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.)

Elsie Naomi Davis Schryver (1876-1933), born in Derby, England, was a Jewish translator of liturgy and a mother. She was born at Friarfield House, Derby, the oldest 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 Davis's 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. Eleven of Elsie's translations of piyyutim are credited in the maḥzorim of Herbert Adler and her father Arthur Davis. With her husband, Samuel Barnett Schryver, she was the parent of two daughters, Rosalind Leah Schryver and Priscilla Naomi Schryver. Elsie was the older sister of Nina Salaman Davis (1877-1925), who also translated medieval piyyutim.

Meshulam ben Ḳalonymus (10th–11th century), born into a rabbinical family from Lucca, was a rabbi and paytan, His grandfather was R. Moses the Elder who was taught by Abu Aaron the secrets of the Kabbalah. Meshullam's father was a well-known talmudic scholar and paytan. His teacher was Solomon b. Judah ha-Bavli. Meshullam himself was a famous talmudist and liturgical poet, often called "the Great." His works include a commentary on Ethics of the Fathers, of which only one extract is extant; responsa, dealing with explanations of talmudic passages and with matrimonial, legal, and ritual matters and including a responsum against the Karaites; and liturgical poems, of which the best known are a composition for the morning service of the Day of Atonement and "Ammiẓ Ko'aḥ," the version of the Avodah adopted in the Ashkenazi rite. His responsa, apart from their intrinsic value, are important sources of information for the social and economic history of the Jewish communities of pre-Crusade Europe. He is the first author in Europe to mention the commercial law of Ma'arufya. His answers are usually brief and concise, and devoid of argumentation. His decisions are based mainly on the Babylonian Talmud but also refer to the writings of the geonim. Both Gershom Me'or ha-Golah and Rashi held Meshullam in high regard. The center of Meshullam's activity is uncertain. Responsa by Sherira and Hai Gaon point to Italy as does the title "of Rome" sometimes given him. Later he settled in Mainz where his tombstone was discovered. His works helped to establish Rhineland scholarship and stimulated the development in France and Germany of a powerful poetical tradition.