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.
Ketubah (Bordeaux)
This is the marriage contract (ketubah) that Isaac, the son of Aaron Sasportas, gave to Rebecca, the daughter of Abraham Pinto. A floral decoration stemming from a vase at the bottom of the contract…
Wedding Procession
This engraving depicting a Jewish wedding procession was an illustration in a four-volume book by Johann Jakob Schudt (1664–1722), Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten (Jewish Curiosities), published in Germany…
Compilation of Folk Remedies and Amulets
Traditionally, until increased access to doctors and hospitals was available after World War I, many East European Jews relied on folk medicine, which included amulets and magical cures. Books, like…
Portrait of Tzvi Ashkenazi
Tzvi Hirsch ben Jacob Ashkenazi was a talmudist and community leader from Moravia. He was also known as the Ḥakham Tzvi, a Sephardic scholarly title he is thought to have received from the rabbinic…
Me‘on ha-sho’alim (Abode of the Supplicants)
This is the title page of Me‘on ha-sho’alim (L’abitacolo degli oranti; Abode of the Supplicants), by the poet and translator Devorà Ascarelli, a member of the Catalan community in Rome. Me‘on ha-sho…
Tikun li-kro’ laylah va-yom (A Tikkun to Read Day and Night)
The frontispiece of this book of penitential prayers published in Amsterdam, Tikun li-kro’ laylah va-yom (A Tikkun to Read Day and Night) has a three-tiered illustration. The top level depicts Moses…
Takkanot (Regulations)
Every householder is required to have his son taught in school at least until he is twelve years old. He must take care of him and pay his tuition as much as he can afford. If he is unable to pay, he…
Letter to His Bride
Most magnificent and honored bride, my lady I gaze upon you:
Since I left Piacenza, I can honestly say that I am far away from my life. Oh, how can I live, and how can I hold up my limbs when I am so…
Paraḥ mateh Aharon (The Staff of Aaron Had Sprouted)
The rich and honorable Moshe haCohen, resident of the city Castoria may God protect it, says as follows: he has been given a bad wife, and that during their marital life…
Bet Yosef (The House of Joseph): Introduction
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who created His world for the purpose of mankind, and, from all the different sorts of men, chose for Himself a nation as a special treasure—namely…
Path Jumping
For contracting the path [magically speeding one’s travel—Ed.]: take a kosher parchment and write on it in purity and cleanliness. This requires great intention [kavanah] in the names: “In the name…
Colophon: Solomon Ibn Gabirol’s Mivḥar ha-peninim
And the work was finished on the eve of Sabbath, in
the month of Shebat, in the year 307, in the great
city of Venice which is under the rule of
the Signoria, may God increase their
glory, and in the…