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.
Everyday Jews: Scenes from a Vanished Life
The question arises: How did my mother, who, with her first husband, the feldsher, resided in spacious rooms, with brass handles on the doors, come to be with Father, a village Jew who…
Responsum: On Technology and Jewish Law
In the main portion of this work I spoke of the use of an electric light. Here I shall discuss the law of whether one is permitted to speak on Shabbat by means of a machine called a “telephone.”…
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
I entered the restaurant five minutes late on purpose, but Babushkin was already there. He was at the small table I’d reserved way over in the corner, hunched over the menu because he was scared…
On Necessary Jewish Educational Reforms
We can see that our sages, of blessed memory, likewise declared the Torah a weapon, as it has stood by us, enabling us to emerge triumphant in the wars for our religious and moral existence, in which…
The Marriage of Regina
The whole city was talking about Regina’s wedding. I should tell you first that Regina is one of our former students. People were saying, “Yes, Regina is à la franca” (the expression means “European…
Abishag
Abishag. Little, young, warm Abishag.
Shout into the street: King David is not yet dead.
But King David wants to sleep and they won’t let him.
Adoniyahu with his gang shout my crown off my gray head…
The Great Sea Misfortune of the Titanic
A terrible calamity on the great ocean
Happened to the ship Titanic at night
It crashed hard into an iceberg
Suddenly the ship began to sink,
The strongest, best ship in the world,
Carrying thousands…
Let Laughter Ring
Now, more than at any time in the history of our people, humor has a place in Jewish life. I was delighted to find the Jewish Publication Society in agreement with me that at the present time…
The Nazi Crematorium in the Movie Houses of Buenos Aires
For some days past, newsreels about the concentration camps have been showing in the movie theaters of Buenos Aires. The public can now easily observe the methods used by the Germans in the death…
Letter to Anka
19 August 1943
Today, dear Anka, is the anniversary of your Golgotha, tomorrow the anniversary of your death. A year has passed since I last saw you. You see, Anka, I do not believe in God and never…
As a Driven Leaf
Toward the end of the first century, in the spring of the last year of the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, two entries were made in the Roman archives of the district of Galilee. The first…
Diamonds
The refugees sat with their spoons halfway to their mouths, apparently listening with great seriousness, and trying with all their might not to burst into gales of laughter. The long, skinny lady left…