This is a Ladino translation of “Brikh Shmeih d’Marei Alma” (Zohar II 206a) as found in the siddur El Nuevo Avodat haShanah (Yaaqov Mosheh Ḥai Altarats, Belgrade 1904), p.252. We are not certain whether the translation is by Altarats himself or whether this Ladino translation was included by him from an earlier generation of Eastern Sefaradi siddurim containing a Ladino Brikh Shmeih. More on this siddur can be gleaned from Limmud Seattle presenter, Al Maimon. Many thanks to Naomi Klionsky for brining this work to our attention. –Aharon Varady

In his Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer (1993), Macy Nulman writes the following.

Berikh Shemayh [is] a kabbalistic prayer written in Aramaic and recited on weekdays, Sabbath, and festivals in most congregations before removing the Torah scroll from the ark. The prayer, introduced into the liturgy by Rabbi Isaac Luria (Ari), is quoted verbatim from the Zohar, Parashat Vayakhayl. Its composition, according to the Zohar, is attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai of the second century, who said, “When the Torah is taken out in public to be read therefrom, the heavenly gates of mercy open and Divine love awakens; therefore it is fitting one should recite Berikh Shemayh [‘Praised be the Name’].”

Berikh Shemayh was first prescribed in Italy in 1540 as an individual prayer. From about 1599 the prayer was used in other rituals,^[1] Moses ibn Makhir of Safed, Seder Hayom, Kavanot Shayni Vehamishi (Venice: Mefitzay Or, 1599).  and it was finally adopted into the Siddur, first for the Sabbath and later also for weekdays.^[2] B.S. Jacobson quoting A. Berliner from his Rand-bemerkungen in The Sabbath Service (Tel Aviv: “Sinai” Publishing, 1981), p. 256.  Another opinion is that its acceptance into the liturgy came about when the Ari came to Safed and the prayer was taken into the ritual in Israel, Syria, Egypt, and Turkey. Later it spread to Ashkenazic communities.^[3] Keter Shem Tob, vol. I, p. 237. 

In some Ashkenazic (German) communities, Berikh Shemayh is omitted on weekdays as well as on Sabbath;^[4] Baer, Siddur Avodat Yisrael, p. 122.  in certain communities it is optional.^[5] Cf. The Hirsch Siddur (New York: Feldheim Publishers, 1969), p. 181; cf. also J. H. Hertz, The Authorized Daily Prayer Book (New York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1948), p. 475.  In synagogues following Minhag Poland, it is recited every time the Torah is removed from the ark. In Occidental Sephardic synagogues Berikh Shemayh is not said on weekdays; it is optional on Sabbath and festivals.^[6] David De Sola Pool, Book of Prayer (New York: Union of Sephardic Congregations, 1974), pp. 82, 83, 209; cf. also David De Sola Pool, Prayers for the Festivals (New York: Union of Sephardic Congregations, 1963), p. 214.  In the London-Amsterdam synagogues it is omitted on Sabbath. In Israel, Syria, Turkey, and Egypt it is said on Sabbath (Shaḥarit and Minḥah) and festivals. Many prayer books have an English or Hebrew translation of the Aramaic prayer, and Sephardim in Turkey even recite it in Ladino.^[7] Keter Shem Tob, vol. 1, pp. 236, 237. 

Reciting Berikh Shemayh on weekdays and/or on Sabbath and festivals grew out of the various opinions based on the Magayn Avraham,^[8] OH, 282:1; cf. also Hayyim Joseph David Azulai (HIDA), Maḥazik Berakhah, 282:2.  who ruled that it should be said on Sabbath only, and the Ba’ayr Haytayv 282:1 and P’ri Megadim 34:6, who decided it should be said both on Sabbath and weekdays.

Source(s)

El Nuevo Avodat haShanah (Yaaqov Mosheh Ḥai Altarats, Belgrade 1904) p.252

“בְּרִיךְ שְׁמֵהּ דְּמָרֵא עָלְמָא | B’rikh Shmeih d’Marei Alma (Bendito sea Tu nombre, Senyor del Mundo), Ladino translation from the siddur El Nuevo Avodat haShanah (1904)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

From a family of musicians, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer believes that creative art is one of the most powerful ways to get in touch with the divine. He composes music and poetry in Hebrew and English. (He also authors his own original works and transcribes Hebrew and Aramaic text, adding niqqud and t'amim as needed.) Isaac runs a Jewish music transcription service, which will transcribe and set any Jewish music in any language, recorded or written. Contact his service on Facebook or via his music blog.

Yaaqov Mosheh Ḥai Altarats (translation)

Yaaqov Mosheh Ḥai Altarats (f. 19th century) was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia. He traveled to Jerusalem at age 13. In Jerusalem he learned ritual slaughter (sheḥitah) and remained in Palestine for an indeterminate length of time. He returned home by way of Beirut (where he worked as shoḥet for a few months), Rhodes, Izmir and Salonika. Unable to support himself in Sarajevo he eventually settled in Belgrade, the capital of independent Serbia, where he worked as a teacher and where he published his book Zikhron Yerushalayim (1887). Another work by Altarats, significantly more ambitious in scope, El Trezoro de Yisrael, was a history of the Jewish people published in four volumes in Belgrade in the 1890s. We know little about Yaaqov Mosheh Ḥai Altarats save what he wrote of himself in his work, Zikhron Yerushalayim. (This short bio was derived from the work of Matthias B. Lehmann in his article, "Jewish Nationalism in Ladino: Jacob Moshe Hay Altarats' Zikhron Yerushalayim," Jewish Studies Quarterly, Volume 16 (2009).)

Unknown Author(s)

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

Works of related interest:

 

בְּרִיךְ שְׁמֵהּ דְּמָרֵא עָלְמָא | B’rikh Shmeih d’Marei Alma | Wenn man die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt (paraliturgical adaptation by Yehoshua Heshil Miro, 1829)

Am Neujahrs⸗, am Versöhnungstage und am siebenten Tage des Laubhüttenfestes, wenn man Behufs der üblichen Vorlesungen die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt | On Rosh haShanah, Yom Kippur, and

חַד גַּדְיָא | Un Kavritiko (און קאבﬞריטיקו) — a Judezmo (Ladino) translation of Ḥad Gadya

הָא לַחְמָא עַנְיָא | Ieste el pan de la afrisiyon | Ha laḥ’ma anya (This is the Bread of Oppression): the opening of Magid in a Ladino translation

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-14) in Ladino translation from the Constantinople Codex (1547)

אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (מנהג הספרדים במזרח) | Adōn Olam (Ladino translation from the Sidur Tefilat Kol Pe, 1891)

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