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.
Last Will and Testament
O most high and sovereign Creator of heaven and earth, not one of Your countless creatures can resist Your will. Without it neither men nor birds nor brutish beasts could live upon the earth. Unless…
Testament (Jamaica)
In the name of God Amen I Judith Baruh Alvares of the parish of Port Royal in the island of Jamaica widow being in an ill state of health but of sound mind and disposing memory thanks be to my eternal…
Pinkas Lita (Register of Lithuania): On Excommunication
If one who has been excommunicated does not act to have his excommunication removed within thirty days, and the local rabbinic court sees and observes that he remains in his state of rebellion when he…
Acordos (Regulations): On Unruly Boys
On the 28th of Tisry, yr. 5468 [1707], the gentlemen of the Mahamad and their councillors met to correct the disorders caused in this Holy House by the big boys and lads who do not attend the Medras…
Community Register
We the undersigned hereby declare that to sustain the community and for the welfare and the peace of the communities of our city, of common accord we have issued for twenty years the following…
Regulations
With the help of the Almighty; this is a true copy of the original.
We, the undersigned, hereby confirm that the guild of kayīkjis [caique-owners; boatmen] of Ortaköy have undertaken the obligation to…
Divre rivot (Words of Contention)
The following incident occurred: On the holy Sabbath of ḥol ha-mo‘ed Passover in the year 5335 [1575], many virtuous individuals from the Lisbon congregation arose and came to an agreement among…
Me‘il tsedakah (Robe of Righteousness)
Regarding that which is written: a man’s gift [makes room for him] (Proverbs 18:16), this means that the gift itself, which one personally gives to the poor, will make room for him. When you provide…
Regulation: On Preaching
Regarding this recent occurrence of some men going and walking around the Galilee and Judea [the region of Lithuania] and preaching in public without the permission or authorization of the local rabbi…
Letter to His Bride
Most magnificent and honored bride, my lady I gaze upon you:
Since I left Piacenza, I can honestly say that I am far away from my life. Oh, how can I live, and how can I hold up my limbs when I am so…
Paraḥ mateh Aharon (The Staff of Aaron Had Sprouted)
The rich and honorable Moshe haCohen, resident of the city Castoria may God protect it, says as follows: he has been given a bad wife, and that during their marital life…
Bet Yosef (The House of Joseph): Introduction
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who created His world for the purpose of mankind, and, from all the different sorts of men, chose for Himself a nation as a special treasure—namely…