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.
Rational Judaism
According to the rabbinic view, as soon as a boy has completed his thirteenth year he is required to fulfill all the ceremonial laws, although previously he was excused from some, was not permitted to…
On the Emancipation of Women in Jewish Worship
Theology teaches us that when God the Eternal formed man He gave him an extra rib. This rib was destined for the formation of woman in order that this creature, who was to become the rich…
Light for the Path
We, the entire assembly of the congregation of Israel, believe that the Torah that is in our possession today is exactly the same as was written by Moses our master, peace be on him. From then until…
La Buena Esperansa (The Good Hope)
Hamburg, July 7. (Personal communication) In Smyrna, a newspaper will now be published in the Jewish-Spanish language commonly spoken there, entitled La Buena Esperansa. We have the prospectus dated…
A Polish Jew
This depiction of a Polish Jew first appeared in a book, Neu-eröffnete Welt-Galleria (New Gallery of the World), published in Nuremberg in 1703. Its 101 plates by Caspar Luyken included portraits of…
Torah Ark from the Great Synagogue of Tykocin, Poland
The mannerist and baroque Great Synagogue of Tykocin, Poland, was built in 1642. The synagogue was damaged during World War II and in the years following, but was restored in the 1970s, including its…
Sefer Raziel (The Book of Raziel)
Sefer Raziel (also known as The Book of Raziel the Angel) is a book of practical kabbalah that may have been composed in the thirteenth century, though scholars believe parts of it date from earlier…
Ketubah for Isaac Pereira and Rachel de Pinto
This ketubah was written and illustrated for the wedding of Isaac Pereira and Rachel de Pinto, members of prominent Sephardic families. At the top a pair of hands clasp, and vignettes along the sides…
Self-Portrait
In a self-portrait from ca. 1721, Catherine da Costa depicts herself at work in a studio, painting a portrait of mother and child that resembles paintings of the Madonna and child.
Sefer ha-kavanot (Kabbalistic Intentions in Prayer and Performance of Precepts)
This manuscript copy of Sefer ha-kavanot (The Book of [Kabbalistic] Intentions [in Prayer and Performance of Precepts]) by Ḥayim Vital was written in Meknes, Morocco. The kabbalists in Safed stressed…
Portrait of Simcha Vaz (1582–1643), painted by her son, Moses Belmonte
Simcha (Gimar) Belmonte (born Vaz; 1582–1643) was the wife of Jakob Israel Belmonte (a poet, writer, and trader). She and her husband were among the founders of the Jewish community in Amsterdam after…
Surgical Illustration
These pages are from a manuscript, De dificuldade de ourinar (On Difficulty in Urinating), by a Jewish physician and surgeon in Amsterdam, Samuel de Leon Benavente (1643–1722). He was known for his…