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.
Glass for a Burial Society’s Annual Banquet
This beaker was used by the members of a burial society in Prague at their annual banquet, held on the day traditionally designated as the anniversary of Moses’ death. The painted scene depicts a…
Synagogue (Carpentras, France)
This synagogue, located in Carpentras, in Provence, was built in 1367 but went through serious repairs and was remodeled between 1741 and 1744 by a local civil engineer Antoine D’Allemand, in the…
Megilat ‘efah (Scroll of Terror)
The year 5480 of the creation of the earth and heaven, in the first month, which is the month of Nisan, the wailing of the oppressed increased. For then the hooligans began to cut off and harry the…
Minḥat Yehudah (The Offering of Judah): Commentary on Ma‘arekhet ha-elohut (The Divine Hierarchy)
When I Judah, the son of my master, the wise and righteous R. Jacob ḥayyat, peace be upon him, was in Spain, I tasted a little honey, and my eyes were enlightened. And I took it upon myself to seek…
Derashot (Sermons)
And now I will reveal to you why we call the Sabbath before Passover “the Great Sabbath.”
Know that the minister of Egypt is Aries [the ram], and Scorpio, which is with Aries, and its angel is Samael…
Sefer ha-tsava’ah (Book of the Testament): Ethical Will
Now I will give instructions concerning how to look after me from the beginning of my final illness—when the day of judgment comes, during all the period of my illness, and the time of my death, when…
Gelilot erets Yisra’el (Regions of the Land of Israel)
First, we will describe how to travel from one’s land to Israel. There are many ways by which one can travel. One route is from Venice and another is from the city of Ofen [Budapest], but there is no…
Bylaws
The Parnassim of the Kehillat Kodesh dei Tedeschi (Ashkenaz), Moise di Tardiola and . . . . [blank] give full authority to Rabbi Azriel to make taqqanot (ordinances or statutes):
- All members must pray…