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.
Volute Capital from Ramat Rahel Palace
The palm and the palmette are common iconographic elements in ancient Near Eastern art, appearing, for example, in ivory decoration (see Ivory and Bone Carvings and Engraved Seashells) and in Assyrian…
Out of Egypt
Egyptian Jewish American author André Aciman describes celebrating his last Seder in Egypt with his bags packed to leave his homeland for good.
The Letters That Never Came
After the war with Spain came another war. The postman, though, he stopped coming. Well, actually, he didn’t stop. What I mean is, he didn’t stop in. Papa always waited for him by the balcony, he’d be…
“Separation”: My Journey with Alex
“When I get papa out of jail, we’ll join you. We’ll meet at Strasbourg, don’t worry,” Mama said.
When Alex heard about the entire matter, he said: “No, I don’t want to go. I want Mama.”
Alex was very…
Two Ibexes
In this detail from the left side of a pithos (storage jar) from Kuntillet Ajrud, two ibexes are eating the flora of a schematic tree, all set above a striding lion. These common motifs are typically…
Silver Signet Ring
Silver signet ring with image of galloping griffin, a hybrid creature that consists of feline body and legs, avian head and wings, and serpentine tail. Found in a burial cave in the Ketef Hinnom…
Rattles
These hollow, spool-shaped terra-cotta objects from Beth Shemesh would hold one or more pellets (often small pebbles) that when shaken would produce a sound. They have been considered babies’ toys…
Dietary Laws: Animals and and Impurity
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: Speak to the Israelite people thus:
These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the land animals: any animal that has true hoofs, with…
Prophets
When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abhorrent practices of those nations. Let no one be found among you who consigns his son or daughter…
A Ruling about Blasphemy and Talion
There came out among the Israelites one whose mother was Israelite and whose father was Egyptian. And a fight broke out in the camp between that half-Israelite and a certain Israelite. The son of…
Bequest of a House to a Daughter
On the 21st of Kislev, that is day 21 of Mesore, year 6 of Artaxerxes the king, Mahseiah son of Jedaniah, a Jew, hereditary-property-holder in Elephantine the fortress of the detachment of Haumadata…
