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.
Mass Exodus for the Festival
From Antipatris Cestius advanced to Lydda, and found the city empty, as the whole population had gone up to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles. [ . . . ] Seeing the war now coming close to the…
Antiochus’ Prohibition of Circumcision
And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in…
Consequences of Incomplete Divorce
[The Mishnah taught that Rabban Gamaliel the Elder instituted that one may not render a bill of divorce void in a court elsewhere] for the betterment of the world. [The Gemara asks:] What [problem did…
Enjoy This Life
My child, treat yourself well, according to your means,
and present worthy offerings to the Lord.
Remember that death…
The Messianic Kingdom
“For indeed the time will come, when the signs that I have foretold to you will come to pass, that the city that now is not seen shall appear, and the land that now is hidden shall be disclosed. E…
Souls Are in God’s Hand
Two things are in God’s hand: the soul and justice. The soul, as it is written: In His hand is the soul of all the living (Job 12:10). And justice, as it is written: And My hand lays hold on judgment…
Eating and Drinking after Bloodletting
[Hebrew] If one has let blood and has nothing to eat, let him sell the shoes of his feet and provide the requirements of a meal. What [are the] requirements of a meal? Rav said, “Meat,” while Samuel…
Female Anatomy
Hebrew
R. Judah said in the name of Samuel: There was an instance when the disciples of R. Ishmael once cleansed with boiling water [the corpse of] a prostitute who had been…
Division of the Earth’s Portions to Noah’s Sons
At the beginning of the thirty-third jubilee [1569–1617] they divided the earth into three parts—for Shem, Ham, and Japheth—each in his own…
Noah’s Prayer for His Sons
During the third week of this jubilee [1583–1589], impure demons began to mislead Noah’s grandchildren, to make them act foolishly and to destroy them. Then Noah’s sons came to their father Noah and…
Abraham’s Prayer on Behalf of Sodom
You love justice and hate wickedness (Psalm 45:8, NJPS). R. Judan in the name of R. Azariah applied this verse to Abraham our father at the time when he beseeched [God] for mercy on behalf of the…