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.
Awake and Sing!
One year later, a Sunday afternoon. The front room. Jacob is giving his son Mordecai [Uncle Morty] a haircut, newspapers spread around the base of the chair. Moe is reading a newspaper, l…
The Funeral’s Early...
In Jewish folklore the sight of a water carrier bearing one or two full pails is an omen of good fortune; empty pails foretell bad fortune. The funeral’s early, the concert is late.I go to both (such…
Months and Days
[ . . . ] And we get out of their way; we move in the opposite direction, toward where they’ve come from, toward Petroshi.And you see, they do not forbid it. And it may be that in Petroshi, where they…
Zoo, or Letters Not about Love
About Grzhebin on canvas, about Grzhebin in the flesh. Since the letter is written in a penitent mood, the trademark of the Grzhebin Publishing House is affixed. Here too are several…
The Golem
[A deserted place on the bank of the river outside of Prague. Daybreak. All is dark and silent. Reb Levi Bar Bezalel, or The Maharal, an old man of seventy, stands over an outlined mound…
The Dybbuk
[ . . . ] Reb Azrielke:God’s world is great and holy. The holiest land in the world is the Land of Israel. In the Land of Israel the holiest city is Jerusalem. In Jerusalem the holiest place was the…
Two Cities
Rebbe Levi YitskhokTsine, his wifeKhayim, their sonGnendl, their daughterTaybele, their daughterHenekh Yoel, gabbaiOyzer, butcherZavl, butcherItsheMordkheMoysheKhveder, shabes-goyPave…
Organic Thinking: A Study in Rabbinic Thought
Chapter I. IntroductoryI. The Problem of Coherence“There is (thus) a zone of insecurity in human affairs,” remarks William James in his essay on The Importance of Individuals, “in which all the…
The Opinion of the Torah: Illuminating the Present Jewish Condition According to the Light of the Torah
Written on the Occasion of the Ritual Slaughter Decree in Poland, 1936 [Parliament considered a bill to have animals killed by electricity, rather than by a knife, as required by Jewish law. The bill…
The Ban Pronounced against Greek Wisdom
Maimonides, the greatest Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages, was of the opinion that the principles and methods of metaphysics formed part of the traditional lore of the sages of the Mishnah and…
On the Election of Women
I was honored to receive your request to express my opinion on the current question of electing women to the Jewish representative assembly…
The Shtetls of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period of Reconstruction
The Age Composition of the Population in the Researched ShtetlekhThe problem of organizing the work resources correctly and rationally is closely connected to the age composition of the population…