Pharisees.
The garments of Pharisees possess midras-impurity for those who eat terumah [gifts for the priests].
The…
Pesher Isaiah
[he will mak]e all Israel like eye-paint around the eye. And I will found you in sapphi[res (Isaiah 54:11). Its interpretation:] they will found the council of the Community, [the]…
Roman Execution of Jesus
Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the…
Use of the Term “Old Testament”
The law becomes an “Old Testament” only for those who want to understand it in a fleshly way; and for them it has necessarily become old and aged, because it cannot maintain its strength. But for us…
Letter from Antiochus III to Ptolemy Mentioning the Gerousia
Since the Jews, upon our first entrance into their country, demonstrated their friendship toward us, and when we came to their city [Jerusalem], received us in a splendid manner, and came to meet us…