לְמַעַנְךָ וְלֹא לָנוּ | l’Maankha v’lo lanu (For your sake, not for ours), a piyyuṭ by an unknown paytan (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)

Contributor(s):

David de Aaron de Sola (translation), Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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24 January 2022 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Tags:

11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., בקשות Baqashot, ירושלם Jerusalem, למענך l'maankha, גאולה geūlah (redemption)

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
לְמַעַנְךָ וְלֹא לָנוּ וּלְשׁוֹכְבֵי מְעָרָה	For Thy sake, not for our’s, And for that of those who sleep in Machpelah’s cave.
בְּנֵה נָא צְבִי תִּפְאָרָה וְלִירוּשָׁלַיִם הַיְּקָרָה בִּזְכוּת תּוֹרָה הַיְּשָׁרָה דִּבְּרוֹת עֲשָׂרָה	Rebuild Jerusalem, Thy fair and precious city, Through the merit of Thy righteous law, comprised in ten precepts.
סוֹדְךָ גַּלֵּה לְגַלְמוּדָה תָּגֵלְנָה בְּנוֹת יְהוּדָה בִּזְכוּת תּוֹרָה הַחֲמוּדָה עֵינַיִם מְאִירָה	Reveal Thy secret to the solitary nation, “let the daughters of Judah rejoice,” Through the merit of Thy precious law, which “enlightens the eyes.”
שְׁלַח לִי גוֹאֵל מְנַחֵם אֲבֵלֵי צִיּוֹן תְּנַחֵם אַתָּה תָּקוּם וּתְרַחֵם וּתְכוֹנֵן עֲפָרָהּ
עַד מָתַי תִּשְׁכַּח בָּנֶיךָ וַעֲדַת סְגֻלָּתֶךָ שָׁתוּ כּוֹס מִיָּדֶיךָ וְגַם מָצוּ שְׁמָרָהּ
בְּאוֹיְבַי עֲשֵׂה נְקָמָה כִּי קָמוּ עָלַי בְּיַד רָמָה כִּי לֹא יִירַשׁ בֶּן הָאָמָה עִם בֶּן הַגְּבִירָה	Execute vengeance on my enemies, who have overborne me with a strong hand; “For the son of the handmaid shall not take the inheritance of the son of the mistress.”
הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ וְנָשׁוּבָה אֶל תּוֹךְ צִיּוֹן הָעֲלוּבָה וְנִהְיֶה שָׁם בַּעֲלֵי תְּשׁוּבָה לֵב טָהוֹר לָנוּ בְּרָא
שְׁלַח לָנוּ אֶת מְשִׁיחֵנוּ עִם אֵלִיָּהוּ נְבִיאֵנוּ כִּי הוּא יָאִיר עֵינֵינוּ וִיבַשֵּׂר בְּשׂוֹרָה	Send us speedily Thy Anointed One with Elijah our Prophet; For it is He who will enlighten our eyes, and announce the good tidings.
אֲזַי יִרְאוּ עֵינֵינוּ וְגַם יִשְׂמַח לִבֵּנוּ בְּבוֹאֵנוּ בֵּית מִקְדָּשֵׁנוּ וְשָׁם נַדְלִיק הַמְּנוֹרָה	Then shall our eyes behold it, and our heart rejoice, When Thou leadest us to our Temple, there again to kindle the sacred lights.

This translation by Rabbi David de Aaron de Sola of “Lema’ankha v’lo lanu” by an unknown paytan was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857).

Source(s)

David de Aaron de Sola (translation)

David de Aaron de Sola or David Aaron de Sola (1796 – 1860) (Hebrew: דוד אהרן די סולה) was a rabbi and author, born in Amsterdam, the son of Aaron de Sola. In 1818, D.A. de Sola was called to London to become one of the ministers of the Bevis Marks Congregation under Haham Raphael Meldola (who would also later become his father-in-law). De Sola's addresses before the Society for the Cultivation of Hebrew Literature led the mahamad (board of directors of the congregation) to appoint him to deliver discourses in the vernacular, and on March 26, 1831, he preached the first sermon in English ever heard within the walls of Bevis Marks Synagogue (all previous ones being spoken in Spanish or Portuguese). His discourses were subsequently published by the mahamad. Of his style, one observer wrote: "Though a scholar and a thinker, yet he...used the most unpedantic terms and assumed a quiet, colloquial manner.

Unknown

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Aharon N. Varady (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.)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)