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.
Great Synagogue (Lutsk, Ukraine)
The Great Synagogue of Lutsk (Łuck) in Ukraine was built in 1626. Renaissance in style, the synagogue is an example of a fortress synagogue, built not only as a house of worship but also with the…
Sefer goralot
These illustrated pages are from a manuscript copy of Sefer goralot (Book of Lots), a treatise on geomancy, which was a method of divination popular in the medieval world. The text was attributed…
Tombstone from Cochin, India
Tombstone of a son of Ephraim Cohen, who was buried in a Jewish cemetery in Cochin, India. The first Jewish communities in Cochin were established as early as 1000 CE, and legends claim that Jews were…
Paradesi Synagogue (Cochin, India)
Built in 1568, the Paradesi Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in India, as well as in the entire British Commonwealth. The land on which it was built was a gift from the Rajah of Cochin, Paraja, so…
Yeshivat Dijet Synagogue (Djerba, Tunisia)
The Yeshivat Dijet Synagogue was located in the Hara Seghira (the “small ghetto”) neighborhood of Djerba, Tunisia. It was one of several synagogues in this area, which, along with Hara Kebira, were…
Portrait of My Parents
Iofin’s portrait of his parents, painted before his emigration from the Soviet Union, was a sly protest against Socialist Realism. He painted in the style but parodied it by overloading his picture…
Rendering of Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland
Hecker’s design for the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews (Polin) proposed a complex of two buildings: one a rectangular concrete block and the other a lighter metal and glass structure. The…
Sefer ha-zikhronot (The Book of Memories)
As for myself, I was constantly going back in my studies as well as in manners and conduct. After a while, my father decided to send me to Prague, which was a day’s journey. My older brother was also…
Yesh noḥalin (Some Inherit)
Look from the top of Amana (Song of Songs 4:8) and [see the type of] negotiation carried out faithfully [emunah]:
1. Be diligent in your transactions, to ensure that they are…
Testament (New York)
In the name of God Amen I Rachel Luis being sick of body but of sound mind and Memory Do make this my last will and Testamit in manner and form following that is to say I wish and order that after my…
Takkanot Kandia (Regulations of Candia): On Cursing
A protective fence against those who curse the public and open their mouths without restraint with foul language.
The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things…