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.
Everyday Jews: Scenes from a Vanished Life
The question arises: How did my mother, who, with her first husband, the feldsher, resided in spacious rooms, with brass handles on the doors, come to be with Father, a village Jew who…
Return, Israel
A statement of reproof and a reminder and warning and a correction to our brothers, the Jews of Tunis, may the Almighty maintain it, amen, may God preserve them and sustain them, written by the dayyan…
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
I entered the restaurant five minutes late on purpose, but Babushkin was already there. He was at the small table I’d reserved way over in the corner, hunched over the menu because he was scared…
The History of Borsszem Janko (Johnny Peppercorn)
I was lying in bed sick when, on January 5th, 1868, the first issue came out. Understandably, the party line and the competition tried to alienate from me János Jankó, the illustrator of the…
Di shvue (The Oath)
Brothers and sisters—all working poor
Wherever you might be scattered on earth
This banner’s now waiting for you, together.
Waving, wrathful, this flag is blood red.
We swear! We swear by the…
Abishag
Abishag. Little, young, warm Abishag.
Shout into the street: King David is not yet dead.
But King David wants to sleep and they won’t let him.
Adoniyahu with his gang shout my crown off my gray head…
Erotica et Rustica
1.
Eyner hot lib a kale mit a sakh gelt, der anderer hot lib a kale on a hemd.
Some like a bride with a lot of money, others like a bride without a stitch of clothes.
Khuts…
Grave of the Bride and Groom
In many shtetls throughout Podolye and Volhynia we often find a mound next to the synagogue. Surrounded by a traditional cemetery fence, the mound is known as the Grave for the Bride and Groom. And…
Let Laughter Ring
Now, more than at any time in the history of our people, humor has a place in Jewish life. I was delighted to find the Jewish Publication Society in agreement with me that at the present time…
The Nazi Crematorium in the Movie Houses of Buenos Aires
For some days past, newsreels about the concentration camps have been showing in the movie theaters of Buenos Aires. The public can now easily observe the methods used by the Germans in the death…
Letter to Anka
19 August 1943
Today, dear Anka, is the anniversary of your Golgotha, tomorrow the anniversary of your death. A year has passed since I last saw you. You see, Anka, I do not believe in God and never…
As a Driven Leaf
Toward the end of the first century, in the spring of the last year of the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, two entries were made in the Roman archives of the district of Galilee. The first…