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.
Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32), Aleppo Codex
Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32), Aleppo Codex, ca. 925 CE. The photo shows the beginning of the poem (Deuteronomy 32:1–14) and the prose verses from the end of the preceding chapter. The text of the…
A Secret Letter to London
The evening of 5 Heshvan, 5642 [October 28, 1881]
Tomorrow with the second post, a pamphlet will be sent to you with a responsum entitled Isaac’s Stream (Naḥal Yitsḥak), regarding a miserable agunah…
Responsum: On Women’s Rights to Divorce
Question: Some of the poor members of the nation in Egypt [do as follows]. When a man fights with his wife and their marriage is not working out, and the wife wants to divorce but the husband does not…
The Women Shopkeepers, or, Golde-Mine, the Abandoned Wife of Brod
In short, in addition to being affluent, our Reb Hoshea Heffler was also steeped in the holy books. He was a traditional Jew, who could not abide the maskilim, the enlightened ones. He always used to…
Discussions with God
Going home on airless Elbow Street,
at three o’clock in the morning.
Lead me toward goodness, my God!
Peace-flowers bloom in these gray stones
and this dawn sky is peace.
Do You love me still, my…
In the Tower
From his ivory bed
The king rises at night—
Alone, without guard or escort,
Makes his way to the ancient wall
Climbing to the top of the highest tower.
There, at the window
One can see the dead, gray…
The Ghetto
A street. At the right the entrance to the synagogue, with steps and a portico. At the left the house of Aaron, before which are some chairs, in the shade of an awning. Some trees and…
The Costume Party
In The Costume Party, George Segal switched from making all white sculptures to using colors. The six figures—Anthony and Cleopatra, Superman, Pussy Galore, Catwoman, and Bottom from Shakespeare’s…
Antisemitism, Its History and Causes
To make the history of antisemitism complete, omitting none of the manifestations of this sentiment and following its divers phases and modifications, it is necessary to go into the history of Israel…
The Mind of Primitive Man
One of the chief aims of anthropology is the study of the mind of man under the varying conditions of race and of environment. The activities of the mind manifest themselves in thoughts and actions…
Lampa Aladdina
His aged back bent under the burden of six decades, forever trying to crumple his weary countenance into furrows long since smoothed away, what possible kind of Aladdin is our old mutual…
The Political Idea of Judaism
The character of a people, as of an individual, cannot be grasped in its totality. It is recognized by us exclusively in that unfoldment and development in time which we call…