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: the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Emma Lazarus, Mosheh ben Yaaqov ibn Ezra
Emma Lazarus’s translation, “In the Night” — derived from the piyyut נַפְשִׁי אִוִּיתִיךָ בַּלַּיְלָה by Moses ibn Ezra — was first published in her anthology, Songs of a Semite: The dance to death and other poems (1882), pages 78-80. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription), Emma Lazarus, Shlomo ibn Gabirol
Emma Lazarus’s translation, simply referred to as “Hymn” — derived from the piyyut יְיָ מָה אָדָם by Shlomo ibn Gabirol — was first published in her anthology, Songs of a Semite: The dance to death and other poems (1882), pages 68-70. . . .
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. . . .