צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַֽלְנוּ | Tsur Mishelo Akhalnu, a paraliturgical Birkat haMazon (translation by Nina Salaman 1914)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Nina Davis Salaman (translation) and Unknown Author(s)

Shared on:

18 September 2021 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Blessings After Eating

Tags:

זמירות zemirot, פיוטים piyyutim, Acrostic signature, paraliturgical birkat hamazon, צור משלו Tsur Mishelo

TOGGLE COLUMNS (on/off):

ADJUST COLUMN POSITIONS: select the column header cell and drag it where you want. show me!

COPY INDIVIDUAL COLUMN(S): use CopyTables, a browser extension.

TABLE HELP

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַֽלְנוּ בָּרְכוּ אֱמוּנַי שָׂבַֽעְנוּ וְהוֹתַֽרְנוּ כִּדְבַר יְיָ׃	Rock from whose store we have eaten — Bless him, my faithful companions. Eaten have we and left over — This was the word of YHVH.
הַזָּן אֶת עוֹלָמוֹ רוֹעֵֽנוּ אָבִֽינוּ אָכַֽלְנוּ אֶת לַחְמוֹ וְיֵינוֹ שָׁתִֽינוּ עַל כֵּן נוֹדֶה לִשְׁמוֹ וּנְהַלְּלוֹ בְּפִֽינוּ אָמַֽרְנוּ וְעָנִֽינוּ אֵין קָדוֹשׁ כַּייָ׃	Feeding his world like a shepherd— Father whose bread we have eaten, Father whose wine we have drunken. Now to his name we are singing, Praising him loud with our voices, Saying and singing for ever: Holy is none like YHVH.
בְּשִׁיר וְקוֹל תּוֹדָה נְבָרֵךְ לֵאלֹהֵֽינוּ עַל אֶֽרֶץ חֶמְדָּה טוֹבָה שֶׁהִנְחִיל לַאֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ, מָזוֹן וְצֵדָה הִשְׂבִּֽיעַ לְנַפְשֵׁנוּ, חַסְדּוֹ גָּבַר עָלֵֽינוּ וֶאֱמֶת יְיָ׃	Singing with sound of thanksgiving, Bless we our God for the good land Given of old to our fathers; Bless we him now who has given Food for our hunger of spirit; Strong over us is his mercy, Mighty the truth of YHVH.
רַחֵם בְּחַסְדֶּֽךָ עַל עַמְּךָ צוּרֵֽנוּ, עַל צִיּוֹן מִשְׁכַּן כְּבוֹדֶֽךָ זְבוּל בֵּית תִּפְאַרְתֵּֽנוּ, בֶּן דָּוִד עַבְדֶּֽךָ יָבוֹא וְיִגְאָלֵֽנוּ, רֽוּחַ אַפֵּֽינוּ מְשִֽׁיחַ יְיָ׃	Mercy, O Rock, for thy people! Pity the place of thy glory, Zion, the house of our beauty. Soon shall he come to redeem us— Offspring of David, thy servant, He that is breath of our spirit Send thine anointed, O YHVH!
יִבָּנֶה הַמִּקְדָּשׁ עִיר צִיּוֹן תְּמַלֵּא וְשָׁם נָשִׁיר שִׁיר חָדָשׁ וּבִרְנָנָה נַעֲלֶה הָרַחֲמָן הַנִּקְדָּשׁ יִתְבָּרַךְ וְיִתְעַלֶּה עַל כּוֹס יַֽיִן מָלֵא כְּבִרְכַּת יְיָ׃	O that the Temple were builded, Filled again Zion our city— There a new song shall we sing him, Merciful, holy and blessed,— Bless we him now and for ever, Over the full brimming wine-cup, Blest as we are of YHVH.

The hymn “Rock from whose store we have eaten” is of unknown authorship. It is based on the paragraphs of the Grace after Meals, and the refrain is made up from the first phrase of the Grace and the verse (2 Kings 4:44) which comes towards the close of the Grace in the Sephardic version. As Baer (p. 205) points out there is no reference to the Sabbath in this hymn, which is, he adds, appropriate for any occasion. The translation is by Mrs R. N. Salaman (some phrases and the metre being taken from a rendering by Mr I. Zangwill).

The main scriptural references are: Refrain, see [above]; my faithful companions, cf. 2 Sam. 20:19. There is none holy as the Lord , 1 Sam. 2:2. The good land (Heb. חֶמְדָּה, some read חֶמְדָּה טוּבָה) Jeremiah 3:19 etc. Strong over us is his mercy, Ps. 117:2. Zion the house of our beauty, Isaiah 63:15. Offspring of Davids thy servant, a Messianic reference, cf. Jer. 33:15. The breath of our spirit etc. (lit. the breath of our nostrils) Lamentations 4:20. Filled again Zion, i.e. either repopulated or filled with righteousness, Isaiah 33:5. Over the full brimming wine- cup refers to the cup of wine (called cup of blessing) taken alter the grace (Pesahim 103a). –Israel Abrahams

I have re-Hebraized divine names. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַֽלְנוּ | Tsur Mishelo Akhalnu, a paraliturgical Birkat haMazon (translation by Nina Salaman 1914)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Nina Davis Salaman (translation)

Paulina Ruth "Nina" Salaman (née Davis) (פָּאוּלִינָה רוּת ”נִינָה” דֵעוִיס שָׂלָמָן‏; 1877 – ‎1925) was a British Jewish poet, translator, and social activist. She is best known for her English translations of medieval Hebrew poetry, especially of the poems of Judah Halevi. Paulina Ruth Davis was born on 15 July 1877 at Friarfield House, Derby, the second of two children of Louisa (née Jonas) and Arthur Davis. Her father's family were secular Jewish precision instrument makers, who had immigrated to England from Bavaria in the early nineteenth century. A civil engineer by trade, Arthur Davis became religiously observant and mastered the Hebrew language, becoming an accomplished Hebraist noted for his study of cantillation marks in the Tanakh. The family moved to Kilburn, London when Nina was six weeks old, later settling in Bayswater. There, Davis gave his daughters an intensive scholarly education in Hebrew and Jewish studies, teaching them himself each morning before breakfast from the age of four, and taking them regularly to the synagogue. The Davises moved in learned Jewish circles, and friends of Nina's parents included the families of Nathan Adler, Simeon Singer, Claude Montefiore, Solomon Schechter, Herbert Bentwich, and Elkan Adler. Arthur Davis was one of the "Kilburn Wanderers"—a group of Anglo-Jewish intellectuals that formed around Solomon Schechter in the 1880s—members of which took an interest in Nina's work and helped her find publication for her writings.

Unknown Author(s)

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

Pocket Pinterest Reddit 𝕏 Facebook Telegram WhatsApp SMS Email

Works of related interest:

סעודה לשבירת הצום, בבית משפחת יצחק מרחיב בהר גריזים. בתמונה, שלושת ילדיו וכלתו

צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַֽלְנוּ | Tsur Mishelo Akhalnu, a paraliturgical Birkat haMazon (rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)

Shabbat Meal (credit: Sam Felder, license: CC BY-SA)

צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַֽלְנוּ | Tsur Mishelo Akhalnu, a paraliturgical Birkat haMazon (translation by Sara-Kinneret Lapidot)

Vernal pool, Columbia Wildlife Management Area, Warren County (Public Domain)

יוֹם זֶה לְיִשְׁרַאֵל | Yom Zeh l’Yisrael, a piyyut by Rabbi Yitsḥaq Luria (translation by Nina Salaman, 1914)

מָעוֹז צוּר | Maoz Tsur (trans. by Frederick de Sola Mendes 1914)

>Synagogue in Beuthen O.S. from Illustrated guide through the Upper Silesian industrial area: with special consideration of the places Kattowitz, Königshütte, Beuthen, Tarnowitz, Zabrze and Gleiwitz

מָעוֹז צוּר | Schirm und Schutz in Sturm und Graus, a German translation of Maoz Tsur by Leopold Stein (1906)

Right-to-left musical notation of a melody for Maoz Tsur by Abraham Tzevi Idelsohn in Yehoash Hirschberg's Music in the Jewish Community of Palestine 1880-1948

מָעוֹז צוּר | Maoz Tsur (Stronghold Rock who Rescues Me), complete poetic translation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

"An actor with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation speaking to the soldiers on their way to the Western Wall" (credit: Mitch Ginsburg/Times of Israel, 2012)

מָעוֹז צוּר | Maoz Tsur for Yom ha-Atsma’ut, a complete poetic translation with an added stanza for the State of Israel’s Independence Day by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

prev next

Comments, Corrections, and QueriesCancel reply

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=39059

Associated Image:

סעודה לשבירת הצום, בבית משפחת יצחק מרחיב בהר גריזים. בתמונה, שלושת ילדיו וכלתו

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)

Source: XML | JSON | HTML | ODT

Terms of Use: Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

Properly attribute the work to Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Nina Davis Salaman (translation) and Unknown Author(s).
Clearly indicate the date you accessed the work and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=39059>.
Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication. (To redistribute or remix this work in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the license under which the work is shared.)

Additional Notes:

The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of contributors, patrons, or institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.

ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "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