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.
Sermon of the Fast of Av (Synagogue of Amsterdam)
Edouard Brandon’s painting of Amsterdam’s famous Portuguese Synagogue (1675) is set on the Ninth of Av, a fast day commemorating and mourning the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Members of the…
Letter to the Editor: On Zionism and the Mizrachi
God bless. Lida, 17th of Tammuz 5664To the distinguished editor, the great and wise rabbi, may his name be praised and glorified, etc., our teacher R. David Katzburg, publisher of the journal Tel…
A Call for the Assistance of the Refugees from Germany
The situation of our brethren in Germany is so frightful that it is unparalleled since the Middle Ages and the time of the decrees of 1648 and 1649. [ . . . ] In “cultured” Germany an enemy has arisen…
An Open Letter
With God’s help, may the Lord order blessing, life, and peace for the leaders and fine men, preeminent individuals, etc., and for their head, the Great Rabbi, etc.Hear, congregation of the Lord and…
From Death-Camp to Existentialism: A Psychiatrist’s Path to a New Therapy
In attempting this psychological presentation and a psychopathological explanation of the typical characteristics of a concentration camp inmate, I may give the impression that the human being is…
At the Heart of the Harem
Esteemed by his bosses, envied by his friends, husband of an intelligent wife, owner of a lovely house, Si Bou-Djemaa might well have been happy if the desire for a new wife had not tormented him.
Tal…
Jews and Ottomans Defending the City of Buda
From May through August 1541, the forces of the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the city of Buda (present day Budapest, Hungary) and captured it, ushering in 150 years of Ottoman rule. This illustration…
Jewish Merchant (Mercante Giudeo)
This depiction of a Jewish merchant is from a travelogue by French geographer Nicolas Nicolay, who is believed to have also done his own illustrations. Considered at the time a key source of…
Alte Synagogue (Berlin)
Built by the non-Jewish architect Michael Kemmeter, the Alte Synagoge (Synagogue) was the first edifice in Berlin built specifically to serve this function. Originally known as the Heidereutergasse…
Amulet for Woman in Childbirth (Amsterdam)
This printed amulet to protect a woman in childbirth features a central scene depicting Adam and Eve and several animals in the Garden of Eden, with a snake coiled around the forbidden “tree of…
Jewish Funeral in Ouderkerk
This etching depicts a body being brought for burial in the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish cemetery at Ouderkerk, the oldest Jewish cemetery (est. 1614) in the Netherlands, located on the Amstel River.