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.
Mandatory High School/Class of 1973
A young man graduates and heads off to get damaged
He’s got nothing urgent for now and though they push him around he manages
He has no water in his knees
He has no plaster in his joints
He’ll be…
Stones
Stones are stones.
Why did you say stones?
Why did you throw stones?
Why are you standing here, child?
What’s got into you to throw stones at soldiers?
Why aren’t you afraid?
Why aren’t you worried…
Tet/Nine
The one who whispers in automobiles
Causes streetlamps to tremble with thanksgiving as he kneels
And brings their harsh hauteur low as they boast
At the hour of perfect darkness
At the height of the…
Husbands
They present me with the bill
For not having been satisfied,
And they always surprise me with the wealth of their lexicon.
They ask me for a receipt for my fate,
And they make me think,
That…
Papyrus, Rolled and Sealed
Papyrus, rolled and sealed, Samaria, 4th century BCE. This legal document had multiple seals affixed to it, apparently from different individuals (see the translation of this document, Slave Sale)…
Window Balustrade from Ramat Rahel Palace
Palm imagery is a common motif in decorative architectural elements like window balustrades. Each of the four columns in this partial restoration from the biblical period is six inches in diameter and…
Judahite Pillar Figurine with Hand-made Head
In this terra-cotta figurine from Beersheba, 5.5 inches (14 cm) high, the face is made by pinching the clay to draw out the nose, thereby forming the eye sockets. The nose has a beak-like appearance…
Seal Impression with Petaled Rosette
The rosette, impressed on a jar handle here, may have been a royal insignia during the last decades of the Judean monarchy, around the late seventh century BCE. It was found at Ramat Rahel, an…
Seal with Chariot and Riders
This seal from Tel Dan, made of red limestone, shows a driver and two other people in a horse-drawn Assyrian-style chariot. Chariot scenes, uncommon in Israel, are frequent in Assyrian and Egyptian…
I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust
The shaving of hair has a startling effect. The absence of hair transforms individual women into like bodies. Indistinguishable. Age melts away. Other personal differences melt away. Facial…
Ivory Box with Ritual Scene
This ritual scene was carved twice on a cylindrical ivory box from Hazor, about 2.7 inches high and 2.2 inches in diameter (7 × 6 cm). A kneeling man raises his hands in prayer toward a stylized tree…
Small Limestone Altar from Megiddo
This altar is 21 inches (55 cm) high. Its styling, its square shape, the central band and rim, the groove between them, and the well-defined horns are characteristic of altars from the Northern…