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.
Essays on the Stories of Shai Agnon
In S. Y. Agnon’s comprehensive literary project, we must also see A Guest for the Night as an epic expansion on one central subject, whose tones burst out and rise from most of…
House of Dolls
[ . . . ] There are moments when the pile of worn clothing in the center of the rag room bestirs itself suddenly like a volcano and sends a pervasive fear throughout the large room. The…
Saul and Johanna
All of a sudden, Grandmother’s empty burial plot is occupied. They finally returned mother to father’s side. One tree spreads its shadow over both their graves. Grandmother, too, finally gets what she…
Have Faith the Day Will Come
This day is our war, my sister,
So I am far away from here.
Please keep our rendez-vous
In our tiny kitchen
Before my usual chair
Fill a glass of wine
And treat it as if I am
Sitting across from…
1923–1958
And I didn’t have time.
Now it is certain
I didn’t have time.
Half my life.
It is now allowed
To be silent.
My shadows grow
With the stride of the sun.
I am the man
Who didn’t have time.
The Grandfather I Once Had
Every day when his mind was at ease,
Relieved of the need to tell us about the countries he’d seen,
He would raise his hands high above our heads,
Appealing on our behalf before the Almighty to let…
The Syrian-African Rift: Six Poems
The sages say, that at the time the Syrian-African Rift
occurred, the celestial inhabitants were not
up-to-date. Each man was engaged
at his trade. In grinding…
The Pit and the Trap: A Chronicle of Survival
Today is Wednesday, February 17, 1943. Exactly twelve weeks have passed since we went into hiding here at Felek’s. Twelve weeks are eighty-four days and, if my arithmetic is correct, 2016 hours. That…
Bread
Once there was a stroke of misfortune.
The day it happened, Mother couldn’t stop cursing this wretched life. Something occurred that almost caused Father to hang himself out of pure shame. After that…
The Story of Farczi
The morning of the third day, Tsiporah tried to distract Noémi.
“Have you read this article?” she asked, handing her Maariv.
Noémi finished her nth cigarette, then placed the butt on the already…
A Trade Is a Kingdom
Ay, a lifetime buzzed away . . . what is it, all in all? A dream, a short Friday in winter. . . .
Most people start to philosophize after a savory pot roast and a shot of liquor. Reb Nakhmen the…