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.
Justyna’s Diary
While imprisoned by the Nazis and awaiting her death, Gusta Dawidsohn-Draenger recalls her last supper with other resistance leaders in the Vilna ghetto.
The Bible View of Slavery
A Civil War–era Jewish leader defends the institution of slavery in the South based on his reading of the Hebrew Bible.
Don Carlos at the Turn of the Century
Karle:Who is coming? What do I hear! God Almighty![Markwitz standing in the door.]Markwitz, tall, thin appearance. Threadbare elegance of the nineties. He is, without a doubt, a…
Response to “A Bible View of Slavery”
On the eve of the Civil War, a Southern rabbi explains why the Jewish tradition requires an antislavery position. His congregants disagree vehemently with his stance.
Oppression and Exodus
From movies to civil-rights movements, the Exodus stands at the center of Western thought and culture. You will still be surprised by what is, and what isn’t, in the account.
The Shohet (from “Had Gadya”)
The violence of the Passover song “Had Gadya” (“Who Knows One”) clearly spoke to this illustrator’s sense of horror following World War I.
Purim Eve, a One-Act Comedy
Cast [in this passage]Abraham Levi: Rich merchantAneta: Abraham Levi’s wifeMax, Yosef, and Aron: Abraham and Aneta Levi’s sonsFrida and Klerchen: Abraham and Aneta Levi’s daughtersShmuel Natan: Zionis…
Miriam’s Song
What if Miriam were remembered just as a person rescuing her brother Moses rather than as the heroine responsible for saving the man who would redeem the Jewish people from bondage?
Bronx Primitive: Portraits in a Childhood
This excerpt from Kate Simon’s Bronx Primitive: Portraits in Childhood explores the controversial and secretive decision many immigrant women made to get an abortions, and the means of obtaining one.
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force Recruitment Poster
This surprising 1942 Hebrew-language poster from Palestine calls for women to serve in an all-female unit within Britain’s Royal Air Force. This recruitment office was not open on Saturdays!
Report from Lucienville Agricultural Colony
Founded in 1900 by members of Lucienville colony, the Jewish Agricultural Society was one of the first agricultural cooperatives in Argentina and is still in existence today.
Mission of Ha-Ḥerut
Without noise and commotion, without blowing the shofar like many newspapers do when they are founded, without sundry promises, we present to you, dear readers, the first issue of the newborn Ha-Ḥerut…