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 Swedish Siege of Prague
Whoever reads it, his heart laughs.
About the invasion of the Swedes
Therefore you should buy [this booklet] / And don’t run away from it.
Thus you will see / What signs and wonders took place in…
Diary
Remember me, O my God, for the good (Nehemiah 5:19). Amen
I began to write the first Torah Scroll, with the help of God, today, 2 Heshvan, the twenty-second of October, in the year 5302 [1541]. It…
Memoir
Without warning, on the 20th of April, 1749, at the end of the Passover Festival, Sunday, at about 17 hours [noon], I was kidnapped and taken away by force thanks to a false denunciation made against…
Notarial Acts of Rome: On Unkosher Meat
Menasce was asked about the taref (non-kosher) meat. And he said that Sabato di Perugia had told Salomone di Capena that the meat the latter had was taref. In fact…
Explicasion de las armas de Lopes y Suaço (Explanation of the Arms of Lopez and Suasso)
I, Don Pedro Alberto de Launay Cau, gentleman of the Royal House of King Charles II, in charge of the heraldry and chronicles of his Spanish realms, of provincial arms, and, earlier, of his estates…
Ordinance: On Lending Money
In view of the fact that many interfere with their neighbors’ vested rights to have sole privilege of lending money at interest in certain localities, and very often the agency of the non-Jewish…
If thrones have been seated in heaven: For Rosh Hashanah
This poem expresses the idea that since today is the day when seats are set up [for judgment], since the Jewish people has declared the New Month, therefore we need to run to God and prostrate…
Prayer for King Charles VI
May He Who blessed our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon, bless this entire holy congregation together with all the holy congregations; they and their wives, their…
Two Authorizations Given to Female Slaughterers
Stronger than the lions’ den [see Song of Songs 4:8; 2 Samuel 1:23], raise a banner over Mount Zion [see Isaiah 13:2], they are the mighty ones [see…
For One Who Becomes Possessed
One who becomes possessed by a demon should recite this adjuration three times, and it [the demon] will leave him, God willing.
In the explicit name [Shem ha-meforash] of the God of Israel may His…
Emek ha-melekh (Valley of the King)
May His great name be blessed! Before everything, it occurred to His simple will to create worlds, for there is no king without a people, as it is said: In the multitude of people is the…
Letter to Raphael Joseph
To our fruit of holiness enwrapped in praise, our man of deeds rich in accomplishment, the exalted prince and honored rabbi. May your light shine like the rising sun, blossom like the flowers! May an…