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אַ תּפֿילה צום לייענען די נײַעס | תפילה לקריאת החדשות | A Prayer for Reading the News — by Zackary Sholem Berger

This is a prayer for reading the news, composed at the request of Rabbi Ariana Katz of Hinenu (Baltimore, Maryland). It is written in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. . . .

תחנה פֿאַר צוריקקערן זיך נאָך דורות צו המקום | A Tkhine for Returning to a Place After Generations, by Maia Brown

A tkhine written to return to an ancestral place for the first time — especially diaspora homes that hold lineages of rich life as well as histories of flight and genocide. . . .

כִּי־לְךָ תֻּקְרָא כׇּל־בְּרָכָה | Ki Lᵊkha Tuqra Kol Bᵊrakhah, a macaronic poem for Yom Meturgeman by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

This is a macaronic poem for Yom Meturgeman. Macaronic poetry is poetry in multiple languages at once. In this case, the languages reflected are Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino, and English, with a repeated Hebrew refrain. Each language is meant to rhyme with the colloquial Hebrew as it would be read — i.e. though the Yiddish doesn’t rhyme with the modern Hebrew pronunciation, it rhymes with the traditional Ashkenazi one. . . .

אַ געבעט פאַר דער אימונירונג | תְּפִלָּה לִפְנֵי חִסּוּן | Prayer before a Vaccination, by Hannah Katsman

A prayer in Hebrew to be said before a vaccination, with Yiddish and English translation. . . .

תְּפִלָּה בְּעַד מֶמְשֶׁלֶת שָׁלוֹם | Prayer for a Government of Peace, by Zackary Sholem Berger (2019)

A prayer for a government when that government is causing pain through malicious policies. . . .

📰 “מאַכט אײַער אייגענעם סידור!‏” (Yoel Matveyev, Yiddish Daily Forverts 2019)

An article in the Yiddish Daily Forverts (Forward) on the activities of the Open Siddur Project and its founder, Aharon Varady. . . .

שבחי המשפחה לבת המצווה | A Prayer in Honor of a Bat mitsvah from her Family, by Dr. Chaim Hames-Ezra

A prayer for a ritual of blessing of a bat mitsvah by her family. . . .

“Just Walk Beside Me” (לֵךְ פָּשׁוּט לְצִדִּי | امشي بجانبي | נאָר גיין לעבן מיר), lines from an unknown author circulating in 1970; Jewish adaptation with translations in Aramaic, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Arabic

Variations of the original three lines culminating with “…walk beside me…” first appear in high school yearbooks beginning in 1970. The earliest recorded mention we could find was in The Northern Light, the 1970 yearbook of North Attleboro High School, Massachusetts. In the Jewish world of the early to mid-1970s, a young Moshe Tanenbaum began transmitting the lines at Jewish summer camps. In 1979, as Uncle Moishy, Tanenbaum published a recording of the song under the title “v’Ohavta” (track A4 on The Adventures of Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men, volume 2). . . .

אַ בְּרָכָה פֿאַרן קײסער | A Blessing for the Kaiser, from Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein – Yiddish translation by Shraga Friedman (1965)

The blessing for Tsar Nicholas II as given in the lines of the musical, Fiddler on the Roof. . . .

💬 Universal Declaration of Human Rights | אַלװעלטלעכע דעקלאַראַציע פֿון מענטשנרעכט | הַכְרָזָה לְכׇל בָּאֵי עוֹלָם בִּדְבַר זְכֻיוֹת הָאָדָם | Deklarasion Universal de Derechos Umanos (1948)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English with its translations in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. . . .

זאָג ניט קײן מאָל | Partisaner Lid (the Partisan Song), by Hirsh Glik (Vilna Ghetto, 1943)

The Yiddish resistance song, “Partisaner Lid” (The Partisan Song) was composed by Hirsh Glick in the Vilna Ghetto in 1943. . . .

הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | A Prayer for the Welfare of the Government of Franklin D. Roosevelt during WWII (from A Naye Shas Tkhine Rav Pninim, ca. 1942)

A prayer for the welfare of the government in Yiddish from A Naye Shas Tkhine Rav Pninim (after 1933). . . .

גאָט בענטש אַמעריקע | God Bless America, for Armistice Day by Irving Berlin (1918/1938) with Yiddish translation

The words of the prayer for Armistice Day 1938, “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin, in English and Yiddish. . . .

📖 מחזור אור לישראל ליום הכפורים (אשכנז) | Maḥzor Or l’Yisrael l’Yom haKippurim (Yiddish trans. by “ben-Uriyah,” 1927)

A bilingual Hebrew-Yiddish maḥzor for Yom Kippur, translated by ben-Uriyah and published by Star Publishing Company in 1927. . . .

א תְּחִנָה פאר א שׂטיףּ מוטער | A Tkhine for a Stepmother (from Shas Tkhine Ḥadashah, 1922)

This is a faithful transcription of the א תְּחִנָה פאר א שטיף מוטער (“A Tkhine for a Stepmother”) which first appeared in ש״ס תחנה חדשה (Shas Tkhine Ḥadasha), a collection of tkhines published by Ben-Zion Alfes in Vilna, 1922. . . .

צער בעלי־חיים | Tsaar Baalei Ḥayyim [It is forbidden to cause] suffering to a living creature, a song in Yiddish

“Tsaar Balei Ḥayyim” ([It is forbidden to cause] suffering to a living creature), source unknown. Many thanks to Tiferet Zimmern-Kahan for recording the niggun for the song and to Naftali Ejdelman and The Jewish Daily Forward for providing the lyrics. . . .

אַ סאָציאַליסטישער הַלֵּל | A Yiddish Socialist adaptation of Hallel (1900/1919)

A revolutionary socialist, Yiddish adaptation of Hallel. . . .

מײן אַמעריקא (אונזער נײע הימנע) | My America (Our New Hymn) by Morris Rosenfeld (1917)

“My America (Our New Hymn)” was written by Morris Rosenfeld and published by the Jewish Morning Journal sometime mid-April 1917. On April 2nd, the United States had entered the World War against Germany and its allies. In the xenophobic atmosphere of the United States during World War Ⅰ, Representative Isaac Siegel (1880-1947), R-NY, offered the hymn as evidence of the patriotism of America’s “foreign-born” Jewish immigrants. The poem in its English translation was added to the Congressional Record on 18 April 1917 in an extension of remarks. Xenophobia in the United States though did not ebb. Nearly a year later, on April 4, 1918, a German immigrant, Robert Prager, was lynched in Collinsville, Illinois. . . .

מענטשן־פרעסער | Mentshn-Fresser (“People Devourer”), a Pandemic Ballad by Shlomo Shmulevitsh (1916)

A song in Yiddish bemoaning the suffering brought about in an epidemic. . . .

תְּחִינָה װען עס ברעכט אױס אַ מַגֵפָה | A Tkhine When an Epidemic Breaks Out (1916)

A tkhine in the event of an epidemic. . . .

תְּחִנָה קַבָּלַת עוֺל מַלְכוּת שָׁמַיִם | Tkhine [for Women] Receiving the Yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven (1916)

The author of this tkhine intended for women to begin their morning devotional reading of prayers by first accepting patriarchal dominion. Women compensate for their inherent weakness and gain their honor only through the established gender roles assigned to them. The placement of this tkhine at the beginning of the Shas Tkhine Rav Peninim, a popular collection of women’s tkhines published in 1916 (during the ascent of women’s suffrage in the U.S.), suggests that it was written as a prescriptive polemic to influence pious Jewish women to reject advancing feminist ideas. . . .

📖 ש״ס תחנה רב פנינים | Shas Teḥinah Rav Peninim (Hebrew Publishing Company 1916)

A popular collection of tkhines compiled from earlier collections by the Hebrew Publishing Company. . . .

אָי חֲנֻכָּה | Oy Ḥanukkah, a zemer for Ḥanukkah by Mordkhe Rivesman (1912)

A popular song for Ḥanukkah in Yiddish with English translation. . . .

דיא װײבּער װאס האבּין אײן שׁװערין מזל צו קינדר זאלין דיא תחנה זאגין | Women who Have Bad Luck with Children Should Recite this Tkhine (1910)

“Women who Have Bad Luck with Children Should Recite this Tkhine” by an unknown author is a faithful transcription of the tkhine published in Rokhl m’vakoh al boneho (Rokhel Weeps for her Children), Vilna, 1910. I have transcribed it without any changes from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. If you can translate Yiddish, please help to translate it and share your translation with an Open Content license through this project. . . .

תחנה פון ליכט בענטשין | Tkhine for Lighting Candles [for Shabbes]

This is a faithful transcription of the תחנה פון ליכט בענטשין (“Tkhine for Lighting Candles [for Shabbes]”) as it appeared in the Vilna, 1869 edition. I have transcribed it without any changes from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. If you can scan an image of the page from the 1869 edition this was originally copied from, please share your scan with us. . . .

תחנה פון אײן שװאנגער אשה זאל ניט מפיל זיין | Tkhine for a Pregnant Woman that She Not Miscarry (1910)

A prayer for a pregnant woman that she not suffer a miscarriage. . . .

תְּחִנָּה מִגְדַּל הַשֵּׁן | Tkhine for a Baby’s First Tooth

This is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָּה מִגְדַּל הַשֵּׁן (“Tkhine for a Baby’s First Tooth”) which first appeared in ש״ס תחנה חדשה (Shas Tkhine Ḥaḥadasha), a collection of tkhines published by Ben-Zion Alfes in Vilna, 1922. . . .

תחנה פאר אײן אִשָׁה װאָס דארף האָבּין אײַן קינד | Tkhine for a Woman who is about to Have a Child (1910)

A prayer for a pregnant woman whose childbirth is immanent. . . .

א תחנה פאר א אשה מעוברת אז זיא גײט צו קינד | Tkhine for a Pregnant Woman when She is about to Give Birth (1910)

A prayer for a pregnant woman approaching her childbirth. . . .

תחנה פאר אמוטער װאס פירט אקינד אין חדר | Tkhine for a Mother Leading their Child to Religious School (1910)

“Tkine for a Mother Who Leads Her Child to Kheyder” by an unknown author is a faithful transcription of the tkhine published in Rokhl m’vakoh al boneho (Raḥel Weeps for her Children), Vilna, 1910. I have transcribed it without any changes from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. Please offer a translation of this tkhine in the comments. . . .

א תחנה פאר א מוטער װאס פירט איהר קינד דעם ערשׁטען מאל אין חדר | Tkhine for a Mother Who Leads their Child for the First Time to Religious School (1910)

“Tkine for a Mother Who Leads Her Child to Kheyder” by an unknown author is a faithful transcription of the tkhine published in Rokhl m’vakoh al boneho (Raḥel Weeps for her Children), Vilna, 1910. I have transcribed it without any changes from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. Please offer a translation of this tkhine in the comments. . . .

תחנה אײדער אפרויא גײט אין טבילת מצוה | Tkhine for when a Woman Goes to Immerse in the Mikve (1910)

“Tkhine for when a Woman Goes to Immerse in the Mikve” by an unknown author is a faithful transcription of the tkhine published in Rokhl m’vakoh al boneho (Raḥel Weeps for her Children), Vilna, 1910. I have transcribed it without any changes from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. If you can translate Yiddish, please help to translate it and share your translation with an Open Content license through this project. . . .

📖 ש״ס תחנה חדשה | Shas Teḥinah Ḥadashah (A New Tkhine of Six Orders), compiled by Ben-Tsiyon Alfes (Vilna 1910)

A popular collection of tkhines compiled from earlier collections by Ben-Tsiyon Alfes. . . .

📖 רָחֵל מְבַכָּה עַל־בָּנֶיהָ | Rokhl M’vako al Boneho: A Nayye Shas Tekhine :: Raḥel Weeps for Her Children: A New Collection of Teḥinot (Vilna 1910)

A compilation of Jewish women’s prayers in Yiddish published in Vilna in 1910, with prayers attributed to Rokhl Esther bat Aviḥayil, a Jewish woman living in Jerusalem. . . .

בּרידער | “Brothers” – Y.L. Peretz’s Sardonic Rejoinder to Friedrich Schiller’s Paean to Universal Enlightenment, An die Freude (Ode to Joy)

Y.L. Peretz rejected cultural universalism, seeing the world as composed of different nations, each with its own character. Liptzin comments that “Every people is seen by him as a chosen people…”; he saw his role as a Jewish writer to express “Jewish ideals…grounded in Jewish tradition and Jewish history.” This is Peretz’s lampoon of the popularity of Friedrich Schiller’s idealistic paean made famous as the lyrics to the climax of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. . . .

א תחנה פאר א כלה קודם החופה | A Tkhine for a Bride [to say] before the Khupe [wedding canopy ceremony]

“A Tkhine for a Kaleh before the Khupe” by an unknown author is a faithful transcription of the version published in Rokhl m’vakoh al boneho (Rokhel Weeps for her Children), Vilna, 1910. I have transcribed it without any changes from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. . . .

דיא ערשטע טבילה | Die erste Twile | The First Bath of Ablution, a prayer-poem by Morris Rosenfeld (before 1898)

This is the poem “דיא זרשטע טבילה” by Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923) written sometime before 1898. We have transcribed the poem as it was published in Rosenfeld’s collection of poems Gezamelṭe lieder (1906) pp. 167-168. The poem was romanized and translated into English by Leo Wiener and published under the title, “Die erste Twile (The First Bath of Ablution)” in Songs from the Ghetto (1898), pp. 52-55. A rhyming translation by Rose Pastor Stokes & Helena Frank under the title, “The First Bath of Ablution” was published in Songs of Labor and Other Poems (1914), pp. 72-73. . . .

קידוש לבנה | Kidesch⸗Lewone | The Moon-Prayer, a prayer-poem by Morris Rosenfeld (before 1898)

This is the poem “קידוש לבנה” by Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923) written sometime before 1898. We have transcribed the poem as it was published in Rosenfeld’s collection of poems Gezamelṭe lieder (1906) pp. 141-143. The poem was romanized and translated into English by Leo Wiener and published under the title, “Kidesch⸗Lewone (The Moon-Prayer)” in Songs from the Ghetto (1898), pp. 48-53. . . .

פעלד־מעסטען | Feldmesten | Measuring of the Graves, a prayer-poem by Morris Rosenfeld (before 1898)

This is the poem “פעלד־מעסטען” by Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923) written before 1898. We have transcribed the poem as it was published in Rosenfeld’s collection of poems Gezamelṭe lieder (1906) pp. 135-136. The poem was romanized and translated into English by Leo Wiener and published under the title, “The Measuring of the Graves” in Songs from the Ghetto (1898), pp. 46-49. A rhyming translation by Rose Pastor Stokes & Helena Frank under the title, “Measuring of the Graves” was published in Songs of Labor and Other Poems (1914), pp. 70-71. If you know the date of the earliest publication of this prayer, please leave a comment or contact us. . . .

דיא חנוכה ליכט | Ḥanukkah⸗Lichter | Ḥanukkah Lights, a poem by Morris Rosenfeld (1897)

“דיא חנוכה ליכט” by Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923) p.132-134. It was translated from the Yiddish into English by Rose Pastor Stokes & Helena Frank and published under the title, “The Feast of Lights” in Songs of Labor and Other Poems (1914), p. 65-66. Another translation, by Helena Frank alone was published in Apples & Honey (ed. Nina Salaman 1921), p. 242-244. The German translation by Berthold Feiwel was published in Lieder des Ghetto (1902), p. 81-83, and illustrated by Efraim Moses Lilian. . . .

אײן אנשפראכע געגען עין הרע | An Incantation against the Ayin haRa (1896)

This tkhine offers a formula for providing relief to a very ill person, and as such, should only be used as a supplement to recommendations provided by an expert physician or nurse. The source of the tkhine is Tkhine of a Highly Respected Woman, Budapest, 1896; and transcribed from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. . . .

אַמעריקע די פּרעכטיקע | America the Beautiful, a patriotic hymn by Katharine Lee Bates (1895) with Yiddish translation by Berl Lapin (1950)

“America the Beautiful,” the patriotic hymn (1911 version) by Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929) in its Yiddish translation by Berl Lapin (1889-1952). . . .

📖 סדר תחנות ובקשות | Seder Teḥinot u’Baqashot (Rödelheim 1891)

An authoritative edition of the Seder Teḥinot (Seyder Tkhines) from the esteemed Rödelheim publishing house. . . .

דער נײער קאָלאסוס | The New Collosus, a paean to the Shekhinah/”Mother of Exiles” by Emma Lazarus (1883, Yiddish translation by Rachel Kirsch Holtman 1938)

This is the sonnet, “The New Collosus” (1883) by Emma Lazarus set side-by-side with its Yiddish translation by Rachel Kirsch Holtman. Lazarus famously penned her sonnet in response to the waves of Russian-Jewish refugees seeking refuge in the Unites States of America as a result of murderous Russian pogroms following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Her identification and revisioning of the Statue of Liberty as the Mother of Exiles points to the familiar Jewish identification of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence, in its feminine aspect) with the light of the Jewish people in their Diaspora. . . .

הַתִּקְוָה | Hatiḳvah (the Hope), by Naphtali Herz Imber (1878)

The poem, Hatiḳvah, in its original composition by Naphtali Herz Imber, later chosen and adapted to become the national anthem of the State of Israel, with a full English translation, and the earliest, albeit abbreviated, Yiddish translation . . .

תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ נִיסָן | Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan (1877)

The paraliturgical tkhine for the new month of Nissan read on the shabbat preceding the new moon during the blessing over new month. . . .

תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ אִיָּר | Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Iyyar (1877)

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ אִיָיר (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Iyyar”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady . . .

תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ סִיוָן | Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Sivan (1877)

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ סִיוָן (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Sivan”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877) before its adaptation in Shas Tkhine Ḥadashe (Ben-Tsiyon Alfes 1910), the source from which this translation was made. English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady . . .

תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ תַּמּוּז | Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Tamuz (1877)

This is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ תַּמוּז (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Tamuz”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877) before its adaptation in Shas Tkhine Ḥadashe (Ben-Tsiyon Alfes 1910), the source from which this translation was made. English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady . . .

תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ מְנַחֵם אָב | Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Menaḥem Av (1877 and 1910)

This is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ מְנַחֵם אָב (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Menaḥem Av”) as printed in Shas Tkhine Ḥodoshe (1910) and תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow & Brothers Romm, Vilna 1872/3, 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). Using Shas Tkhine Ḥodoshe as her source, Moreh Zakutinsky probably had not seen the additional paragraph in the earlier printing. –A.N. Varady . . .