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 Circumcision
All the Jewish children’s homes and live-in kindergartens that Robi Singer had been attending since the age of four had something in common. Besides a birth certificate and vaccination papers, they…
Cry of the Peacock
In the women’s prison where the Guards had taken Peacock, six people slept in a cell designed for one. They sat on the floor, occupying every rat-infested inch, blindfolded and handcuffed for weeks in…
Beyond the Pale
Gutke found her journal at the bottom of her midwife’s bag and opened it for the first time that year:
Even with my talent for visions, I never would have guessed half of what happened. I suppose that…
The Ladies Auxiliary
Mrs. Levy made it her business to be our eyes and ears, the supplier of all information and news. Her job would be easy this time—she had the good fortune to live directly across the street from…
Ten Thousand Lovers
When an Israeli soldier dies in the line of duty, three officers come to your house and sit in your living room and tell you about it. Imagine how many times that scene has been played out in Israeli…
Vise
Immediately I grabbed the man, gripped him, pressed him to me with all my stomach muscles, the way a carpenter, after applying the metal vise to the cupboard that suddenly collapsed, twists and…
Stela with the Laws of Hammurabi
Laws of Hammurabi on Babylonian Stela, eighteenth century BCE. The stela was originally placed in the temple of the god Marduk in the city of Babylon. Inset shows part of the prologue.
Idol Manufacturing
Idol manufacturing, Thebes, Egypt, 15th century BCE. This is a modern artist’s rendering of a mural from the tomb of the vizier Rekh-me-re. It shows craftsmen making idols, much like the idol…
W, or The Memory of Childhood
I was born on Saturday, 7 March 1936, towards nine in the evening, in a maternity clinic located at 19 Rue de l’Atlas, in the xixth arrondissement of Paris. My father, I believe, was the one who…
St. Etienne Burial Caves
On the grounds of the St. Étienne monastery, north of the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, were two elaborate burial caves that each included a large central hall surrounded by several rectangular rooms…
Wedding Song: Memoirs of an Iranian Jewish Woman
If I had to pick one defining moment in my Iranian life, it would be 5:00 a.m. one Friday in the fall of 1968. I was fifteen. Normally I woke to the sounds of a peddler selling green almonds and fava…