יִגְדַּל (אשכנז)‏ | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan (abridged translation by Rev. William Channing Gannett, 1911)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), William Channing Gannett, Newton Mann and Max Landsberg

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25 December 2025 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Tags:

15th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., doctrinal, פיוטים piyyuṭim, rhyming translation, statements of belief, יגדל yigdal, זמירות zemirot

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
יִגְדַּל אֱלֹהִים חַי וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח נִמְצָא וְאֵין עֵת אֶל מְצִיאוּתוֹ׃	Praise to the living God! All praised be his Name, Who was, and is, and is to be, For aye the same!
אֶחָד וְאֵין יָחִיד כְּיִחוּדוֹ נֶעְלָם וְגַם אֵין סוֹף לְאַחְדּוּתוֹ׃	The One Eternal God Ere aught that now appears: The First, the Last, beyond all thought His timeless years!
אֵין לוֹ דְמוּת הַגּוּף וְאֵינוֹ גּוּף לֹא נַעֲרֹךְ אֵלָיו קְדֻשָּׁתוֹ׃	Formless, all lovely forms Declare his loveliness; Holy, no holiness of earth Can his express.
קַדְמוֹן לְכׇל־דָּבָר אֲשֶׁר נִבְרָא רִאשׁוֹן וְאֵין רֵאשִׁית לְרֵאשִׁיתוֹ׃
הִנּוֹ אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם לְכׇל־נוֹצָר יוֹרֶה גְּדֻלָּתוֹ וּמַלְכוּתוֹ׃	Lo, he is Lord of all! Creation speaks his praise, And everywhere, above, below, His will obeys.
שֶֽׁפַע נְבוּאָתוֹ נְתָנוֹ אֶל אַנְשֵׁי סְגֻלָּתוֹ וְתִפְאַרְתּוֹ׃	His Spirit floweth free, High surging where it will: In prophet’s word he spake of old, — He speaketh still.
לֹא קָם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל כְּמֹשֶׁה עוֹד נָבִיא וּמַבִּיט אֶת־תְּמוּנָתוֹ׃‏
תּוֹרַת אֱמֶת נָתַן לְעַמּוֹ אֵל עַל־יַד נְבִיאוֹ נֶאֱמַן בֵּיתוֹ׃	Established is his law, And changeless it shall stand, Deep writ upon the human heart, On sea, on land.
לֹא יַחֲלִיף הָאֵל וְלֹא יָמִיר דָּתוֹ. לְעוֹלָמִים לְזוּלָתוֹ׃
צוֹפֶה וְיוֹדֵעַ סְתָרֵֽינוּ מַבִּיט לְסוֹף דָּבָר בְּקַדְמָתוֹ׃	He knoweth every thought, Our secrets open lie, End as beginning clear to his All-seeing eye.
גּוֹמֵל לְאִישׁ חֶֽסֶד כְּמִפְעָלוֹ נוֹתֵן לְרָשָׁע רָע כְּרִשְׁעָתוֹ׃	With perfect poise he binds, Accordant to the deed, To wrong the doom, to right the joy, In measured meed.
יִשְׁלַח לְקֵץ יָמִים מְשִׁיחֵֽנוּ לִפְדּוֹת מְחַכֵּי קֵץ יְשׁוּעָתוֹ׃
מֵתִים יְחַיֶּה אֵל בְּרֹב חַסְדּוֹ בָּרוּךְ עֲדֵי־עַד שֵׁם תְּהִלָּתוֹ׃	Eternal life hath he Implanted in the soul; His love shall be our strength and stay, While ages roll.
יִגְדַּל אֱלֹהִים חַי וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח נִמְצָא וְאֵין עֵת אֶל מְצִיאוּתוֹ׃	Praise to the living God! All praised be his Name, Who was, and is, and is to be, For aye the same!

This is the abridged rhyming English translation of Yigdal by Rev. William Channing Gannett (1840-1923) made at the request of Rabbi Max Landsberg. Rabbi Landsberg had years earlier requested the same of Gannet’s predecessor, Rev. Newton Mann, at the Unity Church in Rochester, New York in 1884, and Gannet’s version can be considered an update of Mann’s translation. Mann’s translation notably lacked the three final stanzas of Yigdal, possibly at the request of Landsberg in conformance with Reform Jewish theology, but possibly also in order to conform to the ecumenical spirit of collaboration with a Unitarian minister by hewing to agreed principles between Judaism and Unitarianism. Gannet’s update includes translations of 2/3 of these missing stanzas, but also removes two that Mann had translated. In setting Gannett’s translation opposite the Hebrew text, I have retained the Hebrew of the stanzas lacking translation in order to more clearly indicate their absence. Gannet’s translation was first published in his Unity hymns and chorals (1911), pp. 2-3. Gannett’s translation was adopted into the Union Hymnal (1914). Many thanks to Chris Fenner at the Hymnology Archive for researching and informing us of Mann and Gannett’s Yigdal translations. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

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.)

William Channing Gannett

William Channing Gannett (1840–1923) was an American Unitarian minister. He served as minister of the Unity Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota (1877–1883) and the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, New York (1889–1908). He was also a well-known writer and editor of hymn-books.

Newton Mann

Rev. Newton Mann (1836-1926), born in Cazenovia, New York, was a Unitarian minister in Wisconsin, New York, and Nebraska. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed head of the Western Sanitary Commission, with which he served until the end of the war. He then entered the Unitarian ministry, and in 1865 organized the Unitarian Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he was ordained and where he served for three years. Then followed a pastorate of two years in Troy, New York, and in 1870 he accepted a call to Rochester, where he remained eighteen years. His last charge was at Omaha, Nebraska, where for twenty years he ministered to a substantial congregation. He wrote Evolution of a Great Literature (1905), introducing scholarly biblical criticism to general readers.

Max Landsberg

Max Landsberg (1845–1927), born in Berlin, Prussia, was the senior rabbi of the B'rith Kodesh Congregation, Rochester, New York, and one of the best known and most beloved Jewish religious leaders in the United States. He was the eldest son of the rabbi Meyer Landsberg (1810–1870) the rabbi of Hildesheim. After matriculating from high school in 1862, he studied philosophy and oriental philology at the universities of Göttingen and Breslau, completing his studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau where he received his rabbinical degree. In 1866, he earned a doctorate from the University of Halle. From 1867, he taught at the seminary in Hanover until 1871 when, on the recommendation of the Jewish reformer Abraham Geiger (1810–1874), he moved to Rochester where he was elected rabbi of the B'rith Kodesh congregation, taking up his appointment in March 1871. In addition to his religious duties, thanks to his scholarship and his interest in philanthropy, he was soon recognized as one of the city's most eminent citizens. By 1894, under his leadership the B'rith Kodesh congregation had grown to more than 250. Langsberg was also active in supporting Rochester's charitable societies, aimed at improving conditions for the poor and needy. Under the United Hebrew Charities of Rochester, these included the Hebrew Benevolent Society, established in 1850, and the Hebrew Ladies' Benevolent Society (1865). He also contributed to social welfare and rights for immigrants, hosting events at the synagogue, including a presentation by the Danish-American social reformer Jacob Riis in 1901. Events were open to the public, in line with Landsberg's efforts to develop collaboration with Christian churches interested in similar objectives. For the JPS 1917 Tanakh, he translated the book of Genesis. He also published the Hymn book for Jewish worship (1880), Ritual for Jewish worship (1885), The position of woman among the Jews (1893), and Outline of the Jewish religion (1899).

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Yigdal (trans. William Channing Gannett 1911), pp. 2-3 – cropped

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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)