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.
On the Inadequacy of Translation
Many great teachings have been given to us through the Law and the Prophets and the others that followed them, and for these we should praise Israel for instruction and wisdom. Now, those who read the…
Torah from Memory
[It was related that] R. Ḥisda [once] found R. Ḥananel writing [Torah] scrolls, [but he was] not [copying them] from a written text, [as he knew it all by heart]. He said to him: It is fitting [for]…
The Purification Offering (Ḥatat)
5:3. [There are different types of] purification offerings: for the community and for the individual. These are the purification offerings for the community: the goats for new months and holidays are…
Zadokite Priests as the Chosen of Israel
[ . . . ] The priests and the levites and the sons of
Zadok who maintained the service of my temple when the children of Israel strayedfar away from me; they shall offer me…
Special Treatment for a Donor
After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When…
Judith’s Prayer for Success against Holofernes
Then Judith prostrated herself, put ashes on her head, and uncovered the sackcloth she was wearing. At the very time when the evening incense was being offered in the house of God in Jerusalem…
Penitential Posture and Rhetoric
Rav [once] happened [to come] to Babylonia on a public fast. He stood and read from a [Torah] scroll. [When] he began [to read,] he recited a blessing, [but when] he concluded, he did not recite a…
Poetic Introductions to Malkhiyot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot for Rosh Hashanah
The Teki‘ata elaborates on the requirement of m. Rosh Hashanah 4:5–6 that the shofar be blown during the Rosh Hashanah Musaf Tefillah after the recitation of ten scriptural verses apiece, relating to…
The Sayings of the Patriarchs
1:16. Rabban Gamaliel used to say: Appoint for yourself a teacher, avoid doubt, and do not make a habit of tithing by guesswork.
17. Simeon, his son, used to say: All my days I grew up among the sages…
The Martyrdom of R. Ḥaninah ben Teradyon
When they captured R. Ḥaninah ben Teradyon, it was decreed that he should be burned together with his [Torah] scroll. They said to him, “It is decreed that you should be burned together with your…
The Parable of the Sower
Again he [Jesus] began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. He…
Merchant Behavior in the Marketplace
A merchant may buy from five threshing floors and put the produce into a storage chamber, or from five winepresses and put [the wine] into one jug, as long as he does not intend to mix them [for…