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.
La Comedia famosa dos sucessos de Jahacob e Essau (Renowned Comedy of the Exploits of Jacob and Esau)
Rebecca:You, Sir, are the cause of his great impudence.
Isaac:Am I really the instrument?
Rebecca:Yes, for you love him for four birds of flight [he hunts for you]. You very much relish the stew he…
Between Night and Dawn
The Sharon Valley was full of mud. Wherever we looked all we saw was mud. Fields, green trees and little houses, and great expanses of dark mud. The water from the rains which had fallen over the past…
Bottles
Mom was taken away, I don’t know exactly where. Dad says she is in a nice place where they take good care of her. I miss her…although I understand. Dad says she suffered from a sickening love for…
Mr. Mani
—I quite agree, sir. It was done a bit cavalierly and without a proper security check, because he had become known to everyone throughout the autumn months of the advance on Jerusalem. Which is why it…
The Dakar Courier Excerpts
Because of an error on the part of the graphic artist, the map of the world was printed without Switzerland. The country was swallowed up in the mauve of France, the blue of Germany, the Italian…
Tel Dan Stela
Tel Dan Stela, late 9th century BCE. This Aramaic inscription of Hazael, king of Damascus, found at the city of Dan in northern Israel, mentions a king of the “House of David,” meaning a king from…
Amid Breathtaking Bougainvilleas
Amid breathtaking bougainvilleas
I while away my time
One floor up Emilia’s
Flimsy lingerie is hanging on a line
Tiny hummingbirds hover
Around a wistful rose
A mouse caught in a saucer
Watch where…
Pillared House
This drawing and the following replica of a pillared house are composites of many excavated houses from the Iron Age, 1200 to 586 BCE; none has been discovered standing. The images show domestic…
Hamsa-like Hand in Khirbet el-Kom (Makkedah) Tomb
This small hand, carved in stone with downward-pointing fingers, was probably apotropaic—that is, meant to protect the person buried in the tomb where it was found. It was carved on a wall between the…
Seals of Various Sizes, Shapes, and Colors
Collections of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem and the Israel Antiquities Authority. Photo © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem by David Harris.
The Sixteenth Lamb—Songs and Stories for Children
How is a song born?
Like a baby.
At first it hurts
But then, it comes out
And everyone is happy
And suddenly—
How wonderful!
It’s walking
All on its own.
How is a song born?
Like…
Seal of Shelomit, with Two Men Flanking an Altar
This black stone seal, from the City of David in Jerusalem, depicts two bearded men with their hands raised in a gesture of worship, flanking an altar or pedestal. The crescents on the altar or…