July 2021 • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

סֶֽרַח בַּת־אָשֵׁר | Seraḥ bat Asher, a Havdalah Song by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Contributor(s):	Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Categories:	Motsei Shabbat
Tags:	זמירות zemirot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Psychopomp, הבדלות havdalot, Seraḥ bat Asher
	Some communities have a practice of singing a song about Miriam alongside the well-known Havdalah song about Elijah the Prophet. But Miriam isn’t really a parallel to Elijah — she’s a parallel to Moshe and Aaron. When we’re talking about distaff counterparts to Elijah the clearest example is Seraḥ bat Asher. Seraḥ, the daughter of Asher, is mentioned only a handful of times in the Tanakh, but is given great significance in the midrash. Like Elijah, she is said to have never died but entered Paradise alive, and comes around to the rabbis to give advice or teachings. This song, which includes several references to midrashim about Seraḥ, is meant to be sung to any traditional tune of “Eliyahu haNavi.” It is dedicated to Ḥazzan Joanna Selznick Dulkin (shlit”a), who introduced me to the legends of Seraḥ bat Asher. . . .

עמידה לשחרית שבת | The Amidah for Shabbat (Day), by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories:	Shaḥarit l'Shabbat ul'Yom Tov
Tags:	21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, devotional interpretation
	The Amidah for the Shabbat Shaḥarit service in Reb Zalman’s devotional English adaptation, set side-by-side with the corresponding Hebrew liturgy. . . .

“מאַכט אײַער אייגענעם סידור!‏” (Yoel Matveyev, Yiddish Daily Forverts 2019)

Contributor(s):	the Hierophant
Categories:	Press & Research Articles
Tags:	21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Yiddishland
	An article in the Yiddish Daily Forverts (Forward) on the activities of the Open Siddur Project and its founder, Aharon Varady. . . .

הרקיע השביעי | The Seventh Heavenly Dome, a description and hymn of divine praise from Sefer ha-Razim

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Michael A. Morgan (translation/English), Mordecai Margaliot and Unknown Author(s)
Categories:	Incantations, Adjurations, & Amulets, Yotser Ohr
Tags:	Late Antiquity, פיוטים piyyutim, יוצר אור yotser ohr, the higher the fewer, Needing Vocalization
	A hymn of praise found in the description of the 7th dome of heaven in Sefer ha-Razim . . .

הספר ששמשו בו הכשדים | Theurgy of the Kasdim, an astral-magic treatise on the seven angels of the week

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Moses Gaster (translation) and Unknown Author(s)
Categories:	Incantations, Adjurations, & Amulets, Theurgy
Tags:	Magic, Angels, Astrological, angelology, entering magical territory, ritual power, magical recipes
	A work of Jewish astrology and magic containing recipes specific to the angelic rulers of each day of the week. . . .

ἕνας ὁ κύριος | Hénas ho Kýrios, a piyyut in Judeo-Greek for Shavuot (ca. 16th-17th c.)

Contributor(s):	Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis (translation), Elisabeth Hollender (translation) and Unknown Author(s)
Categories:	Shavuot
Tags:	פיוטים piyyutim, תרגום targum, 55th century A.M., 16th century C.E., Decalogue, Judeo-Greek
	A piyyut in Judeo-Greek for introducing the Decalogue. . . .

תפילה למחסן/ת | Prayer for those Administering Vaccinations (Masorti Movement in Israel 2020)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Shoshana Michael Zucker (translation), Knesset haRabanim b'Yisrael and Masorti Movement in Israel
Categories:	Epidemics & Pandemics, Well-being, health, and caregiving
Tags:	שמירת הגוף shmirat haguf, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., חיסון vaccination, COVID-19 coronavirus, 2020 coronavirus pandemic, prayers of health care workers, 2020 coronavirus outbreak in Israel
	A prayer for those administering vaccinations. . . .

Announcement of the Count of Years since the Destruction of the (First) Temple, from the Yemenite Baladi-Rite (Tikhlal Ets Ḥayyim of Yiḥya Tsalaḥ)

Contributor(s):	Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Yiḥya Tsalaḥ
Categories:	Tishah b'Av
Tags:	Yemenite Jewry, declarations, nusaḥ baladi
	Many communities have a custom of announcing on the night of 9 Av the years since the destruction of the Temple. The Yemenite rite is unique in that it announces both the years since the destruction of the second, but also the years since the destruction of the first, in this poetic form recited after the conclusion of the evening kinnot. Why? Because the Yemenite community traced its origins back to the destruction of the first temple, claiming not to have returned under Ezra. Here the original Hebrew text is included along with a new translation and a transcription in the Yemenite pronunciation style. . . .

תהלים ח׳ | Psalms 8, a mizmor of David (translated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer)

Contributor(s):	Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), the Masoretic Text and David haMelekh ben Yishai (traditional attribution)
Categories:	Tehilim Book 1 (Psalms 1–41), Rosh haShanah la-Behemah
Tags:	21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Psalms 8, על הגתית Al HaGitit, מזמור Mizmor
	The 8th psalm of the book of Psalms in Masoretic Hebrew accompanied by an English translation. . . .

תהלים קמ״ח | Psalms 148: Hallelu-YAH! (translation by Rabbi Arthur Waskow)

Contributor(s):	Arthur Waskow, the Masoretic Text and Unknown Author(s)
Categories:	Tehilim Book 5 (Psalms 107–150), Psukei D'zimrah/Zemirot, Daily Hallel
Tags:	interpretive translation, hymns of creation, devotional interpretation, פסוקי דזמרה pesuqei dezimrah, הללו־יה hallelu-yah, Psalms 148
	Psalms 148 in Hebrew with an interpretive translation in English by Arthur Waskow. . . .

אסו ית ארסינואי | Two healing prayers for Arsinoë’s recovery (Amulets 80.AM.55.1 & 80.AM.55.2, J. Paul Getty Museum)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Roy Kotansky (translation) and Unknown Author(s)
Categories:	Incantations, Adjurations, & Amulets, Well-being, health, and caregiving
Tags:	Angels, Aramaic, Late Antiquity, קמעות ḳame'ot, 3rd century C.E., angelology, entering magical territory, Angels of Healing, 41st century A.M.
	Healing prayers written on a pair of amulets for the recovery of a woman named Arsinoë . . .

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