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 Notion of a “Jewish Community” in France
The use of the notion of “community” to define French Judaism is not self-evident. On the one hand, if “community” renders the medieval kahal, the concept has a long history and has engendered any…
How a Samovar Helped Me Theorize Latin American Jewish Literature
There’s a marvelous story by Eduardo Stilman about a silver samovar. It caressingly describes the prodigious object—its polished ebony handles, finely carved arabesques, mischievously-turned spigot…
The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties
Jewishness, the conscious affirmation of the qualities that make Jews Jews, presumes a contrast between Us and Them. The Jews constitute an Us; all the rest of humanity, or, in Jewish language, the…
Do Not Rely on Egypt, Rely on God
Ha!
Those who go down to Egypt for help
And rely upon horses!
They have put their trust in abundance of chariots,
In vast numbers of riders,
And they have not turned to the Holy One of Israel,
They…
Facing Forward
Toward the end of the 1990s, a storm erupted among members of the Ethiopian community. They discovered that suspicions were being raised about the health of their blood, and that donations were…
Arab-Jewish Bilingual Co-education in Israel: A Long-Term Approach to Inter-Group Conflict Resolution
Considering the sociopolitical context in Israel […], it is clear to all that the idea of creating Arab-Jewish coeducation is a daring enterprise. The Center for Bilingual Education in Israel (CBE)…
Honey from the Rock
The wilderness is not just a desert through which we wandered for forty years. It is a way of being. A place that demands being open to the flow of life around you. A place that demands being…
Israel’s Rebellious Past and Its Future
In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, certain elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat down before me. And the word of the Lord came to me:
O mortal, speak to the…
Emet Ve-Emunah: Statement of Principles of Conservative Judaism
Halakhah consists of the norms taught by the Jewish tradition, how one is to live as a Jew. Most Jewish norms are embodied in the laws of the…
Cause and Effect: When God Warns, the Prophet Is Compelled to Deliver the Warning
Hear this word, O people of Israel,
That the Lord has spoken concerning you,
Concerning the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
You alone have I singled out
Of all the families…
The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism
What should your intention be as you draw near to this wisdom?
Pursuing the straight path, dividing your time between Bible, Talmud, and this wisdom, partaking of each…
Ecology
Through narrative, poetry, law, and prayer, the Bible conditions its readers to feel reverence for nature, enjoins restraint in the exploitation of natural resources for human needs, elicits awe in…