📖 מחזור לשבועות (אשכנז)‏ | Maḥzor l’Shavuot: The Form of Prayers for the Festival of Pentecost, a bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook compiled and translated by David Levi (1796)

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4 October 2025 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., British Jewry, Minhag Poland, Nusaḥ Ashkenaz

מחזור לשבועות The Form of Prayers for the Feast of Pentecost According to the Custom of the German & Polish Jews was compiled and translated in 1796 by David Levi (1742-1801). It is the sixth volume in a set of nusaḥ Ashkenaz maḥzorim by Levi. Due to the high esteem accorded it, this set served as a template for later maḥzorim in their translations and layout. For Levi’s principles of translation, please refer to his “Preface” in his first volume (The Form of Prayers for the New Year).

This work is in the Public Domain due to its having been published more than 95 years ago.

This digital edition was derived from page images scanned by the National Library of Israel from an item held in their collection.

David Levi (translation)

David Levi (1742-1801), born in London, was a printer, author, pioneering Jewish translator, and scholar. A self-taught English Jew, he provided an educated defense of Judaism against its English detractors and published resources on Judaism to both Jews and Christians in English. Since the English Jewish community of the time knew little or no Hebrew, Levi translated the Sefaradi and Ashkenazi prayer books, and produced expositions and translations of much Jewish lore about ritual and practice. His texts were used by Jewish and Christian writers well into the 19th century.

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Maḥzor l’Shavuot (David Levi 1796) – title

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)