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.
Paper Cut—Brit Milah
Paper cuts have been a tradition of Jewish folk art, with the earliest record of one dating to the fourteenth century. Given the widespread availability of paper in Europe by the mid-nineteenth…
Interior of the Beth Elohim Synagogue Charleston, South Carolina (Solomon Nunes Carvalho)
The only image of the interior of the first synagogue of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, a congregation established in Charleston in 1749, is this picture, painted from memory by Solomon Nunes Carvalho. The…
The Death of Tasso
One of Friedrich Friedländer’s best-known paintings, The Death of Tasso, depicts the death of the Italian poet Torquato Tasso (1544–1595). Tasso was famous for his epic poem, La Gerusalemme liberate (…
Editorial: On Creating Barnard College
At the present moment there are from New York City and suburbs two women students at Cornell, four at Bryn Mawr, thirteen at Smith, seventeen at Vassar (besides fifteen in preparation for it) and…
We Speak and Write This Language against Our Will
Dear Vara of my soul,
Wherever it may be, I am always hit in the face by a pet peeve, some vexation and angst, due to the misbehavior of certain of our women who still do not know whether they are in…
In Judah and the Galilee
Not fire and sun—but our blood will redden, Oh Zion, your mountains—
Right after disembarking and finishing my business with the numruk [custom house], I hurried to Petah Tikva. My friends implored…
Those Ancient Lands, Being a Journey to Palestine
I cannot linger in Egypt. They that came before me tarried too long. I have had the taste on my tongue and the dead air in my nostrils. Enough. That will serve.
Zagazig…
Jaffa Changes Its Face
We must emphasize the impact Jews are having on the town of Jaffa. Those who knew Jaffa in the past can testify that the town owes a lot to the Jews; its appearance has changed dramatically over the…
The Angola Plan for Jewish Colonization
The idea of reopening the doors of Portugal and its colonies to Jews is not new. It is born out of a spirit of non-Jews and Jews, who know firsthand the nobility and high-mindedness of Portuguese…
Letter to Ha-Shaḥar on Reviving the Hebrew Language
It is plain for all to see, sir, that our youth is abandoning our language—but why? Because in their eyes it is a dead and useless tongue. All our efforts to make them appreciate the importance of the…
An Attempt to Open a School for Jewish Girls in Ottoman Istanbul
Today in every district of Istanbul and neighboring areas we can see Muslim, community, and foreign schools that disseminate instruction and enlighten the people. [For my part] I work as a teacher at…
Artistic Masterwork
Arnold Böcklin is dead—yet who among you knew that he lived? If I were to tell you that he was the man who knew how, with paintbrush dipped in colors upon a piece of canvas, to shake every heart…