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.
Leviticus Rabbah on Peace
R. Simeon ben Yoḥai said: Great is peace, for the entirety of the blessings are included in it. May the Lord give strength to His people. May the Lord bless His people with peace (Psalm 29:11)…
The Death of Jonathan and the Rise of Simon
Now when Trypho learned what had befallen Demetrius [that he had lost his entire army and been captured by the Parthians], he no longer supported Antiochus but began…
Herod Takes Jerusalem
When the storm died down, he advanced on Jerusalem and marched his army right up to the walls on what was coincidentally the third anniversary of his proclamation as king in…
Mariamme the Hasmonean
So [Herod] marked off the place with three bulwarks and erected defense towers, employing a great many hands for the work and cutting…
Battle at Gamala
The defeat at Tarichaeae brought the surrender of those Galileans who had still remained in revolt from Rome after the fall of Jotapata and the Romans took control of all…
Collective Suicide at Masada
With the investing wall which I have mentioned now completed round the entire site, and the strictest precautions taken to prevent any escape, the Roman commander…
An Early Anti-Jewish Narrative
Soon after, the Jews renewed their malevolent and impious practices against the Christians and were punished as they deserved. At a place called Inmestar, located between Chalcis and Antioch in Syria…
Zoroastrian Protection of Sacred Elements
[The Zoroastrian priests] decreed regarding three [things] for three [sins]. They decreed regarding meat because of [negligence in tithing] the priestly gifts. They decreed regarding…
Ten Questions of Alexander to the Sages of the South
Alexander the Macedonian asked ten questions of the sages of the south. He said to them, “Which is greater, the distance between heaven and earth or between east and west?” [The sages from the south]…
Destruction at Beitar
Because of a rooster and a hen, the king’s mountain was destroyed. There was a practice that when a bride and groom went out [to be married, people] would bring a rooster and a hen before them, as if…
Ifra Hormiz Praises the Power of the Rabbis and the Jewish God
[There was] a certain man who was sentenced to be flogged by Rava’s court because he had relations with a gentile woman. Rava flogged [the man] and he died [as a result. When this] matter was heard…
The Rule of the Community
[ . . . ] All those who submit freely to his truth will convey all their knowledge, their strength, and their property to the Community of God in order to refine their knowledge in the…