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.
Yidishe Folkspartei Election Poster
The Folkspartei (Folk Party), which championed the goal of Jewish national autonomy in the diaspora, was founded in Saint Petersburg in 1906 under the leadership of the historian Simon Dubnow and…
The Four Sons
This 1934 illustration of the Passover story of the four sons features a caricature of the “wicked” son dressed as Hitler.
Temple Emanuel Sanctuary Wall (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
Lucienne Bloch’s thousand-square-foot mural covers the entire rear wall of Temple Emanuel, the building of which was designed by Erich Mendelssohn. Painted on lightweight wood panels in a palette…
Topographic Map of the city of Caracas
Ángel Jacob Jesurún’s topographical map of Caracas, with its geometric grid, is the first map after Venezuela’s independence to be drawn and printed by a native of the city. After decades of war and…
Torah Curtain
This Torah curtain was made in Ankara, Turkey. The motifs of a central menorah and hands making the priestly blessing were common in other Ottoman Jewish ritual folk art. Embroidered verses from the…
Will the Old Sephardim Welcome the New?
Everyone who passes among those numbered from twenty years old and upward shall give his tribute to the Lord.
. . . As we number the congregation and lament that the young do not always take the…
The Pittsburgh Platform
In view of the wide divergence of opinion and of the conflicting ideas prevailing in Judaism today, we, as representatives of Reform Judaism in America, in continuation of the work begun at…
An Essay on Hebrew Eloquence, Exposed in a Practical Lesson by Doctor Anania Coen, First Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Florence
To truly form a sense of good taste, one must be in full command of the metaphysics of the sacred tongue, something which is so necessary (and which…
Judaism and Its History
There are facts of such an overwhelming power that even the most stubborn opinion must yield to them. Such a fact is the origin of Judaism in the midst of rude surroundings, like a vigorous…
Kerakh shel romi (City of Rome)
The Bah (Bayit Hadash) was asked concerning the practice in synagogues of using music which is sung in the houses of worship (of non-Jews). It is only forbidden regarding…
Prayer book
This siddur from Greece contains the prayers of the Romaniote (Greek-speaking Jewish) community of the eastern Mediterranean. It is open at a piyyut (liturgical poem) called “God’s Beloved Daughter,”…