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.
Breakdown and Bereavement
It was an afternoon in the middle of April when the accident occurred. The year was a leap year, rainy and warm, and on that summery spring day in the commune he had already been given the job of…
How Things Were Done in Odessa
I was the one who began.
“Reb Arye-Leib,” I said to the old man. “Let’s talk about Benya Krik. Let’s talk about his lightning-quick beginning and his terrible end. Three shadows block the path of my…
Prospectus for Moledet
A. Stories and sketches from life today and in the past; legends and poems.B. Articles about Jewish history and the Land of Israel, and the history of the achievements of…
The Rebbe’s Grandson
The terrace of the large coffee house in Berlin was almost empty, save for the occasional occupied table. The season had already turned autumnal. The weather was unpredictable, and the air carried a…
The Street: A Novel
For two months, enfolded from head to foot in crusted, freezing snow, we lay in the trenches on the Polish–Bolshevik front in White Russia. We lay about sleepily, suffering from fatigue, immobility…
An Open Response to Dezső Szabó
Dear Sir, [ . . . ]
We can talk about a Jewish racial or religious sentiment, but this is in perfect harmony with the Jews’ Hungarian national sentiment, which is not a patriotic slogan but a very…
The Zelmenyaners: A Family Saga
One day Bereh turned up in the yard. An unseasonably warm glow coated the world, glazing the storm windows with an unexpected spring sheen. He walked slowly down the…
The Youth of Jewish Prague
What is this Jewish Prague that is so much talked about here? We don’t know it in a way that would allow us to define it or draw its image. But we know that it is a reality that lives in us and has an…
Jesús
He didn’t take it seriously the first few times his roommates suggested that he start peddling images of Jesus, of Yoshke, as he preferred to call him. He thought they were kidding. How could they be…
The Old Bunch
“It was my fault, Sammy. I aggravate you when you’re tired,” she said, sitting up and drawing his head to her. “I shouldn’t even have mentioned Ev. We ought to go to your family this year. It’s only…
Letter against Zionism
With the Grace of God, Sunday, [the week of parshat] Beshalaḥ 5658 [1898], Sighet
To my honorable friend, the famous sage, who is both rooted in the knowledge of [Torah from Mt.] Sinai and who uproots…
Introduction to Ben Ish Ḥai’s Sefer da‘at u-tevunah (Book of Knowledge and Understanding)
This work is an anthology of various texts that provide precious foundations, crucial for the knowledge of the wisdom of kabbalah, hidden secrets that were revealed through the mightiest of heroes…