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.
Instruction of Amenemope
Instruction of Amenemope, Egypt. This collection of sayings (only the first four columns are shown) is so similar to Proverbs 22:17–23:11 that scholars posit a close literary connection between them…
Ivory-inlaid Chair
Ivory-inlaid chair, Salamis, Cyprus, 8th or 7th century BCE. Among the most beautiful items surviving from Israel and neighboring countries are the ivory carvings used for decorating furniture, among…
Ivory-inlaid Bed
Ivory-inlaid bed, Salamis, Cyprus, 8th or 7th century BCE. Among the most beautiful items surviving from Israel and neighboring countries are the ivory carvings used for decorating furniture, among…
Archaeological Periods
Middle Bronze Age
2000–1550 BCE
Late Bronze Age
1550–1200 BCE
Iron Age
1200–586 BCE
Iron IA (or Late Bronze III)
1200–1140/1130
Iron IB
1140/1130–ca. 980
Iron IIA
ca. 980–800
Iron IIB…
Tańczący chasydzi (Dancing Hasidim), ca. 1875
Sympathetic or even neutral artistic depictions of Hasidic Jews in the nineteenth century are rare. This sketch of Hasidic Jews dancing is one example. Hasidism is known for ecstatic prayer, and…
Portrait of Rahel Levin Varnhagen
The influence of Rahel Levin Varnhagen (1771-1833) on German culture owed much to the salon society of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Hostess of a noted salon in Berlin, she was…
Portrait of R. Akiva Eger
Born in Eisenstadt (in Burgenland) and educated in Mattersdorf and Breslau, Akiva Eger was a prominent rabbinic and halakhic leader. After living in Lissa, Prussia, he served as rabbi in Märkisch…
Cover of Kol tefila ve-kol zimra
This manuscript copy of a prayer book, containing prayers and hymns for the Sephardic community of Amsterdam, was written out by David Mendes Franco. It shows David dancing before God and his…
Dictionary of Maritime Terms
This dictionary of maritime terms, a hand-written manuscript, includes definitions in Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Title Page of the Register of a Jewish Midwife
This detailed bilingual Hebrew-Yiddish register kept by Roza, a Jewish midwife in the Jewish community of the Dutch city of Groningen in the years from 1794 to 1832, provides basic information about…