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.
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…
Oyneg Shabes Archive
Everyone appreciated the importance of the work that was being done. They understood how important it was for future generations that a record remain of the tragedy of Polish Jewry. Some realized that…
In These Nightmarish Days
Here you have him, the proud Jew. The Jew who ruled his kingdom with a high hand in complete despotism: here is the Jew who never heeded anyone’s advice, who did everything with his own hand and…
Dina’s Braids
Dina has reached the age of seventeen, but her mind and manners are far beyond those years. She is comely and demure and full of charm. Two modest eyes and two wild braids. Why wild? Because they have…
Only Yesterday
And now, good friends, as we observe the adventures of Isaac, we are shaken and stunned. This Isaac who is no worse than any other person, why is he punished so harshly? Is it because he teased a dog…
Non omnis moriar
“Even if you kill us, we will leave traces,” insists the poet. Poems such as this one affirm the power of humanity even in the midst of atrocities committed by neighbors.
My Blue Piano
At home I have a blue piano,
I, who cannot play a note.
It stands in the gloom of the cellar door,
now that the world has grown coarse.
The four hands of the stars play there
—the moonwife sang…
Letter to the Front
To be a Jew in the twentieth century
Is to be offered a gift. If you refuse,
Wishing to be invisible, you choose
Death of the spirit, the stone insanity.
Accepting, take full life. Full agonies:
Your…
Choose Yourself a Hebrew Name!
Excerpt from the Order of the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense:. . . It is recommended that all commanders (from platoon leader to head of staff) change their family names—be they German, Anglo…
Dani: In Memoriam
From his earliest childhood, Dani was happy, sociable, and cooperative. When he was in Tova’s kindergarten, he loved to sit together with the children and sing: “Yulla yulla, what’ll we do without our…
Remove Your Shoes
Remove your shoes from your feet and, barefoot, feel the earth!
Whatever was in the past and be what may now—today the land is ours, the heavens are ours, and the sea is our sea.
Let us go out to the…