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 Tragedy of 1st and 2nd June, 1941 in the Capital of Iraq
Every Jew of our community well remembers these two sorrowful days during which cruel killings took place instead of seeing our way to enjoy them as they were the days of “visits festivals”…
From Foe to Friend
Before Talpiot was built the King of the Winds used to rule over the entire region: and all his ministers and servants, mighty and stubborn winds, dwelled there with him and blew over mountain and…
Focus
Mr. Finkelstein was still a young man, but as a Jew he was very old. He knew what was going on. He could hardly help knowing. Twice in the past three weeks, when he had come out of his house at six in…
We Polish Jews
“All right,” someone will say, “granted you are a Pole. But in that case, why ‘we jews’?” To which I answer: because of blood “Then racialism again?” No, not racialism at all. Quite the contrary.
Th…
Sands of Gold
It was noon and a small boy lay on the couch in the room. The woolly coverlet prickled his back, making him toss about uncomfortably. His eyes roved across the ceiling and down the blank walls to the…
The Escape
All that had happened to him lay behind him like a yawning abyss. There was a strange excitement for him in his adjustment, an intoxication beyond fear. His movements were untrammeled, and as a result…
We Left Slowly
We left slowly. The night was pale.
In the distance the lights flickered.
And you were all loveliness like your two eyes
With tears cupped in them.
The jackal howled as you went to the vineyard
You…
My Little Sister
My sister sits happy
at her bridegroom’s table. She does not cry.
My sister will do no such thing:
what would people say!
My sister sits happy
at her bridegroom’s table. Her heart is awake.
The…
Solo Arak
Black ants crawl over nicotine-stained fingertips
dipping a mint leaf into the glass.
The alcohol dismantles Abd al-Wahab’s
“Cleopatra.”
Now all is clear
solo violin
solo flute
solo oud
we’re…
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas…
De Gaulle, Israel, and the Jews
No Jew, whether a believer or an unbeliever, Zionist or anti-Zionist, can be objective when what is at stake is Israel and the two and a half million Jews who built a State in a land equally Holy for…
I, the Polish Jew
I have the good luck to be a Polish Jew.
If I were a Greek Jew, a Dutch Jew, a Turkish Jew, or some other kind of Jew, I would be miserable. Who would pay any attention to me and who would be…