Prepared by Isaac ben Shem Tov Cavallero, “Orden de Oraciones segundo el uso ebrèo en lengua ebraica y vulgar espanol: traduzido por el doctor Isac hijo de Don Semtob cavallero” was the first siddur prepared for use by Sepharadim in Spanish throughout the Spanish-Portuguese diaspora. The earliest attestation of Ana b’Khoaḥ is unknown, but the earliest I have been able to find it is in a re-printing of Israel Cornelius (Cornelio) Adelkind proofread revision of Temunot Tehinot Tefilot Sefarad, a maḥzor first published by Daniel Bomberg in 1519. (The reprinted edition I found was from 1544. According to the scholar, H.P. Salomon, z”l, that edition is unchanged from Adelkind’s 1523 revision.^[1] This detail is mentioned by Salomon in “A fifteenth century haggada with ritual prescriptions in portuguese aljamiado.” Arquivos do Centro Cultural Português. vol. 15 (1980), p. 225. )

Ana b’Khoaḥ almost certainly dates from before this printing, but we simply don’t know. This is the earliest printing we have located it in (so far). If you know of an earlier example of Ana b’Khoaḥ in print or manuscript, please leave a comment or contact us.

For other examples of the 42 letter divine name sequence, find the litany of angel names in Sefer HaQanah and in Sefer haPeliah. Connected to the latter is another 42 letter divine name acrostic piyyut, “Elohim B’Yisrael.” There are also two other piyyutim directly concerned with the ascent of the soul of one on their deathbed; one recorded by Isaiah Horowitz in his Shnei Luḥot Habrit, and another provided in the Sefer Ma’avar Yabbok with prayers for the Ḥevre Kaddishe.

We are grateful to Aron Sterk for proofreading our transcription. He notes: “The accents are random and the ç before e and i are unnecessary…They are just typographic tics.” The transcription above expands the abbreviations (e.g. “con” for “co”) and swaps consonantal u for v and vice versa. –Aharon Varady

Source

“אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ | Ana b’Khoaḥ, with Spanish translation by Rabbi Isaac ben Shem Tov Cavallero (1552)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/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.)

Isaac ben Shem Tov Cavallero

Isaac ben Shem Tov Cavallero (fl. 16th c.) was the author of Orden de Oraciones segundo el uso ebrèo en lengua ebraica y vulgar espanol (Venice 1552), the first siddur prepared for use by Sepharadim in Ladino throughout the Spanish-Portuguese diaspora. Members of the Cavallero family were active in Venice, Ferrara and Ancona mostly. Besides his work in publishing, Isaac Cavallero was a merchant with dealings in the Levant.

Works of related interest:

 

אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ | Ana b’Khoaḥ, a 42 letter name piyyut with a singing translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

אָנָא אֵלֵךְ מֵרוּחֶךָ | Ana Élékh Méruḥekha, a piyyut by Yisrael Najara (ca. 16th c.)

אֲנָא אַתְקֵינִית | Ana Atqenit (I am the one), a piyyut in Aramaic for introducing the first commandment as read in the Targum

📄 Scaling the Walls of the Labyrinth: Psalms 67 and Ana b’Khoaḥ

💬 הפטרת שבת חזון | Aftarát Shabbat Ḥazon, with verse-by-verse translation in Early Modern Spanish

💬 הפטרת תשעה באב | Aftarát Tishŋa b’Aḇ, with verse-by-verse translation in Early Modern Spanish

תַּשְׁלִיךְ | Tashlikh (Spanish translation by Shmuel Gonzales)

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