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.
Todah w’simrah (Music of Thanksgiving)
For decades, my efforts have been directed at purifying the old modes [die alten Weisen]. Through [general] use and arbitrary treatment they have suffered tactless changes and distortions. I…
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…
Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious
The occurrence of self-criticism as a determinant may explain how it is that a number of the most apt jokes . . . have grown up on the soil of Jewish popular life. They are stories created by Jews and…
Autobiography
Seven versts from Kaunas stood the oldest fortress in Lithuania. After the war, it was all battered and shot up. Bricks and scraps of iron lay strewn about the place, which had once stored weapons and…
Toward Peace in Palestine
The purpose of this article is to warn of the danger of war between Jews and Arabs, and to offer an alternative based upon a reasonable compromise. The uncompromising who believe that this collision…
World Dictionary of Hebrew Slang
Before the custodians of the purity of the Hebrew language begin to tear their hair out in protest of the so-called indecent acts committed herein, in full view, upon the…
Letter to an Arab Friend
The year was 1933: one automobile picked us up to take us both from Jerusalem to Haifa over the road which passes through Nablus. The boat which brought us to Marseilles allowed us to discover for the…
Words of Peace and Truth
There is one people in the world alone who are not sufficiently concerned with “human knowledge” and who have neglected the public instruction of their youth in the laws of etiquette, the sciences and…
A Polish Jew
This depiction of a Polish Jew first appeared in a book, Neu-eröffnete Welt-Galleria (New Gallery of the World), published in Nuremberg in 1703. Its 101 plates by Caspar Luyken included portraits of…
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.
Portrait of Simcha Vaz (1582–1643), painted by her son, Moses Belmonte
Simcha (Gimar) Belmonte (born Vaz; 1582–1643) was the wife of Jakob Israel Belmonte (a poet, writer, and trader). She and her husband were among the founders of the Jewish community in Amsterdam after…
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…