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.
Song of My Indifference
For some the now is good enough—and that is fine for them!But what shall I dowhen I alwayssee before mephosphorescent questions flashing:Where?Where to?I am ready tiredof hovering,of flickering,of…
The Two Voyages of Gulliver
To the Lilliputians and to the Giants
Translated and adapted from Jonathan Swift by Alexandre Benghiat.
The prince of that place, who saw and liked me, bought me from my master, and I was taken to…
My Palms Are Raised toward You
My palms are raised toward you,
To the little light
Which I still have in your eyes,
And you—sharpen your teeth
For the softness of my yellow flesh;
And were this flesh to be thrown upon the field
An…
Free Love
I do not believe in free love.
There is legal marriage, an institution based on ideas and pretenses.
A legally married wife you can divorce, but where will you run away from free love?
As for…
Matilda Kshesinskaia: Swan Lake
Among the figures of contemporary ballet on the Maryinsky’s stage, Mathilda Kshesinskaya constitutes a phenomenon of exceptional interest. Her name enjoys great fame, her talent—unusually brilliant…
Letters from the Ghettos
The two hundred and fifty letters presented here require no preliminaries or commentary. No human language is adequate to the task. Even the account of our people’s history, drenched as…
A Diary of the Nazi Ghetto in Vilna
This morning I was in the children’s nursery. Women who work leave their children from 7 to 6. There are 150 children between the ages of three months and two years, [one…
The Testamentary Instructions of Marc Bloch
When death comes to me, whether in France or abroad, I leave it to my dear wife or, failing her, to my children, to arrange for such burial as may seem best to them. I wish the ceremony to be a civil…
Haman’s Downfall
Mordecai:A Judgment Day on you and all the Hamans, today and forevermore—
Haman:Amen! Mordecai, I think you and I will yet be good friends—yes, Motya? [Maudlin.] Come closer, Motya, and I’ll tell you…
The Only One in the Town
Meylekh Snitkever takes the heavy shears and looks at them silently. He holds them in both hands as if to weigh them. Then he shifts his stare to me, the muscles moving in his jaws, which are covered…
Silence, and a Starry Night
Silence, and a starry night
Frost crackling, fine as sand.
Remember how I taught you
To hold a gun in your hand?
In fur jacket and beret,
Clutching a hand grenade,
A girl whose skin is velvet
Ambus…
Blessed Is the Match
Blessed is the match, consumed in kindling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the heart’s secret places.
Blessed is the heart that knows, for honors sake, to stop its beating.
Blessed is the…