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.
The Three Brothers
“Back at home, I pulled myself together and reflected on what had happened. Given how the people had behaved when they heard the wrongheaded and hateful rabbi’s curse of excommunication, I realized…
Emek refa’im (Valley of Giants)
When I was still young, nineteen years of age, it entered my mind to fool the world (as was the practice of the “holy ones” in those days), and this was the scheme I adopted: I used to travel on…
Igerot Shadal (Letters of Samuel David Luzzatto)
I am a friend to all lovers of Torah and wisdom and my only desire and my complete salvation rest in disseminating the sources of the Torah in order that the earth will be full of the knowledge of God…
Letter to George Washington
Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free citizens, we now (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events) behold a government erected by the Majesty…
The Journey of the Holy Man Abou Naddara Zarqa from Cairo the Victorious to Paris the Glorious
A Conversation between Abou Khalil and Abou Naddara Zarqa at Café Riche, Boulevard des Italiens, on the Night of the 14th of July 1878, Paris[ . . . ] Abou Khalil:Good Lord, I’ve missed your banter…
The Brazilian’s Song from the Opera La vie parisienne
Brazilian, I’m rich, I’ve got dough
There’s plenty of gold in my sack
Paree, here I am, I’ve come back
And richer than ever before!
Two times was I here in the past
My suitcases bulging with gold
A…
Seu Shearim (Lift Up Your Heads, O Gates)
The music for “Se’u She‘arim (Lift Up Your Heads, O Gates)” resembles the choral marches found in grand opera. The words are from Psalm 24: O gates, lift up your heads! Up high, you everlasting doors…
Synagogue (Bechhofen, Germany)
The Bechhofen Synagogue (built in 1685) is believed to have been the largest wooden synagogue in Germany. The interior of the synagogue was painted with lavish decorations in 1732 and 1733, in typical…
Tombstone Inscriptions (Istanbul)
Mikri (“little one”) Wife of Yehuda Hamon (d. 1642)
Yesterday I was playing on the earth, in my husband’s embrace, like a tiny lamb, And an angel came and preyed upon me in his wrath…
Ketubah (Amsterdam)
Adorned with a lush vegetative frame and putti (cherubs) carrying banners, this ketubah (marriage contract) marks the wedding of David and Dona Rachel Curiel, prominent members of Amsterdam’s…
Karaite Ketubah (Crimea)
While ketubot (marriage contracts) are usually written in Aramaic, Karaite ketubot are written in Hebrew. They are often pentagonal in shape, most often with a pointed bottom. This example has a…
High Synagogue (Krakow)
The High (Wysoka) Synagogue was built in a Renaissance style in the mid-sixteenth century in the Kazimierz district of Kraków. It is the third-oldest synagogue in Kraków. This synagogue owes its name…