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 Present State of the Jews: On Circumcision
Circumcision has so peculiar a veneration among the present Jews, that if all other parts of their Religion were to be changed, this like Mount…
Netsaḥ Yisra’el (The Strength of Israel)
It has been clarified for you that the survival of Israel in their state of exile depends on their unity and their connection with each other, and their separation from the idolatrous nations. It is…
Your eyebrow, dear, is like a charm
Your eyebrow, dear, is like a charm
that draws to you life’s greatest joys.
Rounded like a bow, that brow,
or like a moon in half eclipse.
Your eye, beside it, is a pool,
all sparkle, like a…
Three Picture Poems
The turning wheel runs round and round.
It opens and closes the exit of my gate.
Noisily it turns for ruin and destruction.
My head is split, my entrails spilled.
It chases and it catches…
Stones
Stones are stones.
Why did you say stones?
Why did you throw stones?
Why are you standing here, child?
What’s got into you to throw stones at soldiers?
Why aren’t you afraid?
Why aren’t you worried…
Scribe Writing
Scribe writing, Sakkara, Egypt, ca. 2625–2350 BCE. The ease with which Baruch’s scroll was cut and burned in Jeremiah 36:23 indicates that it was written on papyrus, not leather. In this limestone…
Husbands
They present me with the bill
For not having been satisfied,
And they always surprise me with the wealth of their lexicon.
They ask me for a receipt for my fate,
And they make me think,
That…
Figurine of Calf and Shrine
Figurine of calf and shrine, Ashkelon, 1600 to 1550 BCE. Some of the non-anthropomorphic figurines found at Israelite sites had religious significance, especially model shrines (such as the Model…
Female Plaque Figurine Holding Disk
There are numerous terra-cotta plaque figurines of females, some naked and others clothed, holding disks, mostly from northern Israel and Transjordan. Many come from border towns and towns whose…
Seal of Elyashib Son of Ashyahu (or Ishyahu)
A double-line border surrounds the inscription on this seal, made of black paste or serpentine (a magnesium silicate), found at Arad. A central boss with flanking lotus buds separates the names…
Seal with Archer
This stamp seal depicts an archer shooting at a fleeing quadruped, possibly an antelope. The action is difficult to make out. From the viewer’s perspective the archer is behind the animal while the…
The Normal Heart
Ned’s apartment. It is stark, modern, all black and white. Felix comes walking in from another room with a beer, and Ned follows, carrying one, too.Felix:That’s quite a library in there…