יִגְדַּל (אשכנז)‏ | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan (translation by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski, 1862)

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5 December 2021 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
1. יִגְדַּל אֱלֹהִים חַי וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח. נִמְצָא וְאֵין עֵת אֶל מְצִיאוּתוֹ׃	1. Let the living God be magnified and be praised; he exists, and there is no period to his existence.‏
2. אֶחָד וְאֵין יָחִיד כְּיִחוּדוֹ. נֶעְלָם וְגַם אֵין סוֹף לְאַחְדּוּתוֹ׃	2. He is unity, and there is no unity like unto his unity; he is concealed, yea, also there is no end to his unity.
3. אֵין לוֹ דְמוּת הַגּוּף וְאֵינוֹ גּוּף. לֹא נַעֲרֹךְ אֵלָיו קְדֻשָּׁתוֹ׃	3. He hath no bodily likeness, nor is he corporeal; his holiness is incomputable.
4. קַדְמוֹן לְכׇל־דָּבָר אֲשֶׁר נִבְרָא. רִאשׁוֹן וְאֵין רֵאשִׁית לְרֵאשִׁיתוֹ׃	4. He was the antecedent to everything which was created, he is the first, and there is no beginning to his beginning.
5. הִנּוֹ אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם לְכׇל־נוֹצָר יוֹרֶה גְּדֻלָּתוֹ וּמַלְכוּתוֹ׃	5. Behold, he is the Lord of the Universe, to all that is formed; shewing his magnificence and his kingdom.
6. שֶֽׁפַע נְבוּאָתוֹ נְתָנוֹ. אֶל אַנְשֵׁי סְגֻלָּתוֹ וְתִפְאַרְתּוֹ׃	6. The inspiration of his prophecy he gave unto his peculiar and glorified people.
7. לֹא קָם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל כְּמֹשֶׁה עוֹד. נָבִיא. וּמַבִּיט אֶת־תְּמוּנָתוֹ׃‏	7. Yet never hath there arisen in Israel a prophet like unto Moses, who beheld the similitude of his glory.
8. תּוֹרַת אֱמֶת נָתַן לְעַמּוֹ אֵל עַל־יַד נְבִיאוֹ נֶאֱמַן בֵּיתוֹ׃	8. A law of truth hath the Almighty given to his people, by the hand of our prophet, the faithful of his house.
9. לֹא יַחֲלִיף הָאֵל וְלֹא יָמִיר דָּתוֹ. לְעוֹלָמִים לְזוּלָתוֹ׃	9. The Almighty will never change nor alter his law, for evermore there is none but his.
10. צוֹפֶה וְיוֹדֵעַ סְתָרֵֽינוּ. מַבִּיט לְסוֹף דָּבָר בְּקַדְמָתוֹ׃	10. He observeth and knoweth all our secrets, he beholdeth the end of everything before it is begun.
11. גּוֹמֵל לְאִישׁ חֶֽסֶד כְּמִפְעָלוֹ. נוֹתֵן לְרָשָׁע רָע כְּרִשְׁעָתוֹ׃	11. He rewardeth every saint according to his work, he yieldeth to the wicked evil according to his wickedness.
12. יִשְׁלַח לְקֵץ יָמִים מְשִׁיחֵֽנוּ. לִפְדּוֹת מְחַכֵּי קֵץ יְשׁוּעָתוֹ׃	12. He will send at the end of days our anointed, to redeem those who hope at that end for his salvation.
13. מֵתִים יְחַיֶּה אֵל בְּרֹב חַסְדּוֹ. בָּרוּךְ עֲדֵי־עַד שֵׁם תְּהִלָּתוֹ׃	13. The Almighty will quicken the dead, with the multitude of his mercy. Blessed be his name and his praise, for ever and ever.

This is the philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, by Daniel ben Judah Dayyan. Yigdal means “Magnify [O Living God]” and is based on the 13 Articles of Faith formulated by Maimonides (1135-1204). Daniel ben Judah spent eight years improving his piyyut, completing Yigdal in 1404. This was not the only metrical presentment of the 13 Articles of Faith; but it has outlived all others, whether in Hebrew or in the vernacular. The English translation appearing here is as found on pp. 2-3 of Tsvi Filipowski’s siddur Tefilot Yisrael (1862).

Source(s)

Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation)

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.

Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan

Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan was a Jewish liturgical poet, who lived at Rome in the middle of the fourteenth century CE. He was the grandfather of Daniel ben Samuel ha-Rofe, rabbi at Tivoli. According to Samuel David Luzzatto, Daniel ben Yehudah was the author of the well-known piyyut "Yigdal" containing a doxology based upon the thirteen articles of belief of Maimonides. This piyyut, which forms part of the morning prayer among the Ashkenazim, and is sung by the Sephardim on the eve of Sabbaths and holy days, is included in the Romaniote ritual for Saturday evening. (adapted from wikipedia)

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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Melody of Yigdal hymn as per Myer Lyon

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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)

יִגְדַּל (אשכנז)‏ | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan (translation by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski, 1862)

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