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.
The Reformed Heder in Pinsk
The Zionist movement in Pinsk expanded and developed, and some of the best [local] activists concentrated their efforts there. Activities, such as lectures, debates, and the sale of Shekels and Jewish…
The Voice of Yeshurun to the Hebrews
Brothers, the great necessity and the significant need for the publication of newspapers in [any] state are well known in all countries. It is common knowledge. And you will not find one opposing…
Memories of the Meldar: An Ottoman Jew’s Early Education
Did you go to a meldar as a child? Have any of you been so lucky and blessed? I am sure that, seeing these two questions, you will all object that you had no idea what a meldar was and that you went…
Social Hygiene of the Jews
For Jews, social hygiene embraces the entire domain of religious laws and customs of Judaism on maintaining the purity and health of the body. These traditions partially, and certainly at their core…
Diary Excerpt: Against the War
[ . . . ] Got together with Werner this afternoon; he wants me to become active in the [Social Democratic] party. Had a discussion about historical materialism that was quite interesting to me. [ . .…
The Shtetls of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period of Reconstruction
The Age Composition of the Population in the Researched ShtetlekhThe problem of organizing the work resources correctly and rationally is closely connected to the age composition of the population…
Our Monthly: Mi-mizraḥ u-mi-ma‘arav
Anyone who says that our Hebrew literature has developed, expanded, and been enriched over the past few years either errs or misleads. Or, perhaps, they demand very little from literature in general…
A Few Words to My Critic
Mr. Engel concludes that the music to my songs is not folk, because, in his opinion, it includes the rhythms of waltz music and mazurkas, and these dance rhythms are used even in the cases where I…
Two Cities
Rebbe Levi YitskhokTsine, his wifeKhayim, their sonGnendl, their daughterTaybele, their daughterHenekh Yoel, gabbaiOyzer, butcherZavl, butcherItsheMordkheMoysheKhveder, shabes-goyPave…
Repentance
Rabbi Ezekiel of Kozmir and his followers were great believers in the divine principle of joyousness.
Reb Ezekiel himself was a giant of a man, standing a full head above his Chasidic followers, and…
The Island Within
They became steady friends and lovers. Better friends than lovers. She adored kissing and touching him; she adored his physical nearness. Her ultimate inhibitions were never quite broken…
The National-Radical Schools
There are more than enough proofs that an important new Jewish community is being created in America. Jews come here to settle—permanently. Jewish life is becoming more and more established. America…