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.
Lampstand (Menorah) Depiction from Roman Period Jerusalem
Lampstand (menorah) depiction from Jerusalem in a plaster engraving (1st century BCE–1st century CE). It is difficult to reconstruct what the lampstands of Exodus 25:31–35 and 1 Kings 7:49 looked like…
Ishtar Gate and Processional Avenue
Ishtar Gate and processional avenue, Babylon. This scale model in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin shows the splendor of the city in the days of the prophet—or prophets—whose words are preserved in…
Breaking Ranks: A Political Memoir
Here, then, an effort was mounted by the United States and its allies to hold the line against any further advances by the Soviet Union, whether operating on its own through military invasion or…
Double Burial Chamber in St. Étienne Cemetery
Steps at the rear of this burial chamber in the St. Étienne cemetery lead up to a second, inner one, with rock-cut, tub-shaped burial places, perhaps intended for important members of the families who…
My Grandmother, the Censor
There are two things I ought to make clear. First, almost as soon as she starts telling me about her career (as we wade through the sleet from the bus stop to the market), my grandmother declares that…
From Baghdad to Brooklyn: Growing Up in a Jewish-Arabic Family in Mid-Century America
My mother often sent me shopping to 18th Avenue (not a far distance, but for a kid it was unfamiliar territory), the district of Middle Eastern groceries, whose shopkeepers were…
The Return
Gradually we learned these things: The government of Sudan could not admit to helping Jews. Sudan, after all, was a friend of the other Arab nations, and there is fighting between Arabs and Jews…
Lyre Player
This detail appears on the right side of a pithos (storage jar) from Kuntillet Ajrud. The seated figure plays a lyre held away from the body. There seem to be four strings, oriented vertically…
Young Adult Israeli Backpackers in India
[…] Every year, out of 5.5 million Israeli Jewish citizens, about 50,000 travel to India as backpackers, most of them immediately after their military service. Backpacking is a very significant…
Arad Letter (Order Concerning Rations)
Arad letter (Order Concerning Rations), from the remains of the Judahite fortress at Arad, in the Negev, 7th or 6th century BCE. The Arad ostraca provide an impression of the provincial administration…