Welcome to the New Posen Library

Explore 3,000 years of Jewish history and culture through this growing free collection of expert-curated, primary texts, art, images, and educational resources.

Now Available!

Jewish Studies Curriculum Initiative

Ready-to-use undergraduate teaching modules, curated by leading scholars. Each unit includes primary sources, expert interpretation, and supplementary resources for both students and instructors.

Page of Aramaic text in center and around border with images of birds and flowers.

Featured Sources

Text and image sources now available on the site cover the biblical, rabbinic, and early medieval periods (through the year 1200) and the early modern to contemporary periods (1500–present).

A round, ancient clay bowl inscribed with lines of text, some concentric and some radial, in a dark Semitic script. In the center is a simple drawing of a figure with wide eyes, surrounded by additional writing.

A Healing Bowl with the Shema‘

This magic bowl is inscribed with a picture of a demon and an Aramaic incantion for healing that includes the Shema‘.

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Illustration of five people in colorful robes and gold turbans sitting under trees, playing instruments and holding drinks, with Arabic lettering above.

The eyes of the young lad

This wine poem exemplifies the Andalusi poetic tradition with its themes of love, beauty, youth, and wine.

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Print of circle with diamond inside, and Yiddish text across the top.

The Essence of Baseball Explained for Non-Sportsmen

This short primer on baseball appeared in the Yiddish-daily Forward, along with a diagram of a baseball diamond.

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Prayer shawl woven with bands of vibrant colors.

Gayness and God: Wrestlings of an Orthodox Rabbi

The publication of this personal essay was a catlayst for conversations about sexual orientation within the Orthodox Jewish world.

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Just Published!

Volume 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam, 600–1200, edited by Arnold E. Franklin, covers the religious, political, economic, and geographic transformations of Jewish life through the early Middle Ages.

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Cover of volume 3 against a light blue background.

Our Curated Collections

On this site you can explore our curated collections, which demonstrate how our text and image sources can be used to illuminate, inspire, and engage, providing unique opportunities to create conversations about Jewish history and culture across time and geography. Register for free access to the sources in these collections.

Poster featuring two women in uniform, one of whom is wearing a mask, in front of a flag, and Hebrew writing along the top and bottom.

From armed confrontation to religious defiance, Jews fought back against the perpetrators of the Holocaust.

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Two men wearing jackets and hate are seated on horses.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the help of philanthropic organizations, many Jews escaping persecution in Russia made new lives for themselves in the South American pampas.

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Painting of men cutting cloth and women sewing.

Engage with the gendered dimensions of Jewish life and discover lost voices of Jewish women.

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Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of 2022, abortion’s political, religious, and social impact has been at the forefront of political debate in the United States.

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