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.
The Book of Leviticus, Translated and Explained
The present commentary on Leviticus is based on my lectures on Leviticus given at the Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin in 1873/4 and 1876/7. This fact explains the approach and the economy of my…
Is There a Need for a World Sephardi Federation? A Debate by Jewish Delegates in Vienna
My brothers and teachers: for some years, since I was enlightened by the luminous erudition of our pious forefathers, the rabbis in Babylon and the wise writers from Spain, my attention…
Letter about the Choir
Esteemed Friend and Editor:
Recently a friend of mine, who is a member of the Workmen’s Circle Chorus, visited, bringing with her the…
The Universalism of Judaism: An Italian Sephardic Perspective
Let us first of all point out that the establishment of a universal religion, Judaism’s ultimate aim, necessitated an exceptional strictness and severity in the particularities of Jewish religious…
Letter to Shmuel Niger on the New Jewish Book
Deeply respected Niger,I ask you to endure me in Russian.I want to express to you my happiness that we are approaching the time of the new Jewish book, a book created with love towards [the thing]…
Sefat emet: The Inner Sustaining Point
He looked, and there was a well in the field, and there were three flocks of sheep lying down by it, for from that well the flocks were watered. But the stone was large on the mouth of the well. When…
Ideological Diversity and Unity: Orthodoxy, Nationalism, and Liberalism
Three forces are wrestling now in our camp. The battle between them is especially discernible in Erets Yisrael, but their effect draws from the life of the nation at large, and their roots are…
From Death-Camp to Existentialism: A Psychiatrist’s Path to a New Therapy
In attempting this psychological presentation and a psychopathological explanation of the typical characteristics of a concentration camp inmate, I may give the impression that the human being is…
At the Heart of the Harem
Esteemed by his bosses, envied by his friends, husband of an intelligent wife, owner of a lovely house, Si Bou-Djemaa might well have been happy if the desire for a new wife had not tormented him.
Tal…
God, Man, and History
[ . . . ] Immanuel Kant once wrote: “The true [moral] service of God is . . . invisible, i.e., it is the service of the heart, in spirit and in truth, and it may consist . . . only of intention.” Thi…
Jews and Ottomans Defending the City of Buda
From May through August 1541, the forces of the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the city of Buda (present day Budapest, Hungary) and captured it, ushering in 150 years of Ottoman rule. This illustration…
Jewish Merchant (Mercante Giudeo)
This depiction of a Jewish merchant is from a travelogue by French geographer Nicolas Nicolay, who is believed to have also done his own illustrations. Considered at the time a key source of…