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 Greek Way of Life
From them [the successors of Alexander the Great] came forth a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus; he had been a hostage in Rome. He…
Mishnah Kiddushin
A woman is acquired in three ways and acquires herself in two ways.
She is acquired by money, by document, or by sexual intercourse.…
Tosefta Menaḥot
6. Torah regards intention as stronger than action in cases of sacrifice and action as stronger than intention in cases of sacrifice. How is intention stronger than action in cases of sacrifice? One…
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Simeon bar Yoḥai
If one strikes a man [and he dies, he shall surely be put to death] (Exodus 21:12). I only know from this about one who strikes a man. How…
Alexander and the Jews
During the time when John became high priest, Bagoses, the general of Artaxerxes’ army, polluted the Temple and imposed tribute on…
Judaea Falls under Roman Control
The first Roman to subdue the Jews and set foot in their temple by right of conquest was Gnaeus Pompey: thereafter it was a matter of common knowledge that there were no representations of the gods…
Herod and His Sons
Now Pompey clipped off some of the territory that had been forcibly appropriated by the Judaeans, and appointed Herod to the priesthood; but later a certain Herod, a descendant of his and a native of…
Racial Conflict in Caesarea
Another disturbance broke out at Caesarea, with racial conflict between the Jewish element of the population and the Syrian inhabitants. The Jews claimed the city as theirs on the grounds that its…
Roman Capture of the Antonia and Burning of the Colonnade
Meanwhile the rest of the Roman army demolished Antonia and its foundations in seven days and engineered a wide road giving access to the…
Roman Losses during the Revolt
On the Parthian War
To the Emperor Antoninus.
. . . . The God who begat the great Roman race has no compunction in suffering us to faint at times and be…
Tensions in Parthian Babylonia and the Rise and Fall of Asineus and Anileus
A terrible, most severe disaster now took place among the Jews in Mesopotamia, especially those…
The Law of the Kingdom Is the Law
Samuel said, One who took possession of [land on a] riverbank is an impudent person, but we certainly do not remove him. But nowadays that the Persians write…