Library Guides: Jewish Studies: Rabbinics

Resources in Rabbinics

The codification of central works in Late Antiquity, such as the Mishnah and the two Talmuds, marked the inception of Rabbinic literature followed, and further developed by a rich tradition of legal and non-legal commentaries. This textual tradition is constituted of a variety of genres ranging over two millennia, many of which remained hitherto inaccessible for scholarship research. Thanks to recent technological developments in research and information–science, many of these sources are now available electronically in various forms.

The electronic resources provided in this page are divided into four categories: (1) Databases: sites under this category provide access to primary and secondary sources, some of which are academic in nature. In some sites, such as HebrewBooks, sources can be downloaded and saved as PDF files. (2) Manuscripts: there are currently several projects which aspire to provide digitized pictures of manuscripts of Rabbinic sources, dating back to both Late Antiquity and Middle Ages. Notably among these resources are the Friedberg-Genizah and the NLI Ktiv projects which contain collections form dozens of libraries. Other sites, such as Achi Garsinan, specialize in particular areas of Rabbinic literature. (3) Indices: this category includes resources for tracing secondary literature on Rabbinic works. Most of this secondary literature is Academic in nature, though the Lieberman and Rambish indices provide bibliographical references to secondary literature composed by Rabbinic, nonacademic, scholars; (4) Tools: few of the resources offered here provide lexicographical and linguistic tools for dealing with early, as well as later Rabbinic texts. Some of these resources, such as Maagarim, also provide the option of a comparative examination of Hebrew words and terms.

Read the Collection Statement for Rabbinics.

Databases

Otzar HaHochma This link opens in a new window
Licensed for 1 user at a time. Please click "log out" on site when finished.
Responsa Project: Database for Jewish Studies This link opens in a new window
Database of the Bible and rabbinical literature with commentaries. Texts in Hebrew. Covers over 400 volumes Bible-Talmud-commentaries & Halachic Responsa.

HerbewBooks
Contains approximately 55,000 public domain Hebrew titles, covering a wide range of genres. All books are available for free download (PDF format).
Ma'agarim
The Historical Dictionary Project has accumulated texts of all the extant Hebrew compositions from the time of the canonization of the Hebrew Bible until the end of the Geonic period, and large selections of Hebrew literature from the mid-18th century until the founding of the State of Israel. The project provides limited access to medieval sources.
Sefaria Project
English translations of core textual sources (Early Rabbinics, liturgy, philosophy, kabbalah, halakha)

Kotar Library Online This link opens in a new window
Electronic academic books published in Israel
Database of Hebrew language Electronic Books.

Manuscripts

Ktiv
A project by the National Library of Israeli (NLI). The project provides access to collections of about thirty libraries, containing manuscripts from early and late Jewish literature
Achi Garsinan
An exhaustive project of Talmudic text-witness. The site provides access to many manuscripts and textwitnesses of the Babylonian Talmud
Digital Mishnah
The project provides transcripts of central Mishnaic manuscripts (Kaufman, Cambridge, Paris, and more).
The Friedberg Genizah Project
A comprehensive digital project, providing access to approximately 400,000 fragments of the Cairo Genizah. The fragments are arranged categorically in accordance to the original collections (most fragments belong to the Cambridge collections, whereas the rest is scattered between 60 different libraries.)
The Online Treasury of Talmudic Manuscripts
Images of major Talmudic manuscripts from libraries throughout the world.

Indices

RAMBI
Index for secondary literature in Judaic studies (Hebrew/English publications)

Index to Hebrew Periodicals This link opens in a new window
IHP is a bibliographic indexing project centered at the University of Haifa Library. It covers articles of Hebrew periodicals, collections, a few monographs, newspapers and articles in other languages dealing with the land of Israel.

Merhav
A bibliographical system designed by the Israeli National Library. The system, which provides full bibliographical references, is also connected to large databases, such as HebrewBooks; InternetArchive, ProjectGutenberg and UB Heidelberg.
The Liebermann References Index of Talmudic Literature
A JTS project which provides bibliographical data in reference to the selected passage from Early Rabbinic literature (Mishna, Talmud and Tosefta). Ability to search for scholarly articles on specific passages.

Tools

Ma'agarim
The Historical Dictionary Project has accumulated texts of all the extant Hebrew compositions from the time of the canonization of the Hebrew Bible until the end of the Geonic period, and large selections of Hebrew literature from the mid-18th century until the founding of the State of Israel. The project provides limited access to medieval sources.
• Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics Online
A systematic treatment of all aspects of the history and study of the Hebrew language from its earliest attested form to the present day.