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.
Israelite and Judahite Exiles Named in Assyrian and Babylonian Texts
Israelites in Assyrian Exile (last third of eighth century BCE):
Ahiyau, an “archer,” Nineveh
Hoshea, a slave, Nineveh (680 BCE)
Neriyau, “chief of accounts,” Gozan
Paqaha (Pekah), an estate manager…
Donors to YHW and Other Deities, from Elephantine
On the 3rd of Phamenoth, year 5. This is (= these are) the names of the Jewish garrison who gave silver to YHW the God, each person silver, [2] shekels—
Meshull[em]eth daughter of Gemar[ia]h son of…
Synagogue in K’ai-fêng (Kaifeng, China)
Jews first settled in Kaifeng, the capital of Henan province in central China, before 1127. According to scholars, they had come from India or Persia, spoke Persian, and worked as cotton dyers and…
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
The purpose of the Kol Nidrei proclamation is to forgive those—and tragically there have been many of them—who throughout history have, under threat of torture or death, been forced to renounce the…
Lamentation for Those Who Perished in the Abriyah Earthquake
The Kinah [Lament] in Honor of Those Who Died in the Earthquake
Wail O [professional female] mourners for the suffering of our death.
The earth trembled with the earthquakes. We lost young and old…
Colophon: Tefilah le-Moshe (Prayer of Moses)
I set the Yiddish letters with my own hands.
Elle, daughter of the respected rabbi Moses from Holland.
I am not more than nine years old.
Among six children I am the only daughter.
Therefore, if you…
Regulations: On the Education of Bar Mitzvah Boys
The Messrs. Parnassim of T: T: [Talmud Torah—Ed.] having disclosed to the gentlemen of the Mahamad [board of governors—Ed.] and councillors the liberty which the students…
The Exploits of Moses
I shall begin by praising the True One
who in six days created the whole entire world
and on the seventh day He ceased work and rested.
Give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His…
Higayon be-kinor (Melody of the Lyre)
The Argument of the Sermon: The sermon in its main argument will open…
Illustrations from Sefer minhagim (Book of Customs)
These woodcuts appeared in Sefer minhagim (Book of Customs), a very popular Yiddish book published by Giovanni di Gara, the leading publisher of Jewish books in Venice from 1564 to 1609. It was the…
Menaḥem Egozi’s Gal shel egozim (Nut Garden)
This book was printed in Belvedere, outside Constantinople, by Reina Nasi, the daughter of Gracia Nasi, and widow of Joseph. She was the first Jewish woman to establish her own press.