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.
A Song on the Jews of Ashkenaz and Poland
I will raise the matter of trimming the beard
He trims it away like leaven [on the eve of Passover]
He leaves only a small goatee.
One more…
Where will you camp, O my ibex?
Where will you camp, O my ibex, for whom I yearn?
Where will you drip the droplets of your wine and your dew—O formidable one?
If you bring up your beauty to heaven on high,
You will dim…
I’m in a rage, so angry that I don’t know what to do
I’m in a rage, so angry that I don’t know what to do
because of what just happened when I went out with a few
good friends to take a walk in town, this lovely Sabbath day.
We joined a crowd of rowdy…
My Father’s Leaving
When I came back, he was gone.
My mother was in the bathroom
crying, my sister in her crib
restless but asleep. The sun
was shining in the bay window,
the grass had just been cut.
No one mentioned…
Lithuania
…I remember a woman
who sat on the pot where the apples cooked in the cold
basement, her face black from smoke. And here, near this brick
building with a red tile roof, is one of our family, Mausha
V…
Female Plaque Figurine Holding Disk
There are numerous terra-cotta plaque figurines of females, some naked and others clothed, holding disks, mostly from northern Israel and Transjordan. Many come from border towns and towns whose…
Seal of Elyashib Son of Ashyahu (or Ishyahu)
A double-line border surrounds the inscription on this seal, made of black paste or serpentine (a magnesium silicate), found at Arad. A central boss with flanking lotus buds separates the names…
Seal with Archer
This stamp seal depicts an archer shooting at a fleeing quadruped, possibly an antelope. The action is difficult to make out. From the viewer’s perspective the archer is behind the animal while the…
A Night at the Mall
On the revolving stage, a shop called Burgermatch, with a sign that reads: “Buy 10 hamburgers, get a free tennis racket.” Next to it, a sports goods store, Our Sports, with a sign saying “Buy a…
To Mend the World
What is a Jew? Who is a Jew? After this catastrophe, what is a Jew’s relation to the Jewish past? We resume our original question as we turn from one rupture in post-Holocaust Jewish existence—of the…
Do Not Rely on Egypt, Rely on God
Ha!
Those who go down to Egypt for help
And rely upon horses!
They have put their trust in abundance of chariots,
In vast numbers of riders,
And they have not turned to the Holy One of Israel,
They…
On Courage and Resistance
Let’s start with risk. The risk of being punished. The risk of being isolated. The risk of being injured or killed. The risk of being scorned. We are all conscripts in one sense or another. For all of…