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.
Letters to Shimon Dubnow
To Mr. Sh. Dubnow, St. Petersburg
Moscow, Jan. 8, 1907
I received your letter, and thank you for everything you told me about. . . .
I have already heard about the classes you are giving on Genesis…
The Wonder-Working Rabbi of Barcelona
During the weeks that Eleazar spent in pious contemplation in old Asia, the people of Barcelona took pains to persecute the Jews. It was they, once again, who made it hard for Spanish merchants to…
On a Soviet Sabbath
Citizen Voli Brener
A Moscow snowy morning, sun-streaked and dry. When it falls on a Sunday, the morning shines with a thousand Moscow sparkles—rejuvenating white lights that charm and shimmer, as if…
“Oriental,” Not Sephardi
I believe “Oriental” is the appropriate term. I feel proud to be classed with Hindus and Chinese and Japanese and other Asiatics. Besides, the name reminds us of dear Turkey, to whom we owe so much…
Shklover Jews
I know a town in White Russia [Belarus] on the River Dnieper. Its name is Shklov. I was born there, went to heder there, which is why I know it so well.The flame of life burns calmly there. Nobody…
Speech on the Hebrew Kindergarten
The “kindergarten” as a corridor to the salon of education, as a foundation for the tower of learning, has received particular attention among all civilized peoples, and all the more so does it…
The Problems of Jewish Music
June 1, 1918
Jewish music is the face of a frozen sphinx which, after the millennium of its antiquity, is still only on the path to discovering its secret, is only now waking to life…
Everyday Jews: Scenes from a Vanished Life
The question arises: How did my mother, who, with her first husband, the feldsher, resided in spacious rooms, with brass handles on the doors, come to be with Father, a village Jew who…
Responsum: On Technology and Jewish Law
In the main portion of this work I spoke of the use of an electric light. Here I shall discuss the law of whether one is permitted to speak on Shabbat by means of a machine called a “telephone.”…
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
I entered the restaurant five minutes late on purpose, but Babushkin was already there. He was at the small table I’d reserved way over in the corner, hunched over the menu because he was scared…
On Necessary Jewish Educational Reforms
We can see that our sages, of blessed memory, likewise declared the Torah a weapon, as it has stood by us, enabling us to emerge triumphant in the wars for our religious and moral existence, in which…
The Marriage of Regina
The whole city was talking about Regina’s wedding. I should tell you first that Regina is one of our former students. People were saying, “Yes, Regina is à la franca” (the expression means “European…