יוֹם זֶה לְיִשְׁרַאֵל | Yom Zeh l’Yisrael, a piyyut by Rabbi Yitsḥaq Luria (abridged rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)
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❧An abridged rhymed translation of the piyyut Yom Zeh l’Yisrael. . . .
יוֹם זֶה לְיִשְׁרַאֵל | Yom Zeh l’Yisrael, a piyyut by Rabbi Yitsḥaq Luria (translation by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)
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❧This translation of “Yom Zeh l’Yisrael” by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of a piyyut by Rabbi Yitsḥaq Luria was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . .
רבון כל העולמים | Master of the Cosmos, a teḥinah for entering Shabbat by Rabbi Yitsḥaq Luria (circa 16th c.)
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❧Ribon Kol Ha-Olamim is a teḥinah (supplication) for entering the Shabbat that can be found in many siddurim following after the custom of the school of Rabbi Yitsḥak Luria. In his Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem, Paltiel (Philip) Birnbaum includes it, commenting as follows: “Ribon kol Ha’Olamim is attributed to Rabbi Joseph of Rashkow, Posen, who lived towards the end of the eighteenth century. The adjectives in the first paragraph are in alphabetic order.” This can’t be correct however as a copy of Ribon Kol Ha-Olamim can be seen in the siddur Tikunei Shabbat from 1614 (see below for source images). Google Books attributes Tikunei Shabbat to Rabbi Yitsḥak Luria (1534-1572), which is the attribution we have followed, although as a posthumously published work we wonder whether it might be more properly attributed to “the School of Rabbi Isaac Luria.” Please comment below if you know of another attribution. The English translation is that of Paltiel (Philip) Birnbaum, with some minor changes that I have made to divine names and appelations.– Aharon Varady . . .
יָהּ רִבּוֹן | Yah Ribōn, a piyyut by Rabbi Yisrael Najara (16th c.) translated by Rabbi Israel Brodie (1962)
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❧The piyyut, Yah Ribon, in Aramaic with an English translation. . . .
יָהּ רִבּוֹן | Yah Ribōn, a piyyut by Rabbi Yisrael Najara (16th c.) translated by Paltiel Birnbaum (1949)
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❧The piyyut, Yah Ribon, in Aramaic with an English translation. . . .
יָהּ רִבּוֹן | Yah Ribōn, a piyyut by Rabbi Yisrael Najara (16th c.) rhyming translation by Israel Abrahams (1914)
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❧The piyyut, yah Ribon Olam, in Hebrew with a rhyming English translation. . . .
יָהּ רִבּוֹן | Yah Ribōn, a piyyut by Rabbi Yisrael Najara (16th c.) translation by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola (1857)
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❧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). . . .
מודה אני | Modeh Ani by Moshe ibn Makhir (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
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❧Modeh Ani, in Hebrew with English translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. . . .
הֵיאַךְ יַרְגִּיל הָאָדָם עַצְמוֹ בְּמִדַּת הַחָכְמָה | How a person should conduct themself with Wisdom — chapter three from Tomer Devorah by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (ca. 16th c.)
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❧Chapter three of Rabbi Mosheh Cordovero’s Tomer Devorah, concerning the relationship between Wisdom and Empathy and its expression in the humane treatment of all living creatures. . . .
אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Unum (est &) quis scit? | Eḥad Mi Yode’a, a Latin translation of the counting song by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
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❧The text of the popular counting song “Who Knows One?” in its original Hebrew, with a translation in Latin. . . .
אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Eḥad Mi Yode’a :: Who Knows One?, a counting song in Hebrew and Yiddish (Prague Haggadah, 1526)
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❧The text of the popular Passover song “Who Knows One?” in its original Hebrew and Yiddish, with a translation in English. . . .
חַד גַּדְיָא | Un Cabri: La Légende de l’Agneau, a French translation of Ḥad Gadya by Dom Pedro Ⅱ, emperor of Brazil (1891)
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❧This is “Had Gadiâ | Un Cabri: La Légende de l’Agneau (Poésie chaldaico-provençale, chantée a la table de famille les soirs de Paques),” a translation of Ḥad Gadya into French by Dom Pedro Ⅱ (1825-1891), emperor of Brazil, as published in Poésies hébraïco-provençales du rituel israélite comtadin traduites et transcriptes par S. M. D. Pedro Ⅱ, de Alcântara, empereur du Brésil (1891), pp. 45-59. A note on the last page indicates the translation was made in Vichy, France on 30 July 1891. . . .
חַד גַּדְיָא | Unum hœdulum — a Latin translation of Ḥad Gadya by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
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❧A Latin translation of the popular Passover song, Ḥad Gadya. . . .
חַד גַּדְיָא | Ḥad Gadya in Aramaic and Yiddish (Prague Haggadah, ca. 1526)
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❧Making sense of Ḥad Gadya beyond its explicit meaning has long inspired commentary. For me, Ḥad Gadya expresses in its own beautiful and macabre way a particularly important idea in Judaism that has become obscure if not esoteric. While an animal’s life may today be purchased, ultimately, the forces of exploitation, predation, and destruction that dominate our world will be overturned. Singing Ḥad Gadya is thus particularly apropos for the night of Passover since, in the Jewish calendar, this one night, different from all other nights, is considered the most dangerous night of the year — it is the time in which the forces of darkness in the world are strongest. Why? It is on this night that the divine aspect of Mashḥit, the executioner, is explicitly invoked (albeit, only in the context of the divine acting as midwife and guardian/protector of her people), as explained in the midrash for Exodus 12:12 . . .
Bendigamos al Altísimo, a Spanish song for the Birkat haMazon
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❧Bendigamos is a hymn sung after meals according to the custom of Spanish and Portuguese Jews. It has also been traditionally sung by the Jews of Turkish descent. It is similar in meaning to the Birkat Hamazon that is said by all Jews. Bendigamos is said in addition to Birkat Hamazon, either immediately before or immediately after it. The text is in modern Spanish, not Ladino. The prayer was translated by David de Sola Pool. Below is the actual text as well as the translation by de Sola Pool. The melody is one of the best known and loved Spanish and Portuguese melodies, used also for the Song of the Sea (in the Shabbat morning service) and sometimes in “Hallel” (on the first day of the Hebrew month and on festivals). . . .
קמע לשמירה מפני לילית | Apotropaic ward for the protection of pregnant women and infants against Lilith & her minions (CUL MS General 194, Montgomery 1913 Amulet No. 42)
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❧An apotropaic ward for the protection of women in their pregnancy and of infant children against an attack from Lilith and her minions, containing the story witnessing her oath to the prophet, Eliyahu along with one variation of her many names. . . .
יִגְדַּל (אשכנז) | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah (translation by Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan)
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❧The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with a creative English translation. . . .
יִגְדַּל (אשכנז) | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah (rhyming translation by Ben Zion Bokser, 1957)
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❧The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
יִגְדַּל (מנהג הספרדים) | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah (rhyming translation by Rabbi David de Sola Pool, 1937)
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❧The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
יִגְדַּל (אשכנז) | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah (trans. Israel Zangwill, 1904)
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❧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 English translation here by Israel Zangwill was transcribed from Arthur Davis & Herbert Adler’s מַחֲזוֹר עֲבֹדַת אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד: עֲבֹדַת חַג הַכִּפּוּרִים Maḥzor Avodat Ohel Moed: Avodat Yom haKippurim Part II: Morning Service (1904), p. 2. . . .
יִגְדַּל (אשכנז) | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah (rhyming translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)
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❧The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
יִגְדַּל (אשכנז) | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah (rhyming translation by Jacob Waley, before 1873)
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❧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. . . .
יִגְדַּל (אשכנז) | Yigdal, by Daniel ben Yehudah (translation by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski, 1862)
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❧The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ | Ana b’Khoaḥ, with Spanish translation by Rabbi Isaac ben Shem Tov Cavallero (1552)
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❧An early printing of the 42 divine name letter acrostic piyyut, Ana b’Khoaḥ. . . .
צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַֽלְנוּ | Tsur Mishelo Akhalnu, a paraliturgical Birkat haMazon (translation by Nina Salaman 1914)
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❧The paralitugical Birkat haMazon Tsur Mishelo, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
💬 מְגִילַּת יְהוּדִית לְאָמְרָהּ בַּחֲנֻכָּה | Megillat Yehudit, the Medieval Scroll of Judith to be said on Ḥanukkah
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❧This is a faithful transcription of the text of the medieval Megillat Yehudith (the Scroll of Judith), not to be confused with the deutero-canonical Book of Judith, authored in Antiquity. We have further set this text side-by-side with the English translation made by Susan Weingarten, and vocalized and cantillated the Hebrew so that it may be chanted. . . .
צוּר מִשֶּׁלּוֹ אָכַֽלְנוּ | Tsur Mishelo Akhalnu, a paraliturgical Birkat haMazon (rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)
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❧A rhymed translation of Tsur Mishelo, a paralitugical Birkat haMazon. . . .
אַדִירְיַרוֹן בַהִירְיַרוֹן | Adiryaron Ḅahiryaron, a litany of angelic names associated with the 42 letter name, recorded in Sefer haQanah
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❧A litany of angelic names recorded in Sefer HaQanah, whose initial letters spells out the 42 letter divine name as also found in Sefer haPeliah. . . .
אַדִירְיַרוֹן בַהִירְיַרוֹן | Adiryaron Ḅahiryaron, a litany of angelic names associated with the 42 letter name, recorded in Sefer haPeliah
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❧A litany of angelic names recorded in Sefer haPeliah whose initial letters spells out the 42 letter divine name as also found (in variation) in Sefer HaQanah. . . .
בְּכִסְלֵו – מאבן בֹחן | On Kislev, from the poem “Even Boḥan” by Rabbi Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir (1322)
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❧Before potatoes entered the diet of Ashkenazi Jews, latkes were cheese pancakes, or cassola, as described in the poem “Even Boḥan” (Touchstone) by Rabbi Kalonymus b, Kalonymus ben Meir. . . .
בְּנדּיגֿ טוּ שַנט…קִי פִֿיש מִי פְינַה | Blessed are you…who made me a woman, a variation of the morning blessing for Jewish women in Judeo-Provençal (ca. 14-15th c.)
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❧From the Morning Blessings (Birkhot ha-Shaḥar) of the Seder tefilot be-targum le-Shuʾadit [סדר תפילות בתרגום לשואדית], a translation of the Siddur into Judaeo-Provençal dating from the 14th-15th century providing the following blessing for women. . . .
תפילה להפך – מאבן בֹחן | Prayer for Transformation, from the poem “Even Boḥan” by Rabbi Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir (1322)
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❧A prayer by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus ben Meir that appears in his poem ספר אבן בוחן, יג Sefer Even Boḥan (§13), describing the author’s wish to have been born a Jewish woman. . . .
אֱלֹהַי נְשָׁמָה (נוסח אנגליה) | Elohai Neshamah, the complete daily vidui as found in the Ets Ḥayyim of Jacob Jehudah Ḥazzan on London (1287)
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❧This is the remarkable and unique form of the prayer Elohai Neshamah as found in the Ets Ḥayyim, a compendium of law and tradition of the Jews of England completed in 1287 by Jacob Jehudah Ḥazzan of London (only three years before the expulsion of the Jews from England). . . .
📄 הגדה לסדר פסח | The Ritual of the Seder and the Agada of the English Jews Before the Expulsion (1287)
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❧Jacob b. Jehuda of London, the author of that valuable contribution to the literary side of Anglo-Jewish history, the Talmudical compendium Etz Chaim, so providentially rescued and preserved for us, never dreamt, when he noted down, in the year 1287, the Ritual and Agada of the Seder Nights according to English usage, that he was fixing a permanent picture of what was doomed to destruction, and was recording not a mere portion of the liturgy, but a page of Jewish history. Faithfully copying his great prototype, Maimonides, the English Chazan also embodied in his work the texts of the Recitations on the Seder Nights in the form customary among his countrymen, and appended the correlated rites according to Minhag England. . . .
💬 כְּגַוְנָא | K’gavna, on the Secret of Oneness and the Mystery of Shabbat, a reading from the Zohar (parashat Terumah §163-166 & §169-170)
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❧In siddurim following the nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l, the Barekhu call to prayer is immediately preceded by a passage from the Zohar, Parshat Terumah, explaining the profound significance of the Maariv service. . . .
📄 נוסח אנגליה | The Nusaḥ of the Jews of England in 1287, transcribed by British chief Rabbi Israel Brodie (1962)
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❧The nusaḥ of the Jews of England before the expulsion is witnessed in a single text written by Jacob Jehudah Hazzan of London in 1287. The text is currently held in the collection of the library of the University of Leipzig. We are grateful to the library for making available to us a scan of just pages in the work containing the seder tefilot — something unavailable to its first transcriber (to which our digital edition is indebted). In April 1962, the former chief rabbi of the British Empire Israel Brodie published his transcription through Mossad haRav Kook, writing “The Etz Hayyim is the most notable and certainly the most voluminous of the literary productions of mediaeval Anglo-Jewry which have survived. It was written in 1287, three years before the Expulsion. The author of whom very little is known, wrote this comprehensive code of religious law based on the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, on the Sefer Mitzvot Gedolot of Moses of Coucy and of many other rabbinic authorities some of whom are otherwise unknown. Included among his authorities are Talmudists — some of renown, who flourished in England. The Etz Hayyim appears to have been regarded as an authoritative source of Jewish Law, judging by references to it contained in works which will be listed in my full introduction. Though it was not quoted as frequently as other works of a similar nature, it takes its place among the Rishonim. David Kauffman in the Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. IV, pages 20—63, 550—561, and Vol. V pages 353—374 gave a detailed description and appraisal of the Etz Hayyim. The full publication of the work, will, I am sure, provide scholars with additional and varied data which will justify the labour and time involved in its preparation and editing.” . . .
💬 זָכוֹר אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ | Remember the Shabbat day to keep it holy, a reading for the first se’udah of Shabbat from the Zohar (parashat Yitro)
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❧A reading from the Zohar providing context for the first meal of Shabbat on Friday evening. . . .
💬 זָכוֹר אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ | Remember the Shabbat day to keep it holy, a reading for the second se’udah of Shabbat from the Zohar (parashat Yitro)
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❧A reading from the Zohar providing context for the second meal of Shabbat (the Saturday lunch meal). . . .
💬 זָכוֹר אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ | Remember the Shabbat day to keep it holy, a reading for the third se’udah of Shabbat from the Zohar (parashat Yitro)
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❧A reading from the Zohar providing context for the third meal of Shabbat (the Saturday afternoon meal, se’udah shlishit/shaleshudes). . . .
Prayer for Dwelling in the Sukkah of the Leviyatan, as taught in the name of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (ca. 13th c.)
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❧This formula for recitation in the Sukkah at the conclusion of Sukkot (on the night of Shemini Atseret) is given in the name of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (1215-1293) and found in two sources: Siman 148 of the Teshuvot of Shimshon bar Tsadoq (a/k/a the Tashbets), and Siman 71.50 of the Sefer Kol Bo. . . .
אֶבֶן הָרֹאשָׁה | Even haRoshah (“The corner stone”), a seliḥah for the Fast of Tevet attributed to Avraham bar Menaḥem (13th c.)
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❧“Even haRoshah” (the corner stone) is a seliḥah recited on the Fast of Tevet in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ minhag Polin. . . .
אַדִּיר בִּמְלוּכָה | Adir Bimlukhah, the piyyut in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
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❧The text of the popular piyyut “Adir Bimlukhah” (a/k/a “Ki lo na’eh”) in Hebrew, with a Latin translation. . . .
קדיש יתום ליחיד | Mourner’s Ḳaddish for an Individual Without a Minyan (Sefer Ḥasidim, ca. 12-13th c.)
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❧A mourner’s ḳaddish in the event there is no quorum. . . .
הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Gebet für den Regenten | Prayer for the Regent (Friedrich Wilhelm Ⅲ, King of Prussia), by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1833)
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❧“Gebet für den Regenten” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro from the traditional prayer for the sovereign (“Hanoten Teshua”) and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaischer Religion. It first appears in the 1833 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion on pp. 66-67. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №45 on pp. 75-76. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №47 on pp. 78-79, with the name of Friedrich Wilhelm Ⅲ (1770-1840) replaced by Friedrich Wilhelm Ⅳ (1795-1861). The Hebrew liturgy from which Miro’s translation was derived was reconstructed from variations of Hanoten Teshua current in the 19th century at the time this prayer was published. . . .
הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Prayer for the Royal Family of King George Ⅲ (1810)
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❧The prayer, haNoten Teshu’a, as adapted for King George III in 1810. . . .
הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Prayer for the Government of the United States of America, presented by Gershom Seixas on Thanksgiving Day 1789
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❧The prayer for the government presented by Gershom Seixas at K.K. Shearith Israel on Thanksgiving Day 1789. . . .
הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Prayer for King George Ⅲ (1766)
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❧The prayer for King George III in the English colonies before the Revolutionary War. . . .
הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Prayer for the Prosperity of his Royal Majesty, delivered by Rabbi Jacob Jehudah Leon Templo to King Charles Ⅱ (1675)
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❧Rabbi Jacob Judah Leon’s Prayer for King Charles II, from his 1675 booklet, was the first Jewish prayer in English for an English king (Mocatta Library, University College London). . . .
הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | The Prayer for the Safety of Kings, Princes and Commonwealths, presented by Menasseh ben Israel to Oliver Cromwell (1655)
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❧The text of Hanoten Teshua in its English translation as presented by Menasseh ben Israel to Oliver Cromwell in 1655. We have reconstructed the corresponding Hebrew from the S&P nusaḥ of the Jewish community in Amsterdam. . . .
שיר הכבוד (אַנְעִים זְמִירוֹת) | Shir haKavod (An’im Zemirot), part eight of the Shir haYiḥud (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
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❧A “praying translation” of the piyyut, Anim Zemirot. . . .