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.
Boitre
Arn-Wolf—parnes khoydesh (chairman of the kahal, the community council)Beyle—his wifeStere—his daughterRabbiFirst and Second Dayen (judges of the bes din…
Awake and Sing!
One year later, a Sunday afternoon. The front room. Jacob is giving his son Mordecai [Uncle Morty] a haircut, newspapers spread around the base of the chair. Moe is reading a newspaper, l…
The Duke
A porch stage left, a little window. A tree at right. Under the tree a table on a wooden beam. Two solid old benches. In the background, a fence with an entrance in the middle. Behind the fence,…
The Golem
[A deserted place on the bank of the river outside of Prague. Daybreak. All is dark and silent. Reb Levi Bar Bezalel, or The Maharal, an old man of seventy, stands over an outlined mound…
Two Cities
Rebbe Levi YitskhokTsine, his wifeKhayim, their sonGnendl, their daughterTaybele, their daughterHenekh Yoel, gabbaiOyzer, butcherZavl, butcherItsheMordkheMoysheKhveder, shabes-goyPave…
Shulamis
CharactersMaenoyakh, an old citizen of BethlehemShulamis, his daughterAvisholom, a young hero descended from the Maccabees.Fourth SceneAvisholom I shall not leave here until I have restedJerusalem is…
Sha‘ar Hashamayim Synagogue Dome
When it was first built, the Sha‘ar Hashamayim (Gate of Heaven) Synagogue in Cairo was the largest building on the boulevard where it still stands. Built to resemble what was imagined to be the design…
One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues That Divide Them
February 9, 2000Dear Ammi,It was a pleasure meeting you in person last week. […]I wonder what the staff and the other patrons thought about the two of us sitting there, me with my beard, peyot, and…
In my cottage was I one day
In my cottage was I one day merrily
Despite the Fortune full of treachery.
“What are you doing?” Providence asked me.
“Why are you obsessed only with this life?
You must also know of the…
Apology for His Language (On Yiddish and Hochdeutsch)
An apology for the fact that this is written in the language of Ashkenaz (in Hochdeutch [German]). In my opinion, there are two good reasons for this: first, I have found written in…
A Song of the Ten Commandments
I will begin by praising God
Who created us all.
I will begin with the Ten Commandments
Which God, Blessed be He,
Gave to us by the hand of Moses.
All of us stood at Mount Sinai,
Each individual…
Bet mo‘ed (House of Festivals)
No decree can be nullified, but one can be changed by the Cause of causes.
The matters of the fastings and their cry (Esther 9:31)
In the first chapter of tractate…