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.
Drawings Published in Harper’s
An illustration for the monthly magazine Harper’s, The Thirty-Second Indiana Regiment (Colonel Willich) Building Pontoons in Kentucky was likely drawn by Henry Mosler during the Civil War. Engravings…
H. M. King Leopold I Stamp
This postage stamp with an image of King Leopold I of Belgium was the first stamp issued on the European continent.
Jewish Burial Society: Sewing the Shrouds and The Washing of the Body
Women played key roles in preparing the deceased for burial. This painting shows women’s involvement in the ultimate act of generosity.
The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third
“Hey, hey, out of my way!” shouted a driver from the seat of his coach as he nearly ran into two women standing in the middle of the busiest street in Glupsk, both carrying…
Fishke the Lame
Fishke started to narrate in his lisping, stammering way.
“You seem to know I married the blind orphan girl, and after the wedding we lived well, like a Jewish couple should. I think I kept my part of…
The Association “Concern for the Needy”
When Berdichev, that famous commercial city, began, in the last few years, to fall from its high estate and the number of newly impoverished but respectable inhabitants kept increasing, I started to…
A Great Announcement
God be praised, it is now a year since we began printing our supplement to Ha-melits, the Kol mevaser, the world’s first newspaper in plain Yiddish. At first, many people ridiculed us, but time has…
Note of Royalty Who Visited the Sephardic Synagogue of Amsterdam between 1642 and 1781
the voice of prayer and the voice of song given inthe house of the lord elohei yisraelthe holy congregations of the sepharadimmay the lord comfort usin this great city of amsterdamfrom the day they…
Letter to Federal Constitutional Convention
7 September 1787SiresWith leave and submission I address myself to those in whom there is wisdom and understanding and knowledge, they are the honourable personages appointed and Made overseers of a…
The Zahiris
It cannot be doubted that the two designations ahl al-ḥadīth and ahl al-ra’y originally referred to branches of legists occupied with the investigation of Islamic law: the former were…
Heder Riddles and Puzzles among Lithuanian Jews
A peasant was transporting a large cart of hay. He had to pass through a low gateway, but the cart couldn’t pass under it. People advised the peasant to wear glasses with magnifying lenses, so that…
Notser ḥesed to Avot (Preserving Mercy [Commentary to Ethics of the Fathers])
As a general rule, however, the spirit and illuminating power of the zaddik affect and inspire only those of his generation who are favorably disposed toward him. They have…