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. . . .
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. . . .
💬 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. . . .
שיר הכבוד (אַנְעִים זְמִירוֹת) | Shir haKavod (An’im Zemirot), part eight of the Shir haYiḥud (translation by Israel Wolf Slotki)
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❧A translation of the piyyut, Anim Zemirot. . . .
כִּי אֶשְׁמְרָה שַׁבָּת | Ki Eshmera Shabbat, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (rhyming translation by Israel Abrahams, 1914)
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❧The piyyut and popular shabbat table song, Ki Eshmera Shabbat, in Hebrew with a rhyming translation. . . .
כִּי אֶשְׁמְרָה שַׁבָּת | Ki Eshmerah Shabbat, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)
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❧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). . . .
כִּי הִנֵּה כַּחֹֽמֶר | Ki Hineh Kaḥomer, rhymed translation by Alice Lucas (1898)
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❧A rhyming translation of the pizmon for maariv on Yom Kippur. . . .
אֲבוֹתַי כִּי בָטְחוּ | Avotai ki vatkhu (“When our forefathers trusted”), a pizmon for the Fast of Tevet ascribed to Ephraim ben Avraham ben Yitsḥaq of Regensburg (12th c.)
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❧A pizmon recited on the Fast of Tevet in the tradition of nusaḥ Ashkenaz. . . .
אֱלֹהִים יִסְעָדֵנוּ | Elohim Yisadenu, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)
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❧This translation by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of “Elohim Yisadenu” by a paytan named Avraham (possibly Avraham ibn Ezra) was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . .
תפילת עזריה חנניה ומישאל בתוך הכבשן | The Prayer of Azaryah, Ḥananyah, and Mishael from within the Furnace, according to the Aramaic text of Divrei Yeraḥmiel (ca. 12th c.)
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❧The prayer of Azaryah and his song of praise with Ḥananyah, and Mishael from within the Furnace (also known as “the song of the three holy children”) found in Aramaic in the Divrei Yeraḥmiel (the Chronicles of Jeraḥmeel, Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11). . . .
מרת דולצא: אשת־חיל | Dulcea: A Woman of Valor, an elegy by Eleazar of Worms (ca. 1196)
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❧This an an untitled piyyut by Eleazer of Worms, eulogizing his beloved wife Dulcea (Heb: דולצא, also, Dulcia and Dolce). The Hebrew text is derived from the transcription offered by Israel Kamelhar inRabbenu Eleazar mi-Germaiza, ha-Roqeah (Rzeazow, 1930), pp. 17-19. The translation and annotation come from Dr. Ivan G. Marcus from his article, “Mothers, Martyrs, and Moneymakers: Some Jewish Women in Medieval Europe” in Conservative Judaism, vol. 38(3), Spring 1986. . . .
דָּנִיֵּאל וְהַתַּנִּין | Daniel vs. the Dragon, according to the Aramaic text of Divrei Yeraḥmiel (ca. 12th c.)
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❧The story of Daniel and the dragon held captive by the neo-Babylonians found in Aramaic in the Divrei Yeraḥmiel (the Chronicles of Jeraḥmeel, Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11). . . .
💬 דָּנִיֵּאל וְהַתַּנִּין | Daniel vs. the Dragon, according to the Judeo-Aramaic text found in Divrei Yeraḥmiel, vocalized and cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Daniel’s battle with the Dragon, one of the apocryphal Additions to Daniel, is affixed to the end of the book in the Septuagint. The editor has here included a new vocalized and cantillated edition of the Aramaic text preserved in the 12th century Divrei Yeraḥmiel (Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11 transcribed by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster). The language of this passage is an odd synthesis of Targumic, pseudo-Biblical Aramaic, and even some Syriac forms, so the editor’s vocalization is aiming for a happy medium of all the possibilities. (In several locations Divrei Yeraḥmiel uses incorrect Hebrew-specific forms, probably due to scribal error. These are here marked as a qere-ketiv split.) . . .
צָמְאָה נַפְשִׁי | Tsam’ah Nafshi, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
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❧An interpretive translation of a piyyut composed as an introduction to the prayer Nishmat Kol Ḥai. . . .
חרוז על שחוק האישקקי | Rhymed Poem on Chess (short), by Avraham ibn Ezra (HS. Vatican 171 f.2, oben S. 180)
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❧A medieval Jewish poem on the game of Chess by Avraham ibn Ezra.. . . .
אֲגַדֶלְךָ | Agadelkha, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (ca. 12th c.) translation by Anonymous
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❧A popular piyyut for all occasions by Avraham ibn Ezra. . . .
חֲרוּזִים עַל שְּׂחוֹק שָׁ״הּ־מָ״תּ | Rhymed Poem on Chess (long), by Avraham ibn Ezra (ca. 12th c.)
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❧A poem on how to play chess, one of the oldest historical descriptions of the game of Chess, by Avraham ibn Ezra (12th century) . . .
אֲֽדֹנָי נֶגְדְּךָ כׇל־תַּאֲוָתִי | Adonai Negdekha kol Ta’avati, a piyyut by Yehudah haLevi (early 12th c.) rhyming translation by Alice Lucas (1894)
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❧A rhyming English translation of the piyyut Adonai Negdekha kol Ta’avati. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם | Adōn Olam, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
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❧Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s interpretive “praying translation” of the piyyut, Adon Olam. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam, translated by Ben Zion Bokser (1957)
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❧The cosmological piyyut, Adon Olam, in its Ashkenazi variation in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam (Rabbinical Assembly & United Synagogue of America, 1946)
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❧The cosmological piyyut, Adon Olam, in its Ashkenazi variation in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (מנהג הספרדים) | Adōn Olam, rhyming translation by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1937)
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❧A rhyming translation in English to the popular piyyut, Adon Olam. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם | Adaun Aulom, a paraliturgical adaptation of Adon Olam by Lise Tarlau (1907)
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❧The paraliturgical adaptation and expansion of “Adaun Aulom” by Lise Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 93-94. I have set the stanzas or verses from Adon Olam in their original Hebrew side-by-side with Lise Tarlau’s adapted text (according to the arrangement that seems closest to me) so that their proximity may illuminate her inspiration. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam (rhyming translation by Jessie Ethel Sampter, 1917)
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❧Adon Olam is a piyyut that became popular in the 15th century and is often attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021–1058) and less often to Sherira Gaon (900-1001), or his son, Hai ben Sherira Gaon (939-1038). The variation of the piyyut appearing here is the 10 line version familiar to Ashkenazi congregations. (There are also twelve, fifteen, and sixteen line variants found in Sepharadi siddurim.) The rhyming translation here by Jessie Ethel Sampter was transcribed from Joseph Friedlander and George Alexander Kohut’s The standard book of Jewish verse (1917), p. 394. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam (rhyming translation by Israel Zangwill, 1901)
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❧Adon Olam is a piyyut that became popular in the 15th century and is often attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021–1058) and less often to Sherira Gaon (900-1001), or his son, Hai ben Sherira Gaon (939-1038). The variation of the piyyut appearing here is the 10 line version familiar to Ashkenazi congregations. (There are also twelve, fifteen, and sixteen line variants found in Sepharadi siddurim.) The rhyming translation here by Israel Zangwill was transcribed from the Jewish Quarterly Review vol. 13 (January 1901), p. 321. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam, translated by Alice Lucas (1894)
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❧The cosmological piyyut, Adon Olam, in its Ashkenazi variation in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .