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2025 📅 Resources published in 2025 Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? A series of fourteen short couplets describing the fourteen traditional stages of the Haggadah, written in Judeo-Italian and first published in the famous 1609 Venice Haggadah of Isaac Gershon. The Italian used in the Venice Haggadah lacks a lot of the most divergent aspects of the Judeo-Italian languages, sticking to a more mainline Tuscan grammatical norm, but there are enough obsolete, poetic, or dialectal forms that several footnotes have been included to explain them. Also included is an original English-language rhyming translation! A series of ten short couplets describing the ten plagues afflicting the Egyptians in Egypt, written in Judeo-Italian and first published in the famous 1609 Venice Haggadah of Isaac Gershon. The Italian used in the Venice Haggadah lacks a lot of the most divergent aspects of the Judeo-Italian languages, sticking to a more mainline Tuscan grammatical norm, but there are enough obsolete, poetic, or dialectal forms that several footnotes have been included to explain them. Also included is an original English-language rhyming translation! This is the Hebrew text of a teḥinah for Shalom Aleikhem intended for women lighting candles on the commencement of Shabbat and festival days as found on the last page in the Basel edition of the [collection of prayers entitled] Birkhat ha-Mazon (Basel: Waldkirch, 1600). The English translation is by Rabbi Dr. Morris M. Faierstein as published in “An Early Modern Version of Shalom Aleichem for Women after Friday Candle Lighting” in Women in Judaism, 19(2), on page 4. Categories: Tags: Angels, candle lighting, kindling, paraliturgical shalom aleikhem, שלום עליכם shalom aleikhem, תחינות teḥinot Contributor(s): After the recitation of Shir haShirim — which, in some circles, is recited every Friday night — the kabbalists instituted a yehi ratzon, a petition to be recited in the merit of what was just read. In many communities, this petition is recited using the same melodies as the recitation of the scroll itself. As an extension of this custom, here I’ve added cantillation marks to the yehi ratzon after Shir haShirim. Included also is a recitation of the text following said cantillation marks. Categories: Tags: cantillated liturgy, Five Megillot, גלגול נפשות gilgul nefashot, קבלת שבת kabbalat shabbat, Liturgical customs of Kabbalists, Lurianic Kabbalah, קבלה ḳabbalah, reincarnation Contributor(s): According to Joseph Judah Chorny’s On the Caucasian Jews, this acrostic piyyuṭ was customarily used as an epithalion before a wedding. He writes, “Before morning light, the bride is led to the groom’s house accompanied by many women and men, all carrying lit wax candles in their hands, and singing this song along the way.” Variants of this piyyut are found throughout the greater Sephardic world, generally in an abbreviated and slightly altered form. In Syria it is sung during the haqafot for Simḥat Torah, while in Livorno Sephardic practice (and subsequently in most Eastern Sephardic maḥzorim) it is a Shavu’ot piyyut. Categories: Tags: phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, anti-soporific, epithalamion, Kavkazi Jewry, פיוטים piyyuṭim, stimulant, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): This is a supplemental stanza for Maoz Tsur with regard to the present exile, written by a Rabbi Jeremiah, identified only as the av beit din of the town of Würzburg as compiled in the Kitzur Shnei Luḥot haBrit, a controversial yet influential work by Yehiel Michel Segal Epstein Ashkenazi published in 1683. If you know more about this Rabbi Jeremiah, please leave a comment or contact us. This is a supplemental stanza for Maoz Tsur with regard to the present exile, written by Rabbi Mosheh Isserlis (the ReM”A, 1530-1572), as compiled in the Kitzur Shnei Luḥot haBrit, a controversial yet influential work by Yehiel Michel Segal Epstein Ashkenazi published in 1683. Categories: Tags: Acrostic signature, combating anti-Jewish oppression, Jewish-Christian relations, מעוז צור Maoz Tsur, particularism and universalism, פיוטים piyyuṭim, polemic Contributor(s): The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. Here’s a series of piyyutim for the fifteenth of Kislev in Carpentras. On 15 Kislev 5273 (24 November 1512 Julian), a troop of armed men entered the Jewish quarter in Carpentras. While we don’t know much else beyond that, we do know that this was a terrifying enough occurrence to the Jews of Carpentras that when the armed men left, a holiday was declared with multiple piyyutim and a full recitation of Hallel. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 54th century A.M., על הנסים al hanissim, Arba Kehillot, Carpentras, local communal deliverance commemorations, Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin, salvation, second Purims Contributor(s): Eḥad Mi Yodea has a place in Seder tables throughout Arda, and in many communities it was read in translation. This translation into Quenya is necessary for any good Lothlórien sedarim. But to be serious, Quenya was one of several languages developed by J.R.R. Tolkien. It serves as the sacred ancestral language of the Noldorin elves in the Middle-Earth legendarium. The editor here has developed this adaptation of the well-known seder table-song Eḥad Mi Yodea into Quenya, with thanks and credit to the experts at elfdict for their help. He has also transcribed it into a home-brewed transcription system into Hebrew script also used for his Min Yacincë translation of Ḥad Gadya. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., constructed languages, אחד מי יודע eḥad mi Yodéaʼ, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, High-Elven, Middle-Earth, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Quenya translation, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish quadrant, and in many communities it was read in translation. This adaptation into the language of the Na’vi is very useful when celebrating liberation from the tyrannical RDA. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 24th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., 61st century A.M., Aramaic, constructed languages, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, Na'vi translation, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish world, and in many communities it was read in translation. Probably not this one though, seeing as it was written more than five hundred years after the Tocharian language family went extinct. But maybe, in an alternate timeline, some of the Radhanites who traded along the Silk Road in the heyday of the Tocharians ended up settling in the Tarim Basin (in present-day Xinjiang/East Turkestan), and in this timeline where Tocharian survived the Jews of that region might sing something like this at their sedarim. This is a Tocharian B translation and Hebrew-script transcription of Ḥad Gadya. Unicode does not currently have Tocharian-script coverage, but in the event that it is ever introduced I’ll type it up! Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., alternate timeline, Aramaic, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, Tocharian B translation, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): A Luganda translation of Ḥad Gadya. Luganda is the vernacular language of the Abayudaya Jewish community of Uganda. Also included is a system for Hebrew transliteration of Luganda texts! Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., Abayudaya Jews, Aramaic, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, Luganda translation, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, Uganda, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): This is a translation of Ḥad Gadya into Guaraní, a vernacular language in Paraguay and central South America. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., Aramaic, Guaraní translation, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, Indigenous Peoples, Paraguay, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): A Judeo-Tunisian translation of Ḥad Gadya, as performed by Nathan Cohen in this recording. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., Arabic translation, Aramaic, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Tunisian, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, Tunisia, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): A translation of Ḥad Gadya into Hulaulá (Trans-Zab Jewish Neo-Aramaic), the Aramaic dialect of the Jews of Sanandaj. Largely based on the translation of Alan Niku (found here), with a few minor changes, and with the transcription altered to the scholarly transcription of Geoffrey Khan in his analysis of the dialect. Also featuring a transcription into Hebrew script. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., Aramaic, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, נרצה Nirtsah, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): This is the translation of Ḥad Gadya into a dialect of Aramaic in Zakho, a/k/a Lishana Deni (Zakho Jewish Neo-Aramaic) by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., Aramaic, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, Kurdistan, Neo-Aramaic, נרצה Nirtsah, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): A translation of Ḥad Gadya into Judeo-Provençal, largely based on a recording made by Eliane Amado Levi-Valensi (ca. 1972). Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., Aramaic, Arba Kehillot, Carpentras, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, נרצה Nirtsah, Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish world, and in many communities it was read in translation. Probably not this one though, seeing as it was written almost a thousand years after the Sabaic language became extinct. But Sabaic, a South Semitic language somewhere between Arabic and Ge’ez, is worth studying for any Jewish scholar because of the light it sheds on the history of the Semitic languages and the Middle East as a whole. (Not to mention that it was a lingua franca of the Yemenite Jewish kingdom of Himyar!) This is a Sabaic translation, transcription, and hypothetical vocalization of Ḥad Gadya. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., alternate timeline, Aramaic, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, Himyar, Late Antiquity, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, Sabaic translation, salvation, Yemenite Jewry, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): There are many different versions of this beloved Ladino pizmon for Havdalah. This one is found in Tefilat Imanuel, published in Vienna in 1924. A Ladino pizmon recited on Shabbat evenings, “El Disho Ke Bueno Era” retells the events of the seven days of creation. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): | ||
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