Jewish texts
Selichot
From the second day of the month of Elul and until Yom Kippur for Sephardim, and from the Saturday night preceding Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur for Ashkenazim / Italkim, Selichot are…
The Torah
The word “Torah” means “teaching” in Hebrew and designates the Pentateuch, namely the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
The Prophets
The second part of the Hebrew Bible is called “Prophets” (“Neviim” in Hebrew). It comprises on the one hand the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings) which are…
The hagiographers
The third part of the Bible, "the holy writings" ("Ketubim") comprises a series of historical and poetic works written in different eras.
The Talmud
Alongside the Torah, the written law, there is the Talmud, the oral law. For fear that this law would be lost to oblivion, some rabbis undertook to put it in writing, which would be called…
The Midrash
An important category of rabbinic literature is the Midrash (Midrashim in the plural).
The Zohar (Kabbalah)
Properly Sefer ha-Zohar, that is, “The Book of Splendour”. The foundation of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar presents itself as a mystical commentary on the Torah, written in an ornate…
The Shulchan Aruch
The Shulchan Aruch is part of Halakhic literature. The term Halakhah refers to the body of Jewish law. While it is true that Jewish law derives from the Bible and is extensively discussed…
- The Pesach Haggadah The Haggadah is the text that accompanies the ritual of Passover. The term is analogous to that of aggadah, and essentially means "tale", "narration".
- Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers): Chapter One By Rabbi Alberto Sermoneta From the first Saturday following the end of Pesach for six consecutive Saturdays, until the eve of Shavu’ot, in every Synagogue around the…
- Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers): Chapter Two By Rabbi Alberto Sermoneta This coming Shabbat we will read the second chapter of “Pirkei Avot”. The eighth mishnah teaches us something particularly interesting, in the…
- Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers): Chapter Three By Rabbi Alberto Sermoneta This Shabbat we will read the third chapter of Pirkei Avot; in the third mishnah (the fourth according to some editions) we find a maxim in…
- Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers): Chapter Four By Rabbi Alberto Sermoneta Mishnah no. 12 (according to some no. 13) of the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot teaches us a maxim that should make us reflect deeply: "Rabbi…
- Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers): Chapter Five By Rav Alberto Sermoneta The 14th Mishnah (15th in some texts) of the fifth chapter of Pirkei Avot teaches us to reflect on certain behaviours of young people today. Can…
- Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers): Chapter Six By Rabbi Alberto Sermoneta This text that we will read next Shabbat is the last of the Pirkei Avot; in fact, this Shabbat is the final Saturday before the festival of…