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.
Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve
When breakfast was over, I had to go to the synagogue, rain or shine, for it was Saturday morning. I used to sit next to Bernard and Simon. We would wear our skull caps and whisper to each other…
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Ros:We could play at questions.Guil:What good would that do?Ros:Practice!Guil:Statement! One-love.Ros:Cheating!Guil:How?Ros:I hadn’t started yet.Guil:Statement. Two—love.Ros:Are you counting that?Guil…
Urn
This urn will be made of fired clay
Of native soil, from Poland, my country
In it are lodged the ashes of my parents
My brothers, daughter, and wife.
The urn will be simple, like a jug
With a small…
Last Letter
Dear Brother:
It is an enchanting evening. The wind has been blowing steadily the whole day. It suddenly dropped at nightfall. All is still. There is no stir in the air. The world seems fast asleep. I…
The Pillar of Salt
My name is Benillouche, Alexandre Mordekhai.
How galling the smiles of my classmates! In our alley, and at the Alliance School, I hadn’t known how ridiculous, how revealing, my name could be…
And They Told Us We Were Immortal
George:They always leave the key under the windowsill. I told you so.Bert:Ahuh.[George goes to the doors and yells in front of each one.]George:Mamma! Stephen! Mamma![No one answers. Pause.]No one’s…
The Stream of Life
There is much I cannot tell you. I am not going to be autobiographical. I want to be “bio.”
I write with the flow of the words.
Before the appearance of the mirror, the person didn’t know his own face…
Day of Atonement: Standing
My Lord, how stands it with me now
Who, standing here before you
(who, fierce as you are, are also just).
Cannot bow down. You order this.
Why, therefore, I must break
If bend I will not, yet bend I…
Red Ribbon on a White Horse
The sunset lit up the sky, splashing the drab tenements with gold, bringing memories of Sabbath candles and the smell of gefüllte fish. When I had lived on Hester Street, I would…
Shylock and His Daughter
Shylock:You speak of revenge, you who cage us within ghettos, you who cast us alive into flames, only because we are Jews. [Pause.] Are not Jews and Christians alike fashioned in the image of God…
Exodus
The Exodus was declared fit and ready for the run to Palestine.
Ari set the sailing time as the morning after the Chanukah party which the management of the Dome Hotel had arranged on…
The Golden Garden
[The lessons a mother should give her son]: My son, you should know that before your body looked the way it does now, it was nothing. You were formed in my belly from the drops of fertility that came…