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.
Fall in Vilna
Yom Kippur, when the narrow alleys of the shulhoyf
cradle the small shtibls, pious and scared,
householders hurry with their taleisim
and old men shuffle along in their socks—
I feel the narrow…
A Joyful Mother of Children
I entitled this volume Em Habanim Semeḥah [Psalms 113:9], based on the Jerusalem tractate of Berakhot (toward the close of the second chapter) which portrays Erets Yisrael as the mother of Israel and…
In the Army
With evening a whistle. Again the sweating store room
opens its throat wide, and we march out in formation
worn down by the heat wave and a day so long:
hard working soldier-women.
And why should…
Half of Nothing
Antisemitism is not an Argentine disgrace; we did not invent it. Other countries preceded us. Not even the far-right Tacuara Nationalist Movement of the 1960s invented it. Before that, there was the…
Second Generation
Child of a lonely traveller
in a strange country
I live towards my doom
closed in a small tight room.
Closed in a small tight room
where whitehaired quiet ladies
claw the walls conspire in lies
and…
Like a Rolling Stone
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to…
Sheltered by a Crimson Awning . . .
Sheltered by a crimson awning,
All alone, his slaves dismissed,
A lord is bidding farewell fondly
To a black-browed odalisque.
“Sarah, houri of the prophet,
My sunshine, comfort, strength, delight…
Eleh divre ha-berit (These Are the Words of the Covenant)
These are the words of the covenant as a statute for Jacob, as an everlasting covenant for Israel; the Almighty spoke but once—and He will never alter His law—through the Torah and the ruling which…
An Answer to the Slav
I hesitate to sound immodest,
So I must warn you in advance,
If you will listen now in earnest,
Then please excuse my stance.
More startling than other words,
And I will use this…
Sacrifice of Isaac
Segal’s sculptural representation of the Akedah, the biblical story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Isaac, raised eyebrows when it was first exhibited. His irreverent depiction of Abraham as a…
Sacrifice of Isaac
Sheep and rams frequently appear in the sculptures of Kadishman, a legacy of time spent as a shepherd in his youth. Sacrifice of Isaac is a reimagining of the biblical story of the Akedah, in which…
The Great Vehicle
The Great Vehicle is one of dozens of wheeled sculptures Rantzer created for “The Zionists,” his 2001 solo exhibition at the Gordon Gallery in Tel Aviv. The overall themes of the show were migration…