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.
Scenes of Jewish Life in Alsace
After an absence of many years, I returned to Alsace in November 1856, in response to the invitation of an old friend. During this first and short visit, I was greatly moved in recovering all the…
The Jews of Barnow
“Well, as you know already, the story is about Esterka, the daughter of the Jew to whom this house belongs. She was ten years old when he came here, and tall of her age, with black hair and large blue…
Epochs
The calm outgoing of a long, rich day,
Checkered with storm and sunshine, gloom and light,
Now passing in pure, cloudless skies away,
Withdrawing into silence of blank night.
Thick shadows…
Urim ve-tumim (The Urim and Thummim)
This preface represents not a collated anthology but is rather the result of forgetfulness on my part, insofar as I have been terse in the words I have written, which place on record that…
Igeret ha-yeshiva (Epistle on the Yeshiva)
Our dear brethren, Children of Israel, perhaps the time has now come to repair the breaches in our ranks; let us return to uphold the Torah of the Almighty with all our strength. Who will be the…
Aviezer
One day I came back from my synagogue and sat down in my room to take breakfast—a bowl of milk and some bread, instead of the compote juice and butter cake that had been my customary…
A Few Remarks Regarding the Education of Women
So, is it not an injustice for girls to be so neglected that the refined feelings which are God’s gift to all mankind are often destroyed in them? But if you speak to Jewish parents they will tell you…
The Russification of Jews
A major issue within the internal politics of the Russian government concerns the Russification of populations in our remote regions who follow different religions and are of other ethnic backgrounds…
Portrait of the Singer Jenny Lind (the "Swedish Nightingale")
Johanna Maria Jenny Lind (born Johanna Maria Lind, 1820–1887) was known as the “Swedish Nightingale” and was one of the most highly regarded singers of the nineteenth century. After performing in…
Ancienne melodie de la synagogue
Charles-Valentin Alkan was the first composer to incorporate Jewish melodies in art music. His “Ancienne melodie de la synagogue,” a prelude for solo piano or organ, was published in 1847, along with…
Map of the City of Venice, ca. 1729
This eighteenth-century map of Venice includes the ghetto within which the city’s Jews were required to live from 1516 until Napoleon’s conquest of the Republic of Venice in 1797. The Venice ghetto…
The Synagogue of Nahmanides in Jerusalem
This map showing the Naḥmanides Synagogue in Jerusalem, named after the medieval rabbi, was made in Italy by a Jewish scribe and is an example of a “pilgrimage scroll.” Pilgrimage scrolls were known…