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.
Amulet for Woman in Childbirth (Amsterdam)
This printed amulet to protect a woman in childbirth features a central scene depicting Adam and Eve and several animals in the Garden of Eden, with a snake coiled around the forbidden “tree of…
Jewish Funeral in Ouderkerk
This etching depicts a body being brought for burial in the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish cemetery at Ouderkerk, the oldest Jewish cemetery (est. 1614) in the Netherlands, located on the Amstel River.
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…
Yom Tov Lipmann Mühlhausen’s Sefer ha-nitsaḥon
This is an image of the title page of the first printing of Yom Tov Lipmann Mühlhausen’s Sefer ha-nitsaḥon (The Book of Victory). The book was first published in Altdorf in 1644 by the priest Theodore…
Ketubah (Hamburg)
This ketubah was written for the wedding of Isaac Senior Teixeira (1631–1705) and Rachel Senior de Mattos. The wealthy Teixeira family (also known as Teixeira de Mattos or Teixeira de Sampayo), was…
Acordos (Regulations): Against Libelous Verses
The gentlemen of the Mahamad [board of governors—Ed.] have received a letter from the very illustrious gentlemen of the Mahamad of the Holy Congregation of T: T: [Talmud…
Israel Is Rejuvenated: In Praise of Prominent Synagogue Members
Israel is rejuvenated like the majestic
Eagle, in the Sapphire of faithfulness,
Flying in the goodness of observance,
Its gaze fixed on the…
I shall recount the love of God: For the Penitential Prayer Service
I shall recount the love of God, the faithful God,
I shall study his words, and prostrate myself to the formidable God, the Lord,
I shall walk in his paths, to the central land, my palace.
Happy…
Tefilah mi-kol ha-shanah me-ha-ari (Prayer for the Whole Year According to the Ari)
Isaac Luria , known as “the holy ARI” (an acronym of his name, meaning “lion”), was one of the most significant figures in Jewish mysticism, famed for pioneering a new conception of theoretical…
Tokhaḥat megula (The Admonition of Magula)
Here is a song that I created,
well composed and uncomplicated;
you can call it a song or call it a dirge.
I’d like to tell you some of my troubles:
some men have problems by…
Dedication (to Gracia Nasi): Consolações às Tribulações de Israel
The heart is prized as the human body’s noblest and most important organ, for it is the first to feel the pain which any other part of the body…
Livro da união geral da nacão: On a Book by Manuel de Pina
Joining the meeting [of the Mahamad; board of governors] was ḥakham [R.] David Cohen who reported that it was brought to his attention that a very scandalous book from…