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.
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…
Venice Haggadah
This Haggadah from Venice was commissioned by Moses ben Gerson Parenzo, the last of the Parenzo Hebrew printers, and issued at the Caleoni press on behalf of the Bragadini family. This page shows the…
Haggadah (Prague)
This Haggadah from Prague, printed by Gershom and Grunim Katz with illustrations that are thought to be by Ḥayyim ben David Shaḥor, is one of the earliest Haggadahs ever printed. It was the first…
A Ruling on the Printing of the Zohar
The earth made noise as did the heavens, and the doorposts are shaking at the voice crying out that it would be wrong to publish hidden and sealed materials and to break through the fence established…
Livro de ascamot (Book of Regulations): On a Banned Book
In meetings of the community’s Mahamad [board of governors], past and present, discussions were held about a book that Gideon [Abudiente] ordered printed concerning the…