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.
Escamot (Ordinances)
Escamot made by the Brethren of this Holy Hebra of Bikur Hulim [visiting the sick—Ed.] and Guemilut Haçadim [giving of loving-kindness—Ed.], in company with the Senhores of the Mahamad [board of…
The Story of the Passing of Joseph Süss
Be it known that there was a man in Stuttgart in the state of Württemberg, who became ever greater in the stubbornness of his heart and his pride, in his wealth and his wisdom, and he was called…
Discorso circa il stato de gl’Hebrei et in particolar dimoranti nell’inclita Città di Venetia (Discourse Concerning the Condition of the Jews, and in Particular Those Living in the Illustrious City of Venice): On Jewish Commerce
The Hebrews have been taught and instructed more than any other nation in the school of hardship under the rigorous discipline of that necessity, because they are deprived of real estate, forbidden…
Tiferet baḥurim (Beauty of Young Men)
Here, dear reader, is a prayer for you that I composed to be recited on the first night—before your permitted intercourse, by virtue of the marriage canopy, wedding ceremony, and marriage contract…
Bayit ḥadash (New House): Introduction
Behold, I am aged and gray-headed—I know not the day of my death [see Genesis 27:2]! And when am I going to provide for my own house (Genesis 30:30), which I built, and for my children…
Tombstone Inscriptions (Prague)
Neḥama wife of Shalom Uri
Buried on Sunday, the 11th of Tevet 5337
This stone is a witness between us:
That death has climbed up into our window:
And eclipsed the…
Kav ha-yosher (The Just Measure)
King Solomon, of blessed memory, wrote in Proverbs that one ought not to be too pious and one ought not to do too much evil. [The allusion, however, is to Ecclesiastes 7:16–17.] Accordingly, our sages…
Account
I, David, son of King Solomon of blessed memory, from the Khibur Desert, arrived at the gate of the State of Rome on the fifteenth day of the month of First Adar in the year 5584 [1524]. A…
Report on Shabbetai Tzvi’s Meeting with the Sultan
At the gate of the inner courtyard, where the eunuchs and all of the great men of the kingdom were standing before the king, they were standing there, and Amira was sitting, and the aforementioned…
Responsum: On the Status of Gaza
Question 30: From Gaza: may our master teach us whether the inhabitants of Gaza are obligated to separate terumot and tithes, as there are a few people who own land. In general, the question is…
Responsum: On Philosophy
On the twenty-fourth day of the counting [of the Omer] may there be tranquility and pleasantness in your chamber of Torah. The handmaids of the emperor’s house would sing his praises: “no eye-shadow…
Pariz un Viene (Paris and Vienna)
Here I begin; listen to me, great and small.
Once there was a mighty king—as in the stories begun by girls. His peer in virtue was not to be found. He had a land that was stately indeed. He…