Contributed by: die Grünen [Bundesarbeitsgruppe "Mensch und Tier"], Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A Proclamation of Fundamental Animal Rights drafted by the West German Green Party in 1989 upon the 200th anniversary of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” (1789), in German with translations in English, French, and Portuguese. . . .
Contributed by: Albert Einstein, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
In a poignant reflection on human limitation and the role of religion, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) consoled two rabbis each grieving the painful loss of their children. The first letter dated 12 February 1950, drafted in German before its translation into English, was written for Rabbi Robert S. Marcus after the death of the rabbi’s eleven-year-old son, Jay, from polio in September 1949. The second letter, dated 4 March 1950, was written for Rabbi Norman Salit after the death of Salit’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Miriam. Einstein’s letter to Rabbi Salit borrowed from and expanded upon the composition of his letter to Rabbi Marcus. In a few short lines, the letter expresses Einstein’s opinion on the prison-like delusion of consciousness — and the work of “true” religion to escape this prison through the intentional expansion of compassion beyond one’s self. . . .
Contributed by: Abraham Joshua Heschel, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s essay “Das Gebet Als Äußerung Und Einfühlung” published in Monatsschrift Für Geschichte Und Wissenschaft Des Judenthums, vol. 83 (1939). . . .
Contributed by: Leo Baeck, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
This is Rabbi Dr. Leo Beack’s prayer for his wife Natalie Baeck née Hamburger (1878-1937), dated 7 March 1937. Natalie had died two days prior on 5 March. . . .
Contributed by: Leo Baeck, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is the prayer which Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck had disseminated to Jewish communities throughout Germany to recite on Yom Kippur, 10 October 1935. The German text here is as found in the archival notes of Helmut Grünewald, Ein Judenjunge durfte kein Deutscher sein (Bristol, 1998), pp. 20-21 in the collection of the Leo Baeck Institute. The English translation is as published by Dr. Michael Meyer in Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times (2020), pp. 106-107. . . .
Contributed by: Leo Baeck, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
Rabbi Leo Baeck’s essay on prayer “Gebet im Judentum,” was published in the “Judentum und Gebet” issue of Bne Briss (September/October 1935), top of page 82. . . .
Contributed by: Albert Einstein, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is Albert Einstein’s essay in English, “What I Believe” as published in Forum and Century 84 (October 1930), no. 4, 193–194, set next to his essay in German, “Wie ich die Welt sehe” (How I see the World) as published in Mein Weltbild (1934). The German version includes some thoughts elided in the English which I hope are elucidated in my translation into English of the German version. David E. Rowe and Robert Schulman (in Einstein on Politics 2007, p. 226) note, “The text was reproduced several times under the title ‘The World as I See It,’ most notably in Mein Weltbild and Ideas and Opinions, and in 1932 the German League of Human Rights released a phonograph recording of Einstein reading a slightly variant version entitled “Confession of Belief.” [It]…differs significantly from that in [published in Ideas and opinions: based on Mein Weltbild by] Einstein (in) 1954.” . . .
Contributed by: Franz Rosenzweig (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The Masoretic Hebrew text of Proverbs 30:10-31, the alphabetic acrostic “Eshet Ḥayil,” with a German translation by Franz Rosenzweig. . . .
Contributed by: Franz Rosenzweig (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The Ḳaddish d’Rabbanan in Aramaic with its German translation by Franz Rosenzweig. . . .
Contributed by: Franz Rosenzweig (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The popular adjuration of the angels of peace and ministering angels, Shalom Aleikhem, in Hebrew with a German translation by Franz Rosenzweig. . . .
Contributed by: Franz Rosenzweig (translation), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The text of Yehudah haLevi’s piyyut, “Al Ahavatekha Eshteh Gəvi’i,” with a German translation by Franz Rosenzweig. . . .
Contributed by: Angie Irma Cohon, Frederick Lucian Hosmer, Leopold Stein, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Angie Irma Cohon’s “Day of God” is a hymn for Yom Kippur, an abbreviated adaptation of “O Tag des Herrn!,” a paraliturgical Kol Nidrei by Leopold Stein, translated from German to English by Frederick Lucian Hosmer. Cohon’s abridged rendering is published in תפלת ישראל (Tefilat Yisrael) A Brief Jewish Ritual (Women of Miẓpah 1921), p. 20. . . .
Contributed by: Franz Rosenzweig (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A German translation of the Birkat haMazon prepared by Franz Rosenzweig. . . .
Contributed by: Lise Tarlau, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Am Grabe einer jungen Schwester” by Lisa Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 547-549. . . .
Contributed by: Lise Tarlau, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Am Grabe eines jungen Bruders” by Lisa Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 546-547. . . .
Contributed by: Lise Tarlau, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Am Grabe des Gatten” by Lisa Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 544-545. . . .
Contributed by: Lise Tarlau, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Am Grabe der Mutter” by Lisa Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 540-541. . . .
Contributed by: Anna Lachmann, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Am Grabe der Eltern” by Anna Lachmann can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 538-540. . . .
Contributed by: Anna Lachmann, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Am Tage der Beschneidung” by Anna Lachmann can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 404-405. . . .
Contributed by: Lise Tarlau, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This paraliturgical reflection of the piyyut “Lekha Dodi” by Lise Tarlau (“Lecho daudi”) can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 74-76. . . .