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.
Lecture: On Feminism and Suffrage
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The word “feminism” is interpreted in different ways. Some would grant [women] exaggerated rights. Others limit their demands to their simplest form without arriving at a proper…
Why Do the Heathen Rage?
The latest attempt to salvage poor shipwrecked Judaism in America is on. The Menorah Journal summoned the doughtiest intellectuals to this heroic task. These came highly equipped with trenchant pen…
Muscle Jewry
Two years ago, during a committee meeting at the Congress in Basle, I said: “We must think of creating once again a Jewry of muscles.”
Once again! For history is our witness that such a Jewry had…
Letter to the Editor: On Kashering for Passover
Since time immemorial Jews in every city would customarily kasher the dishes they use throughout the year for Passover—glassware by soaking, and pots by heating them to a very high temperature. But a…
My Restlessness Is of a Wolf
My restlessness is of a wolf, and of a bear my rest,
Riot shouts in me, and boredom listens.
I am not what I want, I am not what I think,
I am the magician and I’m the magic-trick.
I am an ancient…
Commentary on Sotah: On the Education of Girls
Rabbi Eliezer said: Whoever teaches his daughter Torah teaches her indecency [m. Sotah 3:4]
The rabbis wrote that this refers only to the Oral Torah; but the Written Torah—even though one should not…
Upon Your Nakedness a White Day Celebrates
Upon your nakedness a white day celebrates,
You who are [so] poor and so rich,
A wall of mountains has frozen,
Transparent like a deceptive vision,
Attached to the horizon.
Noon. The vastnesses of…
Oyfn pripetshik (At the Hearth)
There’s a fire in the hearth
Warm and cozy as it gets
The rebbe teaches children
The Hebrew alphabet
Abischag
King David was old, advanced in years. Though covered in bedclothes, he could not get warm. They searched the land of Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abischag the Shunammite, who was…
To the Common Man
When they begin to plaster the walls
With freshly printed proclamations,
When black print sounds alarm
Calling “To the People” and “To Soldiers”
And ruffians and adolescents
Are taken in by their…
The Melting Pot
Vera [Agitated, coming nearer]: Irony, Mr. Quixano? Please, please, do not imagine there is any irony in my congratulations.David: The irony is in all the congratulations. How can I endure them when…
Zangwill
Someone gathered rich apples, rich corn,
Grown of your heart and your brain,
And in me, as a loft, has stored
Some of the fruit and grain.
The loft smells sweet with its store:
The corn for making…