https://opensiddur.org/?p=41281אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam, translated by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (1862)2021-12-05 19:27:44The cosmological piyyut, Adon Olam, in its Ashkenazi variation in Hebrew with an English translation.Textthe Open Siddur ProjectAharon N. Varady (transcription)Aharon N. Varady (transcription)Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation)Shlomo ibn Gabirolhttps://opensiddur.org/copyright-policy/Aharon N. Varady (transcription)https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/Arvit l'ShabbatBaqashotMusaf l'Shabbatפיוטים piyyutimOpenerscosmological11th century C.E.49th century A.M.Closersrhyming translationאדון עולם Adon Olam
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Universal Lord! who the sceptre sway’d
Ere creation’s first wondrous form was framed:
When by his will divine all things were made,
Then King, Almighty, was his name proclaim’d!
When all shall cease, and this world’s system o’er,
Then he tremendously alone will reign:
Who was, who is, and will evermore
In most refulgent glory still remain
He is my God, my living Redeemer,
My shelt’ring rock in a distressed hour;
My refuge, my standard, and protector,
My lot’s disposer, when I seek his power
Into his hands my spirit I consign.
Whilst wrapt in sleep, and when again I wake:
And with my spirit my body I resign
The Lord’s with me, no fears my soul shall shake.
“Adon Olam” is a piyyut that became popular in the 15th century and is often attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021–1058) and less often to Sherira Gaon (900-1001), or his son, Hai ben Sherira Gaon (939-1038). The variation of the piyyut appearing here is the 10 line (5 stanza) version familiar to Ashkenazi congregations. (Sefaradi siddurim have 12 line (six stanza) variants, and there are some with 14 or 15 lines.) The translation appearing here by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (1816-1872) is as found on page 2 of his siddur Tefilot Yisrael (1862).
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 Nakeniשְׁגִיאוֹת 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 administering the Open Siddur Project and this website.)
Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (1816-13 July 1872), Hebraist and actuary, sometimes referred to as Herschell Phillips Filipowski. A maskil born in Virbalis, Lithuania, he arrived in London in 1839 and taught Jewish boys. In 1846 he published Mo’ed Mo’adim, a study of Jewish and other calendars, and in 1847 The Annual Hebrew Magazine (Hebrew title Ha-Asif, The Harvest’). His A Table of Anti Logarithms appeared in 1849, and his translation from Latin into English of Napier’s treatise on logarithms in 1857. In 1851, when he was listed in the Census as a London printer, he founded the Chevrat Me’orerei Yeshenim (Hebrew Antiquarian Society) in order to publish medieval Hebrew texts. Major works that he edited and printed for it included Menahem ibn Saruq’s Mahberet Menahem (1854) and Abraham Zacuto’s Sefer Yuhasin ha-Shalem (1857). During the late 1850s he worked in Edinburgh as an actuary, returning to London in about 1860. He compiled the Colonial Life Assurance Company’s 1861 Almanac and edited Baily’s Doctrine of Life Annuities and Assurance (1864-6). In 1862 he published, using a Hebrew type of his own design, Tefilot Yisrael, a pocket edition of the Ashkenazi prayer book with his own English translation. In 1867 he founded a short-lived periodical, The Hebrew National. His Biblical Prophecies (1870) dealt mainly with messianic passages in Isaiah.
Solomon ibn Gabirol (also Solomon ben Judah; Hebrew: שלמה בן יהודה אבן גבירול Shlomo ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol, Arabic: أبو أيوب سليمان بن يحيى بن جبيرول Abu Ayyub Sulayman bin Yahya bin Jabirul, Latin: Avicebron or Avencebrol) was an 11th-century Andalusian poet and Jewish philosopher. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical exegesis, philosophy, ethics, and satire.
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