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.
Pre-Yom Kippur Customs
This woodcut from Libellus de Judaica confessione siue sabbato afflictionis (A Pamphlet Concerning the Jewish Faith or the Sabbath of Affliction), the second treatise of a zealous Christian convert…
Gerush Synagogue, Bursa, Turkey
The Gerush (Hebrew for “expulsion”) synagogue in Bursa, Turkey, dates back to the early sixteenth century and is unique in its dual-ark design; one upper section is located in the women’s gallery…
Portrait of Nathan of Gaza
Nathan of Gaza (also known as Nathan Benjamin ben Elisha Ḥayim ha-Levi Ashkenazi) was born in Jerusalem and moved to Gaza in around 1663. The son of a respected religious scholar, he became a scholar…
Printer’s Mark
The press of Solomon Proops was one of the most prolific and well-known Hebrew presses in eighteenth-century Europe. The printer’s mark used by Proops (which does not appear on all his works) depicts…
Jew of Lorraine
A depiction of a Jew from Lorraine, engraved by Sébastien Leclerc in Paris. The antisemitic inscription, which alludes to the Jewish man having acquired wealth by deceptive means, is a rhymed couplet…
Letter
In the name of the Lord:
My brothers and my friends, the inhabitants of Albanian Belgrade [Berat, Albania]: may all who are worthy merit seeing the salvation of the Lord. Hurry and send me the maḥzor…
Colophon: Zohar (Mantua Edition)
I will greatly thank the Lord with my mouth, and I will bless God in full assembles [see Psalms 68:27], for He has not forsaken His mercy and His truth from me [see Genesis 24:27], but has led me on…
El libro de los acuerdos: On Printing Books
No Jew shall be allowed to cause to be printed in this city or outside it in these realms Hebrew or Ladino books or [books] in any other language without express permission of the Mahamad [board of…
Kol sakhal (Voice of a Fool)
Kol sakhal (Voice of a Fool), a polemical work attacking rabbinic Judaism, has been the subject of many scholarly debates. To this day, its composition and aims remain shrouded in mystery. The author…
Fear of Flying
When I got back to the hotel at five-thirty Bennett was waiting. He didn’t ask me where I’d been, but he put his arms around me and started undressing me. He made love to me, to Adrian’s slime, to our…
War and Remembrance
Depending on the wind, the burning time on the frame can be two to ten hours. Some Jews tend the crackling pyre with iron forks. Others, including Jastrow and Mutterperl, are down in the long narrow…
Like a Bride and Like a Mother
Every night I kneel down by the window and look at a bright star that just might be my guardian angel. Then I recite “Our Father” to God and say a “Hail Mary” for the Virgin. I hope that…