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.
Lev tov (A Good Heart): Rules for Raising Children
[ . . . ] Each man should raise his children to Torah and good deeds. Each man should always ensure that his children learn Torah while they are still young and he should have them learn…
Prayer
These are the “prayers” that Brites Henriques recited and the notary transcribed.
Every Morning [Prayers]
Praised be the Lord
Who is so enlightened,
May you, My Lord, be served
By making me…
Commentary: On Psalms
For the leader. A psalm of David. The fool said in his heart there is no God . . . (Psalms 14:1–2).
Now [the psalmist] declares the reasoning of the fool, and what argument he has…
Socrate, overo, Dell’humano sapere esercitio seriogiocoso (Socrates, or On Human Knowledge)
Socrates’ defence was very carefully heard in the presence of the Academicians in the public assembly over a few days, and it produced no little disquiet in the minds of the judges, whose minds turned…
Jephthah Sacrifices His Daughter
When Jephthah set out for the road
He did so full of happiness and joy.
He had a daughter, a solitary cypress,
Her visage fairyborn; two…
Child Sacrifice Depicted on Stela
Child sacrifice depicted on stela, Carthage, 4th century BCE. A priest carries a small child in his arm, apparently for sacrifice, with his hand raised in a gesture of prayer. From the cemetery of…
California Kosher: Contemporary and Traditional Jewish Cuisine
California Kosher reflects a merging of cuisines from everywhere in the world that Jews have lived, combined with the dazzling variety of fresh foods available in California—while still observing the…
Abecedaries from Kuntillet Ajrud
An abecedary is a list of the letters of the alphabet, written in order, for instruction or practice in writing, and perhaps also for other purposes. Four abecedaries were written on this large…
An Overview: Torah—Written and Oral
When a human being builds a palace, he does not build it according to his own wisdom, but according to the wisdom of a craftsman. And the craftsman does not build according to his own wisdom, rather…
Family Reunion
Painting in an expressionist style, Tofel was involved in the Jewish Art Center in New York (1925–1927) that held exhibitions on Yiddish culture. He was also active in a group of American Yiddish…
Movie Posters and Clothes Lines
Lee Sievan frequently photographed scenes on the Lower East Side, in the neighborhoods of her childhood. Like other New York Photo League photographers, she helped pioneer street photography (then, a…
Carriage Driver (Self-Portrait), Drohobycz
When Drohobycz (present-day Ukraine) was occupied by the Nazis, Bruno Schulz was initially spared the fate of other Jews in his hometown. Because of his fame as a writer and artist, he was kept alive…