Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Israel Meir Lask (translation), Angie Irma Cohon, Ḥayyim Naḥman Bialik
This translation of Ḥayyim Naḥman Bialik’s “Shabbat ha-Malkah” by Israel Meir Lask can be found on pages 280-281 in the Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945) where it appears as “Greeting to Queen Sabbath.” The poem is based on the shabbat song, “Shalom Alekhem” and first published in the poetry collection, Hazamir, in 1903. I have made a faithful transcription of the Hebrew and its English translation as it appears in the Sabbath Prayer Book. The first stanza of Lask’s translation was adapted from an earlier translation made by Angie Irma Cohon and published in 1920 in Song and Praise for Sabbath Eve (1920), p. 87. (Cohon’s translation of Bialik’s second stanza of “Shabbat ha-Malkah” does not appear to have been adapted by Lask.) . . .
Contributed by: Helena Frank (translation), Rose Pastor Stokes (translation), Leo Wiener (translation), Morris Rosenfeld, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is the poem “דיא זרשטע טבילה” by Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923) written sometime before 1898. We have transcribed the poem as it was published in Rosenfeld’s collection of poems Gezamelṭe lieder (1906) pp. 167-168. The poem was romanized and translated into English by Leo Wiener and published under the title, “Die erste Twile (The First Bath of Ablution)” in Songs from the Ghetto (1898), pp. 52-55. A rhyming translation by Rose Pastor Stokes & Helena Frank under the title, “The First Bath of Ablution” was published in Songs of Labor and Other Poems (1914), pp. 72-73. . . .
Contributed by: Helena Frank (translation), Rose Pastor Stokes (translation), Leo Wiener (translation), Morris Rosenfeld, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is the poem “פעלד־מעסטען” by Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923) written before 1898. We have transcribed the poem as it was published in Rosenfeld’s collection of poems Gezamelṭe lieder (1906) pp. 135-136. The poem was romanized and translated into English by Leo Wiener and published under the title, “The Measuring of the Graves” in Songs from the Ghetto (1898), pp. 46-49. A rhyming translation by Rose Pastor Stokes & Helena Frank under the title, “Measuring of the Graves” was published in Songs of Labor and Other Poems (1914), pp. 70-71. If you know the date of the earliest publication of this prayer, please leave a comment or contact us. . . .
Contributed by: Nina Davis Salaman (translation), Heinrich Heine, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Brich aus in lauten Klagen” by Heinrich Heine was preserved in a letter he wrote to his friend Moses Moser dated 25 October 1824. The poem is included in Heinrich Heine’s Letters on The Rabbi of Bacharach, the manuscript of which only survived in a fragment, the rest having been lost, according to Heine, in a fire. The English translation here by Nina Salaman was transcribed from her anthology, Apples & Honey (1921) where it appears under the title of “Martyr-Song,” published at an earlier date in The Jewish Chronicle. . . .
Contributed by: Nina Davis Salaman (translation), Elazar ben Moshe Azikri, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The piyyut, Yedid Nefesh, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Alice Lucas (translation), Yitsḥak Luria, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
An abridged rhymed translation of the piyyut Yom Zeh l’Yisrael. . . .
Contributed by: Israel Abrahams (translation), Yisrael Najara, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The piyyut, yah Ribon Olam, in Hebrew with a rhyming English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), David de Aaron de Sola (translation), Yisrael Najara
This translation by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of “Yah Ribon” by Rabbi Yisrael Najara was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . .
Contributed by: Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with a creative English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Ben-Zion Bokser, Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
Contributed by: David de Sola Pool, Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Jacob Waley, Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is the philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, by Daniel ben Judah Dayyan. Yigdal means “Magnify [O Living God]” and is based on the 13 Articles of Faith formulated by Maimonides (1135-1204). Daniel ben Judah spent eight years improving his piyyut, completing Yigdal in 1404. This was not the only metrical presentment of the 13 Articles of Faith; but it has outlived all others, whether in Hebrew or in the vernacular. The rhymed English translation by Jacob Waley (1818-1873) was published posthumously by his daughter, Julia Matilda Cohen, in The children’s Psalm-book, a selection of Psalms with explanatory comments, together with a prayer-book for home use in Jewish families (1907), pp. 300-303. . . .
Contributed by: Alice Lucas (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A rhymed translation of Tsur Mishelo, a paralitugical Birkat haMazon. . . .
Contributed by: Israel Abrahams (translation), Avraham ibn Ezra, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The piyyut and popular shabbat table song, Ki Eshmera Shabbat, in Hebrew with a rhyming translation. . . .
Contributed by: David de Aaron de Sola (translation), Avraham ibn Ezra, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This translation of “Ki Eshmera Shabbat” by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . .
Contributed by: Nina Davis Salaman (translation), Avraham ibn Ezra, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A medieval Jewish poem on the game of Chess by Avraham ibn Ezra.. . . .
Contributed by: Alice Lucas (translation), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A rhyming English translation of the piyyut Adonai Negdekha kol Ta’avati. . . .
Contributed by: Ben-Zion Bokser, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The cosmological piyyut, Adon Olam, in its Ashkenazi variation in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Morris Silverman, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The cosmological piyyut, Adon Olam, in its Ashkenazi variation in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
Contributed by: David de Sola Pool, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A rhyming translation in English to the popular piyyut, Adon Olam. . . .