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.
A Stubborn Back—and Nothing More
Come, let us hide ourselves in caves,
in stony crevices, in graves
where stretched full length on the hard ground
we lie, backs up and faces down.
We shall not record, we shall not say
why we’ve…
The God of Israel
The God of Israel is not rich.
I saw the Sistine Chapel,
Notre-Dame, the Cathedral of Cologne—
You can feast your eyes on them, you can enjoy.
The God of Israel is stingy.
He won’t fill his museum…
Jews and Arabs in Morocco
Among the Jews of Europe, acute feelings of difference always fade with the passage of time. The school, the army, and politics have a unifying force; integration comes about through cultural channels…
Elegy for the Soviet Yiddish Writers
I weep for you with all the letters of the alphabet
that made your hopeful songs. I saw how reason spent
itself in vain for hope, how you strove against regret—
and all the while your hearts were…
Seeker of Truth
He said: “Show me, I pray You, Your glory!”
Behold, wise men have declared,
Moreover, the proofs adduced by them have attested,
That the senses are illusory,
Mirages are legion,
Thoughts are…
Derushe ha-tselah (Sermons [of Landau])
One who exchanges good for bad and bad for good, and says that transgressions are really virtuous deeds, and that it is by this means that one can bring the Will of the Creator to fruition—such an…
Peri ha-arets (Fruit of the Earth)
Devekut requires that there be no impediment between man and God; only then is devekut possible. As in the parable of the Besht, it is impossible to join silver coins together…
The Jews in Our Time
They [the hasidim] study Kabbalah and Talmud diligently and successfully, and consequently they have among them excellent Talmud scholars. They also comprise three groups, each of them under one chief…
A Sermon Delivered at the Great Synagogue of Smyrna on the Arrival of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore in that City after His Successful Mission on Behalf of His Persecuted Brethren in Damascus
Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. —Genesis 28:15.
From the Midrash Shoḥer tov. “For the leader. Of the servant of the Lord, of David…
Jude
Cherkassky’s gold Star of David with the word “Jude” in its center was displayed in Collectio Judaica at the Rosenfeld Gallery in 2003. It was the artist’s first major solo exhibition. The theme of…
Human Follies: For Sukkot
Human follies, silver and gold and possessions,
Last only shortly on earth, and like flies, they fly away.
Wealth flowers like abundant grain, or like a tree’s boughs,
It bears recognizable fruit…
Discursos predicables y avisos espirituales (Preaching Discourses and Spiritual Advice)
God created man so that man might know His majesty, which is the highest good: knowing Him, being able to love Him, and loving Him, being able to possess…