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.
Peraḥ Levanon (Flower of Lebanon)
I will print this book in ink as a remembrance and a sign, a memorial for my dear children. For now I will reveal their strength with words, as a reminder for them and their children…
Ethical Will
It is known that our teacher and rabbi, the gaon, exemplar of his generation, the rabbi and teacher Judah bar Bezalel, who is known as R. Loew of Prague, of blessed memory, in several places in his…
Testament (New York)
In the Name of God Amen I Simja de Tores latte of Jamaica Widow being indisposed, and weak in body but of sound mind and memorey and knowin the Certenty of death and the Uncertanity of Its Approch doe…
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…
Takkanot (Regulations)
Considering the great harm and dangers that have befallen the religious communities of Israel on account of overdressing both by women and by young men, we, the undersigned honorable parnasim…
Appointment of a Rabbi in Prague
Now we have already informed all those present of the main point: we have come to inform and announce and make known to His Excellency, because this is the custom, what it is his duty toward us. For…
The de Pinto Family House
The de Pinto family were wealthy merchant bankers who lived in Amsterdam from the seventeenth century on. In the Iberian Peninsula, members of the family converted to Christianity at the end of the…
Responsum: On a Dispute over a Shipment of Wax
Question: The following incident occurred in Rhodes: Reuben purchased 530 okes of wax from Simeon via a third party. Reuben did not take this wax into his possession; rather, as soon as he bought it…
Register of Proceedings: On Charity
We the undersigned have agreed that, seeing the difficulty that there is to collect what every particular member of our Nation must…
Description of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue (Esnoga) in Amsterdam
On the south it is separated from the synagogue of the Polish and German Jews by a branch of the River Amstel; on the west it faces the opulent Casa de los lázaros [hospice for the poor]; on the north…
Shene luḥot ha-berit (Two Tablets of the Covenant): On Shavuot
The study program of this night has already been published and made known to the multitudes through the pamphlets that have been disseminated. And this custom has been disseminated throughout all of…
Noheg ka-tson Yosef (He Leads Joseph Like a Flock): On Rosh Hashanah
21. On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, we pray as on the first day, except that the liturgical poems are different. [ . . . ]
22. And the Musaf service is as on the first day, except that we do not…