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 Brothers Ashkenazi
The Lodz merchant and community head, Abraham Hersh Ashkenazi, known as Abraham Hersh Danziger for his frequent trips to Danzig, sat over a Tractate Zebahim, brooding and tugging…
A Prayer
I pray Thee O Lord
From all my heart,
O Lord! I pray to Thee.
With fervor and zeal,
For the sufferings of the humiliated,
For the uncertainty of those who wait;
For the non-return of the dead;
For…
Jewish Gymnastics Newspaper
A healthy mind lives in a healthy body!This old Latin adage never received proper attention among us Jews, although we do not doubt its truth. Accepted in theory, its thought did not…
Bread
My steps are set down stiffly
on tired, empty paths.
This morning a little town of Jews
called me “Anti-Semite!”
All of them in wrinkles and in rags
out there pointing at me:
“Him! That guy! We…
A Dictionary of Political Terms
Demagogue:A leader and rabble rouser for the masses, who rouses the simple benighted people, provoking their most base desires, their feelings of jealousy and hate, and has therefore a great sway over…
Yiddish Folk Songs with Their Original Airs
III.
She: I can’t hide it anymore
I’ll reveal my bitter, heavy heart
I can’t even wait till tomorrow
Because oh does it smart!
He…
Fabius Lind’s Diary: February 7 and 17
I inherited naive open-heartedness
From generations of small-town Polish Jews,
And sharp talk
From hot-bathed women in my clan.
A blind June-night mixed it all
And sent me out—
With no…
What Should We Do in Haman’s Times?
[ . . . ] The past two years of the Hitler regime (1938–1939) have led many people to the impression that this is the beginning of the destruction of European…
Hitler’s Haggadah
In haste
Quickly came the Americans.
This Bread
These emaciated faces
Of our ancestors in panic
From Hitler
All who are hungry may they walk and fear
All who are in need flee in trembling.
This…
Scroll of Agony
The journal is my life, my companion and my confidant. Without it I would be lost. In it I pour out all my heart’s feelings, until I feel somewhat relieved. When I am angry and…
Nuptial Divorce
Orellana:[To Leber, about to dig into a towering salad] Hey there, you with the Jewish joke of a face, spit one out for us. That should perk you up. Nobody can tell Jewish jokes like a Jew. And now…
The Mole
Not in vain did I vow to be faithful,
not in vain did I tag at your heels.
With the mole I struggled from darkness,
stubborn and under a spell.
You, grief of the nails on my fingers,
you, woe of my…