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.
Sketches from Krochmalna Street: “The Charity Lady”
Along Krochmalna Street, placing her feet shod in elegant, light-colored boots carefully amid the muddy puddles, stepping aside at every moment so as not to stain her clothing against the greasy…
At Grandmother’s
I dragged my belongings over to Grandmother’s, my books, my music stand, and my violin. The table had already been set for me. Grandmother sat in the corner. I ate. We didn’t say a word. The door was…
The Fat of the Land
In an air-shaft so narrow that you could touch the next wall with your bare hands, Hanneh Breineh leaned out and knocked on her neighbor’s window.
“Can you loan me your wash-boiler for the clothes?”…
There Are Many Riddles in Life
There are many riddles in life,
Mounds and mounds of answers too;
The wise men have many solutions,
The morons have a desire for life.
Once a wise man told me:
“There is one essence of being,
Only…
Jordan Valley Memorial Monument
Like other sculptures created by Yigael Tumarkin, the Jordan Valley Memorial Monument, erected to commemorate hundreds of Israeli soldiers who died fighting terrorists in the years immediately…
Prayers at the Tomb of Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet at Algiers
In 1391, Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet (known as Rivash), a respected rabbinic scholar and author of numerous responsa, suffered from the violent riots and mass conversions in Spain but then fled to…
The Present Crisis of American Jewry
America has, in less than one generation, become the second largest center of the Jewish Diaspora, and bids fair to become the first, instead of the second, within another generation. No other country…
Songbook for Jewish Organizations
The attempt to edit a songbook for Jewish organizations is such an entirely new undertaking—one without any precedent whatsoever—that it would appear necessary to offer a few words of…
Feuchtwanger Cent
In 1829, German Jewish metallurgist Lewis Feuchtwanger attempted to introduce a metal alloy known as “German silver” into U.S. coinage, promoting this nickel silver as a less-expensive alternative for…
Shearith Israel Synagogue
Congregation Shearith Israel was the first Jewish congregation established in North America, and the only Jewish congregation in New York City from 1654 until 1825. Between 1654 and 1730, it used…
Portrait of a Girl with a Red Belt
Portrait of a Girl with a Red Belt is one of many portrait miniatures that Jeremiah David Alexander Fiorino painted. He was a court painter in Dresden who painted portraits of members of the royal…
The Jewish State and the Jewish Problem
It is not only Jews who have come out of the Ghetto: Judaism has come out, too. For Jews the exodus is confined to certain countries, and is due to toleration; but Judaism has come out (or is coming…