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.
Me‘am lo‘ez (From a People of Foreign Tongue): On Genesis
The Book of Me‘am lo‘ez is the explication of the entire Hebrew Bible in Ladino, explaining the way of life which a person must lead as the sacred law commanded, and also to know about all that…
Commentary: On the Pentateuch
And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojourning, in the land of Canaan (Genesis 37:1): In that part of the land of Canaan where his father had lived, similar to the verse: [To Mamre, to Kiryat…
Be’er mayim ḥayim (Wellspring of Living Waters)
When bloodletting is done at the right time, and when there is need for it, it promotes the health of the person, as I shall write about, God willing. When bloodletting is…
Me’or ‘enayim (Light of the Eyes)
Now it is not my intention to be a wiseacre when I show people that some rabbinic statements should not be taken literally. Belonging to this genre, is the story of Og uprooting a mountain the size of…
Your eyebrow, dear, is like a charm
Your eyebrow, dear, is like a charm
that draws to you life’s greatest joys.
Rounded like a bow, that brow,
or like a moon in half eclipse.
Your eye, beside it, is a pool,
all sparkle, like a…
Pariz un Viene (Paris and Vienna)
Here I begin; listen to me, great and small.
Once there was a mighty king—as in the stories begun by girls. His peer in virtue was not to be found. He had a land that was stately indeed. He…
With devout accents, the beautiful Hebrew woman
With devout accents, the beautiful Hebrew woman
Implored the exalted choirs for their grace,
Indeed, midst heavenly stars, in sacred fires,
She holds supreme minds happily in her grip:
Upon the sound…
A nighttime song of praise
A nighttime song of praise I have
To sing before my Lord,
And in the day His help is at my side.
All my life, my soul has longed
To see the courts
Of God, to read the Torah.
And so I come betimes…
Shirat ha-yam (The Song at the Sea)
Then did Moses and the Children of Israel sing this song (Exodus 15:1). Before we explain the words of this song, it is appropriate to clarify its poetic structure. I maintain that we, the Israelite…
Another Year in Africa
At first Berka had avoided Hershl, but the latter persisted in his visits to Berka’s workshop, ignoring his deliberate rudeness. While Hershl spoke to him Berka hammered away at his last in silence…