⤷ You are here:
2026 —⟶ September 🡄 (Previous month) :: 📅 August 2026 📅 October 2026 :: (Next month) 🡆 📅 Resources published in September 2026 Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? This is the second piyyuṭ in a yotsrot cycle for the Shabbat before Rosh haShanah, according to Minhag Polin (as traditionally practiced in the Ashkenazi communities of northeastern Germany and Poland), all written by a Rabbi Yitzḥak ben Moshe haLevi according to the authorial acrostic. Zunz identifies the author as Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Mainz, who died in the Gzerot Tatno of 1096. Fraenkel disputes this and suggests Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna (a/k/a the Or Zarua), of the Ḥasidei Ashkenaz, who died in around 1270. The ofan is an invocation to the listener to repent, calling upon specific angels by name. Also included is the German text of Isaac Seligman Baer’s Avodat Yisrael translation, in modernized spelling. Categories: Tags: 13th century C.E., 51st century A.M., Acrostic signature, Alphabetic Acrostic, German translation, Minhag Polin, ofanim, פיוטים piyyuṭim, יוצר אור yotser ohr Contributor(s): This is the third piyyuṭ in a yotsrot cycle for the Shabbat before Rosh haShanah, according to Minhag Polin (as traditionally practiced in the Ashkenazi communities of northeastern Germany and Poland), all written by a Rabbi Yitzḥak ben Moshe haLevi according to the authorial acrostic. Zunz identifies the author as Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Mainz, who died in the Gzerot Tatno of 1096. Fraenkel disputes this and suggests Rabbi Isaac ben Moses of Vienna (a/k/a the Or Zarua), of the Ḥasidei Ashkenaz, who died in around 1270. This zulat piyyuṭ, citing Psalms 119 repeatedly, begs for divine justice, invoking martyrs’ memories (and perhaps endorsing Fraenkel’s suggestion that its authorship must postdate the Gzerot Tatno!). Categories: Tags: 13th century C.E., 51st century A.M., Acrostic signature, Alphabetic Acrostic, German translation, Minhag Polin, פיוטים piyyuṭim, יוצר אור yotser ohr, זולת zulat Contributor(s): The yotser for Shabbat Shuva, minhag Polin, by the great payṭan Menaḥem ben Rabbi Makhir. Each line ends with a verse from either Hosea or Joel, the two books from which Ashkenazim read as the haftara on Shabbat Shuva. Also included is a German translation by Isaac Seligman Baer. The ofan piyyuṭ for Shabbat Shuva, minhag Polin, by the great payṭan Menaḥem ben Rabbi Makhir. A half-acrostic, each stanza begins with a word from parashat Ha’azinu, usually read on Shabbat Shuva, and ends with a verse that includes the word “holy” or “sanctify” in it. The zulat piyyuṭ for Shabbat Shuva, minhag Polin, by the great payṭan Menaḥem ben Rabbi Makhir. Categories: Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Acrostic signature, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, German translation, Minhag Polin, פיוטים piyyuṭim, שבת תשובה Shabbat Teshuvah, זולת zulat Contributor(s): Traditional Ashkenazi practice entailed the recitation of a large number of seliḥot piyyutim in every single one of the Yom Kippur ‘amidot. In many Ashkenazi communities today, these are (excepting Ma’ariv and Ne’ilah) skipped on account of time. But this has always felt like a great shame to me, because seliḥot are, in a sense, the theological and liturgical core of the Yom Kippur practice. So a while back I made a bunch of spreadsheets to compare all the attested Yom Kippur seliḥot rites as listed in Goldschmidt’s maḥzor, and designed an abbreviated cycle of seliḥot for Shaḥarit, Musaf, and Minḥah. Each cycle features two regular seliḥot, one ‘aqedah (a retelling of the binding of Isaac), and one pizmon (a final seliḥah with a repeated refrain, sung communally), for a total of four seliḥot and five repetitions of the thirteen attributes. This is the first result of this process, for Shaḥarit. Musaf and Minḥah selections will arrive eventually, albeit probably not this year. Categories: Tags: acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, alphabetic acrostic translation, phonetic acrostic translation, פיוטים piyyuṭim, פזמונים pizmonim, סליחות səliḥot Contributor(s): The Secrets of Rebbi Shimōn ben Yoḥai is a pseudepigraphal record of the divine visions of the second-century rabbi, Shimon ben Yoḥai. Scholarly opinion about the date of its composition is divided. Adolf Jellinek thought it was likely authored during the time of the Crusades, while Heinrich Graetz thought it was likely composed in the mid-8th century. The visions described in the secrets portrays the Yishmaelites being led by a violent saviour of the Jews from the hegemony of the Byzantine Empire. It describes the events and rulers of the eighth-century Umayyad Empire, as well as eight-century battles between the Byzantines (known in the text as the Ḳenites or the Kingdom of Edōm) and the Umayyads (known in it as the Kingdom of Yishmael). Categories: Tags: 46th century A.M., 8th century C.E., eschaton, geonic period, Needing Vocalization, pseudepigrapha, Umayyad Caliphate Contributor(s): The 18th of Iyyar on which the 33rd day of the Omer coincides is a day of historical significance. On that day in the year 363, the Byzantine Roman emperor Julian in collaboration with Atiochian Jewry attempted to lay the foundations of the Third Temple in Jerusalem. For centuries afterward, the day was commemorated as a fast day. One primary source in rabbinic Judaism that references the day is Sefer Zerubavel. Given the relative obscurity of Sefer Zerubavel today, we thought that we could help remedy that on just the day it currently references in the rabbinic Jewish calendar: Lag ba-Omer — a day which otherwise lacks any liturgical reading. Below is the text of Sefer Zerubavel as found in Divrei Yeraḥmiel (according to the text transcribed and published as Sefer ha-Zikronot hu’ Divrey ha-Yamim le-Yerahme’el (ed. Eli Yassif; Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 2001), pp. 427-435, set side-by-side with the English translation by the scholar John Reeves. | ||
Sign up for a summary of new resources shared by contributors each week
![]() ![]() |