אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז)‏ | Adōn Olam, translated by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (1862)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation) and Shlomo ibn Gabirol

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

Categories:

Morning Baqashot, Arvit l'Shabbat, Bedtime Shema, Musaf l'Shabbat

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אדון עולם Adon Olam, פיוטים piyyutim, Openers, cosmological, 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., חתימות ḥatimot (concluding prayers), rhyming translation

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר מָלַךְ בְּטֶֽרֶם כׇּל־יְצִיר נִבְרָא׃ לְעֵת נַֽעֲשָׂה כְּחֶפְצוֹ כֹּל אֲזַי מֶֽלֶךְ שְׁמוֹ נִקְרָא׃	Universal Lord! who the sceptre sway’d‏ Ere creation’s first wondrous form was framed:‏ When by his will divine all things were made, Then King, Almighty, was his name proclaim’d!
וְאַֽחֲרֵי כִּכְלּוֹת הַכֹּל לְבַדּוֹ יִמְלֹךְ נוֹרָא׃ וְהוּא הָיָה וְהוּא הֹוֶה וְהוּא יִֽהְיֶה בְּתִפְאֲרָה׃	When all shall cease, and this world’s system o’er, Then he tremendously alone will reign: Who was, who is, and will evermore In most refulgent glory still remain
וְהוּא אֶחָד וְאֵין שֵׁנִי לְהַמְשִׁיל לוֹ לְהַחְבִּירָה׃ בְּלִי רֵאשִׁית בְּלִי תַּכְלִית וְלוֹ הָעֹז וְהַמִּשְׂרָה׃	Sole God! unequall’d and beyond compare: Without division or associate; Without commencing date, or final year Omnipotence is his, and regal state.
וְהוּא אֵלִי וְחַי גּֽוֹאֲלִי וְצוּר חֶבְלִי בְּיוֹם צָרָה׃ וְהוּא נִסִּי וּמָנוֹס לִי מְנָת כּוֹסִי בְּיוֹם אֶקְרָא׃	He is my God, my living Redeemer, My shelt’ring rock in a distressed hour; My refuge, my standard, and protector, My lot’s disposer, when I seek his power
בְּיָדוֹ אַפְקִיד רוּחִי בְּעֵת אִישַׁן וְאָעִֽירָה׃ וְעִם רוּחִי גְּוִיָּתִי אֲדֹנָי לִי וְלֹא אִירָא׃	Into his hands my spirit I consign. Whilst wrapt in sleep, and when again I wake: And with my spirit my body I resign The Lord’s with me, no fears my soul shall shake.

“Adon Olam” is a piyyut that became popular in the 15th century and is often attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021–1058) and less often to Sherira Gaon (900-1001), or his son, Hai ben Sherira Gaon (939-1038). The variation of the piyyut appearing here is the 10 line (5 stanza) version familiar to Ashkenazi congregations. (Sefaradi siddurim have 12 line (six stanza) variants, and there are some with 14 or 15 lines.) The translation appearing here by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (1816-1872) is as found on page 2 of his siddur Tefilot Yisrael (1862).

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז)‏ | Adōn Olam, translated by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (1862)” 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.)

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.

Shlomo ibn Gabirol

Solomon ibn Gabirol (also Solomon ben Judah; Hebrew: שלמה בן יהודה אבן גבירול‎ Shlomo ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol, Arabic: أبو أيوب سليمان بن يحيى بن جبيرول‎ Abu Ayyub Sulayman bin Yahya bin Jabirul, Latin: Avicebron or Avencebrol) was an 11th-century Andalusian poet and Jewish philosopher. He published over a hundred poems, as well as works of biblical exegesis, philosophy, ethics, and satire.

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Works of related interest:

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

"Observable Universe Logarithmic Illustration" by Pablo Carlos Budassi, a CC BY-SA licensed logarithmic scale conception of the observable universe with the Solar System at the center, inner and outer planets, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, Alpha Centauri, Perseus Arm, Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda galaxy, nearby galaxies, Cosmic Web, Cosmic microwave radiation and Big Bang's invisible plasma on the edge.

אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז)‏ | Adōn Olam, translated by Ben Zion Bokser (1957)

אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז)‏ | Adōn Olam, translated by Alice Lucas (1894)

אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז)‏ | Adōn Olam, translated from Rabbi David Einhorn’s Olat Tamid (1858)

אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז)‏ | Adōn Olam (Rabbinical Assembly & United Synagogue of America, 1946)

adon olam (Israel Zangwill 1907) - cropped

אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז)‏ | Adon Olam (rhyming translation by Israel Zangwill, 1901)

chinese - adon olam (Richard Collis 2022) - cropped

אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז)‏ | 世界的主 | Adon Olam (Shìjiè de zhǔ) — Chinese translation by Richard Collis (2022)

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“Observable Universe Logarithmic Illustration” by Pablo Carlos Budassi, a CC BY-SA licensed logarithmic scale conception of the observable universe with the Solar System at the center, inner and outer planets, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, Alpha Centauri, Perseus Arm, Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda galaxy, nearby galaxies, Cosmic Web, Cosmic microwave radiation and Big Bang’s invisible plasma on the edge.

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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