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.
Takkanot (Regulations)
Since D. Bendito has done us the favor of prevailing upon his highness, the Duke of Modena, to allow us into his state with such love and grace…
Appointment of Isaiah Horowitz as Communal Rabbi
We have accepted upon ourselves the rabbi, aluf, the gaon, our teacher and master R. Isaiah ben R. Abraham ha-Levi, of blessed memory, to serve as our av bet din [head of the court] and rosh yeshiva…
Regulations
We, the elders and leaders of the village of Hasköy, have signed below on the advice of our teacher, the rabbi, may he enjoy a long life. Whereas, there are in this village of ours an association of…
Portrait of Alexander David of Braunschweig
Born in Halberstadt, northern Germany, Alexander David (1687–1765) served as Court Jew to Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, providing the ducal court with luxury items as well as banking…
Halakhic Query to David Oppenheim
The incident was as follows: A woman came before me from a backwater Jewish town weeping bitterly over the sins of her youth, as she had been unfaithful to her first husband before she married her…
A Series of Cases regarding Marriage
In the year 303 [1543], Joseph Catalan claimed that he had married his betrothed Regina, daughter of Moses Ḥayim, on Yom Kippur in front of the gate of her father’s courtyard, by giving her a shawl…
Nursery Rhymes
[May] your mornings [be] blessed,
[May] your life [be] long,
[May] your enemies [be] shrouded, dead,
[May] your [hot] breakfasts [be] poured, cooled.
Ture zahav (Columns of Gold)
When the Lord enlarged the border of the Jewish people, and they increased and grew exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with knowledge of the Lord [see Exodus 1:7; Isaiah 11:9] by the…
For Exorcism
To exorcise any spirit or any demon from a person [is] a kabbalistic power [ma‘aseh merkavah] with which King Solomon, peace be upon him, ruled all the demons. Fast for three consecutive days—Monday…
Letter on the Ten Tribes
Concerning the matter of the ten tribes, my dear sir should know that in Egypt, there is a place that is called Sawakin, almost a thirty-day distance away—from there, some say it is a three-day…
The Biography of Shabbetai Tzvi
It happened one day that Sabbatai Zevi returned from Egypt with his wife. As he entered Gaza, the prophet Nathan cried out with a loud voice: “This is the saviour of Israel, the messiah of the God of…