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.
Studies in Prejudice
At this moment in world history anti-Semitism is not manifesting itself with the full and violent destructiveness of which we know it to be capable. Even a social disease has its periods of quiescence…
Reflections on Little Rock
Finally, I should like to remind the reader that I am writing as an outsider. I have never lived in the South and have even avoided occasional trips to Southern states because they…
Jewish Women Call for Change
The Jewish tradition regarding women, once far ahead of other cultures, has now fallen disgracefully behind in failing to come to terms with developments of the past century.
Accepting the age-old…
Sunday Shtetl
Rabbi Levi Yitskhok’s drayman—the one who wore
tales and tfiln as he smeared the wheels
of his wagon with tar—
turns up in the shape of a bunch of Jews
hanging around their houses,
washing the car
(w…
Derashot ḥatam sofer (Sermons of Ḥatam Sofer)
A sealed Torah was given to us; it is doubtless a Torah of Truth but it is disguised. Every day the Holy One, blessed be He, renews those who study it for its own sake and they find a new taste in it…
On the Emancipation of Women in Jewish Worship
Theology teaches us that when God the Eternal formed man He gave him an extra rib. This rib was destined for the formation of woman in order that this creature, who was to become the rich…
Shalom al Yisra’el (Peace upon Israel)
Upon you, great ones, the rebbes of the Hasidim, who follow the path of the Ba‘al Shem Tov, and of whose glorious name they boast and by…
Book of the Kahal: Materials for the Study of the Jewish Life
An agent of the kahal who is charged with monitoring Jewish cases in the police and in giving gifts to officials is a Jewish middleman.
Jews utilize the art of the middleman not only in trade…
Avodat-Ach
Ninio’s art focuses on putting everyday objects into new contexts, which change their original functions, posing questions about the nature of their reality, by opening them up to new relationships…
The Table As It Is
In The Table As It Is, a tabletop perched on precarious legs and precariously set with bottles of wines and glasses seems about to split apart. Dominey’s sculptures present ordinary objects found in…
The War of the Holy Days
Now, my dear friends, do you see what you’re doing? The Holy Days indulged in arrogant boasting, in envy and hatred and warfare. Hanukkah tried to fight them all and carry the day…
The Debate of the Flowers
I wish to praise God
who is great in praises,
who created for man
all kinds of flowers,
and they all are singular
in their colors and scents
and of all the best ones
was the musk flower.
Above all…