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.
Kiddush Cup (Sadigura)
In some Hasidic communities, it became a common practice for the Hasidic leader or rebbe to give specially sanctified coins as amulets that could confer blessings on the holder. These coins-turned…
Torah Ark Curtain (Istanbul)
The embroidered structure in the center of this silk Torah ark curtain is thought to be a loose representation of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, with its six minarets and entryway stairs. A somewhat…
Torah Ark Curtain (Venice)
This Torah ark curtain from Venice was made by Simḥah, the wife of Menachem Levi Meshuallami, a member of a prominent family in the Venice ghetto. It is embroidered in silk and silk-metallic thread…
Woman's Ensemble (Algeria)
By the early twentieth century, many Jewish women in Algeria dressed in European clothing for daily activities. Yet many also continued to dress in their traditional garb for ceremonial and…
What I Preached on Sunday [of the Week of] the Torah Portion Tetsaveh, 26 February, 1939
Gentlemen, today is the seventh of Adar, the anniversary of the death of Moses our teacher, of blessed memory. We have gathered in…
Torat ha-‛olah (Law of the Burnt-Offering)
Since the last saying has made it necessary to speak of things, which pertain to the eternal mysteries, namely the ways of kabbalah, I will not hide from the reader what is at the tip of my…
Zikhronot (Memoirs)
The new Rabbi pleased everybody, because he was beyond all doubt a righteous man. I was then a boy of twelve. My father received two letters from Rabbi Yukel on the subject of a good match for me in…
Amid Breathtaking Bougainvilleas
Amid breathtaking bougainvilleas
I while away my time
One floor up Emilia’s
Flimsy lingerie is hanging on a line
Tiny hummingbirds hover
Around a wistful rose
A mouse caught in a saucer
Watch where…
The One Following Us
I’m no longer the man that once was. I am the one I precede,
An approximate continuation of the selfsame countenance.
I continue walking without him. At times I run in the night,
Trying to break my…
The Eve of War 18
A week after we broke up, I allowed
Myself the pleasure of the dainties of pain.
This time without the luxury of tears.
I let it get worked up. In the throat,
In the heart. Who would have believed…
We Had an Understanding
Savta, grandma,
could it be our transparent skin,
skin that doesn’t protect the flesh,
not in the least.
This story of ours
has details that are better left untold,
it’s good to leave blots of…
Mandatory High School/Class of 1973
A young man graduates and heads off to get damaged
He’s got nothing urgent for now and though they push him around he manages
He has no water in his knees
He has no plaster in his joints
He’ll be…