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 Priest at the Head of the Community
Rule of the assembly of all the camps. All of them shall be enlisted by their names: the priests first, the levites second, the children of Israel third, and the proselyte fourth; and they shall be…
Description of the Synagogue in Alexandria
It was stated: R. Judah said: Anybody who did not see the double stoa of Alexandria did not ever see the glory of Israel. It was like a large basilica with a stoa inside a stoa. Sometimes there were…
A Sign of Mourning
The sages taught [the following baraita: When] a sage dies, his study hall ceases [its regular study as a sign of mourning over him. When] the president of the court dies, all of the study halls in…
Priestly Prayer for Israel’s Restoration
And while the sacrifice was being consumed, the priests offered prayer—the priests and everyone. Jonathan led, and the rest responded, as did Nehemiah. The prayer was to this effect:…
Nakdimon ben Gurion’s Prayers for Rain
Once when all Israel went up for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, it happened that there was no water for them to drink. So Nakdimon ben Gurion went to a certain gentile lord and said to him: Lend me twelve…
A Hosha‘na Litany for Sukkot
For the sake of Your truth
For the sake of Your covenant
For the sake of Your greatness
For the sake of…
The Importance of Practical Education
All practices, employments, and studies, for us, refer back to piety toward God; for [Moses] did not leave any of these phenomena unexamined or indeterminate. All education and the training of habits…
Pilgrim Numbers on Passover
As long as Cestius Gallus was busy in Syria with the administration of his province, no one dared to approach him with a formal complaint against Florus. But when he visited Jerusalem at the start of…
Fighting on the Sabbath
At that time many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to live there, they, their sons, their wives, and their livestock, because troubles pressed heavily upon…
Burial Epitaphs
Weep for me, stranger, a maiden ripe for marriage, who formerly shone in a great house. For, together with my bridal garments, I, untimely, have…
Abel and the Twelve Tribes
And Abraham said, “My lord Commander-in-chief, who is this all-wondrous judge? And who are the angels who are recording? And who is the sunlike angel who holds the balance? And who is the fiery angel…
Jesus Debates the Sadducees on Resurrection
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man…