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.
Journal, 1935–1944: The Fascist Years
I am beginning to get used to the years of war. We seem to struggle through the same journey from first of January to first of January, in a nightmare that is itself beginning…
From Death-Camp to Existentialism: A Psychiatrist’s Path to a New Therapy
In attempting this psychological presentation and a psychopathological explanation of the typical characteristics of a concentration camp inmate, I may give the impression that the human being is…
The Autobiography of Nahum Goldmann
My negotiations with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his associates, which culminated in the Luxembourg Agreement of 1952, make up one of the…
God, Man, and History
[ . . . ] Immanuel Kant once wrote: “The true [moral] service of God is . . . invisible, i.e., it is the service of the heart, in spirit and in truth, and it may consist . . . only of intention.” Thi…
Journal
We will compose a little book that will also serve as an amusement when, in ten years’ time, we want to look back into the past and observe what we lived through. All people have a weakness for…
No‘am Elimelekh (Pleasing Qualities of Elimelech)
In the blessing “With a great love hast Thou loved us,” we say, “and unify our heart to love and fear Thy Name.” This is apparently in contradiction to the principle…
From the Introduction to His Father’s Book, Noda bi-Yehudah
I truly heard a mouth of holiness uttering these words, namely the holy and honored one of the Almighty, the most renowned, illustrious, saintly, and godly kabbalist, our teacher, R. ḥayim of Sanz of…
Ma’or va-shemesh (Light and Sun)
Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of figure and beautiful of appearance (Gen. 29:17). Targum Onkelos renders this verse as “Leah’s eyes…
Hymns Written for the Use of Hebrew Congregations. Charleston, Congregation Beth Elohim
While man explores, with curious eye,
The works of nature and of art,
He passeth real wisdom by,
Nor cares to read the human heart.
A stranger to…
Catechism for Jewish Children: Designed as a Religious Manual for House and School
1. What religion do you profess?
I believe in the Mosaic Religion, which was revealed by the Lord; and I esteem the same as the true, pure, and unmixed word of God.
2…
Introduction to the Pentateuch
It has been a belief universally shared by Israelites of all times that the Pentateuch was exclusively and entirely authored and redacted by the great prophet Moses; only the last chapter of…
The Claims of the Jews to an Equality of Rights
We will admit, that, during the ages of superstition and darkness, silence was often imposed upon us by the terrors of…