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.
The Limestone
If it forms the one landscape that we, the inconstant ones,Are constantly homesick for, this is chieflyBecause it dissolves in water.—Auden, “In Praise of Limestone”If beauty and truth were to overlap…
Outsider
The moment she entered the room, she noticed something suspicious out of the corner of her eye. Dror and Koby stood next to her bed and pretended to tie their shoelaces. She knew…
In the City and in the Forest
1. The Waters of Strife (Meribah)What is it between me and you, O man of God, that you have come to me to remind me of my sin? (1 Kings 17:18)Drops of oil fell into the pitcher of water. A clamor and…
The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln
It is not a grave that opens up to us in this book, but a human heart. The memoirs that are now seeing the light for the first time would have deserved to be published a long time…
Ma‘aseh Avraham avinu (The Tale of Abraham the Patriarch)
They said that before Abraham was created, Nimrod denied belief in God, Blessed Be God, vaunted himself, and then asserted that he was a god. The ancients in his time used to worship and prostrate…
I’m Not Fleeing, I’m Being Evicted
A gigantic queue in front of the American Embassy building. Today the 36,124th person has already been entered on the waiting list. The majority are Muscovites, but many have come from other cities…
Midos
A Jewish WeddingDeep in fields the klezmers can be heardDriving horses foaming at the mouth,Relatives, both poor and rich, arriveTo Reb Sane’s daughter’s wedding feast. [ . . . ]But from a room where…
When Loners Come Together: A Portrait of Hebrew Literature at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
As a subjective experience, the early and easy entry of the [Hebrew] authors of the early twentieth century into the literary arena had deep, formative, and constant influence. This entry marks a…
The Discreet Charm of Zionism
There are now 157 or 162 independent states in the world, both new and old. The vast majority of them are under the sway of oppressive regimes, slavery, mass-brainwashing, ruler-worship: in one way or…
The Explosion on Ahalan Street
The explosion was on the first day of the Passover vacation.The minimarket across from our house was already closed when suddenly a deafening bolt of thunder could be heard, rolling down the…
Under This Blazing Light
So what do storytellers do? The ones I like operate more or less like tribal witchdoctors.
Here is a little story for you. Nine thousand six hundred and six years ago, in a…
Israeli Blues
“Secular is a terrible word”; “secular is a word I don’t like,” “there is no such thing as a secular Jew”—these clichés are common among absolutely secular intellectuals when they discuss problems of…