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.
The Third Cry in Anguish in Salonika
My feet walk the streets of this blessed city,
Only yesterday full of faithful adherents of Sinai.
My eyes do not have the courage to look up.
The bitterness of my soul is great, O Holy God!
I…
Notes to an Old–New Debate
Many people believe that the question of “the mingling of the diasporas” will be resolved in the workplace, in the mixed neighborhood, in school, etc. oriental [Mizrahi] Jews, they say, who acquire…
The Sun and I
We wore each other out today
the sun and I
working in the vineyard.
The sun dropped behind the mountain
exhausted, red,
and burning hot
I was left alone.
We were both
a little overheated
today,
the…
Lot’s Feud
At the time for words, father, my adonai, leave it in my hands, the
shame that I don’t feel, and assign to me the job of justification,
what they call history.
The fact is that every land has its…
Song of Exile
Foreign to me are trees in bloom
And grass and air and sky
What storms have banished me
From Eden
What blazing fire from the sun
Your wind won’t dry these tears
Land of exile
Your rain won’t…
The Shulḥan ‘Aruk: Enduring Code of Jewish Law
Shulḥan ‘Aruk, a term taken over from early rabbinic exegesis in the Midrash and applied to one of the most influential, truly epochal literary creations of Jewish history, has a double or even triple…
Ben-Oni (Son of Sorrow)
I do not lift my supplicating hands,
O King, O Lord, O Father, yon on high,
To You whose throne dwells in the starry lands,
I neither plead nor yet Your might defy.
I do not ask of You to end my…
Nogah ha-tsedek (Radiance of Justice)
Better still than this is that they should recite the “Verses of Praise,” Yigdal and Adon Olam, and the other exalted prayers on Sabbaths and festivals to the accompaniment of the harp and the sound…
Sefer musar haskel (Book of Moral Lessons)
We translated Musar haskel for the following five reasons:
The first is that our hearts have become so hardened that instruction does not easily penetrate them. This is why we wrote this educational…
The Earliest Extant Minute Books of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Shearith Israel in New York, 1728–1786
At a meeting of the Elders and Parnassim this day Mr Heyman Levy paid the fine for refusing serving Parnass Last year, it was at the same time voted by…
The Cry of the Poor Jews of Izmir
We, the poor of Israel, inhabitants of the city of Izmir, may God protect it, slaves of our lord and king, Sultan Abdülmecid, may his name be praised and long live his reign, [are] oppressed and…