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.
Ketubah (Rome)
This intricately decorated ketubah (marriage contract) marks the marriage of Gabriel ben Hezekiah Amron to Simḥa bat Shabbetai mi-Segni. It is richly decorated with biblical miniatures, including one…
Horb Synagogue (Horb am Main, Germany)
The interior of the wooden Horb synagogue (completed in 1735) is richly decorated in typical East European style, which artist Eliezer Zusman, originally from Brody, introduced to southern Germany…
Jewish Widow and Jewish Matron
This watercolor from the Gennadius Library’s Costume Album collection, in Athens, depicts two Jewish women—a widow (left) and a married woman (right)—in the colorful traditional attire of…
Sefer ha-kavanot (Kabbalistic Intentions in Prayer and Performance of Precepts)
This manuscript copy of Sefer ha-kavanot (The Book of [Kabbalistic] Intentions [in Prayer and Performance of Precepts]) by Ḥayim Vital was written in Meknes, Morocco. The kabbalists in Safed stressed…
Love among the Palms
Six days left. Less than a week! That means, after next Saturday I would no longer see Sayyid. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t change my clothes. I gritted my teeth, because I was afraid the shriek…
History of Matzah: The Story of the Jews, Part I
The History of Matzah: The Story of the Jews, Part I, is part of a triptych series that employs text and three-dimensional elements in relief to chronicle Jewish history from Moses to the birth of the…
Lament on the Ukrainian Massacre
[To the tune of “Adir ayom ve-nora.”]Come, dear friends, let us cry and lamentThe horrible things that have happened in these times.In the year that Messiah was expected amid tribulation [1648],Cossa…
‘Ets ḥayim (Tree of Life)
These are the generations of Isaac ben ḥayim ben Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac (Genesis 25:19) ben Joseph among the kohanim who trace their family back to Pinehas, son of Eliezer, son of Aaron the…
Memoirs
[ . . . ] Let us return to my maternal grandmother, Matte, of blessed memory. After she married off my late aunt Ulk, she was left penniless with the fatherless child my mother, may she live…
Yesh noḥalin (Some Inherit)
Again, I caution you: when you go to some feast in celebration of the performance of a mitzvah, do not focus only on eating and drinking. Rather, you should first ask some sort of praiseworthy…
Capitoli (Regulations) of Rome
These are the statutes created by the entire association of the Jews of Rome—Italian and foreigners—organized by Daniel da…
Minute Book
In the Name of the Blessed God Amen
Whereas on or about the Year 5466 [1706] certain wholesome Rules and Restrictions have been made By the then Elders of our Holy Congregation, to Preserve Peace…