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 Jewish Manual of Practical Information in Jewish and Modern Cookery with a Collection of Valuable Recipes & Hints Relating to the Toilette
Nothing contributes more to the elegance and refinement of a lady’s appearance than delicate hands; and it is surprising how much it is in the power of all, by proper care and attention, to…
Memoir
These high officials were not accustomed to wearing European-style shirts. When they decided to dress in the European style, they asked a certain ham, Daniel Andjel, whose shop at the Women’s Market…
Folktales of the Kurdistani Jews
The year 5573 (1813) was a leap year (in the Jewish calendar). On the twenty-fourth of Nisan, the Sabbath right after Passover, after midday, the skies became overcast and…
The Women Shopkeepers, or, Golde-Mine, the Abandoned Wife of Brod
In short, in addition to being affluent, our Reb Hoshea Heffler was also steeped in the holy books. He was a traditional Jew, who could not abide the maskilim, the enlightened ones. He always used to…
Sheltered by a Crimson Awning . . .
Sheltered by a crimson awning,
All alone, his slaves dismissed,
A lord is bidding farewell fondly
To a black-browed odalisque.
“Sarah, houri of the prophet,
My sunshine, comfort, strength, delight…
Tanya
Now, aside from the fact that it is altogether impossible to interpret the matter of tzimtzum literally, for that would attribute corporeal events to the…
Menorat zahav (Golden Menorah)
When Rabbi Zusya went to suffer the exile in Germany, he came to a city of Reform Jews. When they saw his ways, they mocked him and thought he was crazy. When he came into the synagogue, some of them…
In the Hands of the British
This day [December 29, 1778] the British troops, consisting of about 3,500 men, including two battalions of Hessians under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell of the Seventy-first…
From the Editor, El Jurnal israelit
From the Editor:
With God’s help, the time has come for our newspaper to appear before the community, and I am sure that at first our esteemed subscribers will not judge us for its errors, because all…
Letters of a Young Ex- Hasid
We live in a time of a universal striving for science and civilization, and the spirit of the time warms the hearts of everyone alike with its breath. It permeates the depths of the soul and reason…
Portrait of Adah Isaacs Menken
Adah Isaacs Menken (1835–1868) achieved celebrity first as an actress, later gaining some literary following for her poetry. Uncertainty surrounds Menken’s family history, as she claimed various…
Niggun of Four Stanzas
A notated version of a wordless Hasidic niggun, melody, attributed to Shneur Zalman of Liady, the founder of Chabad Hasidism.