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.
Praise of the Man’s Body
My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy,
Preeminent among ten thousand.
His head is finest gold,
His locks are curled
And black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
By watercourses,
Bathed in milk…
Train-Shaped Besamim Box
In Jewish tradition, the end of the Sabbath (or a festival) is marked by the ceremony of Havdalah, which includes the ritual smelling of spices (besomim). Many Jewish cultures approached the box…
The Rape of Europa
The rape of Europa is a story from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus seduces the princess Europa and, taking the form of a bull, carries her on his back to the Mediterranean island of Crete. The…
Les Hitlériques, cover
Les Hitlériques was a collection of anti-Hitler verses that Knafo composed in Mogador, Morocco in September and October 1939. This courageous and biting publication was very different from his…
Remember the Horn
Quick! Help! Save a poor girl!
A Hebrew servant girl screamed:
Help me, merciful people, hurry
and save me from this racing stag
who runs with such a fury.
Free my hands from his horns!
The woman…
Warsaw Ghetto Memorial (Warsaw, Poland)
When the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial was erected in 1948, it stood amid the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto. One of the key intentions was to convey the message that Jews had not gone to their deaths in the…
Morning Prayer
To one who honors you, Lord, be just,
And may my sonorous work be blessed.
Dear lord, by your will be it wrought
That out of nothing comes a new Thought.
Let it be pure, proud, faithful…
And the Bush Was Not Consumed
Herbert Ferber’s twelve-foot-high sculpture was originally commissioned to adorn the façade of Congregation B’nai Israel in Milburn, New Jersey. Percival Goodman, the new building’s architect…
A Winter Echo
Burning kisses now are born
Within his heart for his chosen—
And, landing on red little lips,
Immediately are frozen.
Then a frisky little horse
Overturns the sleigh—
A snowy, stony canopy
Buries…
I Have My Mother’s Black Hair
I have my mother’s black hair and green eyes,
my father’s delicate thin hands
and blood that sings and flares,
blood of grandfathers—Jews along the Dnieper;
on my head, the many nights with friends
s…
Zerubavel
Daniel [Puts his hand on his forehead and thinks for a while]:The hours of the murderous Babylonian Empire are numbered; Nebuchadnezzar’s wicked family will soon be eradicated. Koresh, the Persian…
God of Vengeance
Manke:Wait, let’s signal Rivkele quietly. [Basha and Reyzl exit. Manke takes a stick and very softly taps a corner of the ceiling. We can hear the girls outside hopping around in the puddles, taking…