מָעוֹז צוּר | Maoz Tsur (Rock of Ages), singing translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l

Contributor(s):

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Mordecai ben Yitsḥok ha-Levi

Shared on:

4 December 2015 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Ḥanukkah

Tags:

פיוטים piyyutim, 13th century C.E., 51st century A.M., Acrostic signature, High Middle Ages, מעוז צור Maoz Tsur, Mainz

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Source (Hebrew)	Transliteration (romanization)	Translation (English)
מָעוֹז צוּר יְשׁוּעָתִי לְךָ נָאֶה לְשַׁבֵּחַ תִּכּוֹן בֵּית תְּפִלָּתִי וְשָׁם תּוֹדָה נְזַבֵּחַ לְעֵת תָּכִין מַטְבֵּחַ מִצָּר הַמְנַבֵּחַ אָז אֶגְמֹר בְּשִׁיר מִזְמוֹר חֲנֻכַּת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ	maˈoz tsur yeshuˈati lekha naˈeh leshabbeˈaḥ tikkon bet tefillati vesham toda nezabbeˈaḥ leˈet takhin matbeˈaḥ mitsar hamnabeˈaḥ az egmor beshir mizmor ḥanukkat hammizbeˈaḥ	My salvation’s stronghold, fort, praising You is such delight. Build your House of Prayer, Lord, cleansed from idols after fight. You came to our assistance when we gave resistance. Then we sang a hymn of thanks for your aid’s persistence.
רָעוֹת שָׂבְעָה נַפְשִׁי בְּיָגוֹן כֹּחִי כָּלָה חַיַּי מֵרְרוּ בְקֹשִׁי בְּשִׁעְבּוּד מַלְכוּת עֶגְלָה וּבְיָדוֹ הַגְּדוֹלָה הוֹצִיא אֶת הַסְּגֻלָּה חֵיל פַּרְעֹה וְכׇל זַרְעוֹ יָרְדוּ כְּאֶבֶן בִּמְצוּלָה	raˈot savˈa nafshi beyagon koḥi kala ḥaiyai mereru vekoshi beshiˈbud malkhut egla uvyado haggedola hotsiˈ et hassegulla el parˈoh vekhol zarˈo yardu keˈeven bimtsula	Ramparts, pyramids and forts Egypt had us build for them. We found no justice in their courts when they drowned our children. With grace beyond all measure, You redeemed Your treasure. You split the sea to help us flee, now Pesaḥ is our pleasure.
דְּבִיר קׇדְשׁוֹ הֱבִיאַנִי וְגַם שָׁם לֹא שָׁקַטְתִּי וּבָא נוֹגֵשׂ וְהִגְלַנִי כִּי זָרִים עָבַדְתִּי וְיֵין רַעַל מָסַכְתִּי כִּמְעַט שֶׁעָבַרְתִּי קֵץ בָּבֶל זְרֻבָּבֶל לְקֵץ שִׁבְעִים נוֹשַׁעְתִּי	devir kodsho heviˈani vegam sham lo shakatti uva noges vehiglani ki zarim avadeti veˈein raˈal masakhti kimˈat sheˈavarti kets bavel zerubavel lekets shivˈim noshaˈti	Dear to us Your Temple was, still we could not tarry there. Babylon’s superior mass exiled us we knew not where. We drank that poisonous potion, were moved in that commotion. When we turned we were not spurned, but gave You our devotion.
כְּרוֹת קוֹמַת בְּרוֹשׁ בִּקֵּשׁ אֲגָגִי בֶּן הַמְּדָתָא וְנִהְיָתָה לוֹ לְפַח וּלְמוֹקֵשׁ וְגַאֲוָתוֹ נִשְׁבָּתָה רֹאשׁ יְמִינִי נִשֵּׂאתָ וְאוֹיֵב שְׁמוֹ מָחִיתָ רֹב בָּנָיו וְקִנְיָנָיו עַל הָעֵץ תָּלִיתָ	kerot komat berosh bikkesh Agagi ben Hamdata venihyata lo lefaḥ ulemokesh vegaˈavato nishbata rosh yemini nisseˈta veˈoyev shemo maḥita rov banav vekinyanav al haˈets talita	Keen was Haman’s hate for us when he was in power. He vowed slaughter, death to us expecting us to cower. To pride, he kept clinging, while, on the gallows, swinging. On that tree meant for me, Haman wound up swinging.
יְוָנִים נִקְבְּצוּ עָלַי אֲזַי בִּימֵי חַשְׁמַנִּים וּפָרְצוּ חוֹמוֹת מִגְדָּלַי וְטִמְּאוּ כׇּל הַשְּׁמָנִים וּמִנּוֹתַר קַנְקַנִּים נַעֲשָׂה נֵס לַשּׁוֹשַׁנִּים בְּנֵי בִינָה יְמֵי שְׁמוֹנָה קָבְעוּ שִׁיר וּרְנָנִים	yevanim nikbetsu alai azai bimei ḥashmannim ufartsu ḥomot migdalai vetimmeˈu kol hashmanim uminnotar kankannim naˈasa nes lashoshannim benei vina yemei shmona kaveˈu shir urnanim	Ionian, Hellenist and Greek did defile our holy place. God did aid the faithful meek who gave the enemy the chase. Then they found new meaning when they found in cleaning. In their toil some pure oil, Ḥanukkah’s beginning.
חֲשׂוֹף זְרוֹעַ קׇדְשֶׁךָ וְקָרֵב קֵץ הַיְשׁוּעָה נְקֹם נִקְמַת עֲבָדֶיךָ מֵאֻמָּה הָרְשָׁעָה כִּי אָרְכָה הַשָּׁעָה וְאֵין קֵץ לִימֵי הָרָעָה דְּחֵה אַדְמוֹן בְּצֵל צַלְמוֹן הָקֵם לָנוּ רוֹעִים שִׁבְעָה	ḥasof zeroa kodshekha vekarev kets hayshuˈa nekom nikmat avadekha meˈumma hareshaˈa ki arekha hashaˈa veˈen kets lime haraˈa deḥeh admon betsel tsalmon hakem lanu roˈim shivˈa	Holy aid extend to us and bring the end of exile soon. When the foes oppressed the just, You did protect us from dire doom. In an exile dour, at our darkest hour, Edom vain lost its reign. Make our shepherd flower.

This translation was previously published online by Gabbai Seth Fishman at Jewish Renewal Hasidus. We are grateful to him for making this resource available. Before he passed away, Reb Zalman was clear in sharing all of his liturgical resources with an Open Content license in order to help realize his dream of a common Davvenen Database for all people.

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“מָעוֹז צוּר | Maoz Tsur (Rock of Ages), singing translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman" (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.

Mordecai ben Yitsḥok ha-Levi

Mordechai Ben Yitsḥak haLevy was a 13th century rabbi and liturgical poet who emigrated from Iraq to Mainz in Germany. There, hiding in the Jewish quarter with the rest of the Jewish community of Mainz, he witnessed the terrible massacres of the Crusaders. Authorship of the popular piyyut for Ḥanukkah, Maoz Tsur, is often attributed to him on the basis of the acrostic, מרדכי found in it.

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Works of related interest:

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

"Second battle of Ramla" from the book *Les Passages d'outremer faits par les Français contre les Turcs depuis Charlemagne jusqu'en 1462*, (Sebastien Mamerot 1475) held in Bliotheque Nat.,Coll.des Manuscripts, Paris, France.

מָעוֹז צוּר | Maoz Tsur, attributed to Mordecai ben Yitsḥak haLevi (adapted by R’ Joseph H. Hertz, trans. by Solomon Solis-Cohen)

>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)

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

"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

Maoz Tsur supplemental stanza for the for the Ḥarvot Barzel War (Dana Pearl 2023)

תוספת בית למעוז צור לְמִלְחֶמֶת ”חַרְבוֹת בַּרְזֶל“‏ | Supplemental stanza to Maoz Tsur for the Ḥarvot Barzel War by Dana Pearl

Yeriḥo as a seven walled Cretan labyrinth. (Farḥi Bible by Elisha ben Avraham Crescas, 14th c.)

אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ | Ana b’Khoaḥ, a 42 letter name piyyut with a singing translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

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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