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 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…
Keep Halacha Out of the Courts
The decision of 15 February 1983 by the New York State Court of Appeals in the Case of Avitzur v. Avitzur has been hailed by religious and legal scholars alike. The decision recognized…
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…
Medal Commemorating the Opening of the Dutch Jewish Orphanage in Amsterdam
This bronze medal by Jacques Elion commemorates the opening of a Jewish orphanage in Amsterdam. The Hebrew inscription reads: “Orphanage.” It was customary for Jewish communities to issue medals to…
Tourists
So condolence visits is what they’re here for,sitting around at the Holocaust Memorial, putting on a serious faceat the Wailing Wall,laughing behind heavy curtains in hotel rooms.They get themselves…
The Converts
On the holiest day we fast till sundown.
I watch the sun stand still
as the horizon edges towards it. Four hours to go.
The rabbi’s mouth opens and closes and opens.
I think: fish
and little steaming…
Traveling and Passing
Traveling and returning. In the
Dirt paths of her forehead
Railroad trains anchor, yellow
Carriages locomotive flowers
In the fields of liberated Europe
Traveling and returning. In the shadows
Betw…
Musicians on Ritual Stand
Musicians on ritual stand, Ashdod, late 11th or early 10th century BCE. Music and dance played an important role in Israel and the ancient Near East in both daily life and special occasions such as…