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.
Sadie Salome, Go Home!
Verse 1Sadie Cohen left her happy homeTo become an actress lady,On the stage she soon became the rage,As the only real Salomy baby.When she came to town, her sweetheart MoseBrought for her around a…
Algemeyne yidishe tsaytung Classified Ad for a Missing Suitcase
My travel bag was lost somewhere between Szerencs and Nyíregyháza. It contained: a tallis, two pairs of tefillin, together with a Yeshuas Yisroel prayer book. There were also two High…
The Nest Disappears
(Written at the end of 1939 in Havana—with thoughts about Poland)
Our poor nest eternally atremble
in the wind.
What will happen now, in bloody storm,
mayn kind?
Now, in bloody storm . . . ?
The…
The Heritage of 5703
5703—Because of its horrors, all the preceding years of Hitler will pale in people’s memory, even 5677 [1917] and 5665 [1905], and even 5408 [1648] and 5252 [1492]. In none of these peak years of the…
Warsaw, Aryan Side
Where shall I start? My thoughts are in turmoil. There is an overpowering desire burning in me to put in writing as speedily as possible all that has happened to us in these years of war, especially…
We Polish Jews
“All right,” someone will say, “granted you are a Pole. But in that case, why ‘we jews’?” To which I answer: because of blood “Then racialism again?” No, not racialism at all. Quite the contrary.
Th…
First Address to the Knesset
It is with a feeling of deep reverence and consecration that I rise to open the Constituent Assembly of the State of Israel, the first Knesset Israel of our time in this eternal…
Notes to an Old–New Debate
Many people believe that the question of “the mingling of the diasporas” will be resolved in the workplace, in the mixed neighborhood, in school, etc. oriental [Mizrahi] Jews, they say, who acquire…
Eulogy for Roi Rotberg
Yesterday morning Roi was murdered. He was lulled by the quiet of the spring morning and did not notice those lying in wait in the furrow.
Today, let us not cast aspersions at the murderers. How can…
Sands of Gold
It was noon and a small boy lay on the couch in the room. The woolly coverlet prickled his back, making him toss about uncomfortably. His eyes roved across the ceiling and down the blank walls to the…
The Escape
All that had happened to him lay behind him like a yawning abyss. There was a strange excitement for him in his adjustment, an intoxication beyond fear. His movements were untrammeled, and as a result…
We Left Slowly
We left slowly. The night was pale.
In the distance the lights flickered.
And you were all loveliness like your two eyes
With tears cupped in them.
The jackal howled as you went to the vineyard
You…