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2026 🡄 (Previous year) :: 📅 2025 📅 Resources published in 2026 Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? This paraphrase of Psalms 49 in English verse by Sir Robert Grant was first published under the title “Psalm ⅩⅬⅨ. Imitated.” without attribution in Poems Divine and Moral: Many of Them Now First Published (ed. John Bowdler, 1821), pp. 59-61. It was later published posthumously by Robert’s brother Charles Grant (Lord Glenelg) in Sacred Poems by the Late Right Hon. Sir Robert Grant (1839), pp. 22-24. Categories: Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English poetry, English Romanticism, memento mori, Prayers as poems, Psalms 49 Contributor(s): This paraphrase of Psalms 71 in English verse by Sir Robert Grant was first published posthumously under the title “Psalm ⅬⅩⅩⅠ” by Robert’s brother Charles Grant (Lord Glenelg) in Sacred Poems by the Late Right Hon. Sir Robert Grant (1839), pp. 31-32. Categories: Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English poetry, English Romanticism, Prayers as poems, Psalms 71 Contributor(s): This paraphrase of a portion of Psalms 84 in English verse by Sir Robert Grant was first published posthumously under the title “Part of Psalm ⅬⅩⅩⅩⅣ. Imitated” by Robert’s brother Charles Grant (Lord Glenelg) in Sacred Poems by the Late Right Hon. Sir Robert Grant (1839), pp. 36-37. Categories: Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English poetry, English Romanticism, Prayers as poems, Psalms 84 Contributor(s): This paraphrase of the second half of Psalms 19 in English verse by Sir Robert Grant was first published posthumously under the title “Psalm ⅩⅠⅩ” by Robert’s brother Charles Grant (Lord Glenelg) in Sacred Poems by the Late Right Hon. Sir Robert Grant (1839), pp. 28-30. As Charles Grant writes as introduction to the poem, it “is intended as a sequel or counterpart to Addison’s hymn, “The spacious firmament.” It corresponds to the latter portion of the 19th Psalm, as Addison’s does to the former.” Categories: Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English poetry, English Romanticism, Prayers as poems, psalms 19 Contributor(s): The megillah for Plum-Jam Purim or Powidlpurim, a family Purim celebrated by the Brandeis family of Bumsla, Bohemia (Czech: Mladá Boleslav; German: Jungbunzlau) on 10 Adar to commemorate David Brandeis’ liberation from prison on trumped-up charges of poisoning. First published along with a German translation and some genealogical notes in Magazin für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums, vol. 15, 1888. According to Chef/Rabbi Gil Marks z”l, the celebration of Plum-Jam Purim was the origin of prune hamantaschen as a concept — prior to 1731 all hamantaschen had a poppy seed filling! Categories: Tags: 18th century C.E., 55th century A.M., Bohemian Jewry, German translation, liberation, salvation, Slavery & Captivity Contributor(s): Born into Judaism, Paul Christian Kirchner was baptized a Christian in 1713. In 1717, he first published the word “Jüdisches Ceremoniel” or “Jewish Ceremony,” for which he is most well known — a firsthand recollection (and, to be honest, criticism) of Jewish practices throughout the year and life cycle. While the work is written by an apostate for a Christian audience, and thus it is certainly not an unbiased source — and it had been almost a decade since he left the community so some of his memories are a bit muddled — it is still a fascinating work if only for its depiction of Jewish practices otherwise forgotten. In this portion of Kirchner’s description of the Seder night, he describes a ritual somewhat similar to the one still practiced in many North African communities to this day along with six — count ’em, six! — questions asked by the eldest (‽) child to the father. Categories: Tags: 18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., Christian Hebraism, Four Questions, German vernacular prayer, haggadah supplements, liberation, paraliturgical Contributor(s): The Spacious Firmament on high, an adaptation of Psalms 19 in English verse by Joseph Addison (1712)This is Joseph Addison’s ode, “The Spacious Firmament on high,” an adaptation of Psalms 19 in English verse first published in The Spectator (23 August 1712). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A schedule for hafṯaroṯ for the weekly portions and festivals, as well as psalms for the weekly portions, according to a Damascus Karaite siddur from approximately 1700. According to the work of Jacob Mann’s The Bible as Read and Preached in the Old Synagogue (1940), the Ḳaraite hafṭaroṯ schedule was probably adapted from the practice of the Byzantine Romaniotes, whose practice was in many ways much closer to the one attested here than to rabbinic norms practiced today. Both ultimately derive from the old Western Rite hafṭaroṯ, albeit adapted to the annual cycle originating from the east. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): All Jews around the world today follow some variant of the annual cycle of Torah readings, developed in the Babylonian diaspora in the talmudic era. In this cycle, the entire Torah is read once a year. (Some Reform communities recite a selection from each parasha, while many Conservative communities follow an ersatz triennial system where a third of each parashah is read every week, but the parashiyot still follow the annual cycle.) The old Erets Yisrael rite had a triennial, or technically semiseptennial, cycle, going through the entire Torah once every three and a half years. But there is a third cycle that has otherwise been completely forgotten about: the semiannual cycle. This cycle was developed by ‘Anan ben David, the legendary founder (or if you ask the Ḳaraites, reviver) of the Ḳaraite movement, in his (only fragmentarily preserved) Sefer ha-Mitsvot. In it, the entire Torah is read twice a year, concluding on the intermediate sabbath of both Pesaḥ and Sukkot before starting anew the next week. This idea did not catch on, even among the Ḳaraites, who to this day use an adaptation of the rabbinic annual cycle instead. But it has largely been preserved. Here it is restored and reconstructed for those whose main complaint with the Torah reading is it isn’t long enough. Categories: Tags: 46th century A.M., 8th century C.E., הפטרות haftarot, Nusaḥ haKaraim, לוח lu'aḥ, תהלים Psalms, semiannual Torah reading cycle, Torah Reading Contributor(s): A pizmon for Shabbat Zakhor and Purim, found in many Livorno siddurim (seen as the standard form for most Sephardic communities) as far back as the 18th century and possibly earlier. It is signed with the name Avraham, as well as the names Moshe and Aharon, but the author is otherwise unknown. Seder Mishmeret haKodesh (1847) inserts it as an introduction to the Mi Khamokha piyyut of Yehuda haLevi, recited on Shabbat Zakhor. The bouncy, joyous tune used for this piyyut, of Italian origin, is also used for Purim songs in multiple languages, such as Fate Onore al Bel Purim, Con Gran Placer Señores, and Haman Mamzer el Malo. Categories: Tags: 18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, Livorno, Nusaḥ Sefaradi, פיוטים piyyuṭim, פזמונים pizmonim, pre-Purim, Purim, שבת זכור Shabbat Zakhor, Western Sefaradim Contributor(s): This is a transcription of the Megillat Aqdamut (also known by other names) in its first printing in Yiddish, in Fürth 1694. The transcription is based on an earlier transcription of the Fürth 1694 printing published by Isaac Rivkind in “די היסטאָרישע אַלעגאָריע פון ר׳ מאיר שַ״ץ” (“The Historical Allegory of Rabbi Meir, shatz [Shaliaḥ Tsibur]”) the first chapter in Filologishe shriftn vol. 3 (1929), pp. 1-42. (The transcription of the Aqdamut appears on pages/numbered columns 12-33.) The legendary retelling serves as a frame tale for the recitation of the Aramaqic targumic piyyut, Aqdamut Milin, by Rabbi Meir ben Yitsḥaq Nehorai of Orléans (d. ca. 1095). Tefilat haShir refers to an ancient (perhaps dating back to the Temple era!) custom of reciting the fifteen psalms of ascents (Psalms 120 to 134) before Psuqei d’Zimra. First identified as a unique segment of the Eretz-Yisrael rite by Prof. Ezra Fleischer z”l, this custom was so beloved by the Jews who followed the western rite that long after the rest of its prayer traditions were abandoned it was preserved by the Western-rite Jews of Cairo (see Vered Raziel-Kretzmer, “How Late was the Palestinian Rite Practiced in Egypt?” Tarbiz 85 [2018], heb.) Tefilat haShir was preserved in variant forms in several other communities. For instance, it is found in the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba, published in 1560 for use of the Musta’aravi Jews of Aleppo. It is also found in the Krymchak variant of the Romaniote rite, also known as Minhag Kaffa. In both cases it would be recited exclusively on sabbaths and festivals. (Note that this was not the case in the old Eretz Yisrael rite, where it was a daily practice!) The Kaffa and Aram Ṣoba forms of the Tefilat haShir cycle are very similar, with a few differences in the introduction and the ending. Their core is the fifteen songs of ascents, interlaced with linking verses from elsewhere in Tanakh featuring a Leitwort (theme-word) related to the psalm. Both are included here, with color coding for substantial differences and footnotes to mark minor distinctions. In Minhag Kaffa, as printed in 1735, the Birkat haShir cycle is inserted after the morning Torah study cycle. In the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba, it is the beginning of the service, the first thing recited in the synagogue after monring blessings, and consequently inserted before the Torah study cycle. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A German-language Lied, or art song, retelling Ḥad Gadya, by the great cantor (and father of an even greater composer) Isaac Offenbach. First published in his 1838 “Hagadah, oder Erzählung von Israels Auszug aus Egypten” in Cologne, along with sheet music of a setting for voice and piano, it is here typed in modernized German spelling. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): 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): A full alphabetical acrostic version of the Barukh shèAmar prayer, part of the uniquely complex old Romaniote-rite Psuqei d-Zimra liturgy as found in as found in the 1523 Venice printing of the Maḥzor Romaniote. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, ברוך שאמר barukh she'amar, Byzantine, Nusaḥ Romaniote Contributor(s): The announcement of an upcoming new moon for Shabbat Mevorkhim, according to the old Romaniote rite as found in the 1523 Venice printing of the Maḥzor Romaniote. Featuring a long catena of prophetic verses of salvation, followed by an announcement of the date in Aramaic. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., Aramaic, Byzantine, calendar announcements, לוח lu'aḥ, Nusaḥ Romaniote Contributor(s): This is a German translation of the first nine stanzas of the counting song popularly sung at the Passover seder, made by Paul Christian Kirchner in 1717. Categories: Tags: 16th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., Christian Hebraism, counting songs, אחד מי יודע eḥad mi Yodéaʼ, German translation, haggadah supplements, פיוטים piyyuṭim, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): By a 16th century paytan named Yitsḥaq, this is a Purim parody of the Havdalah (and Yom Kippur) piyyuṭ “HaMavdil,” found in Israel Davidson’s classic work Parody in Jewish Literature (1907), pp. 36-37. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A German-language Lied, or art song, retelling Ḥad Gadya, by the great cantor (and father of an even greater composer) Isaac Offenbach. First published in his 1838 “Hagadah, oder Erzählung von Israels Auszug aus Egypten” in Cologne, along with sheet music of a setting for voice and piano, it is here typed in modernized German spelling. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is a German translation of the Passover table-song Ḥad Gadya as translated by Paul Christian Kirchner in 1717. Categories: Tags: 18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., Aramaic, Christian Hebraism, German vernacular prayer, חד גדיא Ḥad Gadya, haggadah supplements, פיוטים piyyuṭim, predation, salvation, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): | ||
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