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.
Impaled Corpses at Lachish
Impaled corpses at Lachish, detail from Assyrian relief in the Nineveh palace of Sennacherib (reigned 705–681 BCE), depicting the conquest of Lachish in 701 BCE. For the full relief see Conquest of…
Departures
I wasn’t a very political adolescent. I had grown up surrounded by unexplained cautions, by ellipses, and all these silences had sealed off the public world, so that I didn’t really believe in it…
Model Shrine from Khirbet Keiyafa
This limestone model of a shrine, around 8 inches wide, 10 inches long, and 14 inches high (20 cm × 25 cm × 35 cm), was painted red. The façade features a triple-recessed door frame, above which is a…
On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language
[…] [I]f suddenly Mexico and Israel went to war, on which side would I fight? My cowardly answer was plain and simple: “I really wasn’t cut out to be a soldier. So on neither one, since I’m a pacifist…
Ivory-openwork Panel with a Battle between a Wild Bull and a Lion
The battle between a wild bull and a lion, which are among the most powerful animals, is a common theme in ancient Near Eastern art. In this panel from Samaria, the lion’s claws are embedded in the…
The Night of the Twentieth
Moshe:How? There’s no inner sanctum in my life, my life is secular, absolutely secular, from beginning to end. And what’s not in my psyche, I’ll not let you erect between us. Neither you nor anyone…
Coin with Gorgon/Lion and Bovine
This is the earliest known Jewish coin. It may have been minted in Philistia for the province of Yehud, before Yehud began to mint its own coins. The front depicts the head of a gorgon, a Greek…
A Man from Lachish with His Sons
This detail appears in a relief from the palace of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (r. 705–681 BCE), in Nineveh depicting the Assyrian conquest of Lachish in 701 BCE. (For the full relief, see "Conquest…
Goblet-shaped Cosmetic Container
This goblet-shaped cosmetic container of white limestone is from Hazor. The footed base, midsection with festoon pattern, and deep bowl with upper frieze of alternating checkerboard pattern form three…
Wasp Hive in Cow’s Skull
Wasp hive in cow’s skull, Golan Heights. The hive is reminiscent of the swarm of bees and honey that Samson found in a lion’s carcass, which became the subject of his riddle (Judges 14:8).
Sabbatical Years and the Jubilee
The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them:
When you enter the land that I assign to you, the land shall observe a sabbath of the Lord. Six years you may…