בסיעתא דשמיא

The Seder of Kavanot for the Feast of Rosh Hashanah according to a Farsi Nusaḥ

Image: Pomegranite in Michal and Michael's garden by davi55king (License: CC-BY 2.0)

Thank you to Nili Simchai and Yosh Schulman for sharing the Farsi (Persian) Nusaḥ of this profound minhag — the order of reciting kavvanot (intentions) for the New Year. Please help the Open Siddur Project by helping to translate and transcribe all of the Hebrew and Farsi in this seder. Sol’e nu Mobarak! سال نو مبارک — L’shanah Tova! . . . → Read More: The Seder of Kavanot for the Feast of Rosh Hashanah according to a Farsi Nusaḥ

A Love Song to Arabs from a Jew

Love Song to Arabs from a Jew - Pesach Stadlin
السلام عليكم اننى يهودي أعيش في أسرائيل هذه الاغنية أهديها لجيراني العرب انها أغنية حب لكل جيراني العرب الذين يحبون الحياة و التعايش معا في سلم و سلام , و الاوقات السعيدة , و الاكل الطعم , و الصداقات الجميلة , و العلاقات الجيدة , و الأمن و الأمان نتعلم في التوراة أن اللهّ \ الخالق خلق الناس أجمعين و هذا يتضمننا كلنا هذه أغنية حب لكم…

. . . → Read More: A Love Song to Arabs from a Jew

Likutei Tefillot and The Open Breslov Project

Image: "Объятие вечности | Eternity hugs" by L'Yoshka (License: CC BY-SA 2.0). Image taken in Uman Park, Uman, Ukraine.

In 2010 while beginning to prepare resources for Tu Bishvat, I stumbled across a fascinating project over on Wikisource — the Open Breslov Project — a project for creating free digital translations into English of the work of Rebbe Naḥman of Breslov, the work of his student, Reb Natan of Nemirov, and a few others. Closely related to the Open Siddur Project is an effort at Hebrew Wikisource to create free digital editions of all the texts of Breslov Ḥasidut in Hebrew. . . . → Read More: Likutei Tefillot and The Open Breslov Project

An Abridged English Translation of Fanny Neuda’s Stunden Der Andacht by R’ Moritz Mayer (1866)

Hours of Devotion Title Page (Large)

Stunden Der Andacht, Fanny Neuda (nèe Schmeidl)’s popular collection of prayers written in German and published in Prague in 1855 was already in its fifth printing a decade later when Rabbi Moritz Mayer published his English translation, Hours of Devotion (1866) in New York. Neuda’s collection of Jewish prayers is unique by virtue of its being possibly the first to authored by a Jewish woman. Earlier collections of tkhinos — petitionary prayers, comprising a growing literature of devotional works for prayer outside of the shul were authored by Jewish men. . . . → Read More: An Abridged English Translation of Fanny Neuda’s Stunden Der Andacht by R’ Moritz Mayer (1866)

Shema by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

We are grateful to Rabbi Arthur Waskow for contributing his expansion of and meditation on the Shema, originally composed the 6th of Tishrei, 5764 (October 2nd, 2003).

Sh’ma: An Interpretation for the 21st Century

Sh’sh’sh’ma Yisra’el — Listen, You Godwrestlers! Pause from your wrestling and hush’sh’sh To hear — YHWH/ Yahh

Hear in the stillness . . . → Read More: Shema by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Shiviti (restored by Andrew Meit, from the David Simonsen Manuscripts Collection)

Shiviti - The Royal Library of Denmark David Simonsen Manuscripts Collection (Restored by Andrew Meit - Final)

We are grateful to Andrew Meit for restoring a Shiviti from the Royal Library of Denmark’s Simonsen Manuscripts Collection. The image was slightly adjusted by Aharon Varady. All files including the vector art are shared with a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) Public Domain dedication. . . . → Read More: Shiviti (restored by Andrew Meit, from the David Simonsen Manuscripts Collection)

Shiviti: perceiving the world as an expression of divine Oneness

Image: המנורה כתובה by Ba'al haKokhav (CC0)

Given that the Torah forbids impressing our imaginations with illustrations of the divine, some other method is necessary to perceive divine Oneness. One method is found in the verse in Psalms 16:8, “I have set YHVH before me at all times.”

שִׁוִּיתִי יְהוָה לְנֶגְדִּי תָמִיד׃ Shiviti YHVH l’negdi tamid I have set YHVH before me at all times.

. . . → Read More: Shiviti: perceiving the world as an expression of divine Oneness

How to craft a Pamphlet Birkon for Blessings After Eating and other prayers

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Beginning late last year, I began a project to translate the Birkat Hamazon using Rabbi Simeon Singer’s English translation and the Nusaḥ ha-Ari as the basis for publishing birkonim (or in Yiddish, benchers). The original work was sponsored by the Teva Learning Center and its executive director, Nili Simhai, to be used in birkhonim specifically designed for use during weekdays during Teva’s Fall season. . . . → Read More: How to craft a Pamphlet Birkon for Blessings After Eating and other prayers

Motzi — a kavanah before eating challah by Trisha Arlin

Image: Challah by Brad Greenlee (license CC-BY-2.0)

Trisha Arlin shares “Motzi”, a kavanah (intention) for the blessing, Hamotzi Lehem Min Ha’aretz, over challah. Describing the kavanah she writes that it’s, “based on Rabbi Ellen Lippmann’s tradition on having us create a chain of touch around room that leads to and from the challah, which she then explains as both exemplifying the connection created when people eat together and the chain of work that went to creating the challah itself.” . . . → Read More: Motzi — a kavanah before eating challah by Trisha Arlin

Blessing Group Torah Study with Brakhot, Kaddish, and Kavvanah

What the Rabbis taught about teaching and learning was that all Torah study should begin and end with blessings, just as eating does. Often, in liberal Jewish circles today, these blessings are not done. But without them, it is easier for Torah study to feel like a mere academic discussion, devoid of spirit. And where the blessings are said but only by rote, it is easier for Torah study to feel merely antiquarian and automatic. In Jewish-renewal style, how can we bring new kavvanah — spiritual meaning, intention, focus, intensity — to these blessings — and therefore to the process of Torah study itself? . . . → Read More: Blessing Group Torah Study with Brakhot, Kaddish, and Kavvanah

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