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 1948 Generation: Myth, Profile and Memory
Berl Katznelson did much to foster the awareness of “Yizkor” and its literature in the twenty years after Tel Hai, through an explicit reference to the chain of Jewish martyrology and heroism and a…
No Exit from This Jewry
I—a Jewess—am by definition not a member of the species, or: why should a Jewess not have problems with public assistance and with her children? The postwar German Jew, to the extent that such a being…
A Dispirited Rebellion
Much has been written about the split that occurred in Zionist ideology after the removal of the immediate existential threat in the Six Day War—a split that grew increasingly wide with the Yom Kippur…
Egypt’s Defeat and Conversion
The “Egypt” Pronouncement.
Mounted on a swift cloud,
The Lord will come to Egypt;
Egypt’s idols shall tremble before Him,
And the heart of the Egyptians shall sink within them.
“I will incite…
What Was the Holocaust?
Is the Holocaust definable? Is it desirable to define it? After all, definitions are abstractions from reality and are useful only insofar as they help us to better understand the world around us. Any…
A Call for Repentance
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
For you have fallen because of your sin.
Take words with you
And return to the Lord.
Say to Him:
“Forgive all guilt
And accept what is good;
Instead of bulls…
Condemning the Overbearing City
Ah, sullied, polluted,
Overbearing city!
She has been disobedient,
Has learned no lesson;
She has not trusted in the Lord,
Has not drawn near to her God.
The officials within her
Are roaring lions…
Jewish Scholar
Katherine M. Cohen created a number of sculptures that explored Jewish themes, including Jewish Scholar. She also sculpted, on commission, portrait busts of prominent Philadelphia Jews, such as Judge…
The Futility of All Activity
The words of Kohelethson of David, king in Jerusalem.
Utter futility!—said Koheleth—
Utter futility! All is futile!
What real value is there for a man
In all the gainshe makes beneath the sun?…
The Sleeping Messiah
Glicenstein depicted the Jewish Messiah as a semi-nude figure in the classical style, with bowed head and tethered to his seat. It received early recognition, admired by Rodin and praised in the…
Nimrod
Nimrod provoked controversy when it was first presented to the public. The biblical Nimrod was a hunter, but he was also associated with rebellion, especially in talmudic literature, and he appears…