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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
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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
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2026 —⟶ May 🡄 (Previous month) :: 📅 April 2026 📅 June 2026 :: (Next month) 🡆 📅 Resources published in May 2026 Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? A shiv’ata is a sevenfold blessing inserted into the Musaf service on Shabbat. This shiv’ata was written for use at a bar mitsvah. Each stanza begins with an example of thirteen as used in our tradition, followed by an alphabetical acrostic. This piyyuṭ is for a bar mitsvah, where a boy turns thirteen. This prayer by Rabbi Dr. Berman was offered while serving as guest chaplain before the 119th Congress, 1st Session of the US Senate on 10 September 2025. The prayer was published in the Congressional Record, v.171, n.148 (Wednesday, September 10, 2025), Senate, page S6511. This prayer by Rabbi Pinchus Ciment was offered while serving as guest chaplain before the 119th Congress, 1st Session of the US House of Representatives on 27 March 2025. The prayer was published in the Congressional Record, v.171, n.56 (Wednesday, March 27, 2025), House, page H1305. Categories: Tags: 119th Congress, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer, חבּ״ד ḤaBaD Lubavitch, U.S. House of Representatives Contributor(s): “A Prayer for Peace” by Rabbi Douglas Krantz was originally circulated as a Passover Haggadah supplement by Americans for Peace Now, Pesaḥ 5763 (2003). Categories: Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, haggadah supplements, Second Intifada Contributor(s): הסדור המצוין Ha-siddur ha-Metsuyan, a bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for most days in the liturgical custom of Ashkenaz, was compiled and translated by Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld between 1969 and 1973. The siddur contains an abundance of textual references appearing as sidenotes to the translation. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): מחזור ליום כיפור Majzor para Iom Kipur (1969) is a bilingual Hebrew-Spanish prayerbook for Rosh haShanah compiled and translated by Rabbi Mordechai Edery (1928-2010) and published by the World Council of [Conservative/Masorti] Synagogues under the supervision of Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer (1930-1993). The Hebrew sourcetext is based primarily on the S&P siddurim compiled and translated by Rabbi Dr. David de Sola Pool. Other prayerbooks prepared with the Conservative movement represented mainly the Ashkenazi liturgical tradition. This maḥzor and its companion volume for Rosh haShanah are the only prayerbooks prepared for Sefaradi congregations by Conservative movement institutions (that we know of). מחזור לחג השבועות Prayerbook for the Feast of Weeks is volume 7 in a set of maḥzorim reprinting Wolf Heidenheim’s arrangement of liturgy according to the Ashkenazi custom, accompanied by an English translation by Jenny Marmorstein, z”l (1920-2020). This prayer by Rabbi Bernard Kaplan in the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was published in the Jewish newspaper, Emanu-El (v. 22, n. 2, 18 May 1906), p. 8, under the title “Rabbi Kaplan’s Prayer.” Categories: Tags: 1906 San Francisco earthquake, 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, San Francisco Contributor(s): This patriotic prayer for the United States by Otto Irving Wise concluded a public address delivered at the Alhambra Theatre, San Francisco, 13 August 1905, at the Golden Jubilee of the B’nai B’rith. The complete address and prayer were published as “Our Country” in the San Francisco Jewish newspaper, Emanu-El (v. 20, n. 16, 25 August 1905), pp. 7-8. While the most famous ketubah-poem for Shavuot, still recited in Sephardic communities the world over, is by R. Yisrael Najara, many others have been written over the years. This one was written in the 16th century by Saadia ben Yosef ha-Levi. It is a marriage contract between the groom (Israel) and the bride (Torah). Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 54th century A.M., Har Sinai, כתובה ketubah, פיוטים piyyuṭim, הוצאת ספר תורה Removal of the Torah from the Ark, theophany, wedding Contributor(s): This piyyut, “Itgabar,” was originally written as an introduction to the sixth commandment, the commandment of not murdering. It is a poetic retelling of the death of Joab in I Kings 2:28-34. Joab, the leader of David’s armies, was a notoriously violent man, the slaughterer of Abner and Amasa. He died in a correspondingly violent way, struck down by Benaiah son of Jehoiada within the Tabernacle itself. Surprisingly enough, this poem frames Solomon as an unjust and cruel ruler, treating Joab’s death as a tragedy rather than the quid-pro-quo consequence it is portrayed as in Kings. In this location, it almost goes so far as to calling Solomon himself a murderer. Categories: Tags: 45th century A.M., 7th century C.E., acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, Aramaic, bloodshed, Decalogue, murder, פיוטים piyyuṭim, תרגום targum, ultraviolence Contributor(s): This piyyut, “Amar Yitsḥaq,” was originally written as an introduction to the fifth commandment, the commandment of honoring your father and mother. In the eyes of the payṭan, the quintessential example of honoring your father is an incredibly morbid one — Isaac, encouraging his father to go through with it on the altar and begging him to strike true, so that the sacrifice isn’t rendered unfit! It incorporates midrashic narratives about Isaac’s total willingness to go through with the sacrifice, as well as his longing for his mother in the process. To our modern eyes it is quite a disturbing work! But it’s worth remembering that there were many cases in medieval Europe of Jewish parents so desperate and terrified on account of the Crusades that they killed their own children rather than have them submit to baptism. Perhaps this poem provided those who heard such horrific stories some comfort. Categories: Tags: 45th century A.M., 7th century C.E., acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, Aqédat Yitsḥaq, Aramaic, Decalogue, martyrdom, פיוטים piyyuṭim, self-sacrifice, תרגום targum, יצחק Yitsḥaq Contributor(s): This piyyut, “Joseph Overpowered,” was originally written in the Byzantine era as an introduction to the seventh commandment, the commandment against adultery. It tells a midrashic elaboration of the story of Potiphar’s wife’s attempt and failure to seduce Joseph. It’s honestly a bit racier than one would expect from a liturgical text, with quite a few double entendres on the topic of sexuality. Like the two prior piyyutim — Amar Yitzḥak and Itgabar — it begins in medias res. Categories: Tags: 45th century A.M., 7th century C.E., acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, Aramaic, Decalogue, פיוטים piyyuṭim, sexual attraction, sexual conduct, תרגום targum, Yosef cycle Contributor(s): The story of Yiftaḥ, or Jephthah, is read as the haftara for Parashat Ḥuqqat. However, in most practices the end of the story is not read. This is probably because it is horrific — because of Yiftaḥ’s foolish vow, he sacrifices his own daughter! Unlike the story of Isaac, there is no angel, no last-minute salvation. The knife falls, the girl dies. That would be bad enough, but the daughter of Yiftaḥ isn’t even named in the text! The text of Biblical Antiquities, traditionally albeit incorrectly attributed to Philo of Alexandria, is one of the more interesting and under-studied deuterocanonical works. Almost certainly written in Hebrew but preserved in its entirety only in Latin, it is an example of the genre of “rewritten Bible,” a proto-midrashic genre also found in texts such as Jubilees. It is the earliest source for a substantial number of legends that became part of the midrashic canon — from Abraham’s casting into the furnace to Dinah’s marriage to Job. And it has a unique tendency to elaborate on the stories of women in the Bible. In the case of Yiftaḥ’s daughter, Biblical Antiquities gives her three things she deserves: agency, a song, and a name. Agency, because she is a willing participant in the process of sacrifice, encouraging her father to go through with it and leaving the sages speechless. A song, because she laments the fact she will die a virgin. And a name — in the Latin text, Seila. In the Hebrew, Sheila, “asked for.” Categories: Tags: 1st century CE, 39th century AM, Antiquity, Biblical Women, Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, dreams, Jewish Women's Prayers, martyrdom, mytho-historical chronicles, parabiblical aggadah, polyglot, pre-rabbinic judaism, self-sacrifice Contributor(s): This is the text of the Ladino translation of the Shavuot Day One readings from Exodus 19:1-20:23 as transcribed in romanized Ladino by Moshe Lazar in his Ladino Pentateuch: (Constantinople, 1547) (1988), and retranscribed as digital text by Shmuel Gonzales (2026). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is the text of the Ladino translation of the Shavuot Day Two readings from Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17 (and the Maftir: Numbers 28:26-31) as transcribed by Moshe Lazar in his Ladino Pentateuch: (Constantinople, 1547) (1988), and retranscribed as digital text by Shmuel Gonzales (2026). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): | ||
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