Contributed by: Paltiel Birnbaum (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Chapter 6 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Anat Hochberg (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This digital edition of Midrash Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah was transcribed from the print edition published in Otzar Hamidrashim (I. D. Eisenstein, New York: Eisenstein Press, 5675/1915, p.189-190). With much gratitude to Anat Hochberg, this is the first translation of this midrash into English. . . .
Contributed by: Devora Steinmetz, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A sourcesheet shared by Dr. Devora Steinmetz to accompany a shiur on the Winter Solstice in Jewish thought. . . .
Contributed by: Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The Megillat Antiochus was composed in Palestinian Aramaic sometime between the 2nd and 5th century CE, likely in the 2nd Century when the memory of the Bar Kochba revolt still simmered.. The scroll appears in a number of variations. The Aramaic text below follows the critical edition prepared by Menaḥem Tzvi Kaddari, and preserves his verse numbering. The English translation by Rabbi Joseph Adler (1936) follows the Hebrew translation in the middle column, the source of which is a medieval manuscript reprinted by Tzvi Filipowsky in 1851. Adler and Kaddari’s verse ordering loosely follows one another indicating variations in manuscripts. Where Aramaic is missing from Kaddari’s text, the Aramaic version from Adler’s work is included in parentheses. Adler also included a Yiddish translation which we hope will be fully transcribed (along with vocalized Hebrew text, a Hungarian translation, and perhaps even a Marathi translation from South India) for Ḥanukkah 5775 , G!d willing. . . .
Contributed by: Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Perhaps Megillat Antiokhus could be read a la Esther on Purim (the holiday with the most similarities), going to Eicha trope in the upsetting parts. A few notes: on the final mention of Bagris the Wicked I included a karnei-farah in the manner of the karnei-farah in Esther. I also included a merkha kefulah in the concluding section, which (according to David Weisberg’s “The Rare Accents of the Twenty-Eight Books”) represents aggadic midrash material. It also serves as a connection to the Chanukah haftarah, which is famously the only one that has a merkha kefulah. –Isaac Mayer . . .
Contributed by: Michael A. Morgan (translation/English), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A hymn of praise found in the description of the 7th dome of heaven in Sefer ha-Razim . . .
Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
An earlier form of the prayer known as Aleinu, as found in the esoteric Jewish literature of the first millennium CE. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown
If one has had a terribly disturbing and potentially auspicious dream, this ritual recorded in the Talmud Bavli (Berakhot 55b) provides a remedy in the form of a means by which the dream itself is judged positively by a small court of one’s peers. . . .
Contributed by: David de Sola Pool, Abba (Arikha) bar Aybo (traditional attribution), Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The prayer, Aleinu, as read by Sepharadim, with an English translation by Rabbi David de Sola Pool. . . .
Contributed by: Shem Tov ibn Shaprut (translation), Mattai ben Alphaeus haLevi, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A rabbinic Hebrew translation of the “Lord’s Prayer.” . . .
Contributed by: Unknown, Jason of Cyrene, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
It is challenging to think of how to mark Nicanor Day, as it remains at a disadvantage, not only on years when it conflicts with Ta’anit Esther but on all years since it has no mitzvot. This is probably the main reason that, unlike Chanukah and Purim, it was lost to Jewish practice for more than a thousand years. Nevertheless, we do have its megillah, which has been translated into Hebrew and English. Perhaps, if we start reading chapters 13-15 of 2 Maccabees, even just to ourselves, on the 13 of Adar, we can begin to resurrect a holiday that was celebrated and instituted by Judah Maccabee and his followers over two millennia ago, and which they envisioned would continue throughout Jewish History. With the return of Jews to Israel and Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem, I believe it is about time. . . .
Contributed by: Jospeh Ziegler (translation), Emmanuel Tov (Hebrew reconstruction), Septuagint (translation/Greek), Barukh ben Neriyah, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The book of Barukh (also, Baruch and Barouch) in its reconstructed Hebrew vorlage from verse 1:1 till 3:8. . . .
Contributed by: Theodotion (translation/Greek), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The story of Shoshanah & the Elders, according to the text of Theodotion translated into Biblical Hebrew. . . .
Contributed by: Theodotion (translation/Greek), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The story of Bel and the Dragon according to the text of Theodotion, translated into biblical Hebrew. . . .
Contributed by: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of the Birkhot haShaḥar in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . .
Contributed by: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of the Birkhot haShaḥar in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . .
Contributed by: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown
The prayer El Malé Raḥamim, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Morris Silverman, Robert Gordis, United Synagogue of America, the Rabbinical Assembly of America
This formulation of the Berakhot she’Asani (“blessings that made me”) in the Birkhot haShaḥar was first published in the Sabbath and Festival Prayer Book (United Synagogue of America 1946). . . .
Contributed by: David Levi (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The mi sheberakh read for the well-being of Jewish congregations worldwide. . . .
Contributed by: David Levi (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The mi sheberakh read for the well-being of one’s own congregation. . . .