Contributor(s): Shared on: 10 June 2020 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication Categories: Tags: | Contribute a translation | Source (English) |
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Hallelujah! Praise God in due meekness, praise Him, —declare His high exalted fame and glory. Myriads of heavenly bodies, suns, moons, and stars were created by His Omnipotence on the fourth day of creation, that in their lofty magnificence reverentially obey His law, and never trespass over the limits assigned to them. All of these bodies, —the sun with his ocean of rays, the moon and the stars with their bright lustres, proclaim Thy glory, and call, “who among the mighty is like unto Thee, O Lord, who so glorified in holiness!” By those luminaries of heaven Thou, O all-wise Creator, didst divide the seasons of the year, didst fix the boundaries of day and night; therefore, shall my soul be uplifted to Thee in thankfulness, and sing praises unto Thy great name. When the beams of the sun break forth through the grey dawn, and spread light, warmth, life, and joy unto all, who then can resist thanking Thee from the innermost depths of the heart? When the moon with her lovely brightness softly lights up the dark night, accompanied by a choir of stars, what feeling heart of mortal is not then penetrated with emotions of gratefulness? who does not exclaim with amazement, “what is man that Thou, the Creator of so many worlds, rememberest him?” But Thou art also kind and merciful, O Father, towards all Thy creatures; wherefore, I also will ever comfort myself with the words of the inspired psalmist, “my help cometh from the Lord, who created the heavens and the earth.” Amen. |
Source(s)
 Marcus Heinrich (also Mordecai Ḥayyim/Hyman/Heyman) Bresslau (ca. 1808-15 May 1864) was a Hebraist and newspaper editor. Born in Hamburg, he settled in England when young. For some time from 1834 he was Baal Ḳoreh (reader) at the Western Synagogue. He then taught Hebrew at the Westminster Jews’ Free School and went on to tutor privately. A maskil, he became involved with M. J. Raphall’s Hebrew Review and Magazine of Rabbinical Literature (1834-6). In October 1844 he was appointed editor of the relaunched Jewish Chronicle by proprietor Joseph Mitchell. Prickly and quarrelsome, he resigned in July 1848 but returned in around September. He remained until about October 1850. After Mitchell’s death in June 1854 he became proprietor (his middle name appearing as Heyman) and edited it until February 1855 when new proprietor Abraham Benisch succeeded him. Bresslau, who tried vainly to revive the Hebrew Review, wrote Hebrew poetry, produced a Hebrew grammar and a Hebrew dictionary, and translated various Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. Bresslau compiled (we think) the first compilation of teḥinot in English for women. (Much of this information via Bresslau's entry in The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History) 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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