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.
Serenade
And if the night
In its blue cloak
Abandons wood and vale,
And softly cries
With tears of dew
And crystal shards,
Then tear my heart
Out of my breast
And wash it in the dew—
And with your lips
Suck…
What Language Did the Jews in Poland Speak?
Motivated by the book by Mrs. R. Centnerszwerowa: There is a heated struggle going on about public schooling in the [Polish] Kingdom [of the Russian Empire]. Various speakers at a range of meetings…
On the Renaissance
We are speaking of the Jewish Renaissance. By this we understand the peculiar and basically inexplicable phenomenon of the progressive rejuvenation of the Jewish people in language, customs, and art…
Fate of the Jewish People
The educated Englishman can live his entire life without ever once giving a moment’s thought to his people’s historical destiny or purpose. He knows instinctively that his people are alive and intact…
Zionism
The Dreyfus trial transformed me into a Zionist. Not the current one in Rennes, but the original one in Paris that I witnessed in 1894. I was living in Paris then as a journalist and attended the…
Sermon: On Zionism
Upon a lofty mountain ascent, O herald of Zion, raise your voice with strength, O herald of Jerusalem, raise your voice, fear not; say to the cities of Judah: “Behold your God” (Isaiah 40: 9).Friends…
Apology for Judaism
The Messiah of Israel does not come to redeem men from some original sin they never committed, nor from sins which they can liberate themselves of every day, through divine mercy and their own powers…
Handbook for Establishing a Jewish Library
The library should be set up in the center of the district it serves, preferably on a quiet street where there is less noise and dust. Dry premises must…
The Dispersion of Israel
I have observed that on account of our many sins these days, very many Jews have…
Instruction, Law, and Nation: A Critical Historical Inquiry into the Essence of Judaism
Since Judaism is law, the doubts of the Jewish youth are not an evil, at least per se they are not an evil. If Judaism were only instruction, the doubts raised by the instruction would…
Bar Mitzvah Sermon: On Jewish Education and Secularization
[ . . . ] Some [Jewish] people have children who may be likened to seeds, others who can be likened to vegetables, and yet others, to thorns. When parents raise their children in the ways of Torah…
We’re Laughing Our Heads Off
We’re laughing our heads off:
None of us wears a top-hat
We just go around with heads—or without heads—
But the Rabbi of Uman
Holds up a mirror to the sun.
We laugh our heads off
When a gang comes…