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.
Song at the Sea (Exodus 15), Leningrad Codex
Song at the Sea (Exodus 15), Leningrad Codex, 1009 CE. The photo shows the first fourteen verses of the poem (Exodus 15:1–14) and a few prose verses from the end of the preceding chapter. The text of…
Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32), Aleppo Codex
Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32), Aleppo Codex, ca. 925 CE. The photo shows the beginning of the poem (Deuteronomy 32:1–14) and the prose verses from the end of the preceding chapter. The text of the…
A Secret Letter to London
The evening of 5 Heshvan, 5642 [October 28, 1881]
Tomorrow with the second post, a pamphlet will be sent to you with a responsum entitled Isaac’s Stream (Naḥal Yitsḥak), regarding a miserable agunah…
Responsum: On Women’s Rights to Divorce
Question: Some of the poor members of the nation in Egypt [do as follows]. When a man fights with his wife and their marriage is not working out, and the wife wants to divorce but the husband does not…
The Women Shopkeepers, or, Golde-Mine, the Abandoned Wife of Brod
In short, in addition to being affluent, our Reb Hoshea Heffler was also steeped in the holy books. He was a traditional Jew, who could not abide the maskilim, the enlightened ones. He always used to…
Psalm 51
For the leader. A psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had come to Bathsheba.
Have mercy upon me, O God,
as befits Your faithfulness;
in keeping with Your abundant…
Jehoash’s Fable
He [Amaziah] defeated ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and he captured Sela in battle and renamed it Joktheel, as is still the case. Then Amaziah sent envoys to King Jehoash son of…
Praise of the Man’s Body
My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy,
Preeminent among ten thousand.
His head is finest gold,
His locks are curled
And black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
By watercourses,
Bathed in milk…
Train-Shaped Besamim Box
In Jewish tradition, the end of the Sabbath (or a festival) is marked by the ceremony of Havdalah, which includes the ritual smelling of spices (besomim). Many Jewish cultures approached the box…
The Rape of Europa
The rape of Europa is a story from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus seduces the princess Europa and, taking the form of a bull, carries her on his back to the Mediterranean island of Crete. The…
Les Hitlériques, cover
Les Hitlériques was a collection of anti-Hitler verses that Knafo composed in Mogador, Morocco in September and October 1939. This courageous and biting publication was very different from his…
Remember the Horn
Quick! Help! Save a poor girl!
A Hebrew servant girl screamed:
Help me, merciful people, hurry
and save me from this racing stag
who runs with such a fury.
Free my hands from his horns!
The woman…