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.
Yiddish Translation of the Bible
Should we not cry and weep that until now our scholars have not concerned themselves to provide us with a 24 [i.e., Bible] in Yiddish, arranged according to the simple meaning of the text, word for…
Dissertaciones sobre el Mesías (Dissertations on the Messiah)
One must not close one’s ears to the heretic, as the orthodox can easily open his eyes. For this reason, pressure and punishment should never be used against any religion. Debates are useful. But…
Nomologia o discursos legales (Nomology, or Legal Discourses)
If, in order to understand the human laws, we utilize the explanations and glosses made by the…
The Prisoner of Desire
Caged in a city of refuge, unredeemed, though the High Priest is already dead; kept alive by the hope of being ransomed; at all times manacled in the chains and bonds of love; struck on the cheek…
As on this month’s last day
As on this month’s last day,
the moon is waning,
make my sins wane, O Lord,
my merits flourish.
I know my heart is hard—
a wicked web whose threads are sin—
and I deserve the fire
for weaving wrong…
In Lighthearted Praise of the Holy Law in the Foundation of the Synagogue
The Law has such a great house—oh, look what suitors she does have!Who can doubt they are illustrious,Since on such a grand house they call?Even the judges of the peoplehave engaged in wooing her,show…
On the Shore, Tel Aviv, Winter 1974
A crocodile cloud swallowed a cloud-cloud.
All is clogged
and where did the war go?
The pier is painted red and yellow
with the inscription: Tel Aviv.
The drums of the depths are indifferent.
In the…
Gaudeamus
[…] In my confusion
I didn’t know how to answer my detractors, those
who brand me
a poseur because I pronounce the c in the Castilian manner or I say fellow instead of guy (I love)
miscegenations
(pe…
New Sheets
I won’t be around forever, Mother said.
One day I’m going to die, so I might
as well nag you a little bit more,
while I have the chance. And when
I’m dead you’ll have to rely on someone else
to tell…
Battlefield with Prisoners and Corpses, on Egyptian Palette
Battlefield with prisoners and corpses, on Egyptian cosmetic palette, ca. 3100 BCE. The scene includes bound prisoners being led off and corpses being eaten by vultures, ravens, and a lion. Burial was…
Acher
It was like this in the garden:
Ben Azzai looked and died,
Ben Zoma looked and went mad;
Akiba and I went forth in peace,
but they said I cut down the young plants.
I said that one is two…
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.