בסיעתא דשמיא

תנ״ך | Yehoyesh’s Yiddish Translation of the Tanakh

Yehoyesh Blumgarten (1870-1927)

The Open Siddur Project is pleased to distribute a masterful Yiddish translation of the Tanakh by “Yehoyesh” (Yehoash) Shloyme Blumgarten (1870-1927) as published in Torah, Neviʼim, u-Khetuvim (New York: Yehoʼash Farlag Gezelshaft, 1941) that now resides in the Public Domain. . . . → Read More: תנ״ך | Yehoyesh’s Yiddish Translation of the Tanakh

מודה אני | Modah/Modeh Ani (translation by Andrew Shaw)

Image: Good Morning by khawkins04 (License: CC-BY 2.0)

Thankful am I in your Presence, Spirit who lives and endures, for You’ve returned to me my soul with compassion. Abundant is your faith! . . . → Read More: מודה אני | Modah/Modeh Ani (translation by Andrew Shaw)

The Jewish English Torah: A new CC-BY-SA (copyleft attribution) licensed translation

Solomon Alexander Hart - The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Leghorn, Italy, 1850 (The Jewish Museum, New York: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Gruss, JM 28-55)

This week on the holiday of Simḥat Torah, the Jewish people will begin to read the Torah anew, starting with Parashat Bereshit. The JET is a new English translation of Parashat Bereshit that is meant to be readable (and enjoyable to read), useful to people who want to study the parashah, and faithful to the Hebrew text of the Torah. JET stands for the “Jewish English Torah” (or for the “Jewish English Tanakh” if we want to be very ambitious). I would like to invite others to contribute further Open Content translations for parts of the Torah or Tanakh to the Open Siddur Project, whether by following my method or in any other style. In time, together we could create a rich resource full of translations of all parts of the Tanakh in a variety of useful forms. That would be a wonderful thing to start on Simḥat Torah. . . . → Read More: The Jewish English Torah: A new CC-BY-SA (copyleft attribution) licensed translation

Haftarah for the Fast of Yom Kippur (translated by R’ Arthur O. Waskow)

As we move not just toward a new “year” (shanah) but toward a moment when repetition (sheni) becomes transformation (shinui), I hope we will remember — the roots of Jewish renewal in the upheavals of the 1960s as well as the upheavals of the 1760s, the roots of Judaism in the great “political” speeches of the Prophets, and the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who said that in a great civil rights march his legs were praying, and who argued again and again that “spirituality” and “politics” cannot be severed. As Heschel also said, “Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive.” . . . → Read More: Haftarah for the Fast of Yom Kippur (translated by R’ Arthur O. Waskow)

Siddur Class: Sourcesheets from Amit Gvaryahu’s Shiur on Tefillah

We are grateful to Amit Gvaryahu for sharing his sourcesheets for his Siddur class at Yeshivat Hadar’s 90@190 Open Beit Midrash this past summer 5771/2011, and for sharing his translations with a CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license. . . . → Read More: Siddur Class: Sourcesheets from Amit Gvaryahu’s Shiur on Tefillah

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)

A Civic Minded Prayer for the Government (translated by Alan Scott Belsky)

We are grateful to Alan Scott Belsky for translating his favorite Prayer for the Government. The version below is included in the סדור שְׂפַת אֱמֶת הֶחָדָשׁ — Siddur Sfat Emet HeḤadash “Daily Prayer with English Directions” (1916, Hebrew Publishing Co., New York, NY) p.195-196. Thank you to Aharon Varady for his transcription of the Hebrew . . . → Read More: A Civic Minded Prayer for the Government (translated by Alan Scott Belsky)

An illustration of Borei Nefashot by Rachel Katz and a translation of the Birkhat Hamazon by Aharon Varady

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Beginning late last year, I began a project to translate the Birkhat Hamazon using Rabbi Simeon Singer’s English translation and the Nusaḥ ha-Ari as the basis for publishing birkhonim (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: An illustration of Borei Nefashot by Rachel Katz and a translation of the Birkhat Hamazon by Aharon Varady

El Maleh Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed) translated and sung by Effron Esseiva

Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague by bschmove (CC-BY-2.0)

We are grateful to Effron Esseiva of the Shirat Hayam on Bowen Island havurah and Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver for sharing his recording and abbreviated translation (below) of El Malei Raḥamim (lit. “God, full of Compassion”), the prayer for the departed traditionally read at the unveiling of the headstone. Effron is studying davvening leadership . . . → Read More: El Maleh Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed) translated and sung by Effron Esseiva

A Pushka-appeal

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