A Latin translation of the popular Passover song, Ḥad Gadya.

Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish world, and in many communities it was read in translation. Probably not this one though, seeing as it was written almost a thousand years after the Sabaic language became extinct. But Sabaic, a South Semitic language somewhere between Arabic and Ge’ez, is worth studying for any Jewish scholar because of the light it sheds on the history of the Semitic languages and the Middle East as a whole. (Not to mention that it was a lingua franca of the Yemenite Jewish kingdom of Himyar!) This is a Sabaic translation, transcription, and hypothetical vocalization of Ḥad Gadya.

Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish world, and in many communities it was read in translation. Probably not this one though, seeing as it was written over a millenium after Akkadian became extinct. But in my opinion there ought to be a representation of the East Semitic language family in the canon of Ḥad Gadya translations. Also included is a transcript of the Akkadian text into Hebrew script, since Judeo-Cuneiform doesn’t exist… yet. Eh, Aramaic script was invented in the places Akkadian was spoken anyway, it’s fine. A hearty thanks to Dr. Janine Wende at the University of Leipzig for proofreading and editing the Akkadian translation!

Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish world, and in many communities it was read in translation. Probably not this one though, seeing as it was written over two millenia after the Ugaritic language became extinct. But Ugaritic, closely related to the Canaanite language family of which Hebrew is a part, is worth studying for any Jewish scholar because of the light it sheds on the history of the Western Semitic peoples. So I’ve attempted a Ugaritic translation of Ḥad Gadya.

Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish world, and in many communities it was read in translation. This Middle Egyptian translation was almost certainly the one that Moshe Rabbeinu himself sang at his seder table that fateful night in Egypt! …Not really. Ḥad Gadya postdates Middle Egyptian as a written language by about three millennia. But it’s fun and Pesaḥ-appropriate to sing this song in the language of that dagnabbed Pharaoh himself. Also included is a transcript of the text into Hebrew script, since Judeo-Hieroglyphics don’t exist… yet. Eh, the alphabet was adapted from hieroglyphics from the start. It’s fine. You could even say it’s an improvement. For reading out loud I’ve also included the standard Egyptological pronunciation system. If you’re stuck in a time machine be careful, it’s an artificial convention that should not be mistaken for how Egyptian was pronounced at the time. But personally I think “Tutenkhamen” is easier to say than *Təwā́təʾ-ʿā́nəkh-ʾamā́nəʾ, so sue me.

A Ge’ez translation of the popular Passover seder song, Ḥad Gadya.

Making sense of Ḥad Gadya beyond its explicit meaning has long inspired commentary. For me, Ḥad Gadya expresses in its own beautiful and macabre way a particularly important idea in Judaism that has become obscure if not esoteric. While an animal’s life may today be purchased, ultimately, the forces of exploitation, predation, and destruction that dominate our world will be overturned. Singing Ḥad Gadya is thus particularly apropos for the night of Passover since, in the Jewish calendar, this one night, different from all other nights, is considered the most dangerous night of the year — it is the time in which the forces of darkness in the world are strongest. Why? It is on this night that the divine aspect of Mashḥit, the executioner, is explicitly invoked (albeit, only in the context of the divine acting as midwife and guardian/protector of her people), as explained in the midrash for Exodus 12:12

An original version of Ḥad Gadya which has been fully Aramaicized, with all the Hebrew words removed and the verbs conjugated properly.

This pizmon, signed with the name Moshe but of otherwise unclear attribution, is recited in the Sephardic communities of Rhodes and Istanbul (and nowadays in Seattle) before the open ark on Shabbat Shirah and the seventh day of Pesaḥ. The main Hebrew text of the first and last two stanzas are as found in the Seattle Sephardic community’s 2002 Siddur Zehut Yosef (as well as the Gözlem Kitap press in Istanbul’s 2011 Şaloş Regalim), with footnotes marking differences in the Shirei Yisrael B’Erets HaḲedem (published in Istanbul in 1921) and the Yeshiva University Library diwan of Baruch Moshe Moreno, written by hand in the monastery neighborhood of Tiberias in 1867 (YU MS. 1126). In between are three additional non-rhyming stanzas found in substantially different form in the other two sources but not recited in modern Sephardic communities.

This pizmon, signed with the name Moshe but of otherwise unclear attribution, is recited in the Sephardic communities of Rhodes and Istanbul (and nowadays in Seattle) before the open ark on Shabbat Shirah and the seventh day of Pesaḥ. The main Hebrew text of the first and last two stanzas are as found in the Seattle Sephardic community’s 2002 Siddur Zehut Yosef (as well as the Gözlem Kitap press in Istanbul’s 2011 Şaloş Regalim), with footnotes marking differences in the Shirei Yisrael B’Erets HaḲedem (published in Istanbul in 1921) and the Yeshiva University Library diwan of Baruch Moshe Moreno, written by hand in the monastery neighborhood of Tiberias in 1867 (YU MS. 1126). In between are three additional non-rhyming stanzas found in substantially different form in the other two sources but not recited in modern Sephardic communities.

“Purim Kirtan” is a traditional Purim song of the Bene Israel community of Mumbai, India. Many thanks to our friends at the Jewish Language Project and to their team member Jacob Kohn for recording, transcribing, and translating the song as sung by Rivkah Moshe.

A piyyuṭ sung by the Jews of Algiers on Shavu’ot and Simḥat Torah (and by some Moroccans for baqashot on Parashat Toldot). Yayin Tov Ratov is a love song from the perspective of God that uses a lot of language from Song of Songs. Wine and song, in this case, are both metaphors for the Torah. Of unknown origin, the acrostic spells out the name יצחק, although I can confirm that it wasn’t me who wrote it.

This is a transcription and translation of the song הַאגְּדָה עוֹוָאִידְנָא (Agda Ŋowaidna) as presented on Twitter, 6 December 2021 by Josh Calvo (@joshuac220), writing “In Meknes, Morocco, on the day after Ḥanukkah (which is today, alas) the Jewish community would come together to a light a bonfire from the leftover wax and oil of the holiday, singing this song (in Arabic) while watching the blaze.”

There are many different versions of this beloved Ladino pizmon for Havdalah. This one is found in Tefilat Imanuel, published in Vienna in 1924.

A pizmon (a seliḥah with a refrain, to be recited aloud) recited in the Sephardic rite for the seventeenth of Tammuz, Elohei Yeshuatenu, like most seliḥot for that day, features stanzas for each of the five tragedies that occurred on the day. But what’s unique about it is the legend of its author. This piyyuṭ is signed with the name Andreas, the signature of the legendary Jewish Pope Andreas, whose popular story can be found throughout the Jewish world.

A Ladino pizmon recited on Shabbat evenings, “El Disho Ke Bueno Era” retells the events of the seven days of creation.

Bendigamos is a hymn sung after meals according to the custom of Spanish and Portuguese Jews. It has also been traditionally sung by the Jews of Turkish descent. It is similar in meaning to the Birkat Hamazon that is said by all Jews. Bendigamos is said in addition to Birkat Hamazon, either immediately before or immediately after it. The text is in modern Spanish, not Ladino. The prayer was translated by David de Sola Pool. Below is the actual text as well as the translation by de Sola Pool. The melody is one of the best known and loved Spanish and Portuguese melodies, used also for the Song of the Sea (in the Shabbat morning service) and sometimes in “Hallel” (on the first day of the Hebrew month and on festivals).

A very old Western Sephardic table-song, mentioned as early as the 18th century in Livorno and possibly even older, this ballad retelling the story of Purim is sung to the tune of “Akh Zeh Hayom Kiviti.” It is related to the briefer Haketia-language song “Haman mamzer el malo.” Also included are literal and singable English translations.

An apotropaic ward for the protection of women in their pregnancy and of infant children against an attack from Lilith and her minions, containing the story witnessing her oath to the prophet, Eliyahu along with one variation of her many names.

The Italian rite, unique among Jewish rites, has preserved up until very recently the custom recorded in the Talmud, Masekhet Tagnanith, for communally declared fast days. In this rite, sometimes referred to as the Twenty-Four Blessings, six more blessings are added to the liturgy — the Zikhronot and Shofrot portions more commonly recited on Rosh haShanah, and four different psalms, all interspaced with a poetic litany on behalf of the ancestors’ merit and shofar blasts. I had previously transcribed the version of this liturgy as found in the Goldschmidt Mahzor Roma. But this version below is different, including a more complex variation in the ancestors’ merit passages, as well as relevant Biblical passages for each one. It is found in Vat. Ross. 499, a 1446 manuscript of the Italian rite with a lot of very interesting liturgical content in it.

A personal petition in rhymed prose from the introduction to Vat. Ross. 499, an Italian-rite maḥzor from the year 1446 with a lot of very cool liturgical content in it. Frankly, the title drew me in.

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with a creative English translation.

This adaptation of Yigdal, appears in מַחְזוֹר בִּרְכַּת שָׁלוֹם Maḥzor Birkat Shalom, an egalitarian Rosh haShanah & Yom Kippur maḥzor (Havurat Shalom 2014/2022), at the end of the Maariv service, pp. 62-63.

The doxological piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with a German translation.

This is Rev. William Channing Gannett’s rhymed English translation of Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan’s “Yigdal” made at the request of Rabbi Max Landsberg and published in Gannett’s Unity hymns and chorals (1911), pp. 2-3.

This is the philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, by Daniel ben Judah Dayyan. Yigdal means “Magnify [O Living God]” and is based on the 13 Articles of Faith formulated by Maimonides (1135-1204). Daniel ben Judah spent eight years improving his piyyut, completing Yigdal in 1404. This was not the only metrical presentment of the 13 Articles of Faith; but it has outlived all others, whether in Hebrew or in the vernacular. The English translation here by Israel Zangwill was transcribed from Arthur Davis & Herbert Adler’s מַחֲזוֹר עֲבֹדַת אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד: עֲבֹדַת חַג הַכִּפּוּרִים Maḥzor Avodat Ohel Moed: Avodat Yom haKippurim Part II: Morning Service (1904), p. 2.

This is Rev. Newton Mann’s rhymed English translation of Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan’s “Yigdal” as first published in Rabbi Max Landsberg’s Ritual for Jewish Worship (1884), pp. 13-14.

This is the philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, by Daniel ben Judah Dayyan. Yigdal means “Magnify [O Living God]” and is based on the 13 Articles of Faith formulated by Maimonides (1135-1204). Daniel ben Judah spent eight years improving his piyyut, completing Yigdal in 1404. This was not the only metrical presentment of the 13 Articles of Faith; but it has outlived all others, whether in Hebrew or in the vernacular. The rhymed English translation by Jacob Waley (1818-1873) was published posthumously by his daughter, Julia Matilda Cohen, in The children’s Psalm-book, a selection of Psalms with explanatory comments, together with a prayer-book for home use in Jewish families (1907), pp. 300-303.

This somewhat crude Purim song is sung in many variants in the Moroccan and Gibraltar Sephardic communities, often to the tune of the popular Purim hymn “Akh Ze Hayom Kiviti.”

This is a pizmon for Shabbat Shirah (Parashat B’Shalaḥ) by an unknown author. The text is as transcribed from the pizmonim included in the siddur משמרת הקדש: קול שומר שבת Mishmeret haQodesh: Qol Shomer Shabbat (Pisa 1821), p. 117.

Elijah began saying:
Lord of the worlds
You Who are One
and not just a number
You are the highest
of the highest
most hidden
of the undisclosed
no thought scheme
grasps You
at all.

The most well-known 42 letter divine name acrostic piyyut.

This is the piyyut “Eyumah Nikhtrah (Lo, the Mighty Nation…)” by Isaac ben Meshulam for maariv (after the shema) on the second night of Shavuot, was first published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Shavuot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Shavuot (1909), pp. 178-179.

This is a גוף יוצר (guf yotser) piyut from Nusaḥ Candia (Crete) for Shabbat Rosh Ḥodesh Ḥanukkah. The author of the piyut is unknown. It is presented here on the basis of the edition published by Dr. Gabriel Wasserman in his work Liturgical poems of Ḥanukka from Europe (2016), where it appears in Volume 2, as piyut number 23. While the translation below heavily utilizes Dr. Wasserman’s commentary on the piyut, the translation itself is original to me. I found this piyut when looking through Dr. Wasserman’s aforementioned work, and it struck me as very beautiful and particularly relevant to modern events.

The piyyut, Tsur Mishelo, in Hebrew with an English translation.

A litany of angelic names recorded in Sefer HaQanah, whose initial letters spells out the 42 letter divine name as also found in Sefer haPeliah.

A litany of angelic names recorded in Sefer haPeliah whose initial letters spells out the 42 letter divine name as also found (in variation) in Sefer HaQanah.

Before potatoes entered the diet of Ashkenazi Jews, latkes were cheese pancakes, or cassola, as described in the poem “Even Boḥan” (Touchstone) by Rabbi Kalonymus b, Kalonymus ben Meir.

A prayer by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus ben Meir that appears in his poem ספר אבן בוחן, יג Sefer Even Boḥan (§13), describing the author’s wish to have been born a Jewish woman.

From the Morning Blessings (Birkhot ha-Shaḥar) of the Seder tefilot be-targum le-Shuʾadit [סדר תפילות בתרגום לשואדית], a translation of the Siddur into Judaeo-Provençal dating from the 14th-15th century providing the following blessing for women.

This rəshut, or introductory piyyuṭ, is recited in the Italian rite before Nishmat Kol Ḥai on (the first day) of Rosh haShanah. It was written by the fourteenth-century payṭan R. Yoav ben Yeḥiel of Rome. Also included is a rhyming acrostic translation.

An original Hebrew translation of the popular medieval commercium song and graduation anthem “De Brevitate Vitæ,” more commonly known as “Gaudeamus Igitur.” First attested in 1287, this Latin poem is irrevocably associated with college life for academics all over the world. It has been translated into many languages, and this Hebrew edition can be added to the list.

This is the remarkable and unique form of the prayer Elohai Neshamah as found in the Ets Ḥayyim, a compendium of law and tradition of the Jews of England completed in 1287 by Jacob Jehudah Ḥazzan of London (only three years before the expulsion of the Jews from England).

This is “El Mi Migoalei,” a rahuṭah piyyut for Yom Kippur by Avraham ben Shmuel, as indicated by the acrostic signature (likely the same person as Avraham Abulafia.) Our transcription of the text follows that found in National Library of Russia, Ms. EVR II A 913.

In siddurim following the nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l, the Barekhu call to prayer is immediately preceded by a passage from the Zohar, Parshat Terumah, explaining the profound significance of the Maariv service.

Azharot are a genre of piyyut today associated almost exclusively with the grand lists of mitsvot recited on Shavuot, but this is not strictly accurate. An azharah is any poetic listing of mitsvot, and often would be recited on the Shabbat before a holiday as a reminder of the halakhot of the upcoming day. In Western Ashkenazi practice, for instance, an extensive azharah by Joseph Bonfils is recited for Shabbat haGadol before Pesaḥ. Presented here is an azharah and pizmon for the Shabbat before Rosh haShanah, by the 13th century Toledan payṭan Pinḥas ben Yosef ha-Levi. This text was published in the old Salonika Catalonian rite at the beginning of this maḥzor. Much of the translation is based on the work of Prof. Yaakov Shmuel Spiegel, published in Hebrew in 1985.

A reading from the Zohar providing context for the second meal of Shabbat (the Saturday lunch meal).

Ana is a poem for the first commandment, that discusses all that God did for the ancestors.

A complete poetic translation (all six verses) of Maoz Tsur. As far as the editor knows this is the first translation of Maoz Tsur to both (a) cover all the verses relatively accurately and (b) preserve the strict ABAB-BBCCB rhyme scheme of the original. (Reb Zalman’s comes close but it goes ABAB-CCDDC instead). If it sounds violent, that’s because it *is* violent. Ḥanukkah is a holiday about actively fighting against assimilation and abuse. A lot of Maoz Tsur translations are censored, but it’s a powerful, loud, and even nationalist statement.

A singing translation of the popular piyyut (devotional poem), “Maoz Tzur,” by Reb Zalman for Ḥanukkah.