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.
I Protest
I wipe the dust off my books
with a small t-shirt, an old t-shirt
which was once my son’s. We have
more dust this summer than last,
and its composition is different…
Uzziah’s Reinterment Inscription
Uzziah’s reinterment inscription, Jerusalem. King Uzziah (reigned 785–733 BCE) was a leper and therefore, according to the book of Chronicles, could not be buried in the royal tombs and so had to be…
Arad Letter (Military Orders)
Arad letter (Military Orders). The letter, from the latter days of the Judean monarchy, refers to sending reinforcements to a town in the Negev, “Lest Edom should enter there.” It illustrates the…
Words Taken to Heart: Four Answers to One Question
You Will Be Wrapped in Silk
“And how do you merit to live so long?”
—Because I know there is need to consider.
At my birth someone said, “He will be wrapped
in silk.” And now the guests are…
Fierce Attachments
My mother and I are out walking. I ask if she remembers the women in that building in the Bronx. “Of course,” she replies. I tell her I’ve always thought sexual rage was what made them so crazy.…
Model Shrine from Tirzah
This terra-cotta model of a shrine from Tirzah stands 8 inches (21 cm) tall. The façade has an entrance with a grooved threshold flanked by fluted pilasters, with inward-curling volute capitals topped…
Budapest Diary: In Search of the Motherbook
Few children know the stories of their parents. During my childhood, I knew only that mine were an impossible match—which did not prevent my mother from spending day and night at my father’s bedside…
A Tale of Love and Darkness
Even after the mourning period was over, when the flat was finally empty and my father and I locked the door and were alone together, we hardly talked to one another. Except about the most essential…
The Island on Bird Street
Freddy laid the soldier on the floor and said, “Now that I have a rifle and bullets, I’ll join the uprising tonight. But Henryk will stay with you. His wound isn’t serious. The bullet can be gotten…
Kriza
The Woman:I married him and he never gave me any trouble. His mother, she lives with us here. This house is his mother’s house. When we are there, together, in the other room, she lights candles here…
People from Lachish Going into Exile
This section of the relief from the palace of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (reigned 705–681 BCE), in Nineveh depicting his conquest of Lachish in 701 BCE, shows Judahite inhabitants filing out of the…
Cosmetic Bowl
This limestone cosmetic bowl from Megiddo has mosaic decoration around the rim. It consists of alternating circular and bud-shaped inlays of blue and brown glass. Some are now missing. The central…