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.
Responsum: On Painting Synagogue Walls
In answer to those who ask me whether or not it is permitted to paint the walls of the synagogue with pictures of grass, trees, and calyxes, we researched the question and our answer is as follows:
At…
Responsum: On the Right to Bequeath a Mitzvah
Question: Since it is true from time immemorial and ancient years that we observe the customs of our ancestors, as is the practice of the Musta‘arabim [Arabic-speaking Jews] everywhere among the Jews…
Letter to His Son
How good and agreeable is it, when brothers live in one house, and how much more father and son
Peace to my beloved, dear and darling son, whose soul is bound to my soul, the intimate friend, the…
Responsum: On Coffee
Question: I will inform you regarding my opinion on the fruit called al bun, and about kahve [coffee], which is the broth brewed from the husks of that fruit, and which is drunk by non-Jews, whether…
Ma‘avar Yabbok (Crossing the Jabbok)
And the sages have stated, in regard to the reward of those who serve the Almighty and carry out His will in this world, in Song of Songs Rabbah 6:8: Anyone who occupies himself with the Torah in this…
Netivot ‘olam (Eternal Paths)
We read in Proverbs:If you make your ear attentive to wisdomAnd your mind open to discernment;If you call to understandingAnd cry aloud to discernment,If you seek it as you do silverAnd…
Shever poshe‘im (Destruction of the Transgressors)
And they permitted themselves to place a blemish in the holiness of heaven and the holiness of the study of the holy Torah, to place the filth of the primeval serpent, behaving according to their…
Letter from Acre to His Father: Second Part
And praised be the Lord—the Sabbath came and rest came, on Friday night at five in the evening, the strong wind calmed a bit, and we sailed well on Friday, Saturday, Sunday; and on Monday, we saw…
Respuesta a un tratado que escrivio un docto predicante de la religion reformada (Response to a Treatise Written by an Erudite Preacher of the Reformed Religion)
The main foundation that you propose for your doctrine consists of the sin of Adam, in which you believe sin was perpetrated by all of the human species, which was contained in Adam, and of the sole…
A Tale of Mainz
I’ve been told that years ago a rich man lived in Mainz as a leader of the Jewish community. He had a beautiful wife, who, however, died, leaving him their son. A short time…
History: A Novel
[…] Among such divergent opinions, poor Iduzza didn’t dare formulate any view on her own.
To the many mysteries of Authority which frightened her there had now been added the word Aryans, which she…
Wonderful, Wonderful Times
Café Sport is another scene. A scene, because that is where the artists and intellectuals go to be seen. Taking part is what matters, not winning. It is like sport, which is where the café got its…