![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources — for those crafting their own prayerbooks and sharing the content of their practice | ||
⤷ You are here:
2020 —⟶ Page 8 אֶזְכְּרָה מָצוֹק | Ezkerah Matsōk (“I remember the distress”), a seliḥah for the Fast of Tevet attributed to Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils (11th c.)“Ezkera Matsok” (I remember the distress) is a seliḥah in alphabetic acrostic recited on the Fast of Tevet in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ minhag Polin. . . . Categories: Asarah b'Tevet מימיני מיכאל | “Mikhael is on my right,” an apotropaic invocation of angelic protection in the Bedtime Shema from the Maḥzor Vitry (ca. 11th c.)An “angels on all sides” formula included with the Bedtime Shema service in the Maḥzor Vitry. . . . Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Angelic Protection, Angels, Angels of Healing, apotropaic prayers of protection, Before Sleep, danger, night, שכינה Shekhinah, sleep Contributor(s): Dan Levene, Dalia Marx, Simḥah ben Shmuel of Vitry and Aharon N. Varady (translation) A piyyut by Shlomo ibn Gabirol included in the arrangement of Baqashot before the morning service in the liturgical custom of Sefaradim. . . . Categories: Morning Baqashot אָב הָרַחֲמִים שׁוֹכֵן מְרוֹמִים | Av haRaḥamim Shokhein Meromim, a prayer for the martyred during the First Crusade & Rhineland massacresA prayer for those martyred in the First Crusade and Rhineland Massacres, and by extension, all subsequent pogroms up until and including the Holocaust. . . . אַקְדָמוּת מִילִין | Aḳdamut Milin, a preface to the Targum for the Shavuot Torah Reading, attributed to Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans (ca. 11th c.)An Aramaic piyyut composed as an introduction to the reading of the Targum for the Torah reading on Shavuot. . . . Categories: Shavuot Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, Alphabetic Acrostic, אקדמות Aqdamut, Aramaic, בהמות behemot, פיוטים piyyutim, תרגום targum Contributor(s): Cantor Hinda Labovitz, Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) יוֹם שַׁבָּתוֹן | Yom Shabbaton, a Shabbat song by Yehudah haLevi (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)An interpretive translation of Yehudah haLevi’s shabbat song, “Yom Shabbaton.” . . . Categories: Se'udat Yom Shabbat A Karaite song for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). . . . Categories: Yom Kippur אבלה נפשי | Avlah Nafshi (My soul mourns), a seliḥah for Tsom Gedalyah attributed to Rav Saadia Gaon (10th c.)A seliḥah for the Fast of Gedalyah, attributed to Rav Saadia Gaon. . . . Categories: Tsom Gedalyah Tags: 10th century C.E., 47th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, assassination, elegies, Prayers for leaders, קינות Ḳinōt, סליחות səliḥot Contributor(s): David Asher (translation), Saadiah ben Yosef Gaon and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) הַיּוֹם תְּאַמְּצֵנוּ | haYom T’amtseinu, a piyyut for the end of musaf on Rosh haShanah and Yom KippurThe full text of the alphabetic mesostic piyyut, Hayom, according to the Italian nusaḥ. . . . 📄 הגדה של פסח | Pesaḥ Haggadah (Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael), based on multiple Cairo Geniza manuscripts compiled and translated by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThis is a vocalized reconstruction, arrangement and translation of the Haggadah according to the ancient Land of Israel rite, based on multiple manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza, including Halper 211 and T-S H2.152, with additional input from the Italian rite and customs recorded by Rav Saadia Gaon. It is translated in gender-neutral Hebrew. . . . Categories: Haggadot for the Seder Leil Pesaḥ Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) ברכת המזון לשבועות | Birkat haMazon for Shavuot, according to the Cairo Geniza fragment T-S H6.37 vocalized and translated by Isaac Gantwerk MayerA Birkat haMazon for Shavuot presenting an alphabetic acrostic from a manuscript preserved in the Cairo Geniza. . . . Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) כְּהַיּוֹם הַזֶּה בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם | k’Hayom HaZeh Birushalayim (This day in Jerusalem), a wedding prayer from the Seder Rav Amram Gaon (ca. 9th c.)A well-wishing prayer for couples on their wedding day found in the Seder Rav Amram Gaon. . . . Categories: Engagements & Weddings כשיוצא אדם בלילה | When a person goes out at night: an apotropaic invocation of angelic protection in the Seder Rav Amram Gaon (ca. 9th c.)An apotropaic prayer of protection for traveling at night containing an “angels on all sides” formula. . . . A zemirah for havdallah by an otherwise unknown rabbinic payyetan known only by his signature acrostic. . . . Categories: Motsei Shabbat A pizmon in the nusaḥ hasepharadim recited at Seliḥot during the monh of Elul and Yom Kippur. . . . Categories: Yom Kippur Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., acrostic, אדון הסליחות Adon haSeliḥot, Alphabetic Acrostic, Nusaḥ Sefaradi, פזמונים pizmonim, סליחות səliḥot, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah Contributor(s): the Masorti Movement in Israel, Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) 📄 סדר עתיק לקריאות מהתנ״ך לפי מסכת סופרים | A Service for Scriptural Readings from Antiquity, reconstructed from Masekhet Soferim by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThe “minor tractate” Soferim is one of our best sources for early liturgical practice. It is the oldest known source for multiple practices still followed today, such as the blessing for the haftarah. Such luminaries as the Vilna Gaon considered it a vital work. But some of its practices are… well, odd. There are customs in Tractate Soferim which are found nowhere else in classical rabbinics — blessings for the recitation of books in Writings other than the scrolls, a three-year cycle of Torah readings, and a custom to divide the scrolls in half when reading them. This service is constructed based on the descriptions and passages of Tractate Soferim, mostly following the Gra’s edition. In some ways it may be very familiar, especially to Ashkenazim, but in others it is a fascinating glimpse into a heretofore lost practice of Judaism. . . . Categories: Before the Aliyot מִימִינִי מִיכָאֵל | “Mikhael is on my right,” the angelic invocation for divine protection from the Ḳriyat Shema al haMitahThe “angels on all sides” formula included with the Bedtime Shema service in many contemporary siddurim. . . . Categories: Bedtime Shema מה אלו | “Who are these?” — the Origin of the Angels of Healing: Sanoi, Sansanoi, and Semanglof, as told in the Alphabet of ben Sira (ca. late first millennium)The origin story of Lilith as told in the Alphabet of ben Sira. . . . אֵל אָדוֹן (אשכנז) | El Adōn, a piyyut attributed to the Yordei Merkavah (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)The piyyut, El Adon, in Hebrew with an interpretive “praying translation” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalom, z”l. . . . Tags: acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, אל אדון el adon, Geonic prayers, ההיכלות ויורדי המרכבה haHeikhalot v'Yordei haMerkavah, heikhalot literature, interpretive translation, פיוטים piyyutim, יוצר אור yotser ohr Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) A guide to the activities one might engage upon in every hour of the week corresponding with their ruling planet, numinous and cthonic power. . . . Categories: Incantations, Adjurations, & Amulets גבריאל מימינהון | “Gavriel is on the right,” an apotropaic invocation of angelic protection in the amulet bowl SD12 (ca. mid-first millennium C.E.)The text and translation of an amulet bowl discussed in “‘Gabriel is on their Right’: Angelic Protection in Jewish Magic and Babylonian Lore” by Dan Levene, Dalia Marx, and Siam Bharyo in Studia Mesopotamica (Band 1: 2014) pp.185-198. The apotropaic ward found in the amulet bowl, SD 12, contains an “angels on all sides” formula similar to that appearing in the Jewish liturgy of the bedtime shema. . . . The critical text of Pereq Shirah prepared by Dr. Malachi Beit-Arié in 1967. . . . Categories: Hekhalot Writings היסטוריולה של סממית וסידרוס | Historiola of Smamit and Sideros, a reconstruction based on Amulet 15 & Amulet Bowl 12aA very old tale told for the protection of pregnant women and their infant children as found in amulets from late Antiquity. . . . Categories: Incantations, Adjurations, & Amulets, Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth, Homes & Community Centers, Theurgy Tags: amulet bowls, Angelic Protection, Angels, Angels of Healing, apotropaic prayers of protection, cold iron, entering magical territory, epical narrative as ward, historiola, infants, iron in folklore, קמעות ḳame'ot, Late Antiquity, prayers concerning children, prayers for pregnant women, prophylactic A traditional Cochin Ḳaddish Shalem, based on siddurim published for the Cochin Jewish community by the Props brothers of Amsterdam. . . . Categories: Ḳaddish ברייתא דרבי ישמעאל | The Baraita of Rebbi Yishma’el: thirteen principles of halakhic exegesis (translated by Rabbi Ben-Zion Bokser)The thirteen exegetical rules by which halakhot from the Torah may be derived, according to Rebbi Yishmael, included with the preliminary prayers before the Psukei d’Zimrah/Zemirot of Shaḥarit. . . . Chapter 2 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . . Chapter 3 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . . Chapter 4 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . . Chapter 5 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . . Chapter 6 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . . The following is the Midrash l’Ḥanukkah, one of a collection of three midrashim and two megillot containing the details of the story of Ḥanukkah in the Jewish rabbinic tradition. Those already familiar with these other works will quickly recognize portions or summaries of them here albeit with precious additional information added not found anywhere else. . . . 💬 מְגִילַּת אַנטְיוּכַס | Megilat Antiokhos — in the original Aramaic, cantillated according to the British Library manuscript Or 5866This is a direct transcription, including cantillation and non-standard vocalizations, of the cantillated Megilat Antiokhos found in the British Library manuscript Or 5866, folios 105v-110r. . . . Ὑμνεῖν με δεῖ τὸν θεόν | “I Must Praise God,” excerpted from the Discourses of Epictetus by Rabbi Morrison David BialA short discourse on the necessity for prayer by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus. . . . Selections from 1 & 2 Maccabees and Pesiqta Rabbati on the Desecration and Rededication of the Temple and the Rekindling of the Sacred FireSelections from 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and Pesiqta Rabbati which inform the story of Ḥanukkah: the desecration and re-dedication of the Temple (especially as it relates to Sukkot and the Brumalia), divine intervention in the Maccabean battles, and the Rekindling of the Sacred Fire. . . . Tags: 2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., Angels, Classical Antiquity, combating anti-Jewish oppression, dedications and consecrations, kindling, Maccabean Revolt, המקבים Maccabees, נר תמיד ner tamid, המזבח the Mizbe'aḥ Contributor(s): Jason of Cyrene, Septuagint (translation/Greek), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) 💬 ספר ברוך | Sefer Barukh (1:1-3:8), from the Reconstructed Hebrew Vorlage by Prof. Emmanuel Tov, vocalized and cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThe book of Barukh (also, Baruch and Barouch) in its reconstructed Hebrew vorlage from verse 1:1 till 3:8. . . . Categories: Second Temple Period The Apostrophe to Zion is an alphabetical acrostic poem, directed at Zion in the second person. It has been found in multiple locations in Qumran, including the Great Psalms Scroll 11QPsa as well as another fragmentary scroll in 4Q88. It was considered a regular part of their psalmodic canon. . . . Categories: Second Temple Period Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם (שְׁלָמָא אֵילוֹכוּן) | Shalom Aleikhem (Shlama Elokhun), Aramaic translation by Yaacov MaozThe popular piyyut for welcoming the Shabbat, in Hebrew with translations in Assyrian-Aramaic and English. . . . Categories: Se'udat Leil Shabbat 💬 Σουσαννα | שׁוֹשַׁנָּה וְהַזְּקֵנִים | Shoshanah & the Elders, according to Theodotion translated and cantillated in Masoretic Hebrew by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThe story of Shoshanah & the Elders, according to the text of Theodotion translated into Biblical Hebrew. . . . Categories: Second Temple Period 💬 Βηλ Και Δρακων | בֵּל וְהַתַּנִּין | Bel & the Dragon, according to Theodotion translated and cantillated in Masoretic Hebrew by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThe story of Bel and the Dragon according to the text of Theodotion, translated into biblical Hebrew. . . . Categories: Second Temple Period אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed), interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-ShalomiThe prayer El Malé Raḥamim, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. . . . Categories: Mourning Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s) This “praying translation” of the piyyut Nishmat Kol Ḥai is included in Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s Sabbath Supplement to his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi ~ As I Can Say It (for Praying in the Vernacular) (2009). The translation includes several prayers that follow the piyyut: Ha-El B’ta’atsumot Uzekha, and Shoḥen Ad. . . . Tags: Amoraic prayers, Crowning, drought conditions, interpretive translation, Late Antiquity, נשמת כל חי Nishmat kol ḥai, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, rainfall, thanksgiving Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) The text of the prayer Nishmat Kol Ḥai in Hebrew with English translation. . . . The text of the Sheva Brakhot from the birkon of Honi Sanders and Simona Dalin. . . . Categories: Engagements & Weddings בִּרְכָּת אַהֲבַה | Ahavat Olam, for Maariv/Arvit, translation by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman & Shaul VardiThe second evening blessing before the recitation of the Shema in Hebrew with English translation . . . Categories: Birkat Ahavah for Ma'ariv/Arvit The first evening blessing before the recitation of the Shema in Hebrew with English translation . . . Categories: Maariv Aravim The Hashkivenu prayer of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. . . . Categories: Hashkivenu Tags: apotropaic prayers of protection, blessings following the shema, השכיבנו hashkivenu, interpretive translation Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s) A version of the weekday Amiday by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi emphasizing personal prayer, set side-by-side with a Sefaradi text of the Amidah. . . . Categories: Weekday Amidah בִּרְכָּת גָּאַל יִשְׂרָאֵל | Emet v’Emunah, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-ShalomiThe first of two blessings following the shema in the evening, rendered by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in his English “praying translation.” . . . Categories: Birkat Ga'al Yisrael for Ma'ariv/Arvit סֵפֶר חֲנוֹךְ | The Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 83-90), with Aramaic Fragments and translations in Ge’ez and EnglishA mytho-historical chronicle of the story of humanity and Israel up until the Maccabean revolt depicted as a fable through a dream vision of Ḥanokh. . . . | ||
| Sign up for a summary of new resources shared by contributors each week
  |
