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.
Letter of Approbation for a Preacher
Lo, here is seed [zera‘] for you (Genesis 47:23), blessed one of the Lord [berakh], his honor the eminent rabbi and great preacher and reprover, in honor of heaven, our teacher and rabbi, Berakh son…
Ketubah for Shavuot
In the Sephardic tradition, a “marriage contract” (ketubah), a symbolic betrothal of God and Israel, is read before the Torah reading on the first day of the holiday of Shavuot
An Impure Occurrence
On the Sabbath a few young girls were [playing] going up and down a ladder in the house of Bella Stella. One of them, Marchigiana, daughter of Aron di Joab, [tripped . . . and] fell; and her virginity…
Letter to His Son
To be given to my dearly beloved and pleasant son-in-law—who fears sin and all whose deeds are worthy—the respected Mr. Falk.
He who delivers this letter, on him be blessing.
From the holy community…
Me’irat ‘enayim (Light of the Eyes)
Lo! I, the insignificant Joshua Falk, son of my Master, my father, the honorable R. Alexander ha-Kohen of blessed memory, was once young and am now aged (Psalms 37:25), and all my life I grew up among…
Pardes rimonim (Garden of Pomegranates)
One who uses the Ineffable Name in this world will have a great punishment, and the reason for this is that he mentions holy letters in impurity, and combines that which is holy with that which is…
Seder tefilot yesharot u-varot (The Order of Upright and Pure Prayers)
Kabbalists prayed using the basic Jewish prayers, but added certain elements according to their own tradition. The prayers are often presented with kavanot (special devotional forms, meanings, and…
Sefer ha-ḥayim (The Book of Life)
As it is written in the Zohar, Shelakh lekha: Women are privileged to merit the joy of the righteous who do the work of the Lord. They establish merit for their portion among the righteous. Men and…
Declaration
We the undersigned have taken it upon ourselves to be in one society, to serve the Lord, may He be blessed, and to busy ourselves with His Torah day and night, in accordance with that which our…
Confession
I admit my guilt in that Christmas past, my said husband Juan Estevan told me how his daughter Inés had ascended to the sky and saw there the deceased and the living; and how the conversos were very…
Letter from Jerusalem
And now, why is it that I ask you, and beg of you, like a son who begs of his father, that you do everything that you possibly can to emigrate to this holy place? If there is no other reason, then it…
De la resurrección de los muertos (On the Resurrection of the Dead)
Book III: In which the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the dead are proved against the Sadducees. The causes of the miraculous resurrection are explained, and the final judgment and…