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.
Last Will and Testament
In the year fifteen hundred and forty-nine, the seventh indiction, the first day of the month of February, during the time of the pontificate of the Holy Father in Christ Our Lord, Lord Paul III, pope…
Notisias dos Judeos de Cochim (Report on the Jews of Cochin)
Moved by the fraternal love nourished in my…
Haskamot kehal ha-ashkenazim bi-Tsfat (The Regulations of the Ashkenazic Community in Safed)
A list of regulations passed in the Ashkenazic community of Safed, may it be sustained, by order of the officials, some rabbis, and certain members, for fifty years, from Shevat 12 in the year 5336…
Sefer ha-zikhronot (Record Book)
These are the things that have no set limit [m. Peah 1:1] for the benefactors of the nation, friends and nobles, young and old, and righteous women, who have come together in the gemilut ḥasadim…
The Amsterdam Residence of Jeronimo Nunes da Costa (Mazes Curiël)
The wealthy merchant and diplomat Jeronimo Nunes da Costa (Mozes Curiël; 1620–1697) was born in Florence. In 1627, his family settled in Hamburg, where his father, a businessman, became an important…
Regulations: On Economic Activities and the Observance of Shabbat
Enactments of our saintly, most illustrious teacher, R. Meshullam Feibush, head of the talmudic academy and the ecclesiastical court of the holy community of Kraków, to prevent people from violating…
Responsum: On Painting Synagogue Walls
In answer to those who ask me whether or not it is permitted to paint the walls of the synagogue with pictures of grass, trees, and calyxes, we researched the question and our answer is as follows:
At…
Responsum: On the Right to Bequeath a Mitzvah
Question: Since it is true from time immemorial and ancient years that we observe the customs of our ancestors, as is the practice of the Musta‘arabim [Arabic-speaking Jews] everywhere among the Jews…
Pesak (Decision): On a Secret Marriage
At a sitting of three judges we the undersigned sat as a court on the fourth day of the month of Adar 2 in the year 5376 [1616] here in Vercelli after permission was given to us from his excellency…
Letter to His Son
How good and agreeable is it, when brothers live in one house, and how much more father and son
Peace to my beloved, dear and darling son, whose soul is bound to my soul, the intimate friend, the…
Responsum: On Coffee
Question: I will inform you regarding my opinion on the fruit called al bun, and about kahve [coffee], which is the broth brewed from the husks of that fruit, and which is drunk by non-Jews, whether…