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 Penal Recruit
“One morning—it was the fourth day of Hanukkah (the holiday of the Maccabees), when we were readying ourselves to celebrate the victory of our heroic ancestors, which was the capture of Antioch—the…
A Public Speech on Temptation, Composed by Mordechai de Abraham de Soria, and Which Was Delivered by a Student of His on His Bar Mitzvah, on the First Day of Sukkot
Do not judge me so vain (O Reader) that, to make myself wise, I would publish my efforts for the world to see, especially when they open your eyes to their pathetic titles. For this is a…
Tiku emunah
Indeed, what is necessary is precisely to “cast away the mind,” because it is necessary to cast aside all rational processes and serve God simply. This is because a person’s deeds should outweigh his…
Shalom Yerushalayim (Peace of Jerusalem)
For our great sins, a few days later we received the news of the terrible fire, which God caused to happen on the night of Rosh…
On the Language of the Jews Who Lived in Ancient Russia
In our previous studies we attempted to prove that the first Jews in southern Russian were not Germanic, as is claimed by Graetz and other German scholars, but rather Bosporan and Asian, as they…
Lament of the Daughter of Judah
O Russians, you who love your fellow men! You would shudder from the bottoms of your kind hearts if you saw the effect of that terrible accusation which Jews who were eyewitnesses to the unjustified…
A Story about a Rabbi, Followed by a Letter (in Kol mevaser)
One of the most important things that the government has introduced in Russia to improve education among Jews is the decree that each community must choose a…
Kantorzysta: Polka na fortepiano, op. 68
This sheet music is for a humorous song in the style of a polka, an example of the popular music that Warsaw composer Adolf Gustaw Sonnenfeld was famous for.
The Water Sprite—Polka
Louis Gottschalk wrote “The Water Sprite—Polka de Salon” soon upon his return to the United States after spending most of his teenaged years in Europe, where he was sent by his father to study music…
Map of the Land of Israel
This map, in a manuscript copy of Be’er mayim ḥayim (A Spring of Living Water), a commentary on Rashi published in Worms or Friedberg in the late fifteenth or sixteenth century, is based on Rashi’s…
Haggadah
This page from a Haggadah produced in Amsterdam is an example of the work of Joseph Ben David Leipnik, a prominent eighteenth-century scribe and artist known particularly for his illustrated Haggadahs…