In all modern communities, the standard practice is that on the three Shabbatot before the Ninth of Av and the seven after it the standard haftarah is replaced. Before the Ninth of Av they are replaced with haftarot of rebuke, from Jeremiah and the opening of Isaiah, and after they are replaced with haftarot of consolation from the later parts of Isaiah. Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, though, preserves a very different custom, one where each one of those Torah portions has an associated haftarah, related not to the calendar but to the parashah itself. Here the editor has compiled a list of these haftarah readings, along with brief notes to explain their connection with the parashah.

At B’nai Havurah, the Denver Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation, located in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, we consider this psalm a local favorite. Psalm 121, described as a Song for the Ascents, traditionally looks to the heights, where godly powers were believed to reside, such as Mt. Sinai, or the Acropolis, to find divine help, in the person of God or The Unseen One. My proposal is a variation that adjusts our focus to this world, away from the supernatural, to acknowledge our responsibility for the well-being of ourselves and the environment. Whatever deeds and actions that may need to be taken for repair and preservation of our world, we are responsible for. To look for others to do the work for us, or to postpone acting until divine help comes, may turn out to be the height of recklessness for our own, as well as our children’s future. First we acknowledge what is here and real, then we commit to do what we can to solve problems and make things better. This variation is designed to allow it to be sung, with some adjustments, in community with others who are singing the traditional version in Hebrew and English.

The Universal Declaration of Animal Rights (UDAR) was first proclaimed in Paris on 15 October 1978 at the headquarters of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) with the ambition of it being formally adopted in the United Nations General Assembly. The French League of Animal Rights spurred the development of a revised text written during the General Assembly of the International League of Animal Rights, held June 3–4, 1989 in Luxembourg, and adopted on October 21, 1989. The declaration was submitted to the UNESCO Director General in 1990 however it has never been formally adopted.

Paltiel (Philip) Birnbaum’s translation of The Song of Songs (Shir haShirim) in Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem (The [Complete] Daily Prayer Book), Hebrew Publishing Company, 1949.

Jews have read sacred texts to commemorate miracles of redemption for a long time. Purim has Megilat Esther. Many communities read Megilat Antiochus or Megilat Yehudit for Ḥanukkah. But to many modern Jews, the most miraculous redemption in recent history was the founding of the state of Israel, as we commemorate on Yom ha-Atsma’ut. Like Purim, the story of the founding of Israel was entirely secular on a surface level, with no big showy miracles like a sea splitting or a mountain aflame. Like Ḥanukkah, a Jewish state in the Land of Israel won its independence against mighty forces allied in opposition. But we don’t have a megillah to read for Yom ha-Atsma’ut. Or do we? Just as Megillat Esther is said to be a letter written by Mordekhai to raise awareness of the events of Shushan, so too does the Israeli Scroll of Independence, Megilat ha-Atsma’ut, raise awareness of the events of the founding of the State of Israel. In this vein, I decided to create a cantillation system for Megilat ha-Atsma’ut. Ta’amei miqra were chosen attempting to follow Masoretic grammatical rules – since modern Hebrew has a different grammatical structure, the form is somewhat loose. Because of the thematic similarities to Purim, I chose Esther cantillation for the majority of the text. Just as some tragic lines in Esther are read in Eikhah cantillation, some lines regarding the Shoah or bearing grim portents for the wars to follow are to be sung in Eikhah cantillation. And the final phrases of chapters II and III are to be sung in the melody for the end of a book of the Ḥumash, or the Song of the Sea melody. They can be done in a call-and-response form, with the community reading and the reader repeating.

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

A chaplain’s eulogy over the fallen soldiers of Iwo Jima (also known under the title, “The Highest and Purest Democracy”)

A Declaration of Interdependence co-authored during WW II as part of an interfaith Jewish-Christian response to fascism and “to mitigate racial and religious animosity in America.”

The four freedoms as articulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his address before the 77th Congress of the United States.

“Man Is Here for the Sake of Others,” a short excerpt from a longer essay by Albert Einstein, was included by Rabbi Morrison David Bial in his collection of supplemental prayers and texts for personal prayer and synagogue services: An Offering of Prayer (Temple Sinai of Summit, New Jersey, 1962). The full text of Einstein’s essay appeared under the title “What I Believe” in Forum and Century 84 (October 1930), no. 4, p. 193-194. David E. Rowe and Robert Schulman (in Einstein on Politics 2007, p. 226) note, “The text was reproduced several times under the title ‘The World as I See It,’ most notably in Mein Weltbild and Ideas and Opinions, and in 1932 the German League of Human Rights released a phonograph recording of Einstein reading a slightly variant version entitled ‘Confession of Belief.'”

A digitial edition of the JPS 1917 English translation of the TaNaKh.

A New Declaration of Independence by Emma Goldman.

“From Psalm Ⅳ” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—Ⅼ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Ki Tétsei) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 107.

“Souls of the Righteous” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—ⅩⅬⅦ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Éqev) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 103.

“Faith” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—ⅩⅩⅩⅥ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Naso) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 84.

“Yea, More Than They” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—ⅩⅬⅣ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Mas’ei) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 98.

“The Peace of God” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—ⅩⅩⅩⅤ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat b’Midbar) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 83.

“Commit Thy Way” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—ⅩⅬⅡ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Pinḥas) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 96.

“Not Worthy” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—Ⅷ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Vayishlaḥ) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), pp. 17-18.

“Jacob’s Dream” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—Ⅶ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Vayetsei) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), pp. 15-16.

“Lord, do Thou guide me” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—ⅩⅥ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat b’Shalaḥ) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 34.

“A Stranger and a Sojourner Am I” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—Ⅴ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Ḥayyei Sarah) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 10.

An original poem composed by Alice Julia Lucas and selected for the 19th Shabbat (i.e., Parashat Terumah) in the cycle of annual readings of the Torah portion in her anthology of poetry and translated piyyutim, The Jewish Year (1898), pp. 42-43.

“Abraham’s Faith” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—Ⅲ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Lekh Lekha) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), p. 6.

The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, initially proposed by Congress on 13 June 1866 and adopted on 9 July 1868 was the second of three Reconstruction Amendments addressing citizenship rights and equal protection under the law. It was enacted in response to issues related to emancipated slaves following the failure of the Slaveholders’ Rebellion (1861-1865).

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.

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

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.

The dream and prayer of Mordekhai, and the prayer of Esther, as copied in the medieval pseudo-historical Chronicle of Yeraḥmiel.

The story of Gedaliah as recorded by Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities.

A Ladino translation of Psalms 22 first published in mid-19th century Izmir.

This is a Ladino translation of Psalms from תהילים או לוס סאלמוס ; טריסלאד’אד’וס דיל לשון הקדש אין לה לינגואה ספרדית (Tehillim, or the Psalms, translated from the Holy language [Hebrew] into the Sephardic language, Estampado por Ǧ. Griffit 1852/3), p. 187. The Romanization schema for the Ladino closely follows the style of Professor Moshe Lazar z”l, of the University of Southern California (USC), who in 1988 produced the transcription of the Constantinople Codex of 1547 and provided a novel transliteration of the vocalized Ladino. This transliteration scheme for the Ladino language loses no information coming from the Hebrew letters, keeping the form of the ancient tongue while eschewing the Atatürk language reforms which are foreign the original base Spanish and Portuguese roots of the language.

The Masoretic text of Psalms 150 set side-by-side with a Ladino translation published ca. 1852 in Izmir, Turkey.