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.
Simplicity, Pacifism, and Virtue
Palestinian Syria, too, has not failed to produce high moral excellence. In this country live a considerable part of the very populous nation of the Jews, including as it is said, certain persons…
How to Achieve Eternal Life
Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish…
Law and Gentiles
All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law…
Hyrcanus II as Ethnarch
“I, Julius Caesar, imperator the second time and high priest, have made this decree, with the approbation of the Senate. Whereas Hyrcanus the son of Alexander, the Jew, has demonstrated his fidelity…
Hasmonean Champions of Torah
Many of the people, everyone who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; they drove Israel into hiding in every…
Ezra as Priestly Scribe
This Ezra came up from Babylon as a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which was given by the God of Israel; and the king showed him honor, for he found favor before the king in all his requests.
Writing Down the Oral Torah
R. Judah bar Naḥmani, the disseminator for Resh Lakish, expounded [as follows]: One verse says: Write you these words, and one verse says [i.e., it states later in…
The Struggle between Jason and Onias III
When Seleucus died and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption, promising the king at an interview three…
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:…