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.
Portrait of Heinrich Heine
A German romantic poet and essayist, Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) was born in Düsseldorf. Unsuccessful in his early business career, he studied law, and settled in Berlin in 1821. There he met with…
Torah Ark Curtain (Gördes)
This Torah ark curtain from Gördes, Turkey, features an archway flanked on either side with double columns and a hanging lamp, a motif common to both Islamic prayer rugs and mats and Ottoman Torah ark…
Kiddush Cup and Wine Carafe (Amsterdam)
This kiddush cup and wine carafe by the master glass engraver Daniel Henriques de Castro displays his delicate technique, known as stippling. Though it is most common for kiddush cups, used for the…
History of Jews in Kraków and Kazimierz, 1304–1868
In 1867, starting in Austria, the idea of equality made its way into normal constitutional life in Galicia. This wasn’t an easy thing to accomplish, due to prejudices that had been cultivated over…
When You Suffer, They Shall Find You
The time (in which we live) is truly “a time to work for the Almighty,” and great is the responsibility now falling upon every Jew with the ability to do so. [ . . . ] All the lands of the diaspora…
The Universalism of Judaism: An Italian Sephardic Perspective
Let us first of all point out that the establishment of a universal religion, Judaism’s ultimate aim, necessitated an exceptional strictness and severity in the particularities of Jewish religious…
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…