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 My Parents
Iofin’s portrait of his parents, painted before his emigration from the Soviet Union, was a sly protest against Socialist Realism. He painted in the style but parodied it by overloading his picture…
Rendering of Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland
Hecker’s design for the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews (Polin) proposed a complex of two buildings: one a rectangular concrete block and the other a lighter metal and glass structure. The…
Sefer ha-zikhronot (The Book of Memories)
As for myself, I was constantly going back in my studies as well as in manners and conduct. After a while, my father decided to send me to Prague, which was a day’s journey. My older brother was also…
Yesh noḥalin (Some Inherit)
Look from the top of Amana (Song of Songs 4:8) and [see the type of] negotiation carried out faithfully [emunah]:
1. Be diligent in your transactions, to ensure that they are…
Testament (New York)
In the name of God Amen I Rachel Luis being sick of body but of sound mind and Memory Do make this my last will and Testamit in manner and form following that is to say I wish and order that after my…
Takkanot (Regulations)
No householder or unmarried man above the age of thirteen may wear a colored hat in the synagogue on Shabbat or Yom Tov, only a black hat. Likewise, a householder may not come to the synagogue wearing…
Takkanah (Regulation): On Rabbinic Ordination
So that the truth may not be lacking, the honorable small committee, may God preserve it, considered it their duty to inscribe in a book that which was not written regarding the ordination of his…
Consulta sobre o uso das pinturas (Inquiry into the Use of Paintings)
Since the law prohibits one, in no uncertain terms, from depicting figures, the question one may ask is how Jews have had all manner of paintings in their homes? And it is not enough to say that only…
Divre rivot (Words of Contention)
The following incident occurred: On the holy Sabbath of ḥol ha-mo‘ed Passover in the year 5335 [1575], many virtuous individuals from the Lisbon congregation arose and came to an agreement among…
Me‘il tsedakah (Robe of Righteousness)
Regarding that which is written: a man’s gift [makes room for him] (Proverbs 18:16), this means that the gift itself, which one personally gives to the poor, will make room for him. When you provide…
Regulation: On Preaching
Regarding this recent occurrence of some men going and walking around the Galilee and Judea [the region of Lithuania] and preaching in public without the permission or authorization of the local rabbi…
Shevut Ya‘akov (The Captivity of Jacob)
Question 5: What blessing should one recite over coffee and tea, and is there any problem with drinking them on Passover?
Response: I will answer the questions in order. Regarding the blessing, it has…