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.

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.

“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.

The piyyut, Yedid Nefesh, in Hebrew with an English translation.

An abridged rhymed translation of the piyyut Yom Zeh l’Yisrael.

The piyyut, yah Ribon Olam, in Hebrew with a rhyming English translation.

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).

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with a creative English translation.

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation.

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation.

This is Rev. William Channing Gannett’s rhymed English translation of Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan’s “Yigdal” made at the request of Rabbi Max Landsberg and published in Gannett’s Unity hymns and chorals (1911), pp. 2-3.

This is Rev. Newton Mann’s rhymed English translation of Daniel ben Yehudah Dayyan’s “Yigdal” as first published in Rabbi Max Landsberg’s Ritual for Jewish Worship (1884), pp. 13-14.

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.

This is the piyyut “Eyumah Nikhtrah (Lo, the Mighty Nation…)” by Isaac ben Meshulam for maariv (after the shema) on the second night of Shavuot, was first published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Shavuot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Shavuot (1909), pp. 178-179.

A rhymed translation of Tsur Mishelo, a paralitugical Birkat haMazon.

A rhyming translation of the pizmon for maariv on Yom Kippur.

The piyyut and popular shabbat table song, Ki Eshmera Shabbat, in Hebrew with a rhyming translation.

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).

This is the piyyut “Ki Hinéh kaḤomer (Lo! as the potter…)” a piyyut by an unknown paytan for maariv on Yom Kippur, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Yom Kippur, Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim vol. 1 (1904), p. 39.

This is the Shir haKavod (“Hymn of Glory,” also known by its incipit “An’im Zemirot”) attributed to Rabbi Yehudah he-Ḥasid of Regensburg, included at the conclusion of the Shir haYiḥud (first attested in print in Thiengen 1560). This translation by Israel Zangwill, was first published in Arthur Davis and Herbert Adler’s Maḥzor Avodat Ohel Moed: Avodat Yom haKippurim (Evening Service) (1904), pp. 73-74.