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.
An Attempt to Open a School for Jewish Girls in Ottoman Istanbul
Today in every district of Istanbul and neighboring areas we can see Muslim, community, and foreign schools that disseminate instruction and enlighten the people. [For my part] I work as a teacher at…
Artistic Masterwork
Arnold Böcklin is dead—yet who among you knew that he lived? If I were to tell you that he was the man who knew how, with paintbrush dipped in colors upon a piece of canvas, to shake every heart…
The Problem of Jewish Education in New York City
When we say that we want to remain Jews, and raise our children as Jews, we run the risk of being befogged by one of those meaningless phrases in which the Jews of this generation are particularly…
All of the Books That Have Arrived at the Editor’s Desk
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Future [Tsukunft], first compilation. Published by Tsukunft, St. Petersburg (1913).
Ben-Ami, Big Fayvl and Little Fayvl (a short story). Published by Far undzere kinder…
The Street: A Novel
For two months, enfolded from head to foot in crusted, freezing snow, we lay in the trenches on the Polish–Bolshevik front in White Russia. We lay about sleepily, suffering from fatigue, immobility…
The Zelmenyaners: A Family Saga
One day Bereh turned up in the yard. An unseasonably warm glow coated the world, glazing the storm windows with an unexpected spring sheen. He walked slowly down the…
Lecture on the Elementary School
The speaker brings examples and proofs from other nations, like Switzerland, Belgium, and even different states in Germany, where the spoken language is radically different from the official state…
The Vienna Coach
The antiquarian who spends his time amid his old things may well have his moments of despair. He probably asks himself more than once: “What is the use of all these antiques, while…
The Sense of Smell
The holy tongue is a language like no other. All other tongues exist only by agreement, each nation having agreed upon its language. But the holy tongue is the one…
Brivenshteler: A Letter to a Friend in Russia about America
Dear Friend,You asked me in your last letter to write about America, what kind of country it is and what life is like here. I had to smile as I read your words. [ . . . ]In order to describe America…
Screams in Ukraine
How can it be told in simple, quiet words?
How can you gloss over the sharp outcry
So that people will listen to it and be silent,
With mute eyes, even without a sigh?
Without a sigh, since every…
He Who Calls Himself Leader
No one can order his face in advance
And you shouldn’t throw a stone at a dog
Showing its howling muzzle to the night sky.
But when I think about it,
Losing myself in sadness, in this night-cafe
Fogg…