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.
Pirḥe ha-aviv (Spring Flowers)
This small volume which I now present to you, my fellow readers, is an offshoot of the numerous saplings that I have planted for myself over the course of many days, nay years; for ever…
Miriam
Recently, Jewish feminists have turned toward the biblical figure of Miriam to expand women’s place in Jewish traditions. Penina Moïse anticipated the potential innovative role Miriam might play.
Letter to Tuvie Feder
“You are angry about the language into which my book has been translated? You sound like chirping birds and clattering animals and wild beasts in the forest! Kindly recall, my dear friend! What…
Livyat ḥen (Ornament of Grace)
A simple four-syllable poem, where each of the four members of the line has four tenu‘ot, with no yated. In some of them, the members do not rhyme…
Elim: Ma‛ayan ḥatum (Elim: A Sealed Spring)
You asked how an object can move without being touched, and this indeed is a puzzling matter to all sages. To explain this issue, I must first discuss some rudiments of the science of music, for if…
La-yesharim tehilah (Praise for the Upright)
Reason and Righteousness in the Field.Reason:Righteousness, beloved of my soul, may your heart be of good courage. Gird yourself with vigor, for, the further salvation seems to be from…
History of Jews in Kraków and Kazimierz, 1304–1868
In 1867, starting in Austria, the idea of equality made its way into normal constitutional life in Galicia. This wasn’t an easy thing to accomplish, due to prejudices that had been cultivated over…
The Laws of Women: On the Birth of a Girl
A. O my sisters! O my daughters! O women, my people and pride! Hear my words, understand my musings, consider my way, for I am your brother. I have gathered for you beautiful words, chosen from the…
Jonen dalim (He That Has Mercy on the Poor)
Offstage, Edom and Jonen Dalim.Edom:Chase that filthy beggar away from my door!Jonen:God punishes those who despise the poor.Israel:Edom sees my tatters and feels disgust…
Diálogo dos montes (The Controversy of the Mountains)
Zetim:How blessed and how happy must that manA thousand times be called who acknowledgesOne God alone, a single entity.Gerizim:How happy and how blessed must he beWho in God’s holy Law meditatesBoth…
Book of Fables
The donkey greets the horse with his greeting. He says: “How is it that you are limping? Walk slowly to be sure you don’t fall. You’ll never be able to canter. You’ve surely grown old…
Ma‘aseh Avraham avinu (The Tale of Abraham the Patriarch)
They said that before Abraham was created, Nimrod denied belief in God, Blessed Be God, vaunted himself, and then asserted that he was a god. The ancients in his time used to worship and prostrate…