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 Her Husband
Many good, blessed and pleasant years, may they surely come to you and to your head and hairs! To the hands of my lovely, dear, beloved husband, the pious and prudent, worthy R. Loeb, may his Rock and…
Testament (Mannheim)
Knowing that with respect to money, if my husband will not agree, my last will and testament will not be valid, I request, for the sake of the One above, may His name be blessed forever and ever, he…
Kitāb-i Sar-guzasht-i Kāshān (The Book of Events in Kashan)
Come, O heart, and proclaim a flood upon the world; no…
Megilas Vintz (The Scroll of Vintz)
Every day they took from us whatever their hearts desired. They said to us, “We are needed to protect you from the mob.” We had no choice but to believe them. We had to take being cheated. They…
Keter Kehunah: On the Seer’s Fall
On the night of Simhat Torah 5575 [1814], the Seer closeted himself in his room on the second story of his home. The one window overlooking the wide Jewish street was open; it was very near to the…
Letter to the Editor: On Kashering for Passover
Since time immemorial Jews in every city would customarily kasher the dishes they use throughout the year for Passover—glassware by soaking, and pots by heating them to a very high temperature. But a…
Jewish Cookery Book
Get a calf’s head, with the skin on, but cleaned from the hair. Half boil it; take all the meat off in square pieces; break the bones of the head, and boil them in some good veal and…
Shevaḥ ha-nashim (In Praise of Women)
If I was indeed engaged in my youth with singing and the musical art, surely it is the most magnificent of the arts, and I have elucidated its beneficial effects in the Abir Ya‘akov in this commentary…
Ḥeshek Shelomoh (Solomon’s Desire)
The book’s name: This book [Song of Songs] is called a “song,” a noun bearing several meanings. First, it denotes music, as in the verse: all the daughters of song (Ecclesiastes 12:4), which means…
Peri tsadik (Fruit of the Righteous)
May the bridegroom rejoice and the roses multiply, let sorrows fade away and let the young, old, and simple-minded understand. May the grooms be joyful with strophic poetry (shirot) and songs (renanot…