This is a full transcription of a patriotic and civic prayer service offered on 29 November 1798 at the German Jews’ Synagogue in London, composed by chief Rabbi Moses Myers and translated into English by David Levi. The unique prayers by Rabbi Myers are openly anti-French and anti-Napoleonic, in alignment with British sentiment in the war against the forces of Napoleon and thrilled with the naval defeat of Napoleonic forces at the Battle of the Nile in August of that year by rear admiral Horatio Nelson.

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.

מחזור לפסח The Form of Prayers for the Feast of Passover According to the Custom of the German & Polish Jews was compiled and translated in 1796 by David Levi (1742-1801). It is the fifth volume in a set of nusaḥ Ashkenaz maḥzorim by Levi.

This is De Rechten van den Menschen van den Burger (“The Rights of Man and of the Citizen” 1795) and its Hebrew translation, דברי הברית החקים והמשפטים אשר בין אדם לאדם (1798), upon the establishment of the Batavian Republic and the ensuing emancipation of Dutch Jewry in the Netherlands. The text of the Declaration, with nineteen articles, follows after the French Republic’s much expanded Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du citoyen de 1793 written by Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles. (The French Declaration, ratified by popular vote in July 1793, was a revision of the initial Declaration from 1789 written by the commission that included Hérault de Séchelles and Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just during the period of the French Revolution.) Declarations such as these enshrined the liberal values of the Enlightenment which changed the situation and status of Jews under their aegis. Ultimately, these values were largely enshrined under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by member states of the nascent United Nations in 1945.

This is a full transcription of a patriotic and civic prayer service offered on 29 October 1795 at the German Jews’ Synagogue in London, composed by chief Rabbi Moses Myers and translated into English by David Levi. The prayers on behalf of King George Ⅲ came in the aftermath of the unraveling of the “Popgun Plot,” an alleged 1794 conspiracy by three members of the London Corresponding Society to assassinate the kning by means of a poison dart fired from an airgun. Three members, Paul Thomas LeMaitre, John Smith, and George Higgins, were arrested in late 1794, and Robert Thomas Crossfield in December 1795. Ultimately, all four were acquitted of treason in May 1796, on the grounds that the chief witness against them was dead.

מחזור לסוכות The Form of the Prayers for the Feast of Tabernacles According to the Custom of the German & Polish Jews was compiled and translated in 1795 by David Levi (1742-1801). Besides Sukkot, additional services for Shemini Atseret and Simḥat Torah are included. It is the fourth volume in a set of nusaḥ Ashkenaz maḥzorim by Levi.

מחזור ליום כיפור The Form of the Additional and Afternoon Prayers for the Day of Atonement According to the Custom of the German & Polish Jews was compiled and translated in 1795 by David Levi (1742-1801). It is the second volume in a set of nusaḥ Ashkenaz maḥzorim by Levi. The Arvit and Shaḥarit services for Yom Kippur are found in the previous volume in this six volume set of maḥzorim.

מחזור מחזור ליום כיפור The Form of the Prayers for the Day of Atonement [Evening and Morning Services] According to the Custom of the German & Polish Jews was compiled and translated in 1795 by David Levi (1742-1801). It is the second volume in a set of nusaḥ Ashkenaz maḥzorim by Levi. The Musaf, Minḥah, and Neilah services for Yom Kippur are found in the next volume in this six volume set of maḥzorim.

מחזור לראש השנה The Form of Prayers for the New Year According to the Custom of the German & Polish Jews was compiled and translated in 1794 by David Levi (1742-1801). It is the first volume in a set of nusaḥ Ashkenaz maḥzorim by Levi, and his introduction sets forth his principles of translation used throughout the rest of the volumes. Due to the high esteem accorded it, this set served as a template for later maḥzorim in their translations and layout.

Kabbalistic kavvanot and blessing formulations for the eight nights of Ḥanukkah.

“Lamnatseaḥ Shir” composed by Moses Ensheim, and its accompanying paraliturgical French translation by Isaïah Berr Bing, was first published in 1792 when it was sung in the synagogue of the Jewish community of Metz in celebration of the victory of the French Revolution and their emancipation as full citizens of France in 1791.

“La Marseillaise” is the national anthem of France. This Hebrew translation was made by Efrayim Dror for the Free French Army (Forces Françaises Libres) and its many Jewish volunteers during the early years of World War II. The translation was published in 1951. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled “Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin” (“War Song for the Army of the Rhine”). The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic’s anthem in 1795. The song acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching to the capital. After the fall of Napoleon in 1815 “La Marseilles” was banned and it became the anthem of the French left. The Government brought back the iconic anthem in an attempt to motivate the French people during the Franco-Prussian War. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, “La Marseillaise” was recognized as the anthem of the international revolutionary movement; as such, it was adopted by the Paris Commune in 1871, albeit with new lyrics under the title “La marseillaise de la Commune.” Eight years later, in 1879, it was restored as France’s national anthem. On Simḥat Torah (18–19 October) 1973, the Lubavitcher Rebbe adapted the melody to the Jewish prayer “Ha’aderet v’ha’emuna”. In ḤaBaD, the melody is believed to convey the idea of a “spiritual French revolution” – in that Torah should be spread around the world as an advent to the messianic era.

The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, were first adopted in 1791. They were closely modeled on the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights drafted by George Mason in May 1776. This translation, by Judah David Eisenstein was published in 1891.

In many Jewish communities around the world, there have been traditional scrolls read for “local Purims,” celebrating redemptions for a specific community. Here in America, we don’t really have an equivalent to that. But we do have Thanksgiving, a day heavily inspired by Biblical traditions of celebration, and one long associated with all that is good about America. Some Jewish communities have a tradition on Thanksgiving of reading Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, where he vows to support freedom of religion, famously writing that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” – thus rephrasing words originally written in a prior letter by Moses Seixas (say-shas), the sexton of the Touro Synagogue in Newport. This text includes the original English of both Moses Seixas’ letter to Washington and Washington’s return, as well as a somewhat simplified version of the story of Washington’s visit to Newport. Inspired largely by the style of the Book of Esther, it could be read on Thanksgiving morning during the service, using Esther melodies (or going on detours as per personal choice).

A ḥatimah (closing) prayer delivered by Ḥazzan Gershom Seixas at a special Thanksgiving Day service by K.K. Shearith Israel in 1789.

This is Leah Horowitz’s introduction to her Teḥinah Imahot, an argument for the legitimacy of Jewish women’s prayer. While the accompanying prayer is written in Aramaic with an accompanying Yiddish translation, the introduction is written in Hebrew.

The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, in English with Hebrew and Yiddish translations.

Prayers recited on special occasions and thus not part of the fixed liturgy offered America’s foremost Jewish congregation far greater latitude for originality in prayer. At such services, particularly when the prayers were delivered in English and written with the knowledge that non-Jews would hear them, leaders of Shearith Israel often dispensed with the traditional prayer for the government and substituted revealing new compositions appropriate to the concerns of the day. A prayer composed in 1784 (in this case in Hebrew) by the otherwise unknown Rabbi (Cantor?) Hendla Jochanan van Oettingen, for example, thanked God who “in His goodness prospered our warfare.” Mentioning by name both Governor George Clinton and General George Washington, the rabbi prayed for peace and offered a restorationist Jewish twist on the popular idea of America as “redeemer nation”: “As Thou hast granted to these thirteen states of America everlasting freedom,” he declared, “so mayst Thou bring us forth once again from bondage into freedom and mayst Thou sound the great horn for our freedom.”

A prayer of a physician from Markus Herz in German with its Hebrew and English translations.

סדר תפלה לתענית The Fast Days Service (1776) is a bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for days of mourning translated by A. Alexander for use in the S&P (Spanish & Portuguese) community in London.

Fred MacDowell: “Then, as now, war was looked upon by many as a great evil, especially between brothers, and many American Colonists only wanted the oppressive measures of King George III to be lifted, bloodshed ended, and peace restored. The nascent American Congress called for a day of “Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” along these lines for May 17, 1776. It was for this occasion that this prayer was recited in Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. As you can see, a complete service was arranged for this occasion, meant to invoke the solemnity and seriousness of the occasion; after morning prayer, Taḥanun was to be sung to the tune of a Yom Kippur pizmon; a dozen Psalms recited, and then the Ḥazan would recite this prayer written for the occasion, and of course all were to be fasting. The prayer hopes for a change of heart for King George III and his advisors, that they would rescind their wrath and harsh decrees against “North America,” that the bloodshed should end, and peace and reconciliation should obtain between the Americans and Great Britain once more, in fulfillment of the Messianic verse that Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Of course this was not meant to be, and six weeks later the American Congress declared independence from Great Britain, and there was no walking back from the hostilities which had already occurred.”

The text of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America and its signatories in English, with a Yiddish translation published in 1954.

In Avignon, France, in 1767, Eliyahu Karmi (Elijah Crémieux) compiled a siddur preserving the nusaḥ of the Comtat Venaissin titled the סדר התמיד (Seder HaTamid). Just after the section for תפלת שחרית (the morning prayers), Karmi provides the following advice for how to organize one’s workday.

The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. I’m working on transcribing all of these, but to start, here’s an Al haNissim for the twenty-eighth of Shvat in Avignon. Written in rhymed prose, this text tells the story of a gentile who fell headfirst down a deep well near the synagogue, but successfully managed to flip himself over and wedged his feet in the walls. Even more miraculously, afterwards he declared that it was his own fault he fell in the pit! The Jews of the Comtat, an area under direct papal control at the time, were well aware of the tenuousness of their position, and were the man a talebearer then they could have faced a pogrom or exile.

Written by future founding father Benjamin Franklin in 1755, “A Parable Against Persecution,” also known as “the 51st Chapter [of Genesis],” is an example of what is often called ‘pseudo-biblicism,’ a trend from the 1740s to the mid-19th century of writing modern events in the already-archaic style of the King James Bible. More strictly, “A Parable Against Persecution” is an example of pseudepigrapha in that it is meant to be read as part of the book of Genesis, telling a story of Abraham facing a non-coreligionist, acting rashly, and learning a lesson about religious tolerance. Already in 1755 we can see Franklin’s radically liberal religious views.

A plaudit of gratitude in Latin and Hebrew for Pope Benedict XIV’s interventions after the River Tiber overflowed its banks and flooded the Jewish Ghetto in Rome.

The Prayer for the mitsvot of kindling the lights of Shabbat from the Teḥinah of the Three Gates by Sarah bat Tovim (18th century).

The Prayer for the mitsvot of preparing Ḥallah from the Teḥinah of the Three Gates by Sarah bat Tovim (18th century).

A piyyut of the 18th century by R. David Ḥassin, one of the greatest composers of Morocco. In this piyyut, dedicated to the city of Tiberias and recounting its praises, we tour Tiberias and the graves of the tannaim and amoraim there, and come to the place of Maimonides’ burial according to tradition. From the dead, the composer moves on to tell the prose of the living – R. Ḥayyim Abulˁafia, who renewed Jewish settlement in Tiberias to where he had moved with his students in the year 5500 [1740], doing much to revitalize the Jewish settlement and build the city, for which R. David Ḥassin praises and blesses him at the conclusion of the poem. This poem was very beloved and merited widespread circulation, and is found in poetry books of many different Mizraḥi communities. This poem has also merited a number of imitations and adaptations, testifying to its great popularity. The most well-known imitation is a poem by the Israeli diaspora-emissary R. Eliyahu Ḥazzan, who arrived at Morocco, came across this song, and composed an imitation, also called “As Every Day I Hope” — except R. Eliyahu Ḥazzan’s song is dedicated to Jerusalem and tours around it.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of “Rabbi Elimelekh of Lizhensk’s prayer to be able to pray” in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). To the best of my ability, I have set his translation side-by-side with a transcription of the vocalized text of the prayer. Reb Zalman may have made his translation to a slightly different edition of this prayer as indicated in several places. If you can determine which edition of Rabbi Elimelekh’s prayer was translated by Reb Zalman, please contact us or share your knowledge in the comments.

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!

The text of Ma’aseh Yehudit, the story of Judith, as found in Sefer Ḥemdat Yamim, a mystical compilation of customs and tiqqunim first published in İzmir in around 1731. (This text is also found as “Maaseh Yehudit, Version 2” in Judah David Eisenstein’s monumental Otzar Midrashim compilation.) Sefer Ḥemdat Yamim is a unique work, likely compiled by a Sabbatean but largely based on earlier pre-Sabbatean mystical sources, and because of this any specific text in it is quite difficult to date. This specific version of the story of Judith shows substantial influence from the Septuagintal text not found in earlier Jewish variants, giving a likely terminus post quem of several generations after the Inquisition when Spanish benei anusim brought their knowledge of the Vulgate’s apocrypha with them to Judaism. Even so, it is very clearly a fundamentally Jewish work. It is appropriate to recite on Yom haBanot (1 Tevet) or any time throughout Ḥanukkah, perhaps with Esther cantillation.

An announcement of ḥerem stam (a general threat of excommunication) on the occurrence of stolen or waylaid goods, found in this form in a 1730 Seder Hazkarot Neshamot copied by Shabetai Sheftel ben Zalman Auerbach (HUC Ms. 453, 21r). If a community member was stolen from, they could go to the sexton (shammash), who would declare the theft and proclaim a general threat of excommunication on all who knew anything about the occurrence and failed to speak on the matter.

A Mi Sheberakh for the ill, from a 1730 Seder Hazkarot Neshamot copied by Shabetai Sheftel ben Zalman Auerbach (HUC Ms. 453, 23v). Uniquely among Mi Sheberakh texts, instead of just listing ancestors, it specifies examples of divine healing from the Bible and the Gemara.

A prayer in the event of excessive raining causing economic hardship, from Mantua in 1729.

This qinah, a variation of Maaseh Metz, was written by an unknown author and copied by Glikl into her memoirs. The text appearing here was made from that transcribed and published in Chava Turniansky’s critical edition, Glikl: Memoirs (1691-1719) (Shazar 2006), pp. 596-597, and Sara Friedman’s English translation of that edition, edited by Turniansky (Brandeis University Press 2019), pp. 306-307.

The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. Here’s a series of piyyutim for the twenty-ninth of Sivan in Cavaillon. On 29 Sivan 5473 (23 June 1713) a Christian child was found dead and drained of blood. A mob was formed, which stormed the Jewish quarter in Cavaillon looking for any sign of blood in their houses. But none was found, and — miraculously — the total lack of evidence was enough to stop the Jews from being murdered. (Would be nice if that had worked every time there was a blood libel, seeing as there was never any evidence for something that never happened.) To commemorate this close-call escape, the Jews of Cavaillon celebrated a minor festival day, with some additional psalms, an Al haNisim poem by (the otherwise unknown) R. Gad son of R. Judah de Bédarride, and a recitation of the Song of the Sea.

This is a kavvanah for kosher slaughterers to say prior to the blessing over sheḥitah, first published in the early 18th century, and composed within the school of the ARI z”l.

This is a faithful transcription of the prayer of Gele (Gella), daughter of the printer Moshe, as found at the end of Tefillah l’Mosheh (2nd ed., Halle, Germany, 1710), a prayerbook Gele typeset when she was only 11-years-old. This prayerbook is rare owing to the destruction of the press following the incarceration of Gele’s father for publishing a prayerbook containing the prayer “Aleinu,” which had been forbidden by royal decree. The translation provided here was made by Dr. Kathryn Hellerstein as found in A Question of Tradition: Women Poets in Yiddish, 1586-1987 (2014, Stanford University Press), p. 63-4. The layout of Gele’s prayer follows that of Ezra Korman from his anthology of Jewish women’s poetry, Yiddishe Dikhterins, also the source of the page image provided. If you know the location of a copy or digital scan of this siddur, please contact us.

A prayer for protection and blessing offered in the name of of Rebbi Yishmael from the Sefer Shem Tov Qatan.

This is a version of the Invocation of Baraqon, a spell found in the Key of Solomon (Clavicula Solomonis) and its Hebrew translations (Mafteaḥ Shlomo). This particular variation is as found on the folios 70a-70b of a manuscript republished as ספר מפתח שלמה Sepher Maphteaḥ Shelomo (Book of the Key of Solomon): An exact facsimile of an original book of magic in Hebrew (1914) with a partial transcription translated into English by Rabbi Sir Hermann Gollancz. Claudia Rohrbacher-Stricker writes that Gollancz had located the manuscript in the collection of his father, Samuel H. Gollancz. The manuscript itself dated from around 1700 in Amsterdam, in a Sefardic script. Gershom Scholem was able to prove the Arabic origin of the Baraqon operation in “Some Sources of Jewish-Arabic Demonology,” Journal of Jewish Studies, vol. 16 (1965), p. 6.

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.

In the 18th century, the common practice among Western Sephardim was to read some or all of the aftarót recited in the three weeks before the fast of Aḇ with a verse-by-verse “Ladino” (in this case meaning standard Early Modern Spanish, not Judezmo) translation. According to Joseph Jesurun Pinto (ḥazzan of Shearith Israel in New York from 1759 to 1766), it was customary in Amsterdam for only the final of the three aftarót, the aftará of Shabbat Ḥazon, to be recited with this Spanish targum, while in London it was customary for all three to be recited. This practice fell out of common usage in the past few centuries, although the Western Sephardic community of Bayonne preserved it up until the Shoah. But to this day a unique cantillation system is used in most Western Sephardic communities for the three aftarót before the fast. Attached is a transcript of a Spanish verse-by-verse targum of the aftará for the Shabbat before 9 Aḇ, based on one found in a publication from Amsterdam in 1766. Each verse is included in Hebrew, as well as the original Spanish text, and a slightly modernized Spanish text underneath to clarify archaic forms or words that have fallen out of use.

In Yemenite practice, directly after the four questions are recited the youngest literate person at the table reads a brief Judeo-Arabic passage, here transcribed per the Yemenite transliteration system (wherein gimel dagesh = j and qof = g) and translated into Arabic and Hebrew. Instructional notes say this passage is “for the benefit of women and toddlers,” the two main classes of people who would have not had access to Hebrew education at the time.

Yah Hatsel Yonah is a traditional piyyut for Ḥanukkah, of unknown origin (although it spells out the name Yehuda as an acrostic). Beloved in Iraqi Jewish circles, it discusses the hope that Israel, likened to a dove, will be able to celebrate Ḥanukkah during a time of true redemption. Included is a relatively literal (but de-gendered) translation, as well as a poetic singable one.

Yevanim Tsur B-Af — a piyyuṭ intended to be sung before Qaddish (after the Amidah) in the Shaḥarit of Shabbat Ḥanukkah — was written by the great Moroccan paytan Yaaqov ibn Tsur (1673–1753) of Fez. It was first put to print in the Sefer ‘Et l-Kol Ḥefetz, printed by ibn Tsur’s descendants in 1893 in Alexandria.

Yedidekha El Yelidei Ish Tam — a piyyuṭ intended to be sung before Qaddish (after the Torah Reading) of Shabbat Ḥanukkah — was written by the great Moroccan paytan Yaaqov ibn Tsur (1673–1753) of Fez. It was first put to print in the Sefer ‘Et l-Kol Ḥefetz, printed by ibn Tsur’s descendants in 1893 in Alexandria.

Ashir BiZmirim — a piyyuṭ intended to be sung before Qaddish (after Yishtabaḥ) in the Shaḥarit of Shabbat Ḥanukkah — was written by the great Moroccan paytan Yaaqov ibn Tsur (1673–1753) of Fez. It was first put to print in the Sefer ‘Et l-Kol Ḥefetz, printed by ibn Tsur’s descendants in 1893 in Alexandria. It may be sung to the melody of Yaḥid Arba, or the melody of Ya’atzor Me-’Ami.”

Todot Nitnah — a piyyuṭ intended to be sung before Yishtabaḥ in the Shaḥarit of Shabbat Ḥanukkah — was written by the great Moroccan paytan Yaaqov ibn Tsur (1673–1753) of Fez. It was first put to print in the Sefer ‘Et l-Kol Ḥefetz, printed by ibn Tsur’s descendants in 1893 in Alexandria. It may be sung to the melody of ‘Et Dodim Kala, or the melody of Shiv’a Sh’ḥaqim.”

Yom Yom Eftaḥ Pi — a piyyuṭ intended to be sung before Nishmat (of Shaḥarit) of Shabbat Ḥanukkah — was written by the great Moroccan paytan Yaaqov ibn Tsur (1673–1753) of Fez. It was first put to print in the Sefer ‘Et l-Kol Ḥefetz, printed by ibn Tsur’s descendants in 1893 in Alexandria.