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.
“Superduperman,” Mad #4
Over its more than fifty-two years of publication, Mad Magazine skewered everyone from politicians to movie stars, with a particular dedication to rooting out hypocrisy. Here it spoofs its own genre…
Summer Evening, Via di Monserrato, Rome
Summer Evening is one of a series of photographs William Klein took in Rome in 1956 when he was there to serve as an assistant on a movie directed by Federico Fellini. Shooting was delayed, so the…
“Chickensouperman” from L’il Abner
L’il Abner, set in the fictional town of Dogpatch in Kentucky, presented a stereotyped view of the U.S. South. But its trenchant satire targeted political and social issues, and popular culture. Here…
Sheep Readers, Le Nouvel Observateur, cover
The artist André François was particularly renowned for his cartoons, done initially for left-wing French newspapers. This cartoon of sheep clad in newsprint appeared on the cover of an issue of Le…
Ignác Goldziher Speaking at His Bar Mitzvah, 1863
Hungarian orientalist Ignác Goldziher (1850–1921) was born in Székesfehérvár and studied in Berlin and Leiden. He traveled in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. For nearly thirty years, Goldziher was an…
Torah Curtain
This Torah curtain was made in Ankara, Turkey. The motifs of a central menorah and hands making the priestly blessing were common in other Ottoman Jewish ritual folk art. Embroidered verses from the…
Burial Comb and Nail Pick of the Bischitz Burial Society
The process of ritual purification of a dead body, known as taharah, involves careful cleaning of the corpse. Prior to being dressed in a white cotton shroud, the body of the deceased is washed, the…
Paper Cut—Yortsayt
This paper cut, commemorating the anniversary of a date of death, originates from Galicia.
Portrait of the Marquesa de Llano
Isabel María Parreño Arce y Valdés (1759–1822), the Marquesa de Llano, had her portrait painted by Anton Raphael Mengs, in Parma, Italy, where her husband was the ambassador from Spain. At the time…
The Funeral of the Five Victims
Aleksander Lesser’s most famous painting is The Funeral of the Five Victims, which depicts the public funeral of five men shot by the Russian military on March 2, 1861 during a rally calling for…
The Dutch Sewing School
The Dutch Sewing School is from a period in Max Liebermann’s career when Dutch peasants were a common subject in his work. The sewing school seen here was in an orphanage in Amsterdam. While he…
The Political Idea of Judaism
The character of a people, as of an individual, cannot be grasped in its totality. It is recognized by us exclusively in that unfoldment and development in time which we call…