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.
Men’s Names and Titles from the City of David
Amo]s son of Ahiel, the rag shredder
. . . ya]hu son of Hasadyahu, the sil[ver] collector
. . . ]yahu [son of Ye]dayahu the [silver] collector
Translated by Anson F. Rainey from Shmuel Aḥituv’s…
Neither Forget nor Deny I Am a Jew
How preposterous and ridiculous! I have been attacked all my life as a Jew and because I am a Jew, and could not forget nor deny that I am a Jew, even if I wanted to. I am just as proud as Spinoza was…
The Negative Form of the Golden Rule
When I last occupied this pulpit I spoke on the text, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” I tried to indicate some of the stages by which this maxim became the Golden Rule of conduct, until it…
Sex and Character
Chapter XIII. Judaism
The explanation is simple. People love in others the qualities they would like to have but do not actually have in any great degree; so also we hate in others only what we do not…
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…
The Israel Passover Haggadah
To Section I, which deals with the Haggadah itself, I have added six other sections.
Section II, entitled “Moses, our Teacher,” is a collation of midrashim, which discuss his attributes…
Igeret aliyat ha-neshamah (Epistle on the Ascent of the Soul)
You will assuredly regard it as wondrous, and it will gladden your heart that I too regarded as wondrous the vision vouchsafed to me by the Almighty in relation to the aliyot “ascents”—wondrous things…
Candle Reflector
This candle reflector is made of repoussé brass, engraved and punched. The three candle holders are set into a frame decorated with flowers and leaves.
Portrait of Abraham da Costa
Among the portrait miniatures of family members that Catherine da Costa painted is this locket portrait of her son, Abraham da Costa (b. 1704), when he was ten years old.
Torah Finials (Morocco)
Inscriptions on the stems of these silver Torah finials indicate that they were made by Joseph Arvatz and Chaim Maman in Morocco, and inscriptions on their rims state that they were owned by Rabbi…
The High Holidays
Between 1723 and 1737, illustrator Bernard Picart partnered with the Dutch bookseller, editor, and publisher Jean-Frédéric Bernard on Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde (R…
Seven Smoked Fish on a Grinding Slab
Hershberg is considered one of the leading realist painters of our time. He has said that a true artist sees reality as a “continual feast, a never-ending delight to the eyes,” and hopes that his…