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 R. Aryeh Judah Leib ben David Calischer
Aryeh Judah Leib ben David (d. 1709), known as Leib Calisch, or Kalischer, was rabbi in the communities of Kremsier (now Kroměříž, Czech Republic); Łobżenica (in modern-day Poland); and Kalisz, Poland…
Tombstone of Rachel Pereira
Rachel Soares Pereira, who died in 1721 at the age of twenty-four, was married to Isaac Pereira. Floral motifs decorate the top of her gravestone, while the bottom panel contains a relief of a hand…
Flyer for Redeeming Captured Jews
This flyer calls for the Jewish community to pay a ransom to rescue Jewish captives from the 1686 siege of Buda, which resulted in the capture of the Hungarian city from the Ottoman Empire by armies…
Portrait of Issachar Baer Teller
The physician and surgeon Issachar Baer Teller received his medical training by studying and practicing with other physicians in Prague. He completed his studies under the guidance of Joseph Solomon…
Latin-Hebrew Edition of Jossipon
The supposed author of Josippon (an account of Jewish history from the Garden of Eden to the destruction of the Second Temple) was Josephus Flavius, though it is now generally believed that the book…
For Becoming Invisible
For becoming invisible: write the following on a deerskin parchment, wrap it in three layers of leathers, and wear it: Glospats Tsamarkhad, Kilkel, YHWH. Take a rooster in the month of March and put…
Amulet for a Newborn Girl
Printed amulet for an infant girl from Germany. It was (presumably) printed alongside its companion amulet for a male child (see “Amulet for a Newborn Boy”). However, the pair were separated. A woman…
Printer’s Introduction: Bomberg Bible, Second Edition
Thus saith the humble Jacob ben Chajim ben Isaac Ibn Adonijah: “He entereth in peace, where the righteous rest upon their couches, who walked in uprightness.”
Praised be the Creator, who exists and…
Editor’s Apology: She’elot u-teshuvot Maharil
Thus said the editor [megihah], who bursts forth [megi’aḥ] in prostration from his place, and offers his greeting of peace with a bow and while kneeling. His labor is for all those who are wise of…
Dod Mordekhay (Uncle of Mordechai)
Before we write the answers to the wise man’s questions we will cite the questions he posed in his writings, so that the answers can be positioned opposite the…
The Book of Israel
God, Robin and me had the funniest time trying to decide. I mean it was bizarre. I suppose we had always assumed we would do it, but then, well, when you actually think…
In a Nutshell
Credo in a kind of
American jewish Hamlet-like
bagel, too round for action
yet leavened enough by contact
with the near-dead past—you call it
landscape, I call it history—to provide
a layered vantage…