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.
A Sermon Delivered at the Great Synagogue of Smyrna on the Arrival of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore in that City after His Successful Mission on Behalf of His Persecuted Brethren in Damascus
Remember, I am with you: I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. —Genesis 28:15.
From the Midrash Shoḥer tov. “For the leader. Of the servant of the Lord, of David…
Maḥzor
This prayer book for the Rosh Hashanah festival from Crete is elaborately decorated inside with drawings of animals and people and has a colorful title page. Greek (Romaniote/Byzantine) Jews had lived…
The Jewish Cemetery at Ouderkerk
The Jewish Cemetery at Ouderkerk is one of Jacob van Ruisdael’s better-known works. Purchased for use by the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish congregation in Amsterdam in 1641, the cemetery holds twenty…
Three Representatives of the Prague Burial Society
Three representatives of the Prague Burial Society in the 1730s are pictured in these portraits: Jonas Jeitteles (1735–1806, the community’s official physician), Rabbi Leib Fayvel Dayan (another…
Lo Tishkach (Thou Shalt Not Forget)
Berman’s best-known work is her Holocaust memorial for the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island in Washington State. The twelve-foot-high bronze sculpture consists of stylized Hebrew…
I Hate the Name Kenneth
Abraham from Odessa changed his name. He had to if he wanted to get ahead at Ford where he got a job painting stripes on Model Ts. Fifty years later Albert retired, a vice-president in the tractor…
Pond (55)
In 2000, Cohen Levy had an exhibition, at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, of a series of paintings of ponds. Each of the paintings has a pattern: a single image, such as leaves, eyes, or fish, which is…
Yeven metsulah (Abyss of Despair)
The Oppressor Chmiel, may his name be blotted out, heard that many Jews had gathered in the holy community of Nemirow, and that they had a great deal of…
Sheloshah perushim (Three Commentaries) on the Song of Songs: Story of His Exile
R. Isaac ben Abraham ben Judah ‘Akrish, may he rest in peace, from exile in Spain and Naples, said that he would not receive the proud waters [of baptism; see Psalms 124:5], and was driven out…
Account of a Vision
Listen carefully to my words. When I was in the land of Safed, one night, when the sun had set, I was tired and weary, lying on my bed. I was asleep, but my heart was awake; my beloved was knocking…
Last Will and Testament
In the year fifteen hundred and forty-nine, the seventh indiction, the first day of the month of February, during the time of the pontificate of the Holy Father in Christ Our Lord, Lord Paul III, pope…
Notisias dos Judeos de Cochim (Report on the Jews of Cochin)
Moved by the fraternal love nourished in my…