Judaism

Prayer books and diaries preserved at the National Library offer a glimpse of the religious challenges faced by Jewish soldiers in the armies of the First World War.

Documents from the Cairo Genizah: How is one to be buried? And more importantly, what should one wear to the burial? Egyptian Jews had clear requirements on the matter.

A particular parrot mentioned in a manuscript from the famous Cairo Genizah possessed an impressive knowledge of Jewish scripture!

From Turkey to France, in Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino: Have a listen!

Zionist pioneers celebrated Hanukkah as a new way to connect an ancient people with its heritage

The Gershom Scholem family Bible – originally belonging to the Hirsch family, Gershom Scholem’s mother’s family – was used to record births, b’nei mitzvot, marriages, and of course, deaths

The first Hebrew translation of the famous work El Conciliador also served as the translator’s own personal diary

​Regina Jonas, the first ordained woman Rabbi, writes to Martin Buber, Jewish philosopher and scholar of Hasidic lore, asking for guidance during the dark times of Berlin in 1938.