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.
Paradesi Synagogue (Cochin, India)
Built in 1568, the Paradesi Synagogue is the oldest synagogue in India, as well as in the entire British Commonwealth. The land on which it was built was a gift from the Rajah of Cochin, Paraja, so…
Yeshivat Dijet Synagogue (Djerba, Tunisia)
The Yeshivat Dijet Synagogue was located in the Hara Seghira (the “small ghetto”) neighborhood of Djerba, Tunisia. It was one of several synagogues in this area, which, along with Hara Kebira, were…
Portrait of My Parents
Iofin’s portrait of his parents, painted before his emigration from the Soviet Union, was a sly protest against Socialist Realism. He painted in the style but parodied it by overloading his picture…
Rendering of Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland
Hecker’s design for the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews (Polin) proposed a complex of two buildings: one a rectangular concrete block and the other a lighter metal and glass structure. The…
Sefer ha-zikhronot (The Book of Memories)
As for myself, I was constantly going back in my studies as well as in manners and conduct. After a while, my father decided to send me to Prague, which was a day’s journey. My older brother was also…
Yesh noḥalin (Some Inherit)
Look from the top of Amana (Song of Songs 4:8) and [see the type of] negotiation carried out faithfully [emunah]:
1. Be diligent in your transactions, to ensure that they are…
Testament (New York)
In the name of God Amen I Rachel Luis being sick of body but of sound mind and Memory Do make this my last will and Testamit in manner and form following that is to say I wish and order that after my…
Takkanot (Regulations)
Every householder is required to have his son taught in school at least until he is twelve years old. He must take care of him and pay his tuition as much as he can afford. If he is unable to pay, he…
Takkanot (Regulations)
No householder or unmarried man above the age of thirteen may wear a colored hat in the synagogue on Shabbat or Yom Tov, only a black hat. Likewise, a householder may not come to the synagogue wearing…
Takkanah (Regulation): On Rabbinic Ordination
So that the truth may not be lacking, the honorable small committee, may God preserve it, considered it their duty to inscribe in a book that which was not written regarding the ordination of his…
Consulta sobre o uso das pinturas (Inquiry into the Use of Paintings)
Since the law prohibits one, in no uncertain terms, from depicting figures, the question one may ask is how Jews have had all manner of paintings in their homes? And it is not enough to say that only…