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.
Paraphrase
The Bible tells us that from the heights
Moses blessed the children of Israel,
showing them God’s Promised Land,
where Moses himself never entered.
Like ships passing by when land is in sight
so…
The Blessing of Assimilation in Jewish History
I trust that none of my remarks will be understood to say that assimilation is not now, or has not always been, a great threat to the Jewish group. In a sense, the problem of assimilation is as old as…
Nicodemus
I went under cover of night
By back streets and alleyways,
Not as one secret and ashamed
But with a natural discretion.
I passed by a boy and a girl
Embraced against the white wall
In parts of…
Donna Clara
In the evening through her garden
Wanders the Alcalde’s daughter;
Festal sounds of drum and trumpet
Ring out hither from the castle.
“I am weary of the dances,
Honeyed words of adulation
From the…
Sermon of Ethical Rebuke Preached . . . during the Penitential Period Preceding the New Year’s Day, 5505 [1744], to the Congregation of Metz
The prophet Hosea cried out: Come, let us turn back to the Lord; He attacked, and He can heal us; He wounded, and He can bind us up. In two days He will make us whole again; on the third day He will…
Sermon for the Sabbath Preceding Passover
This is therefore followed by a question: since it is so that we are still slaves, why is this night of Egyptian exile different from all the other nights of exile under other kingdoms? Why all this…
Israel and Humanity
Judaism’s approach to history is shaped by the fact that unlike other religions, it locates perfection not at the beginning but at the end of history. This, surely, is the…
Takkanot Kandia (Regulations of Candia): On Purim
May salvation be near, and we be cleansed of great sin. Amen.
I, the undersigned, have witnessed the bad custom practiced among young men on the days of Purim, that in the synagogue during the…
Ner mitsvah (Light of the Commandment): On Hanukkah
And this, too, must be said, that the main reason for establishing the days of Hanukkah is because they [the Jews] were victorious over the Greeks. However, it did not appear that the victory was…
Debate between Wine and Water
“I’m called the offspring of the grape,” said the wine. “People drink me fervently, and I’m very fine. I can make people joke and jibe, I can drive away their terrible pains, I can delight their…
Awake, my heart, from your slumber!
A poem that I, Sa‘adia Longo, wrote to an important and wealthy man from Nicopolis, who came here to Salonika to marry a woman. I was not able to participate in his celebration because I was…