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.
No Life after Death
All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them is…
The Messiah as Son of God
He will be called son of God, and they will call him son of the Most High. Like the sparks that you saw, so will their kingdom be; they will rule several year[s] over the earth and crush…
The Soul Is to the Body as God Is to the World
Why did David’s soul praise the Holy One? He thought: The soul fills the body, and God fills the earth, as it is written: For I fill the heaven and the earth, says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:24). The soul…
Bloodletting and Washing Hands
Aramaic
The demon [ruling over] foodstuffs is called neki’ah [clean]; the demon appointed over poverty is called nevil [folly; or, nevul, filth]. Filth on the spout of a pitcher leads to poverty. He…
The 248 Limbs of the (Male) Body
Hebrew
There are 248 limbs in the body. Thirty in the foot—six in each toe, ten in the ankle, two in the shin, five in the knee, one in the thigh, three in the hip. [There are] eleven ribs, thirty…
Tharbis, Moses’ First Wife
Tharbis was the daughter of the Ethiopian king. When she observed Moses bringing his army near the ramparts and waging battle valiantly, she admired the resourcefulness of his undertakings. Suspecting…
Laments of Eliphas and Nereus for Job
And so, after he [Eliphas] had wept with a loud wailing, he called out a royal lament while both the other kings and their troops sang in response.
Hear then the lament of…
Ezra’s Prayer for Israel’s Forgiveness
“And now I will speak out: About all humankind you know best; but I will speak out about your people, for whom I am grieved, and about your inheritance, from whom I lament, and about Israel, for…
Yael’s Prayer before Killing Sisera
And when Sisera was sleeping, Jael went out to the flock and got milk from it. And when she was milking, she said, “And now be mindful, Lord, of when you assigned every tribe or race to the earth. Did…
Vision of the Glory of God
And it came to pass when the sun was setting, and behold a smoke like that of a furnace, and the angels who had the divided portions of the sacrifice ascended from the top of the furnace…