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.
A Blood Libel in Stanimaka
Twelve-year old Ivan Demitrov, a fourth-grade student in the Bulgarian school, was scolded by his Bulgarian teacher for not sitting still in school on Friday, the tenth of this month. After playing in…
Eva Frank’s house in Offenbach during the visit of Tsar Alexander I, November 1813
Jacob (Jakob) Frank (ca. 1726–1791) was a controversial and charismatic messianic figure who attracted a significant Jewish following in Eastern Europe. After his death, his daughter Eva Frank (1754…
Moses Mendelssohn: Portrait of a Life for Jewish Youths
In those days, but especially since the year 1740, when Frederick the Great ascended the throne, various social circles in Berlin began zealously to acquire intellectual knowledge. Even among…
Paper Cut—Brit Milah
Paper cuts have been a tradition of Jewish folk art, with the earliest record of one dating to the fourteenth century. Given the widespread availability of paper in Europe by the mid-nineteenth…
The Death of Tasso
One of Friedrich Friedländer’s best-known paintings, The Death of Tasso, depicts the death of the Italian poet Torquato Tasso (1544–1595). Tasso was famous for his epic poem, La Gerusalemme liberate (…
In Judah and the Galilee
Not fire and sun—but our blood will redden, Oh Zion, your mountains—
Right after disembarking and finishing my business with the numruk [custom house], I hurried to Petah Tikva. My friends implored…
Those Ancient Lands, Being a Journey to Palestine
I cannot linger in Egypt. They that came before me tarried too long. I have had the taste on my tongue and the dead air in my nostrils. Enough. That will serve.
Zagazig…
Diary Excerpt: Against the War
[ . . . ] Got together with Werner this afternoon; he wants me to become active in the [Social Democratic] party. Had a discussion about historical materialism that was quite interesting to me. [ . .…
Our Monthly: Mi-mizraḥ u-mi-ma‘arav
Anyone who says that our Hebrew literature has developed, expanded, and been enriched over the past few years either errs or misleads. Or, perhaps, they demand very little from literature in general…
A Few Words to My Critic
Mr. Engel concludes that the music to my songs is not folk, because, in his opinion, it includes the rhythms of waltz music and mazurkas, and these dance rhythms are used even in the cases where I…
The Archbishop
While the townsfolk knew that an archbishop was coming, no one in Skalle [Skala, today Ukraine] made a big fuss about the news. It was only when pine gates were set up at the entrance that people…
Herr Wendriner Makes a Phone Call
On the day of Walter Rathenau’s funeral in 1922, all mail and telephone service in Germany was suspended between 2:00 and 2:10 pm
“If he won’t honor our invoice, I’ll simply give him a buzz. Put the…