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.
Her Hair
O peerless beauty, veil your hair, lest you play havoc with the world, without lifting a finger! They are famous throughout the world, they ring in the ears of all who hear of them. The weakest…
To His Gadabout Wife
Only three exits are becoming to every woman, big or small. The first is when she exits from the womb, dirtied, as if from a deep swamp. The second is when she exits from her woman’s tent and enters…
All Those Who Love You
I left his house
Of my own volition.
In order to build him a house
Of my own volition.
But it seems my father
Remained solitary
And neglected
Not of his own volition.
I was moving towards my…
The Dancing
In all these rotten shops, in all this broken furniture
and wrinkled ties and baseball trophies and coffee pots
I have never seen a post-war Philco
with the automatic eye
nor heard Ravel’s “Bolero”…
Russia, Russia Fragments
Oh, Father of great mercy
In sunset’s flame there fades
My cradle land
That was once nearer to me than my salt-crusted shirt
Where with my brother Russian
I shared more than once
A measly bite of…
Bewildering Clarity of Tongues
for Aaron Lebedeff (1873–1960), performer on the Yiddish stage
Bewildering clarity of tongues:
names you never heard, food
you never ate, a wild dance
you never learned, light hanging
in the sky…
Lamelekh Seal Impression with Winged Sun Disk
Many of the seal impressions, with the inscription lamelekh “(Belonging, or pertaining) to the king,” followed by the name of a city, feature a two-winged figure, probably a winged sun disk…
Sight Unseen
Jonathan:I know you do. It cracks me up that you do; it amuses me. You know, up till like eight or nine years ago, let’s not forget, I was painting apartments for a living. Apartments. Walls. Rooms. I…
Double-pipe Player
On this ceramic double pipe from Tel Malhata, the musician uses one hand on each pipe to control pitch. Usually women played the double pipe, but in this case, it is a man. This double pipe is…
Assurbanipal Feasting in Palace Garden
Assurbanipal Feasting in Palace Garden, relief from the palace of Assurbanipal (reigned 669–627 BCE) in Nineveh. The king and his queen are surrounded by ornamental and fruit trees, palms, and vines…
The Sunset of the Titans
The spring of 1998 was kind to the Jezreel Valley. The rain, which was heavy and late, colored the slopes of the Gilboa with bright green and spread carpets of wildflowers on them—red, purple, and…