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.
Ḥerem against the Karaites
We have placed in ḥerem [excommunication] David Henriq[ue]s, alias David Almansa, [and] Aron and Ishack Dias da Fonseca and the account reads, as follows:
(In Adar I). The gentlemen of the Mahamad…
A fountain surges from my verse’s house
A fountain surges from my verse’s house.
Its flowing waters quench the thirst of men—
A fountain from the rock of perfect rhyme,
With waters cold to please the yearning man—
A flow unending…
A woman beautiful in every way
A woman beautiful in every way
I give you—pedigreed, with every skill—
And all you want to know is what’s the dowry!
That’s not the way to think; that’s faulty judgment.
If you’d appraise her…
Of a Repentant Sinner
Already (Lord) with humility,
fearing my perdition,
in a sea of contrition
I seek port in Thy pity.
Against Thy immense goodness
I sinned. My sorrow warns me,
that of the error of Thy offending
my…
Memoirs of a Fortunate Jew
At the end of King George Boulevard stood a tall building with two black, cavernous entrances. It served as a brothel, first for Arabs and later for Allied troops. When passing in front of this…
Slave Sale
On the twentieth of Adar, the second year (of Arses), the accession year of Darius, the king, in Samaria the citadel, which is in Samaria the province, Hananiah son of Beyadel sold a certain Yehohanan…
The Place of the Bible in Israeli Society
The Bible, once at the center of the cultural scene, has become marginalized, its magic has faded. A new Israeli generation no longer believes that, to be considered educated, one must be well-versed…
Revolutions in Halakhah
The process that ultimately enabled women to serve as pleaders in the rabbinical courts began thanks to the initiative of one woman, Ruth Margarit Neiger of Raananah…
Solomon’s Senior Officials and His District Prefects
These were his officials:
Azariah son of Zadok—the priest;
Elihoreph and Ahijah sons of Shisha—scribes;
Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud—recorder;
Benaiah son of Jehoiada—over the army;
Zadok and…
Front Cover Illustration for Hans Christian Anderson’s Finf arbeslakh (Five peas)
The Russian Revolution initially brought new freedom for Jewish writers and artists. The new regime lifted restrictions on Jewish publishing, sparking a burst of creativity. In 1918, a group of…
Cover, Di malke Shvo: dramatishe poeme
In 1920 and 1921, Broderzon, the guiding force of Yung-yidish (Young Yiddish), a literary and artistic group he co-founded in Łódź, published over half a dozen books of poetry and plays. Prolific and…
El Tiempo Celebrating 400 Years of Sephardic Life in the Ottoman Empire
El Tiempo (Time) was the first Ladino-language newspaper published in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey) and the longest-running Ladino newspaper in the city, with a run of almost sixty…