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.
An Open Letter about Literature
To the editorial board of Ha-Nir, greetings.For some time, I have wanted to tell our honorable writers what a simple householder [ba‘al ha-bayit] like me wants from our literature.By using the term si…
An Introductory Talk on the Yiddish Language
Ahead of the first verses of the Eastern European Jewish poets, I would like to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, how much more Jargon [Yiddish] you understand than you believe you do.
I am not actually…
A Ten-Rouble Man
A foreign crawling black stain, that’s what he was—the kosher butcher—in the new, not yet completed, but sparkling white Jewish settlement. Leading up to the High Holidays, he chastised impiety at…
Married Life
On his way home Gurdweill tried without success to find the reason for Lotte’s strange behaviour. He went over everything he had said in her house in his mind: there was nothing that could have…
A Guest for the Night
On the eve of the Day of Atonement, in the afternoon, I changed from the express to the local train that runs to my home town. The Jews who had traveled with me got…
To the Sun
Hyacinth and mallow was I to God: lifelong
Only this pure sun fills, for each, the earth,
And an angel urges: “Bud, child, and bring forth
Among the biting thorns, your festive song.”
The damp…
Before Your Shining, Full Eyes
Before your shining, full eyes
How good it is to live;
Before their light every limb is taut
Like a eucalyptus after a storm are you:
Tired, strong and still moving in the wind
My head will reach to…
Cohen on the Telephone
I rang up to tell you that I’m your tenant Cohen. I say I’m your tenant, Cohen. I ain’t goin’, I’m stoppin’ here. I’m your tenant Coh—Not lieutenant Cohen. I vant to tell you thet last night the vind…
Red Riding-Hood
When our wild day is wiped like a tear
From cities and forest, from month and year,
Red Ridinghood walks on the road,
To pick a wild flower in the wood.
And following her is a duck and a cow,
Hobbl…
The Last Stage of Deportation Is Death
[ . . . ] We have nooses fastened around our necks; when the pressure abates for a moment, we utter a cry. Its importance should not be underestimated. Many a time in history did such cries resound…
An Epistle to Hebrew Youth
The Committee for the Consolidation of Hebrew Youth appeals to you only in order that you understand the very essence of what is in common between you and the rest of Hebrew youth, which operates in…