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.
Time and the Other
The hope for a better society and the despair of solitude, both of which are founded on experiences that claim to be self-evident, seem to be in an insurmountable antagonism. There…
Amos vs. Amaziah
What made Amos vs. Amaziah weigh so heavily in the annals of history? I can only attempt a hint or an inkling of an answer.
I do so best by returning to the vision of Amos, as he…
Elegy for the Soviet Yiddish Writers
I weep for you with all the letters of the alphabet
that made your hopeful songs. I saw how reason spent
itself in vain for hope, how you strove against regret—
and all the while your hearts were…
Seeker of Truth
He said: “Show me, I pray You, Your glory!”
Behold, wise men have declared,
Moreover, the proofs adduced by them have attested,
That the senses are illusory,
Mirages are legion,
Thoughts are…
Derushe ha-tselah (Sermons [of Landau])
One who exchanges good for bad and bad for good, and says that transgressions are really virtuous deeds, and that it is by this means that one can bring the Will of the Creator to fruition—such an…
Peri ha-arets (Fruit of the Earth)
Devekut requires that there be no impediment between man and God; only then is devekut possible. As in the parable of the Besht, it is impossible to join silver coins together…
The Jews in Our Time
They [the hasidim] study Kabbalah and Talmud diligently and successfully, and consequently they have among them excellent Talmud scholars. They also comprise three groups, each of them under one chief…
A Sermon Delivered at the Great Synagogue of Smyrna on the Arrival of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore in that City after His Successful Mission on Behalf of His Persecuted Brethren in Damascus
Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. —Genesis 28:15.
From the Midrash Shoḥer tov. “For the leader. Of the servant of the Lord, of David…
Discorso circa il stato de gl’Hebrei et in particolar dimoranti nell’inclita Citta di Venetia (Discourse on the Condition of the Jews, and in Particular Those Living in the Illustrious City of Venice): On the Jewish Population
As for the number of the Jews, one cannot precisely determine it, not even having firm knowledge of the places in which they dwell. Regarding the ten tribes that were captured by…