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.
Portrait of Dr. Ephraim Hezekiah Bueno
Rembrandt van Rijn lived in the part of Amsterdam where the artists’ guild (St. Luke’s Guild) was located. By coincidence, it was also home to a number of Jews. Rembrandt’s artworks attest to an…
Gravestone of Mordechai Margaliot
Moses Mordechai Margaliot (d. 1617) was a member of a family descended from the illustrious medieval scholar Rashi. Margaliot served as a rabbi in Kraków. He was buried in the cemetery of the Rema…
Great Italian Synagogue, Padua
Founded in 1548, the Italian Synagogue of Padua was moved to its current location by 1603. It was renovated in the nineteenth century and restored again after World War II, when the Scuola Grande…
Scuola Levantina, Venice
The Scuola Levantina (Levantine Synagogue), a Sephardic synagogue built in 1541, was restored in the late seventeenth century. The bimah is thought to have been carved by Andrea Brustolon, famed for…
Maḥzor for the Rite of Carpentras
This maḥzor (holiday prayer book) contains the festival prayers for the whole year, according to the rite of Carpentras, and was copied in Provence. The Jews of the former papal territory of Comtat…
Old Cemetery of Salonika, Gravestone Inscriptions
Here is a man who revered The Name with loveWhose name was known For his generous spiritHe gave to charity To failing soulsFrom his pocket and his wealth Until…
Jamaica Cemetery, Gravestone Inscriptions
Gravestone of honorable old lady Sra Rachel, wife of the wealthy citizen the honorable R. Jacob Fernandes Gill, deceased, seventh day of Passover, 22 Nisan 5486May her soul be…
Yado ba-kol (His Hand Against Every Man)
A song I engraved on the tombstone (matzevet) of my master, my father, may he be remembered for the life of the world to come. The holy seed shall be its stock (matzavtah; Isaiah 6:13), is it not the…
Ma‘aneh lashon (Expression of the Tongue)
Peace unto thy beautified and pious soul, beloved and affectionate mother, who hast given me birth, and who hast reared me. Thou who hast loved, fostered, and…
To Kill a Foe
To kill a foe: write these twelve names on deerskin or calfskin parchment on Monday evening at the third or fourth hour, or at those times at night. And this is what you shall write:He who gives forth…
Pardes rimonim (Garden of Pomegranates)
One who uses the Ineffable Name in this world will have a great punishment, and the reason for this is that he mentions holy letters in impurity, and combines that which is holy with that which is…
Sifte kohen (Lips of the Priest)
That which God puts in my mouth I shall express (Numbers 22:38) in succinct and easy language, so that it will be simple for the discerning to grasp. And my purpose is to inform everyone to whom this…