מַה־טֹּבוּ | Priêre en entrant dans le Temple, a paraliturgical Mah Tovu by Rabbi Arnaud Aron & Jonas Ennery (1848)

Contributor(s): Jonas Ennery, Arnaud Aron and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Shared on: 6 May 2020 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English Translation, French Jewry, French vernacular prayer, מה טבו mah tovu, paraliturgical mah tovu, Synagogues

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Source (French)	Translation (English)
Priêre en entrant dans le Temple.	Prayer as you enter the Temple.
«Je me réjouis quand on me dit: Allons dans la maison du Seigneur» (Ps. 122, 1).	I rejoice when they say to me, ‘Let’s go to the House of YHVH.’ (Psalms 122:1)
«Que tes demeures sont belles, ô Éternel! mon âme s’élève vers toi, et mon cœur tressaille de joie quand je m’approche de ton sanctuaire. Heureux ceux qui séjournent dans ta maison et chantent sans cesse tes louanges! Heureux l’homme qui ne cherche son salut qu’en toi, éternel bouclier d’Israël!»	“How beautiful are your dwellings, YHVH!^[1] Numbers 24:5. my soul is lifted up to you, and my heart rejoices when I come near your sanctuary. Blessed are they that sojourn in your house, and sing your praises continually.^[2] Psalms 84:5 Blessed is the man who seeks his salvation only in you, the eternal shield of Yisrael.”
C’est en prononçant ces paroles de l’Écriture que j’ose, Seigneur, venir dans ce lieu saint, t’adresser humblement ma prière, à toi, mon Dieu, mon protecteur et mon sauveur.	It is in pronouncing these words of Scripture that I dare, Hashem, to come to this holy place and humbly address my prayer to you, my God, my protector and saviour.
Dieu tout-puissant, si l’univers entier est ton temple; si le monde que tu as créé est l’autel où resplendit ta gloire, c’est dans le cœur de l’homme que tu as de préférence élevé le sanctuaire où tu veux être adoré par une prière sainte et pure.	El Shadai, if the whole universe is your Temple; if the world you have created is the altar where your glory shines, it is in the heart of man that you have preferably raised the sanctuary where you want to be adored with holy and pure prayer.
Mais c’est surtout aux descendants des patriarches, aux serviteurs du Dieu UN à faire retentir tes louanges, à proclamer ta grandeur.	But it is above all to the descendants of the patriarchs, to the servants of the One God to sound your praises, to proclaim your greatness.
Seigneur, accorde-moi un cœur pur et pénètre-le de ton esprit, pour qu’aucune pensée mondaine ne puisse me poursuivre jusqu’en ce lieu sacré. C’est dans ton temple que je dois me souvenir qu’une âme droite est la meilleure des offrandes, et le repentir, la plus efficace des prières. Pénètre-moi, pénètre tous mes frères ici réunis, des sentiments de ta grandeur et de notre humilité, afin que nos têtes se courbent devant ta majesté, et que, de la profondeur de nos cœurs saintement recueillis, notre prière, comme un encens divin, s’élève vers ton trône céleste. Amen.	Hashem, grant me a pure heart and penetrate it with your spirit, so that no worldly thought may pursue me to that sacred place. It is in your temple that I must remember that a contrite soul is the best of offerings,^[3] cf. Psalms 51:19. and repentance the most effective of prayers. Penetrate me, penetrate all my brothers here gathered, with feelings of your greatness and our humility, so that our heads bow before your majesty, and that from the depths of our hearts, holy and collected, our prayer, like divine incense, rises towards your heavenly throne. Amen.

Source(s)

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Numbers 24:5.
2	Psalms 84:5
3	cf. Psalms 51:19.

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“מַה־טֹּבוּ | Priêre en entrant dans le Temple, a paraliturgical Mah Tovu by Rabbi Arnaud Aron & Jonas Ennery (1848)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Jonas Ennery

Jonas Ennery (Jan. 2, 1801, Nancy - May 19, 1863, Brussels) was a French deputy. He was for twenty-six years attached to the Jewish school of Strasbourg, of which he became the head. In collaboration with Hirth, he compiled a Dictionnaire Général de Géographie Universelle (4 vols., Strasburg, 1839–41), for which Cuvier wrote a preface. Soon afterward he published Le Sentier d'Israël, ou Bible des Jeunes Israélites (Paris, Metz, and Strasburg, 1843). At the request of the Société des Bons Livres he took part in the editorship of Prières d'un Cœur Israélite, which appeared in 1848. In 1849, despite anti-Jewish rioting in Alsace, Ennery was elected representative for the department of the Lower Rhine, and sat among the members of the "Mountain." He devoted his attention principally to scholastic questions. After the coup d'état he held to his socialist republican views and resisted the new order of things. For this, in 1852 he was exiled from France for life. He retired to Brussels, where he lived as a teacher until his death. Ennery's brother, Marchand Ennery, was the chief rabbi of Paris.

Arnaud Aron

Arnaud Aron (March 11, 1807, in Sulz unterm Walde, Alsace – April 3, 1890), the Grand Rabbi of Strasbourg, began his Talmudic studies at an early age at Hagenau and continued them at Frankfort-on-the-Main. In 1830 he became rabbi of the small community of Hegenheim in Upper Alsace; and of Strasbourg in 1833. As he was under thirty, the age prescribed by law, he required a special dispensation to qualify for the office. In Strasbourg, Aron acquired the reputation of an eloquent and inspiring preacher and a zealous communal worker. He assisted in founding the School of Arts and Trades and took active interest in other useful institutions. In 1855 he convened an assembly of the rabbis of the department of the Lower Rhine for the consideration of religious questions. Aron was the author of the catechism used for confirmation as prescribed by the Consistory of Lower Alsace. In 1866 the French government acknowledged his services by appointing him a Knight of the Legion of Honor. In 1870, while Strasbourg was besieged, it was he, together with the archbishop, who raised the white flag on the cathedral. Subsequently he was decorated by the German emperor.

Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer translator for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his translations, 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 transcribes prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes for 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 "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