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.
Amulet Depicting Bes
Amulets often took the form of Bes, a minor Egyptian deity, who was understood to guard mothers in childbirth and their babies. Bes is often shown with a feathered headdress and a grotesque face, a…
Torah Finials (Amsterdam)
These silver and filigree Torah finials used by Amsterdam’s Ashkenazic community are shaped like four-tiered towers. They have gilt bells in their arches and gilt urns on their corners and are topped…
Amulet with Coat of Arms
Silver amulet typical of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Italian Jewish homes. This example from Venice is unusual in that it contains an unidentified family coat of arms whose main feature is a…
Amulet (Italy)
This cast and gilded bronze amulet from Italy includes a pair of dolphins as a design element. It is inscribed in Hebrew: “May no evil grieve you.”
Amulet for Rudolf II
This amulet was presented by members of the Jewish community of Prague to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. At its center sits a seven-branched menorah surrounded by a prayer on Rudolf’s behalf…
Birth Amulet (Ukraine)
This impressive cut-paper birth amulet is in the form of the double eagle, the symbol of the Habsburg Monarchy (and pre-partition Poland) and thus a popular motif in Galician Jewish folk art. It is…
Amulet for Woman in Childbirth (Germany)
This early printed amulet from Germany, meant as protection for a woman in childbirth, is adorned with woodcuts illustrating the Hebrew months of the year. The main panel, framed by images of the…
Amulet for Woman in Childbirth (Amsterdam)
This printed amulet to protect a woman in childbirth features a central scene depicting Adam and Eve and several animals in the Garden of Eden, with a snake coiled around the forbidden “tree of…
Birth Amulet (Fürth)
Printed birth amulet. The decorative borders are composed of printers’ devices and decorations that were used by printers in Fürth (Bavaria), so it is assumed that this amulet was printed in that city…
Birth Amulet (Tunis)
This is a printed amulet from Tunis, containing texts and symbols commonly used on such talismans printed in North Africa. However, this example is somewhat unusual, as it combines two traditional…
Amulet for the Protection of Women and Newborn Children
Amulets were crafted to protect pregnant women and newborn children from the powers of the evil Lilith, Adam’s mythical first wife. Mystical texts surround this image, written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and…
Amulet for a Newborn Boy
This printed amulet, from Germany, was made for infant boys. The amulet has a companion, for a girl child (see “Amulet for a Newborn Girl”). The text in the center of the amulet is surrounded by a…