Death -- Religious aspects -- Judaism

The collection consists of materials relating to Jewish religious life in Europe from the 1830s to the 1930s. Topics include: marriages, births, divorces, deaths, bar mitzvahs, holidays, the Sabbath, daily customs, ritual slaughter (shehitah), ritual baths, mezuzahs, prayers, rabbis. Items include: marriage contracts, divorce deeds, wedding invitations, birth announcements, bar mitzvah speeches, New Year's cards, correspondence, photographs.

The core of the collection is a compilation of letters of the Salomonsohn family, mostly surrounding Gedalja Salomonsohn's untimely death. Correspondents include Gedalja Salomonsohn, his wife, Ernestine Salomonsohn, his parents, Rabbi Schachne and Rachel, and others. Also included are essays and letters by Rabbi Schachne and others on religious law, as well as documents, translations of twelve letters into English and German, a family tree compiled from the information in the letters, and a thorough summary description of the collection.