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.
Acher
It was like this in the garden:
Ben Azzai looked and died,
Ben Zoma looked and went mad;
Akiba and I went forth in peace,
but they said I cut down the young plants.
I said that one is two…
Lamelekh Seal Impression with Four-winged Scarab Beetle
Some lamelekh impressions, like this one from Lachish, have a four-winged scarab beetle as their central image. The scarab beetle was an important mythological symbol in Egypt, associated with Khepri…
The Sisters Rosensweig
Merv:Sara, can I have my shirt? I’ve got a lunch date with the rabbi of Dublin.Sara:Mervyn, you came all the way to Queen Anne’s Gate. Please sit a minute.Tess:Sit down, Merv. I’ll get your shirt. Win…
Evening in Basel
You won’t find the restaurant in the guidebooks, which is a pity. The owner—he was tall and wearing a sport jacket—greeted us at the door. Our table was waiting in the corner.
“And the food is quite…
Words of Ahiqar
Words of Ahiqar, Elephantine, 5th century BCE. This Aramaic manuscript contains the oldest-known version of Ahiqar, a wisdom book that includes proverbs similar to those found in the biblical book of…
Your Land, Your Country
What, actually, am I doing here?
I owe myself, and perhaps others, an answer to this question. What, actually, am I doing here? Why do I go on a clear morning to Levinsky, why in zigzags, stopping…
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949
In the course of 1948 and the first half of 1949, a number of processes definitively changed the physical and demographic face of Palestine. Taken collectively, they steadily rendered…
The State of Israel in Jewish Public Thought: The Quest for Collective Identity
At the same time, let it be pointed out that this call for a new Hibbat Zion is directed towards the idea rather than the movement, since the historical Hibbat Zion was a movement which failed and an…
Hereditary Victimhood: The Holocaust’s Life as a Ghost
Half a century has passed since the victory of the Allied troops put an abrupt end to Hitler’s “final solution of the Jewish question”—but the memory of the Holocaust goes on polluting the world of…
Egypt’s Defeat and Conversion
The “Egypt” Pronouncement.
Mounted on a swift cloud,
The Lord will come to Egypt;
Egypt’s idols shall tremble before Him,
And the heart of the Egyptians shall sink within them.
“I will incite…
Imagining Europe: The Popular Arts of American Jewish Ethnography
“Practically everyone has seen the prize-winning musical about the lovable people in that little village in Old Russia called Anetevka [sic]. Well, as far as we’re concerned, ‘Fiddler’ made a goof!” M…
A Call for Repentance
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
For you have fallen because of your sin.
Take words with you
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him:
“Forgive all guilt
And accept what is good;
Instead of bulls…