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.
Toldot rabenu he-hakham Mosheh ben Menahem (Biography of Our Wise Teacher, Moses, Son of Menachem)
On the twelfth of the month of Elul in the year five thousand four hundred and eighty-nine, Menaḥem the scribe and teacher of young children in the community of Dessau, became the father of Moses,…
Account of His Visit to Lublin
I was privileged to visit Lublin with my late father when I was a boy of nine, and I saw his [the Seer’s] face illuminated like torches. And when he opened the door to recite Ke-gavnah [An Aramaic…
In Praise of the Ba‘al Shem Tov
While he was on his journey, Elijah the Prophet revealed himself to him and said: “Because of the merit of your behavior a son will be born to you who will bring light to Israel…
The Hypocrite
After finishing the letter, Elisheva handed it back to Hogeh and gracefully added: “Would that letters such as this might appear more often in our literature! For only such refinement of language will…
Reader for Jewish Children
The Lion’s Chancellor, the Wolf, was taken to court by all the animals, who complained that no living being was safe from his predatory jaws. “This insatiable creature…
Megaleh temirin (The Revealer of Secrets)
Thus I went to all the tsadikim and I heard what they say in secret, and I also took the letters that they or those who serve them sent to one another and they didn’t see, because by means of the…
A Great Announcement
God be praised, it is now a year since we began printing our supplement to Ha-melits, the Kol mevaser, the world’s first newspaper in plain Yiddish. At first, many people ridiculed us, but time has…
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein is an opéra bouffe (French comic opera), composed by Jacques Offenbach when his career was at its height. It premiered in 1867 and had performances at the Paris…
Esther’s Triumph
Friends, let’s celebrate this day—Viva!
Purim, occasion to be gay—Viva!
Safe and free from Haman’s wrong,
Let’s shout in unison this song—Viva, viva, viva . . .
Esther, brilliant as the sun—Viva!
G…
Klausen Synagogue (Prague)
The Klausen Synagogue in Prague gets its name from the kloyz (a complex of buildings used for religious purposes, including synagogues) that originally stood on its site, erected in the 1570s. The…
Interior of the Synagogue in Fürth
This print depicting a service in the synagogue in Fürth is from the beginning of the eighteenth century, a period of prosperity for the city’s Jewish community. There were between 350 and 400 Jewish…