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.
Letter to the Editor: On Zionism and the Mizrachi
God bless. Lida, 17th of Tammuz 5664To the distinguished editor, the great and wise rabbi, may his name be praised and glorified, etc., our teacher R. David Katzburg, publisher of the journal Tel…
A Call for the Assistance of the Refugees from Germany
The situation of our brethren in Germany is so frightful that it is unparalleled since the Middle Ages and the time of the decrees of 1648 and 1649. [ . . . ] In “cultured” Germany an enemy has arisen…
An Open Letter
With God’s help, may the Lord order blessing, life, and peace for the leaders and fine men, preeminent individuals, etc., and for their head, the Great Rabbi, etc.Hear, congregation of the Lord and…
The End of the Jewish People?
At last you admit that Israel, caught up in the wave of technical progress, is becoming an industrial society “like the others.” You find it acceptable that the Jews, transformed in the…
The Rise of Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism is a phenomenon of man’s restless spirit. At its best it is a dynamic faith—and its very dynamism…
La Buena Esperansa (The Good Hope)
Hamburg, July 7. (Personal communication) In Smyrna, a newspaper will now be published in the Jewish-Spanish language commonly spoken there, entitled La Buena Esperansa. We have the prospectus dated…
Map of Jerusalem
In this seventeenth-century map, Jerusalem is depicted as a fairly dense city within a wall, with only a few structures outside. Men in Arab dress stand in small groups conversing with one another in…
A Polish Jew
This depiction of a Polish Jew first appeared in a book, Neu-eröffnete Welt-Galleria (New Gallery of the World), published in Nuremberg in 1703. Its 101 plates by Caspar Luyken included portraits of…
Portrait of Jud Süss
Joseph ben Issachar Süsskind Oppenheimer (1698–1738) was a financier and court Jew who served as adviser to Duke Karl Alexander. Economic reforms enacted by Karl Alexander (and informed by Oppenheimer…
Portrait of Isaac Aboab da Fonseca
This engraving portrays Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, a rabbi, kabbalist, and preacher, born in Castro Daire, Portugal, to a family of New Christians. He arrived in Amsterdam with his family at the age of…
Technical Diagram from Joseph Delmedigo’s Elim
This is a technical diagram from Joseph Delmedigo’s Sefer Elim (Book of Elim), a scientific and philosophical work published by Menasseh Ben Israel.