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Asenath the daughter of R. Samuel Adoni (Barazani) was a wise woman and a great Torah scholar. She studied the secrets of kabbalah and acquired a considerable reputation for performing miracles and…
A. O my sisters! O my daughters! O women, my people and pride! Hear my words, understand my musings, consider my way, for I am your brother. I have gathered for you beautiful words, chosen from the…
This relief, from Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh, shows Sennacherib’s army attacking Lachish (an event alluded to in 2 Kings 18:14 and 17). Sennacherib is sitting on his throne outside the city…
Cult statues in Assyrian relief from the Palace of Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 745–727 BCE) in Kalhu/Calah (today’s Nimrud, Iraq). Although no Mesopotamian cult statues have been found, reliefs such…
Blessed are you to God . . . You the holy congregation of ‘Akron, may your Rock and Creator preserve you; inform us about your concerns and tell us about your happenings, for I and the Minister, the…
And so let it be known to your Excellency what happened to the letter that your Excellency sent me with the etrogs [citrons]. The letter was not handed to me until the [week of the] Sabbath of Vayetze…
Soldier slaying captive, Khorsabad, late eighth century BCE. The captive is probably a Samarian seized during Sargon’s conquest of the city. From a relief in the palace of Sargon at Dur-Sharrukin…
[ . . . ] But before we come to analyze the dreadful calamity [i.e., the drought] that has befallen us, and before we come to see what is the putrid humor harbored in our midst…
The scroll (megillah) of Esther is read out loud on the holiday of Purim. This example, from Baghdad, is hand painted, with an ornate design in which bands of flowers frame the text. It is rolled on a…
[May] your mornings [be] blessed,
[May] your life [be] long,
[May] your enemies [be] shrouded, dead,
[May] your [hot] breakfasts [be] poured, cooled.