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.
On the Approach of Childbirth
Before she labored, she was delivered;
Before her pangs came, she bore a son!
—Isaiah 66:7
Fear not, worm of Jacob,
O people of Israel,
For I will help you.
—Isaiah 41:14
The hard, painful hour…
Igrot ha-kodesh (Holy Epistles)
It is written: All the men of Israel . . . knit together as one man (Judg. 20:11). Just as one man is composed of many limbs, and when they become separated it affects the heart…
Rabbinical Anthology
Proverbs are the wisdom of the people, the fruit of common sense, and in particular, are distilled from general experience. They are to the moral…
Torah Curtain from Prague
This Torah ark curtain was donated to a synagogue in Prague by Leib ben Hezekiah Tausk Nagelstock and his wife Reykhl, daughter of Lemel Lichtenstadt. The composition of the curtain is stylized…
Yiddish Book of Customs
This page illustrating the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is from a Yiddish book of customs from Italy. By the sixteenth century, Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jews were the largest groups of…
Illustration of an Armillary Sphere
This illustration of an armillary sphere is from a treatise on astronomy, Sefer mareh ha-ofanim (The Appearance of the Heavenly Beings), by Solomon ben Abraham Avigdor. The treatise was mostly a…
Benches, Royal Park, Montreal, Canada
Jaffee was best known for his photographs of people and cityscapes. In this photograph of empty benches, seemingly arranged for viewing an unknown event, he saw both an enigma and an abstract…
The Only Corner
The Only Corner illustrates Yaker’s ability to depict nature in its varied beauty and to express cultural meaning in his work. The same year he exhibited this painting, Yaker showed a series of works…
Consolaçāo às tribulações de Israel (Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel)
[ . . . ] The Portuguese king, eager to find some logical excuse to vex me, called for an investigation to see if the number…
Divre ha-yamim shel ha-apifyor Paulo revi‘i (The History of Pope Paul IV)
On the 4th of Sivan 5315 [June 3, 1555], after the death of Pope Marcellus [of] La Marche, whose name will be well remembered, though he reigned only twenty-three days, he gave great redemption to…
Sefer ḥerev pifiyot (The Double-Edged Sword)
Christian Priest:Good morning to the Jews.
Jew:A good morning and a good year to my lord.
Priest:Where are you going today to insult the gentiles?
Jew:I do not understand you.
Priest:Have not you Jews…