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.
Uzziah’s Reinterment Inscription
Uzziah’s reinterment inscription, Jerusalem. King Uzziah (reigned 785–733 BCE) was a leper and therefore, according to the book of Chronicles, could not be buried in the royal tombs and so had to be…
Bulla of Gemaryahu son of Shaphan
Bulla of Gemaryahu son of Shaphan, Jerusalem (City of David), late 7th or early 6th century BCE. This clay seal impression belonged to Gemaryahu, who was likely the scribe Gemariah son of Shaphan…
Tel Dan Inscription
[ . . . . . . . . ] and cut (a treaty) [
[ . . . e]l my father went up [against him when] he was fighting in Abe[l?]
And my father lay down, he went to his [ancestors (or: eternal place)]. And the…
Tiglath-pileser III, Summary Inscription
The land of Bit-Humria (the House of Omri) . . .
[ . . . his] auxiliary [troops . . . ] all of its people . . . to Assyria I carried off. Pekah, their king, [I/they ki]lled . . . and I appointed…
Igerot Shadal (Letters of Samuel David Luzzatto)
I am a friend to all lovers of Torah and wisdom and my only desire and my complete salvation rest in disseminating the sources of the Torah in order that the earth will be full of the knowledge of God…
Calendar for the Year 5665, an Intercalated Year
Its sign is זש״הIt is year 2 of the Sabbatical cycleyear 3 of the small lunar cycle 299year 9 of the large solar cycle 203year 1837 [sic] of the Destruction of the Temple, may it be built and…
Letter of Conversion
My brothers, my children, and my friends know this: I understood with great clarity that the True One, whom I alone have known for many generations and for whom I have strived so much, wants me to…
Responsum: On Printed Megilot (Scrolls of) Esther
Question: . . . When Rabbi Joseph Ottolenghi was visiting this land, he told me that he printed sixteen megillot on parchment prepared for this purpose [i.e., to be used for the scrolls—Ed.]. When I…
Elim: Ma‛ayan ganim (Elim: A Garden Spring)
And moreover, that which is called “external wisdom” is indeed the daughter of my father [see Genesis 12:20], a good doctrine (Proverbs 4:2) and a gift of God [see Ecclesiastes 3:13], who graces us…
History: A Novel
[…] Among such divergent opinions, poor Iduzza didn’t dare formulate any view on her own.
To the many mysteries of Authority which frightened her there had now been added the word Aryans, which she…
Abraham and His Family
The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation,
And I will bless…
King Saul and the Rise of David
Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over His people Israel. Therefore, listen to the Lord’s command!
“Thus said the Lord of Hosts: I…