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.
Shire tiferet (Songs of Glory)
How could the wise of heart envisage the final outcome of the matter,
Seeing that, when he was just a quarter of a year old, they placed him in the bulrushes?
None has arisen like him amongst the…
Toldot Ya‘akov Yosef (The Offshoots of Jacob Joseph)
I heard from the venerable rabbinic scholar, R. Nahman, an interpretation of the words of [the Besht] that one should intend in every word that he utters submissiveness…
Nineteen Letters on Judaism
You ask me for my opinion on the question which at present agitates so greatly the minds of men, emancipation; whether I consider it feasible and desirable, according to the spirit of Judaism, our…
Paris, Rome, Jerusalem, or the Religious Question in the Nineteenth Century
In all times of transition such as the one we are now undergoing, on every occasion when human society passes from one era to another era, from one way of doing things to another way of doing them…
Phaedon
Following the example of Plato, I have Socrates in his last hours relate the arguments for the immortality of the human soul to his students. The dialogue of the Greek author, which has the name Phaed…
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein
La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein is an opéra bouffe (French comic opera), composed by Jacques Offenbach when his career was at its height. It premiered in 1867 and had performances at the Paris…
Esther’s Triumph
Friends, let’s celebrate this day—Viva!
Purim, occasion to be gay—Viva!
Safe and free from Haman’s wrong,
Let’s shout in unison this song—Viva, viva, viva . . .
Esther, brilliant as the sun—Viva!
G…
Map of the Temple in Jerusalem
This map of the Temple in Jerusalem made in Safed by a Jewish scribe comes from an example of a “pilgrimage scroll,” also known as an “itinerary,” because they included instructions for visiting holy…
Torah Finials
These silver Torah finials with bells adorned a Torah scroll at the consecration ceremony of the Mill Street Synagogue of Congregation Shearith Israel, which opened in New York in 1730 and was located…
Portrait of R. Aryeh Judah Leib ben David Calischer
Aryeh Judah Leib ben David (d. 1709), known as Leib Calisch, or Kalischer, was rabbi in the communities of Kremsier (now Kroměříž, Czech Republic); Łobżenica (in modern-day Poland); and Kalisz, Poland…
Esther Scroll
The Book of Esther (also known as the Scroll [megillah] of Esther) is read out loud on the holiday of Purim. This example of an illustrated scroll from the Netherlands (shown here with a page of…
Jewish Wedding
In this engraving from a Dutch translation of Leone Modena’s Historia de’ riti Ebraici (History of the Jewish Rites), a Jewish wedding in Amsterdam is pictured. Groom and bride stand under the huppah…