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.
Yosef omets (He Will Be Stronger): On the Ten Days of Repentance
980. It is written in Re’shit ḥokhmah [The Beginning of Wisdom (1579), by Elijah de Vidas]: The name of the Ten Days of Repentance indicates that they were ordained to amend the year. They are days of…
Sefat ha-shulḥan (Rim of the Table)
To cause a blessing to rest within your house, by virtue of your deeds in this world throughout your life; to include [a blessing in] the world to come, as indicated by the length of your days…
The day my heart was troubled doubly
The day my heart was troubled doubly,By your love, O crown unto my head,Delight and joy were mine beside the sheepfolds,When your beauteous traits were joined to me.Lovely are your dancing steps, you…
Upon Leaving Lisbon
Here is the infamous [city] gate,
the one of the olive branch and the sword,
for those who leave, it is so closed
and for those who enter, so open.
If in you peace is exiled
you cannot offer that…
Uncle Isidore
When I observe a toothless ex-violinist,
with more hair than face, sprawled like Karl Marx
on a park seat or slumped, dead or asleep,
in the central heat of a public library
I think of Uncle Isidore…
A Prayer
Blessed art Thou, Lord, our God,
King of the Universe,
Who has kept us and protected us,
and supported us until this day
it would be better we had never seen.
You deprived us of nothing,
neither…
Scarab-shaped Seal
Scarab-shaped seal, Achziv, Iron Age IIC (732/701–586 BCE). Seals were used as stamps to impress images and/or words onto clay objects. They were often perforated so they could be suspended from cords…
Judahite Pillar Figurine with Mold-made Head
Terra-cotta pillar figurines are found throughout the biblical territory of Judah and date to the eighth to seventh centuries BCE. Most were decorated with a white background layer and one or more…
Seal of Uriyahu Son of Azaryahu
This seal, found in En Gedi, is made of brown mottled dolerite and decorated with lines and dots that surround and separate the names.
Seal Impression of a Male Figure Holding Two Caprids
Images of this type—with a male figure holding two caprids (probably ibexes) by the horns—are dubbed “master of the animals” and are seen throughout the ancient world. They often represent a female…
Altar of Hewn Sandstone (Ashlars) from Beersheba
This altar is approximately 3.5 feet (1.1 m) tall and 5 feet (1.5 m) square. The protrusions at its upper corners are reminiscent of the “horns” of the Tabernacle altar (see “The Tabernacle”)…
Magyar Jew or Jewish Magyar?
The belated adoption of the first law of Jewish emancipation has led to the assumption that it had no practical value. True as this statement may be technically, it nevertheless needs further…