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.
Isbilia
I’m seeking you, Isbilia, my sultana, on the cloudy circle of water where I spread my glance to pierce your reflection, somewhere, between the foam and the wave, on the crest of imperceptible…
The Future of the American Jew
If we Jews had our patron saints, the priest-prophet Ezekiel would be the patron saint of those of us who are vitally concerned in the outcome of the present crisis in…
New York: February 1965
On a day transparent with light
like a landscape by Monet,
my childhood broke away
from a small Jewish town
and glided on ice
blue in the distance—
while a small cloud hovered in me
like a cloud of a…
Awake My People!
Awake, my people! How long will you slumber?
The night has passed, the sun shines bright.
Awake, lift up your eyes, look around you—
Acknowledge, I pray you, your time and your place. . . .
The…
A Society to Further Jewish Integration
The way in which the Jewish world will merge into the European follows from the above-mentioned principle. To merge does not mean to perish [aufgehen ist nicht untergehen]. Only the obstinate, self…
Notes Regarding the Characteristics of the Jews
I wish, then, to describe the four classes to which Jews today belong in order to derive therefrom the principal claim of this discussion, namely: to the extent that the Jews do not take advantage of…
Sabbath Lamp
This Sabbath lamp, cast in silver in Frankfurt am Main, was originally commissioned for a private home. It was made by Johann Valentin Schüler, a craftsman who also produced many other Jewish ritual…
The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment
The setting for The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment is modeled on a communal apartment in which Kabakov once lived in Moscow. The walls of the small, shabby space are papered with upbeat…
Self-Portrait at Buchenwald: It’s the Real Thing
In 1993, Schechner digitally inserted himself into a historical photograph of prisoners in a newly liberated bunker at the Buchenwald concentration camp, taken in 1945 by Margaret Bourke-White. He…
Seder Plate: Untitled
The matzah used to make Goldberg’s reimagined seder plate was purchased from a Hasidic bakery in Brooklyn. Inspired by the prominent role played by the asking of questions in the Haggadah, he met with…
Livro de ascamot (Book of Regulations): On Purim
Inasmuch as the members of the mahamad [board of governors] consider it a vile practice among us today for youngsters to strike with…