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.
Jews in China
We shall now sum up the different opinions as regards the arrival of the Jews on Chinese soil.The missionaries reported that the Jews believe, according to a tradition, that their ancestors came to…
The Grand Sanhedrin
Édouard Moyse’s painting portrays the Grand Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court assembled by Napoleon in 1807 to ratify the answers of an assembly of Jewish communal leaders to twelve questions submitted…
Memorial to a Shtetl
Far, far from the paved roads and broad ways, far, far from the ordinary shtetls, stood isolated villages that had a different sky over them and a different sun.
The God of heaven in His mercy made…
Herut: On Youth and Religion
“God’s writing engraved on the
tablets”—read not harut (engraved)
but herut (freedom).
—Sayings of the Fathers VI, 2
Among all the problems of present-day Jewish life, that of youth’s attitude…
On the Issues of the Economic Boycott of Germany
[ . . . ] In regard to the boycott [of German goods], in my view, the rabbis ought to have stood aloof, at a distance, and not to have involved themselves with this at all, as this is an issue…
Midrashim of Redemption
And I will wait upon the Lord,
who hides His face from the house of Jacob,
and I will look for Him. (Isaiah 8:16)
I endeavored to place before the educated reader all the literature of redemption…
Report on the Moral and Political State of the Israelites of Algeria and on the Means to Improve It
Among the diverse races of Algeria, the Jewish population merits special attention.
At first glance, one sees a mass of people who comprise approximately one-fifth of the total civilian population…
Self-Portrait
In a self-portrait from ca. 1721, Catherine da Costa depicts herself at work in a studio, painting a portrait of mother and child that resembles paintings of the Madonna and child.
Surgical Illustration
These pages are from a manuscript, De dificuldade de ourinar (On Difficulty in Urinating), by a Jewish physician and surgeon in Amsterdam, Samuel de Leon Benavente (1643–1722). He was known for his…
Jewish Man in Cairo
This engraving depicting a Jewish man in Cairo, Egypt is from Cornelis de Bruyn’s travelogue, Reizen van Corn. de Bruyn door de vermaardste deelen van Klein Asia, de eylanden Scio, Rhodus, Cyprus enz…
Gingi, or, a Private Tent Camp
Night ThoughtsThat night, I had the weirdest thoughts. I don’t know why, but suddenly I thought to myself how great it is for a boy to have a bed as comfortable as my own. He can lie in bed and get a…
Untitled
The iconography in Pichhadze’s paintings from the 1980s defies easy definition. This untitled work incorporates both abstract and figurative elements. The framed “nature” scene with its butterflies…