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.
Register of a Jewish Midwife
This is the book of the generations/children of man, those that were born by my hands among the Hebrew women. I came to them, I the midwife, for they are vital [Exodus 1:15–19] and give birth to a son…
The Escape: A Tale of 1755
A moment of agonized suspense and Alvar Rodriguez stood at the window, the bar he had removed in his hand. He let down the string, to which Hassan’s now trembling hands secured the ladder and drew it…
María
When my father made his last trip to the Antilles, Salomón, a cousin of his whom he had loved since childhood, had just lost his wife. At a very young age, they had come together to South America…
Eulogy for Empress Maria Theresa
Today is the eighth day since the evil tidings came that the crown has fallen from our head (Lam. 5:16). It was my obligation to see that we should immediately have arranged a great memorial service…
Editorial about Jews in the American Civil War
Warsaw, August 15, 1861 [in the weekly journal Jutrzenka (Dawn), August 16, 1861]Everyone knows the reason behind the fratricidal war between secessionists and unionists in the United States. We touch…
Impressions of the Prague Revolution
But I want to go on recounting how the Prague movement developed, and what made the revolution, which brought so many impressive, great, and noble things to light everywhere, made everything in Prague…
Song Settings for the Poet Lord Byron’s Hebrew Melodies
Hebrew Melodies was a collaboration between the English poet Lord Byron (1788–1824) and his friend, the Jewish composer Isaac Nathan. It is a collection of thirty poems by the poet, set to music by…
Title Page for His Version of Salamone de Rossi’s Hashirim asher le-Shelomoh (The Songs of Solomon)
Salamone de Rossi (1570–1630), composer, singer, violinist, and musician in the Gonzaga court in Mantua, is best known for his introduction of polyphony into synagogue music. Composer Samuel Naumbourg…
Portuguese and Ashkenazic Synagogues in Amsterdam
In 1670, Amsterdam’s Portuguese Jewish community commissioned a new synagogue, which, when finished, was the largest in the world. The master mason Elias Bouman, a non-Jew who had helped design the…
Jewish Bride in Fürth
This print depicting a veiled Jewish bride assisted by two other women is from the beginning of the eighteenth century, a period of prosperity for the city’s Jewish community. There were between 350…
Juedisches Ceremonial (Jewish Ceremony): Death and Mourning
This illustration depicting Jewish death and mourning rituals (a sick man on his deathbed, a body laid out for burial, and a funeral procession) appeared in the book, Jüdisches Ceremoniel (Jewish…
Scuola Grande Tedesca (Venice)
The Scuola Grande Tedesca is the oldest of five synagogues in the Venetian ghetto and was built in 1528 by the local Ashkenazic community. Although only its five windows are visible from the street…