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 Advocate
In his book Ha-metsaref [The Purifier], vol. II §182, Rabbi Moses Kunitz wrote:
The term am ha-arets [lit., “People of the Land,” often meaning boors] was applied to people of various dispositions…
Springtime in the Hospital
Is it any wonder that the sick are so pure and tender,
gazing across vast distances, seeing things that no one else does,
staying up at night, and smiling in the darkness,
as they caress their beds…
Building Boom
The avenue of willows leads nowhere:
it begins at the blank wall of a new apartment house
and ends in the middle of a lot for sale.
Papers and cans are thrown about the trees.
The disorder does not…
I Am the Knight
I am the knight of yearned-for blue
On God’s rosy, holy ways.
My yearning is white like milk and dew
And sweet as the honey-rain.
My armor, my sword—my word and my blood.
My sign—the green of cedar…
The Horse and the Whip
“May an unforeseen disaster
Overtake your worthy master,
The wagoner, Reb Benjamin,
And strike at you along with him.”
The horse was saying
to the whip and neighing,
“Did you ever
Hear of such a…
Three Old Women
In the grey evening, beside the white house, three old ladies sit, gazing straight ahead. And stillness all around. As if the eagle had suddenly frozen in flight. Three old ladies sit beside the…
A Trip in the Opposite Direction
It’s one in the morning. I’m writing this poem
in a train station.
What does poetry have to do with trains?
I came here unexpectedly
traveling the wrong way.
Telling the story is risky:
I was…
The Vigil
This is a night of vigil for me,
in the shudder of my soul
I shall conceal
the secret of my youth.
I shall stand on guard:
No sleep nor slumber!
And in just one moment
the veil was taken away.
A…
Paraphrase
The Bible tells us that from the heights
Moses blessed the children of Israel,
showing them God’s Promised Land,
where Moses himself never entered.
Like ships passing by when land is in sight
so…
The Blessing of Assimilation in Jewish History
I trust that none of my remarks will be understood to say that assimilation is not now, or has not always been, a great threat to the Jewish group. In a sense, the problem of assimilation is as old as…
Nicodemus
I went under cover of night
By back streets and alleyways,
Not as one secret and ashamed
But with a natural discretion.
I passed by a boy and a girl
Embraced against the white wall
In parts of…
Donna Clara
In the evening through her garden
Wanders the Alcalde’s daughter;
Festal sounds of drum and trumpet
Ring out hither from the castle.
“I am weary of the dances,
Honeyed words of adulation
From the…