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.
Seeker of Truth
He said: “Show me, I pray You, Your glory!”
Behold, wise men have declared,
Moreover, the proofs adduced by them have attested,
That the senses are illusory,
Mirages are legion,
Thoughts are…
Derushe ha-tselah (Sermons [of Landau])
One who exchanges good for bad and bad for good, and says that transgressions are really virtuous deeds, and that it is by this means that one can bring the Will of the Creator to fruition—such an…
Peri ha-arets (Fruit of the Earth)
Devekut requires that there be no impediment between man and God; only then is devekut possible. As in the parable of the Besht, it is impossible to join silver coins together…
The Jews in Our Time
They [the hasidim] study Kabbalah and Talmud diligently and successfully, and consequently they have among them excellent Talmud scholars. They also comprise three groups, each of them under one chief…
A Sermon Delivered at the Great Synagogue of Smyrna on the Arrival of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore in that City after His Successful Mission on Behalf of His Persecuted Brethren in Damascus
Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. —Genesis 28:15.
From the Midrash Shoḥer tov. “For the leader. Of the servant of the Lord, of David…
Maḥzor
This prayer book for the Rosh Hashanah festival from Crete is elaborately decorated inside with drawings of animals and people and has a colorful title page. Greek (Romaniote/Byzantine) Jews had lived…
End of Day XXXV
Like many of Nevelson’s best-known works, End of Day XXXV is made of wood painted a matte black, a color she characterized as “visually weightless.” Many of her sculptures were built from found…
Displaced
In the 1970s, Gitlin was one of several Israeli artists in New York who began to challenge the conventions of minimalist sculpture that favored a stark aesthetic and the use of materials such as iron…
Discorso circa il stato de gl’Hebrei et in particolar dimoranti nell’inclita Citta di Venetia (Discourse on the Condition of the Jews, and in Particular Those Living in the Illustrious City of Venice): On the Jewish Population
As for the number of the Jews, one cannot precisely determine it, not even having firm knowledge of the places in which they dwell. Regarding the ten tribes that were captured by…
Me’amets koaḥ (Strengthener of Power)
Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to praise the One who created us in His honor, for the great goodness that He bestowed upon us. For from this day forward we will not fear the multitudes of people…
Though one God created us: For Lag b’Omer
This poem says that wellbeing [shalom] is ours, since we have God as our king, and we have the Torah, whose paths are wellbeing, even though we have acted wrongly and have been trapped by bad hatred…
Ḥemdat yamim (Choicest of Days): On Rosh Ḥodesh
[ . . . ] Based on the above reasoning, you can see how wrong those people are who fast on the day of the birth of the new moon, as the whole reason for…