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.
Rabbis of Schwerin to Moses Mendelssohn
Schwerin, 18 May 1772
15 Iyar 5532 to the Jewish counting
To the man possessed of abundant dominion, wisdom, and understanding, renowned for his knowledge, whose name is spoken of in the far-flung…
Notes of a Jew
However modestly my parents lived in the country, however little I was used to luxury and every comfort, at least at home I was used to cleanliness and order…
Letter to Federal Constitutional Convention
7 September 1787SiresWith leave and submission I address myself to those in whom there is wisdom and understanding and knowledge, they are the honourable personages appointed and Made overseers of a…
The Flower
Where everyone travels, in the middle of the road,
there is a wonderful flower.
It’s been lying there and rotting for several days now.
The wind blows it around,
and it cries out and weeps a great…
Burial Society Cup
This silver beaker is one of two commissioned by the Burial Society of Worms in the eighteenth century. Beakers were used at the ceremony inducting members into the society at its annual banquet…
Ketubah (Bayonne)
This ketubah (marriage contract), was signed in Bayonne, France, whose Jewish community originated with New Christians from Spain and Portugal in the sixteenth century. It marks the wedding of Isaac…
Scuola Canton Synagogue, Venice
The second-oldest building in the Venetian ghetto is the Scuola Canton Synagogue. Built several years after the Scuola Grande Tedesca, the Canton Synagogue also served the Ashkenazic community. The…
Great Synagogue (Slonim, Belarus)
The Great Synagogue of Slonim was one of the prominent synagogues of the region, a testament to the prosperity and status of the town’s Jewish community. Today, it is the best-preserved synagogue in…
Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, Interior
Around the time of his move to Amsterdam, the Dutch painter Emanuel de Witte began to produce architectural paintings, particularly of church interiors and other grand buildings. He was interested in…
Schraubtaler (Screw Medal) of Jud Süss Oppenheimer
Joseph ben Issachar Süsskind Oppenheimer was a financier and court Jew who served as adviser to Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg. Economic reforms enacted by Karl Alexander (and informed by…
Elijah and the Fisher Boy
One day, Elijah the Prophet was walking down the road. It was a bright, sunny day. Tree branches blew softly in the wind, and small birds chirped around his head. As he walked, he began to think about…
Memorial
Memorial, like many of Bak’s paintings, evokes the ruins incurred by the Holocaust, in this case symbolized by the shards of shattered Jewish tombstones, possibly hinting at the two tablets of law. A…