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.
Letter to Shmuel Niger on the New Jewish Book
Deeply respected Niger,I ask you to endure me in Russian.I want to express to you my happiness that we are approaching the time of the new Jewish book, a book created with love towards [the thing]…
Sefat emet: The Inner Sustaining Point
He looked, and there was a well in the field, and there were three flocks of sheep lying down by it, for from that well the flocks were watered. But the stone was large on the mouth of the well. When…
Ideological Diversity and Unity: Orthodoxy, Nationalism, and Liberalism
Three forces are wrestling now in our camp. The battle between them is especially discernible in Erets Yisrael, but their effect draws from the life of the nation at large, and their roots are…
Who Is a Sephardi?
Haifa 1 Elul, 5724 August 9, 1964 To: His Excellency David Ben-Gurion Sde BokerDear Sir,From your letter of May 19, 1964, I understood that you wish to avoid a comprehensive discussion of the problems…
A Kind of Survivor
For Elie Wiesel
Not literally. Due to my father’s foresight (he had shown it when leaving Vienna in 1924), I came to America in January 1940, during the phony war. We left France, where I was born and…
How to Bring Mashiah
1. “If you’re planting a tree and you hear Mashiah has come, first finish planting and then run to the city gates to tell him Shalom” (Yochanan Ben Zakkai).
Therefore: Plant a tree somewhere as a…
On the Discords among the Jews of Izmir
Gentlemen, having received incorrect information in the last column of the previous issue, we reported that the discords in our community had been settled. We also promised to give a detailed account…
Poster of Rachel Félix
Born near Mumpf, Switzerland, Rachel (born Elisa-Rachel) Félix (1821–1858) was a prominent French actress. Her parents worked as peddlers, and, as a child, she performed music alongside her sister…
Cemetery of the Fürth Jewish Community
This print depicting the Jewish cemetery of Fürth, Germany, is from the beginning of the eighteenth century, a period of prosperity for the city’s Jewish community. There were between 350 and 400…
Zeh ha-sefer toledot Adam (This Is the Book of the Generations of Adam)
The art of chiromancy (palmistry), which divines a person’s nature and often his or her future by examining the palm and fingers (and sometimes forehead), dates back to the ancient Near East and…
Haggadah (Amsterdam)
This Haggadah from Amsterdam was printed by Joseph ben Abraham Athias and is adorned with elaborate copper etchings by artist Abraham Bar Jacob. It was the first Haggadah to include these sorts of…