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.
Responsum: On the Decoration of a Torah Ark
Question: I was asked by the leaders of the holy congregation of Prostějov: A small piece of paper on which was drawn the image of a menorah, with the verses beginning “May God be gracious to us” from…
Responsum: On a Wayward Wife
Question 1: May our teacher and master, the great rabbi, who sits on the throne of halakhic rulings, please instruct and enlighten us regarding an episode that unfolded here in our city of Pisa, may…
Vave ha-‘amudim (Hooks of the Columns)
Now comes the turn, with awe and reverence, awe and reverence without end, of my father, the pious, God-fearing, learned one, may his strength be for the Torah [see Esther 2:15], the supernal light…
Sifte kohen (Lips of the Priest)
That which God puts in my mouth I shall express (Numbers 22:38) in succinct and easy language, so that it will be simple for the discerning to grasp. And my purpose is to inform everyone to whom this…
For Becoming Invisible
For becoming invisible: write the following on a deerskin parchment, wrap it in three layers of leathers, and wear it: Glospats Tsamarkhad, Kilkel, YHWH. Take a rooster in the month of March and put…
Tombstone Inscriptions (Padua)
What shall the passive and lackluster do
if the pious and accomplished are swiftly felled by angels?
Quake, nations, and rich and poor fear ye the judgment day.
When the…
Letter about Martin Luther
Behold, at this time, faithful Jews from the lands of Ashkenaz and Bohemia came to Jerusalem from nearby—with letters from both of these lands—as they came to attest and tell of their interest in a…
Zikaron li-vene Yisra’el (Memorial of the Children of Israel)
We return now to the narrative of our Lord’s doings.
After he had put the pure turban on his head, he made love to his Ashkenazi wife. She conceived; she bore him a son. On…
Selections from the Kurant
Lisbon, July 26. Here three rich Portuguese were detained on suspicion of secretly having practiced their faith. And their lives would have been spared if, God forbid, they would have…
Responsum: On Philosophy
On the thirty-third day of the counting [of the Omer, i.e., Lag b’Omer]. May there be tranquility and pleasantness in your chamber of Torah. May God continuously save the beautiful pearl, for whom the…
Short Treatise on God, Man, and His Well-Being
Love:I see, Brother, that my being and perfection depend entirely on your perfection; and since the perfection of the object you have conceived…