This website is a constantly developing resource on Jewish history and Torah learning in the digital age. It’s written, designed, and maintained by me, Tamar Ron Marvin, an intellectual historian, rabbinical student, and inveterate writer (also weekly challah baker, longtime internet nerd, and quixotic DIYer). More here.
How to Use this Site
Knowledgebase
If you’re looking for short articles on foundational topics, like major figures, important works, and historical events, you can browse my Jewish Knowledgebase. It also provides pop-up information throughout the site, so you don’t have to click out of an article to figure out who Rashba was and when he lived. (Mouse over to see; tap on mobile, though this will take you to the article.)
Source Sheets, Syllabi, and Published Works
I’m always making source sheets for writing projects and shiurim I teach. I post them to Sefaria and you can also find Google Doc versions here on the website. I post syllabi and other teaching materials under Teaching and share my published work under Writing.
(If you want to see how I build this website, check out the Site Colophon.)
In-Depth Articles & Guides
The blog is where I post deep dives. It’s divided in Torah Topics, Jewish History, and a “How-To” section called Resources & Guides, which includes articles about my research and writing process and book recommendations.
Browse the Entire Site
The easiest way to do this is to run a search, ⤴️ which returns results from the entire site, including articles, knowledgebase, all the indices, everything. You can also browse the entire site by topic on the Site Index. There’s a search bar at the bottom of every page.
Parsha Guides
For 5783/2022-23 I’m writing a guide for each parsha, where I break down the weekly Torah portion by subject, put in all the key words and phrases (in Hebrew and transliteration), and do a quick rundown of the haftarah and its relationship to the parsha—informed by the major Mefarshim (classical commentaries). You can read about my approach and browse the guides here. Each book will have a structural overview, too.
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Sefer Bereshit | ספר בראשית
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Sefer Shemot | ספר שמות
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Sefer Vayikra | ספר ויקרא
I’m a big believer in sharing knowledge, building in public, and lifelong learning. That’s why I create Jewish content here under a Creative Commons license (which means you can reuse it freely for non-commerical purposes with attribution). I hope you’ll find information that feeds your curiosity and resources to support your learning (or teaching).
Substack Newsletter
I write a (free) newsletter called Stories from Jewish History, which I send out weekly on Tuesdays to hundreds of subscribers. It tells the story of a person, work, manuscript, or other history topic and comes with reading recommendations and other resources.
Image: Map copied in 1657 as Die Gelegenheit Des Paradeis Und Des Lands Canaan based on the original by Dutch cartographer Nicolaes Visscher, made c. 1665.
Twitter Threads
On Mondays, I post a (often somewhat epic) Twitter thread about a Jewish figure and why their work matters. I’ve compiled these into visual, discoverable form in the Twitter Thread Index. You don’t have to be on Twitter to click over and read them. Think of them as bite-sized adventures.
Follow @tamar_marvinWriting/professional/life updates on all the platforms. ⤵️