The Jewish Virtual Library (JVL, formerly known as JSOURCE) is an
online encyclopedia
An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, is a digital encyclopedia accessible through the Internet. Some examples include pre-World Wide Web services that offered the '' Academic American Encyclopedia'' beginning in 1980, Enc ...
published by the American foreign policy analyst Mitchell Bard's non-profit organization American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE). It is a website covering topics about
Israel–United States relations
Since the 1960s, the relationship between Israel and the United States has grown into a close alliance in economic, strategic and military aspects. The U.S. has provided strong support for Israel and has played a key role in the promotion of g ...
,
Jewish history
Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their Jewish peoplehood, nation, Judaism, religion, and Jewish culture, culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures.
Jews originated from the Israelites and H ...
,
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, the
Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
,
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
and
Judaism
Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
.
The website includes the book ''Myths and Facts''. The book was originally written by Leonard Davis and published in 1964. Later editions were written by Bard who describes it as "the pro-Israel activist's 'bible.
The JVL also includes the website stopbds.com which aims to combat the
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's ...
movement.
Overview
Sources
The Jewish Virtual Library relies on history books, scientific studies, various encyclopedias, archives, polls, maps, and material from museums for its bibliography, as well as Wikipedia articles. According to the JVL, it received permission to use materials from the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
, the
American Jewish Historical Society
The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation an ...
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...
, the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
Joseph Telushkin
Joseph Telushkin (born 1948) is an American rabbi and writer. He has authored more than 15 books, including volumes about Jewish ethics, Jewish literacy, as well as the book ''Rebbe'', a ''New York Times'' bestseller released in June 2014.
Biogr ...
and other resources. Mitchell G. Bard is the founder and Executive Director.
Sections, topics
The Library has 13 sections: Anti-Semitism, History, Myths and Facts, Women, The Holocaust, Travel, Maps, Politics, Biography, Israel, Israel Education, Religion, Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress, and Vital Statistics and Reference.
The JVL hosts more than 60,000 articles and nearly 10,000 photographs and maps related to Jewish history, Israel, Israel–United States relations, the Holocaust, antisemitism and Judaism, as well as various statistics, information about politics, biographies, travel guides, and a section on Jewish women throughout history. The website includes the complete text of the
Babylonian Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...
.
It contains information about Israel education in America, including information about Israel Studies. The website aims to document the relationship between Israel and each of the 50 states, and publish declassified documents from sources such as the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
,
State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
and
British Foreign Service
His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Civil Service, which deals ...
that reveal insights into those organizations' attitudes toward Jews and Israel.
Reception
The website has been praised for its accessible interface and balanced information. Librarian John Jaeger, in a 2002 article published by the
Association of College and Research Libraries
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes library, libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world.
History 19th ...
, wrote:
Also in 2002, Karen Evans of
Indiana State University
Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...
praised the online library for its "easily accessible, balanced information". J. Douglas Smith and Richard Jensen in their book ''World War II on the Web: A Guide to the Very Best Sites with free CD-ROM'' published in 2002 also heaped praise on the website:
The website and its book ''Myths and Facts'' have also been criticised for pro-Israel bias. In 1987, Clifford A. Wright, author of Facts and Fables: The Real Story Behind the Arab-Israeli Conflict, dismissed ''Myths and Facts 1985'' (published 1984) in a Spring 1987 '' Journal of Palestine Studies'' review entitled ''Partisan "Facts"'' as Zionist propaganda:
American journalist Donald Neff in his Summer 2002 '' Journal of Palestine Studies'' review entitled ''Rewriting History'' of the 2001 edition was equally critical:
In 2021, the
Wikipedia community
The Wikipedia community, collectively and individually known as Wikipedians, is an online community of volunteers who create and maintain Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. Wikipedians may or may not consider themselves part of the Wikimedia mo ...
reached a consensus to prohibit the use of the JVL as a source for most situations, citing concerns about its accuracy and pro-Israel bias.
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...