— for those crafting their own prayerbooks and sharing the content of their practice
You are here: //
July 2022 “An Evening Modeh Ani” by Rabbi Menachem Creditor was first published on 6 July 2022 at his blog and shared by the author through the Open Siddur Project Discussion Group, on Facebook. . . . Categories: Bedtime Shema “Perhaps: A Prayer with God for the World” by Rabbi Menachem Creditor was first published by the author on 8 July 2022 on his blog and on his Facebook page and shared through the Open Siddur Project Discussion Group (also on Facebook). . . . Categories: Addenda A reflection on prayer and prayer literature from an Open Siddur Project volunteer. . . . אֵלִי כְּבוֹדִי: זמר לסעודה השלישית | Eli Kevodi (My God, My Glory), a hymn for the third sabbath meal by Asher Hillel BursteinEli Kevodi (My God, My Glory”), for seudah shelisheet, was composed by Asher Hillel Burstein in 2018. The hymn was awarded the “Rabbi Hershel Matt Creative Liturgy Award,” the first prize in the creative liturgy contest sponsored by ARC (The Association of Rabbis and Cantors), an interdenominational group of Jewish clergy. . . . Categories: Se'udah haShlishit “A Prayer for the Flood Stricken” was offered by Rabbi David Dine Wirtschafter and shared via his Facebook page on 28 July 2022. He adds, “Please contribute to the Team Eastern Kentucky Relief Fund.” . . . Categories: Dangerous Storms & Floods In 2019, Richard Collis released an album providing recordings of the prayers for the Shabbat Morning Services, from Nishmat til the end of Musaf, We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers. Accompanying liner notes included the romanized Hebrew text for each recorded prayer track, with an original translation in English below each sung phrase. Describing it he wrote, “The 64 track music CD album set We Sing We Stay Together of the Shabbat Morning Service Prayers, and a companion Sing-Along Prayer Book of the same name (to make it beyond easy to learn) is designed to help everyone access the beauty of their Judaic heritage, no prior knowledge required. These prayers belong to all of us.” In 2022, Collis released a follow-up edition with translations in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Russian. This is Richard Collis’s sing-a-long prayerbook for Shabbat morning in Russian. . . . Categories: Shabbat Siddurim 📖 (אשכנז) Cantamos y Permanecemos Juntos: Plegarias del Servicio Matutino del Shabbat (Richard Collis 2022)In 2019, Richard Collis released an album providing recordings of the prayers for the Shabbat Morning Services, from Nishmat til the end of Musaf, We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers. Accompanying liner notes included the romanized Hebrew text for each recorded prayer track, with an original translation in English below each sung phrase. Describing it he wrote, “The 64 track music CD album set We Sing We Stay Together of the Shabbat Morning Service Prayers, and a companion Sing-Along Prayer Book of the same name (to make it beyond easy to learn) is designed to help everyone access the beauty of their Judaic heritage, no prior knowledge required. These prayers belong to all of us.” In 2022, Collis released a follow-up edition with translations in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Russian. This is Richard Collis’s sing-a-long prayerbook for Shabbat morning in Spanish. . . . Categories: Shabbat Siddurim 📖 (אשכנז) Wir Singen Wir Bleiben Zusammen: Gebete zum Morgengottesdienst am Shabbat (Richard Collis 2022)In 2019, Richard Collis released an album providing recordings of the prayers for the Shabbat Morning Services, from Nishmat til the end of Musaf, We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers. Accompanying liner notes included the romanized Hebrew text for each recorded prayer track, with an original translation in English below each sung phrase. Describing it he wrote, “The 64 track music CD album set We Sing We Stay Together of the Shabbat Morning Service Prayers, and a companion Sing-Along Prayer Book of the same name (to make it beyond easy to learn) is designed to help everyone access the beauty of their Judaic heritage, no prior knowledge required. These prayers belong to all of us.” In 2022, Collis released a follow-up edition with translations in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Russian. This is Richard Collis’s sing-a-long prayerbook for Shabbat morning in German. . . . Categories: Shabbat Siddurim 📖 (אשכנז) Nous Chantons Nous Restons Ensemble: Prières du Service du Matin de Shabbat (Richard Collis 2022)In 2019, Richard Collis released an album providing recordings of the prayers for the Shabbat Morning Services, from Nishmat til the end of Musaf, We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers. Accompanying liner notes included the romanized Hebrew text for each recorded prayer track, with an original translation in English below each sung phrase. Describing it he wrote, “The 64 track music CD album set We Sing We Stay Together of the Shabbat Morning Service Prayers, and a companion Sing-Along Prayer Book of the same name (to make it beyond easy to learn) is designed to help everyone access the beauty of their Judaic heritage, no prior knowledge required. These prayers belong to all of us.” In 2022, Collis released a follow-up edition with translations in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Russian. This is Richard Collis’s sing-a-long prayerbook for Shabbat morning in French. . . . Categories: Shabbat Siddurim In 2019, Richard Collis released an album providing recordings of the prayers for the Shabbat Morning Services, from Nishmat til the end of Musaf, We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers. Accompanying liner notes included the romanized Hebrew text for each recorded prayer track, with an original translation in English below each sung phrase. Describing it he wrote, “The 64 track music CD album set We Sing We Stay Together of the Shabbat Morning Service Prayers, and a companion Sing-Along Prayer Book of the same name (to make it beyond easy to learn) is designed to help everyone access the beauty of their Judaic heritage, no prior knowledge required. These prayers belong to all of us.” In 2022, Collis released a follow-up edition with translations in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Russian. This is Richard Collis’s sing-a-long prayerbook for Shabbat morning in Portuguese. . . . Categories: Shabbat Siddurim In 2019, Richard Collis released an album providing recordings of the prayers for the Shabbat Morning Services, from Nishmat til the end of Musaf, We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers. Accompanying liner notes included the romanized Hebrew text for each recorded prayer track, with an original translation in English below each sung phrase. Describing it he wrote, “The 64 track music CD album set We Sing We Stay Together of the Shabbat Morning Service Prayers, and a companion Sing-Along Prayer Book of the same name (to make it beyond easy to learn) is designed to help everyone access the beauty of their Judaic heritage, no prior knowledge required. These prayers belong to all of us.” In 2022, Collis released a follow-up edition with translations in Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, and Russian. This is Richard Collis’s sing-a-long prayerbook for Shabbat morning in English. . . . Categories: Shabbat Siddurim This is Mendel Roth’s prayer upon sharing his Shirat ha-Ahavah (song of love). The text of the prayer was provided in the description to the video on Youtube. English translation of the pointed Hebrew by Aharon Varady. . . . Categories: Tu b'Av Qevelta de-Liba’i (“My Heart’s Lament”) is a melancholy song I wrote in Targumic Judeo-Aramaic in 2010. This piece is an existential peek into an old man’s private moment. He looks in the mirror and waxes wistful, longing for his bygone youth. . . . Categories: Self-Reflection This untitled prayer written by Isaac Bashevis Singer on the back of a receipt (dated 1 March 1952) was discovered by David Stromberg in 2014 in the archives at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, and published online by Tablet (1, 2) with permission of the Susan Schulman Literary Agency. . . . Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., אהבת ישראל loving Yisrael, Needing Proofreading, paraliturgical ribon haOlamim, Three Weeks of Mourning Contributor(s): David Stromberg (translation), Isaac Bashevis Singer and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) “Morning Song [splendor of the morning sunlight]” is a hymn by Felix Adler, published in The Sabbath School Hymnal, a collection of songs, services and responses for Jewish Sabbath schools, and homes (4th rev. ed., 1897), hymn no. 23. . . . Categories: Learning, Study, and School שיר מזמור לפורים | Shir Mizmor l’Purim, an anti-Prohibition drinking song for Purim by Rabbi Sabato Morais (1889)This “Shir Mizmor l’Purim” by Rabbi Sabato Morais (we think) was first published in The Jewish Exponent on 15 March 1889. It was preserved by Rabbi Sabato Morais in his ledger, an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. . . . Categories: Purim Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, Philadelphia, Prohibition in the United States, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): Sabato Morais, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) “Task of the Ages” is a short hymn by Felix Adler, first published in The Ethical Record vol. 1, no. 1. (April 1888), sheet music pages 2-3. . . . Categories: Learning, Study, and School “Charity” is a hymn by Felix Adler, first published in The Ethical Record vol. 1, no. 1. (April 1888), sheet music page 4. For an account of this hymn being sung, find The Journal of Industrial Education, “Autumn Festival of the Workingman’s School. Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1889.” vol. 4, no. 9 (May 1890). . . . Categories: Repenting, Resetting, and Reconciliation “The Children’s Song” is a hymn by Felix Adler, first published in The Ethical Record vol. 1, no. 1. (April 1888), sheet music page 5. . . . Categories: Learning, Study, and School Prayer for the United States on Thanksgiving Day after the Assassination of President James A. Garfield, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (24 November 1881)This prayer for the government by Rabbi Sabato Morais, preserved in an undated newspaper clipping from an unknown newspaper, was offered on Thanksgiving Day (24 November) in 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Sabato Morais in his ledger (p. 234, clipping 414), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) We were able to date the prayer from the context offered by surrounding clippings that detailed the circumstances in which the prayer was given. Another clipping provided an outline of the sixty-first annual meeting of the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society (founded 1820, thus giving the date of 1881). With that date likely, references to activities in surrounding clippings began to make sense, especially the attention given to the relief work that year of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in eastern Europe. The Kiev pogrom of 1881 began during the spring that year. In the prayer itself, the year 1881 provides the necessary context for understanding Rabbi Morais’s references to the “hour of peril” and “the stability of the government” — the mortal injury to President James A. Garfield shot that summer and who died that fall. When this prayer was offered, Chester A. Arthur, was president of the United States. . . . This prayer for the recovery of President James A. Garfield after he had been shot and his wound infected was offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais and recorded in The Sunday Dispatch, “The Suspense of a Nation. A Thought and a Prayer” on 4 September 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (p. 175, clipping 297), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . Categories: 🇺🇸 United States of America This prayer for the recovery of President James A. Garfield after he had been shot and his wound infected was offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais and recorded in the Jewish Record, “Prayers for Our Sick President. Synagogue Mickvé Israel” on 26 August 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (p. 174, clipping 296), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . Categories: 🇺🇸 United States of America This prayer offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais in response to what became known as the Great Boston Fire of 1872, was recorded in an article in Philaedlphia’s Evening Telegraph, “Boston’s Fire. A Prayer by a Hebrew Minster,” reprinted from the Boston Transcript. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (p. 234, clipping 406), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . Categories: Man-made Disasters O Day of God, Leopold Stein’s paraliturgical Kol Nidrei “O Tag des Herrn” (1840) adapted in English by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1866)One of the most revolutionary alterations made by the early Reform movement in Germany was their replacement of Kol Nidre with a German hymn, sung to the same melody: O Tag des Herrn. But when the early Reformers came to the United States, they adopted a new language, English. In 1866, the American Reform Jewish community was largely bilingual in German and English, and Isaac Mayer (No Relation) Wise’s 1866 service for the Day of Atonement took account for that, including a singable English translation of the singable German replacement for Kol Nidre. I have also included a musical score which uses I. M. Wise’s English text in Louis Lewandowsky’s original setting of O Tag des Herrn. . . . Categories: Yom Kippur This prayer by Rabbi Max Michelbacher was offered on 27 March 1863, a day appointed by Jefferson Davis for fasting and prayer, and published together with a sermon. . . . Prayer on the Occasion of the Dedication of Ḳahl Montgomery Synagogue, by Rabbi James Koppel Gutheim (16 May 1862)This civic prayer, recorded by an unknown Montgomery, Alabama newspaper on 16 May 1862, was offered at the dedication of the new Ḳahl Montgomery synagogue building, by Rabbi James Koppel Gutheim. The newspaper clipping, found in the I. Solomon Collection in the manuscript department of Duke University Library, was transcribed by Dr. Bertram W. Korn for his article, “The Jews of the Confederacy,” American Jewish Archives vol. 13, no. 1 (Apr 1961), on pages 40-42. . . . Categories: 🇺🇸 United States of America This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais (1828-1897), of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, was initially delivered on 15 April 1862 (the first day of Passover) at the conclusion of a sermon later printed in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 23 April 1862. A copy of that sermon was preserved in the Sabato Morais Ledger (p. 22, clip no. 23). (The prayer was also read by President Abraham Lincoln, who sent Rabbi Morais an acknowledgment). The letter was read into the congressional record on 29 February 1944 by Arthur G. Klein (1904-1968, D-NY) after it was brought to light by Moshe Davis at the 44th annual meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society on 12-13 February 1944 (Lincoln’s Birthday). . . . Prayer for the United States on a Civic Fast Day to avert Civil War, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (26 September 1861)This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered on Shemini Atseret, the day decreed by President Abraham Lincoln for “public humiliation, prayer and fasting” (26 September 1861) as recorded in an “Address. Delivered by the Rev. S. Morais, Minister of the Congregation Mikveh Israel, Philadelphia, on the National ‘Fast Day.'” published in The Jewish Messenger on 4 October 1861. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 21, clipping 022), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. The annotation accompanying the clipping reads, “at the breaking out of the unfortunate Civil War.” (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . This “Prayer of the C.S. Soldiers” was written by Max Michelbacher of Congregation Beth Ahabah, Richmond, Virginia, and distributed to Jewish soldiers in the Confederate armed forces during the Slaveholders’ Rebellion (1861-1865). While this prayer is undated, we have tentatively given the date ca. 1861 given the proximity of Richmond, Virginia to the First Battle of Bull Run. . . . Prayer on the consecration of the new synagogue building for Ḳahal Ḳadosh Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (1 June 1860)This prayer for the consecration of the new synagogue building of Mikve Israel by Rabbi Sabato Morais was recorded in an “[Account of…] the consecration ceremony of the new Synagogue of the congregation Mikveh Israel… [Excerpted…] from The Philadelphia Inquirer, of May 25th.” and reprinted in The Jewish Messenger on 1 June 1860. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 17b, clipping 017), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . Categories: Homes & Community Centers Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Morris J. Raphall on 1 February 1860This is the text of the Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall’s prayer offered before the U.S. House of Representatives as recorded in the Congressional Globe, (part 1, 36th Congress, 1st Session, 1859-1860) pp. 648-649, and reprinted in The Occident and American Jewish Advocate, 18:46 9 Feb 1860, pp. 275-276. . . . Prayer on the second anniversary of the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum in Philadelphia, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (20 February 1857)This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais on the second anniversary of the founding of the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum in Philadelphia was offered in opening to an address “before the Jewish Foster Home Society, February 10, 1857” and recorded in The Asmonean on 20 February 1857. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 9, clipping 008), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. A note next to the clipping reads, “Isaac Leeser took exception at this lecture and became abusive.” (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . Categories: Homes & Community Centers This Thanksgiving Day prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered at the conclusion of a “The Watchfulness of Providence over Nations. A Thanksgiving Address delivered by the Rev. S. Morais, Minister of the Portuguese Synagogue, of Philadelphia, on the 20th November, 1856.” and recorded in The Asmonean (on 28 November 1856. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 8, clipping 007), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. A note next to the clipping reads, “His lecture aimed to oppose knownothingism (???) antagonism indirectly shown.” (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . This Thanksgiving Day prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered at the conclusion of a “Thanksgiving Discourse. An Address. Delivered by a member of the order on the 24th of November, it being the Thanksgiving Day appointed by the Governor of the State of Pennsylvania.” and recorded in The Masonic Mirror and Keystone on 7 December 1853. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 3b-c, clipping 002), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . This Thanksgiving Day prayer for welfare of the country and congregation by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered at the end of his sermon on 27 November 1851 and recorded in The Asmonean on 12 December 1851. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 2, clipping 001), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . “Brich aus in lauten Klagen” by Heinrich Heine was preserved in a letter he wrote to his friend Moses Moser dated 25 October 1824. The poem is included in Heinrich Heine’s Letters on The Rabbi of Bacharach, the manuscript of which only survived in a fragment, the rest having been lost, according to Heine, in a fire. The English translation here by Nina Salaman was transcribed from her anthology, Apples & Honey (1921) where it appears under the title of “Martyr-Song,” published at an earlier date in The Jewish Chronicle. . . . Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English Translation, German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, קינות Ḳinōt, rhyming translation Contributor(s): Nina Davis Salaman (translation), Heinrich Heine and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) ברכה לאדונינו הקיסר ירה | Prayer for the Holy Roman Emperor and Empress, Leopold Ⅰ and Margaret (1658/1666)This is a 17th century prayer for the Holy Roman Emperor found in Ms. 110 (Jewish Museum in Prague, Czech Republic). . . . Contributor(s): Jacob Chatinover (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) חַד גַּדְיָא | Mēre Hobritsos (מֵײרֶע הוֹבְּרִיטְסוֹס) — a Judeo-Valyrian translation of Ḥad Gadya by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThis is the translation of Ḥad Gadya into Judeo-Valyrian with a Hebraicization schema for Valyrian by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . . Categories: Nirtsah This an an untitled piyyut by Eleazer of Worms, eulogizing his beloved wife Dulcea (Heb: דולצא, also, Dulcia and Dolce). The Hebrew text is derived from the transcription offered by Israel Kamelhar inRabbenu Eleazar mi-Germaiza, ha-Roqeah (Rzeazow, 1930), pp. 17-19. The translation and annotation come from Dr. Ivan G. Marcus from his article, “Mothers, Martyrs, and Moneymakers: Some Jewish Women in Medieval Europe” in Conservative Judaism, vol. 38(3), Spring 1986. . . . Categories: Mourning רָאשֵׁי עָם עֵת הִתְאַסֵּף | When the chiefs of the people meet, a muwassaha poem by Yehudah haLevi (ca. early 12th c.)“Roshei am et hitasef umlekhim b’sodam” by Yehuda Halevi was translated by Herman Prins Salomon in “Yehuda Halevi and his ‘Cid’” and published in The American Sepharadi (1978), pp. 22-46. . . . Categories: Se'udah haShlishit אַזְכִּֽירָה יָמִים עִם יָמִים | Azkira Yamim Im Yamim, a piyyut for the First Shabbat of Admonition by Rabbi Yannai (ca. early 6th c.)The works of the great paytan Yannai were, with the exception of a small handful of poems, almost completely lost until their rediscovery in the Cairo Geniza. This poem, an acrostic comparison of the days of Moses and Jeremiah, was written by Yannai to serve as part of the Musaf Ḳedushah on the first Shabbat after 17 Tammuz, on which the opening section of Jeremiah is recited. It bears structural and linguistic similarities to the later famous ḳinah Esh Tuqad. In its liturgical context, it was intended to introduce the final few verses of the Ḳedushah . Nowadays the custom of poetic inserts into the ḳedushah is nearly extinct, but the poem stands as a moving and powerful work nonetheless. . . . Tags: 43rd century A.M., 6th century C.E., Acrostic translation, alphabetic mesostic, Cairo Geniza, First Shabbat of Admonition, חורבן Ḥurban, Mourning this Broken World, פיוטים piyyutim, קינות Ḳinōt, Shabbatot of Admonition, Siege of Jerusalem (597 BCE), Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE), Three Weeks of Mourning, יציאת מצרים Yetsiat Mitsrayim Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s translation of Psalms 22 was first published in Psalms in a Translation for Praying (Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia: 2014), pp. 32-36. . . . Categories: Tehilim Book 1 (Psalms 1–41) Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s translation of Psalms 26 was first published in Psalms in a Translation for Praying (Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia: 2014), p. 41. . . . Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s translation of Psalms 28 was first published in Psalms in a Translation for Praying (Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia: 2014), p. 44. . . . Categories: Tehilim Book 1 (Psalms 1–41) Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s translation of Psalms 29 was first published in Psalms in a Translation for Praying (Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia: 2014), p. 45. . . . | ||
Sign up for a summary of new resources shared by contributors each week
|