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.
Shulḥan ‘arukh (Set Table): Introduction
These are the words of the insignificant man, Joseph Karo, son of the great R. Ephraim, son of the great R. Joseph Karo, may he be remembered for the life of the world to come.
I shall…
Mesilat yesharim (Path of the Upright)
In summary, man was created not for his state in this world, but for his state in the world-to-come. His state in this world, however, serves as the means toward [attaining] his state in the world-to…
Regulations of a Pietistic Confraternity in Safed
These are the words that the divine man Moses, R. Moses Cordovero, may his memory be for a blessing for life in the world-to-come, spoke concerning that which man should do and live by, and there are…
Nishmat ḥayim (Breath of Life)
We are therefore obliged to examine the words of the living God, which are expressed through the wonderful wise men who have received the truth [i.e., kabbalists], the foundation of the Torah. The…
Piedra Gloriosa, o de la Estatua de Nebuchadnesar (Glorious Stone, or About the Statue of Nebuchadnezzar)
But leaving aside these allegations, and judging without passion, do they lack their own merits that would allow them to be saved with us, as we desire? No.
1. For their part they possess the…
Letter to Mordechai Margoliot
To the great master, the stronghold and tower, his name is increasingly great, he is my beloved master, the juice of my pomegranate (Song of Songs 8:2), my olive brimming with oil, Josheb-basshebeth a…
Past Continuous
Goldman plodded through the sand and passed the place where the big shack, which had disappeared without a trace, had once stood, skirted the wild mulberry tree and arrived at the place which had once…
The Loser
Grandfather scurries from cupboard to cupboard in his black coat; he looks in every corner, checking for bread crumbs in my treasure drawer, under my crystals and shells. He rummages through…
See Under: LOVE
Grandfather Anshel wasn’t at all surprised when Momik shared his secret and asked him to help. Momik of course knew Grandfather didn’t understand any of this, but he wanted to be completely fair so he…
Leaving Brooklyn
The summer I was fifteen years old—just before my senior year in high school, for I had skipped grades—a new thing under the sun appeared in Brooklyn. Contact lenses. My parents made inquiries…
The Way to the Cats
A dull, rhythmic tremor thudded inside the room over and over again, as if someone was pounding on the wall behind her head with his fists. She sat up in bed and tried to get up. After several vain…
Minus Money
Great was the joy in the mid-1950s in Budapest’s Klauzál Square, in the house of a widow with many children. Those lining up before her vegetable stand in the market saw her smile for the first time…