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.
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…
Changed His Name
Johannes pushed his cart laden with fruit and vegetables. He pushed with difficulty for his route lay uphill. Automobiles rushed past him, hooting insolently, demanding the road. Awkwardly he turned…
Cobblers’ Street
The heder was in the basement. It was a dark, damp room with a low ceiling. There were two windows on the ground level. In the middle of the room, there was a long wooden table covered with books, two…
Shklover Jews
I know a town in White Russia [Belarus] on the River Dnieper. Its name is Shklov. I was born there, went to heder there, which is why I know it so well.The flame of life burns calmly there. Nobody…
At Heaven’s Gate
When “Papa” Gonta bore down on Tetayev at the head of his Cossack army in the summer of 1768, the little town had a strange look about it: the houses large and small stood desolate, their shutters…
The Columbus Platform
In view of the changes that have taken place in the modern world and the consequent need of stating anew the teachings of Reform Judaism, the Central Conference of American Rabbis makes the following…
Toward an Explanation of Our Ideology
Jewry, and religious Jewry in particular, has always attached prime importance to the rebuilding of Eretz Israel. The Hovevei Zion regarded it as a national duty; for the religious it was a divine…
The Blind Woman
Hannah the blind woman was told before her wedding that her future husband was a widower in the tobacco business; at first they also assured her that this widower had been left with no children from…
Excerpts from His Sacred Writings
54. There are two paths toward faith; one is the absolutely true one, and the other is the rational one. The latter changes in accordance with the times. There are occasions when, if there is some…
On Yiddish Dialects
The following descriptions of Yiddish dialects have the same goal as the work published in Volume I of the Tsaytshrift [ journal]. For the most part, the material has been collected the same way…
On the Issue of Causes of Death among Jews
We are limiting ourselves here to reworking the materials about causes of death and illnesses among Jews. The causes have in recent years been shown to the public in the official statistics of various…