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.
Genuine Dialogue and the Possibilities of Peace
I cannot express my thanks to the German Book Trade for the honor conferred on me without at the same time setting forth the sense in which I have accepted it, just as I earlier accepted the Hanseatic…
The Ninth of Ab
August is flat and still, with ever-thickening green
Leaves, clipped in their richness; hoarse sighs in
the grass,
Moments of mowing, mark out the
lengthening summer. The ground
We children…
Travail in an Arab Land
Free of any preoccupations, I allowed myself to seek out and investigate the Jews, their manners and customs. They are good-hearted folk, charitable and hospitable to strangers. They honor the Torah…
Sefer hitavkut (Book of Struggle)
You should know and believe me, and understand, that I did not become zealous against the scoffers for my own glory, or for the glory of my father’s house, but that it was zeal for the Almighty that…
Discourse Delivered at the Consecration of the Synagogue of the Hebrew Congregation Mickve Israel, in the City of Savannah, Georgia, 21 July 1820
Assembled as we are, to re-establish by commemoration, (2) the Congregation of this remnant or small portion of the house of Israel; your expectation of a brief sketch of our History, and particularly…
The Symptoms of the Time
By emphasizing religious activity, Judaism is completely tied to life and becomes the property of every individual Jew. A religion of pure ideas belongs primarily to the theologians; the masses who…
An Answer to the Slav
I hesitate to sound immodest,
So I must warn you in advance,
If you will listen now in earnest,
Then please excuse my stance.
More startling than other words,
And I will use this…
Sabbath Lamp
This Sabbath lamp, cast in silver in Frankfurt am Main, was originally commissioned for a private home. It was made by Johann Valentin Schüler, a craftsman who also produced many other Jewish ritual…
Grapes and Other Promises
Averbuch uses paving stones, railroad ties, steel, glass, and other reclaimed materials in his sculptures, repurposing them but also allowing them to retain signs of their utilitarian past. His works…
Jamma’in II
In Tevet’s deconstructionist wall sculpture, Jamma’in II, painted boxes and other shapes, some of which look like tables and chairs, are arranged around a yellow ring. All the objects seem to be in…
Family Chronicle
At that time, this story [parashah] was written: a great event happened to the Jews, which caused downfall such as never had been in the world before and never would occur again. They came before the…
Historia de’ riti Ebraici (History of the Jewish Rites): On the Sabbath
- Jews hold the Sabbath, above all other feasts, with the greatest veneration on account of it being named so often in the Scripture and being ordered…