עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ | Aleinu, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Contributor(s):

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Abba (Arikha) bar Aybo (traditional attribution)

Shared on:

29 July 2018 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Aleinu

Tags:

40th century A.M., 3rd century C.E., Closing Prayers, חתימות ḥatimot (concluding prayers), redemptive translation, revisionist translation, devotional interpretation, עלינו Aleinu, interpretive translation, Amoraic prayers

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ לַאֲדוֹן הַכֹּל, לָתֵת גְּדֻלָּה לְיוֹצֵר בְּרֵאשִׁית, שֶׁלֹּא עָשָׂנוּ כְּגוֹיֵי הָאֲרָצוֹת, וְלֹא שָׂמָנוּ כְּמִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָאֲדָמָה. שֶׁלֹּא שָׂם חֶלְקֵנוּ כָּהֶם, וְגוֹרָלֵנוּ כְּכָל הֲמוֹנָם,	We rise to praise You, Source of All, Your generous work, As Creator of All. You made us One With all of Life. You inspired us to share with all mankind. You linked our fate With all that lives. And made our portion With all in the world.
שֶׁהֵם מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים לְהֶבֶל וָרִיק, (ישעיה ל:ז חלק) וּמִתְפַּלְּלִים אֶל אֵל לֹא יוֹשִׁיעַ. (ישעיה מה:כ חלק)	Some of us like to worship You, As emptiness and void.^[1] after Isaiah 30:7 and Isaiah 45:20
וַאֲנַחְנוּ כּוֹרְעִים וּמִשְׁתַּחֲוִים וּמוֹדִים, לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא,	Some of us want to worship You, As King of Kings. We all consider You sacred and blessed.
שֶׁהוּא נוֹטֶה שָׁמַיִם וְיֹסֵד אָרֶץ, וּמוֹשַׁב יְקָרוֹ בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל, וּשְׁכִינַת עֻזּוֹ בְּגָבְהֵי מְרוֹמִים.	We stand amazed At the vault of the sky, At the firmness of Earth. And deem You, Enthroned in the Highest realms, Dwelling also in and with us.
הוּא אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֵין עוֹד, אֱמֶת מַלְכֵּנוּ, אֶפֶס זוּלָתוֹ. כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתוֹ: וְיָדַעְתָּ הַיּוֹם וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ אֶל לְבָבֶךָ, כִּי יְהֹוָה הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וְעַל הָאָרֶץ מִתָּחַת אֵין עוֹד: (דברים ד:לט)	You are our God. There is nothing else. Your Truth is supreme. Existence is nothing but You.
כַּכָּתוּב בְּתוֹרָתֶךָ: יְהֹוָה יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד: (שמות טו:יח) וְנֶאֱמַר: וְהָיָה יְהֹוָה לְמֶלֶךְ עַל כָּל הָאָרֶץ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה יְהֹוָה אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד: (זכריה יד:ט)	So Your Torah guides us; Yah’s kingdom Extends throughout the Cosmos.^[2] Exodus 15:18 Further it is stated: Yah will indeed govern Over all there is. On that Day, Yah will be One. And Her Name, Will be ONE.^[3] Zechariah 14:9

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of the prayer Aleinu in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). To the best of my ability, I have set his translation side-by-side with the phrases comprising the prayer. –Aharon N. Varady

Concerning the attribution of Aleinu, Seth Winberg writes, “Most scholars…credit Rav, a third century Babylonian sage, with writing Aleinu. Certain phrases which occur in the prayer, such as “the supreme Sovereign of sovereigns” and “the Holy One, blessed be” are rabbinic phrases….Scholars also cite the original context of Aleinu as evidence for Rav’s authorship of the prayer. Aleinu got its start in Jewish liturgy as the opening of the malkhuyot section of the Rosh Hashanah musaf liturgy, in which Jews declare God to be their Sovereign. This entire section of liturgy is attributed to Rav, including Aleinu.”

Source

Notes[+]

Notes
1	after Isaiah 30:7 and Isaiah 45:20
2	Exodus 15:18
3	Zechariah 14:9

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“עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ | Aleinu, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman" (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.

Abba (Arikha) bar Aybo (traditional attribution)

Abba Arikha (175–247) (Talmudic Aramaic: אבא אריכא; born: Abba bar Aybo, Hebrew: רב אבא בר איבו‬) was a sage who was born and lived in Kafri, Sassanid Babylonia, known as an amora (commentator on the Oral Law) of the 3rd century who established at Sura the systematic study of the rabbinic traditions, which, using the Mishnah as text, led to the compilation of the Talmud. With him began the long period of ascendancy of the great academies of Babylonia, around the year 220. He is commonly known simply as Rav (or Raḅ, Hebrew: רב‬).

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Works of related interest:

"Reeds catch some winter sunlight along the river Tamar on the Devon/Cornwall border" (credit: Markles55, license: CC BY)

עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ | Aleinu, interpretive translation by Joshua Gutoff

עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ (מנהג הספרדים)‏ | Aleinu, translated by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1937)

עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ | Aleinu, as adapted with translation by Dr. Jakob Petuchowski (1966)

עָלֵֽינוּ לְשַׁבֵּֽחַ | Aleinu, translation by Richard Collis (2019)

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עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ | Aleinu, a paraliturgical reflection by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

עָלֵֽינוּ לְשַׁבֵּֽחַ | An Alternative Aleinu, by Aliza Arzt (Ḥavurat Shalom 1987, revised 2019)

עלינו | An Alternative Opening for Aleinu, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17