I’m not sure what exactly you’re referring to. Do you mean classic widgets like these: https://think.unblog.ch/en/wordpress-classic-widgets-instead-of-block-editor/?
Yes, the widget set before turning to blocks (https://ww.wp.xz.cn/documentation/article/appearance-widgets-screen-classic-editor/) seemed to have a text widget which doesn’t seem to be there in the block version or maybe there is one but has a different name?
Classic widgets cannot really be compared to blocks. Blocks offer many more possibilities than widgets ever could. The text widget you are looking for allows you to use simple text with basic formatting at any location within your theme. This can be compared to the normal paragraph block, which does exactly the same thing – and offers more formatting options at the same time.
To use classic widgets in general, you need:
a) a theme that supports widgets, i.e., a classic theme such as the latest classic default theme TwentyTwentyOne.
b) the Classic Widgets plugin, which restores the classic view of widgets.
You will then find the text widget you are looking for under Appearance > Widgets.
