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.
Chapters of My Autobiography
The story of my life is only exceptional in that it represents a great change of identity in the heart of the Jewish people. [ . . . ]
I was born a Jewish Algerian—a French citizen to boot—and during…
Chicken Soup with Barley
Ronnie:Everything has broken up around you and you can’t see it.Sarah [shouting]:What, what, what, you mad boy? Explain what you mean.Ronnie:What has happened to all the comrades, Sarah? I even blush…
La Place de l’étoile
Rue Sainte-Catherine, people turned as we passed. Probably because of my father’s purple suit, his Kentucky green shirt and the same old shoes with the astrakhan spats. I fondly…
Babi Yar
Had I fastened
The cradle on a rafter,
And rocked it—and rocked it.
My little son, my Yankl.
But the house has vanished
Into a fiery dome,
How then can I rock
My little son, my own?
Had I…
Moroccan Jews in Their Hour of Decision
The Jews of Morocco are in the limelight today. The condition of the Jews in a given country always has a certain international dimension. It is a kind of sociological test and a touchstone…
The Bar Mitzvah Speech
Bernardo Tzalkin stood there as though he had just been drenched with a bucket of cold water. Perplexed, at a loss for words, he tried to ask the doctor whether the boy could possibly get out of bed…
On the Cutting Edge of Life
The men, women, and children who arrived, physically destroyed, at the death camp, had only one fixed idea: to survive. The average person, living in a bustling metropolis and enjoying freedom to a…
The Jews, Their History, Culture, and Religion
The purpose of this book is to bring into focus the vast number and wide variety of data concerning Judaism and the Jews, so that they can be seen in relation to one another and to the…
Isaac Babel, Introduction to Collected Stories
A good many years ago, in 1929, I chanced to read a book which disturbed me in a way I can still remember. The book was called Red Cavalry; it was a collection of stories about Soviet regiments of…
The Jew Who Wasn’t There
It is not unusual for committed Jewish women to be uneasy about their position as Jews. It was to cry down our doubts that rabbis developed their pre-packaged orations on the nobility of motherhood…
At Goodman and Levine’s
There were two reasons why Di Yunge chose to carry on by themselves in a separate cafe. One was purely financial. The coffeehouse on Division Street was too dear for young writers, most of whom either…
Death of a Salesman
Biff:People are worse off than Willy Loman. Believe me. I’ve seen them!Linda:Then make Charley your father, Biff. You can’t do that, can you? I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never…