אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם | Adōn Olam, translated by Rabbi Marcus Jastrow after the abridged arrangement of Rabbi Benjamin Szold (1873)
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❧An English translation of an abridged arrangement of the piyyut, Adon Olam. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (מנהג הספרדים) | Adōn Olam (rhyming translation by Jacob Waley, before 1873)
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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 12 line version familiar to Sepharadi congregations. (There are also fifteen and sixteen line variants found in Sepharadi siddurim. The Ashkenazi version has ten lines.) The rhyming translation here by Jacob Waley was transcribed from the prayerbook of his daughter Julia M. Cohen’s The Children’s Psalm-Book (1907), pp. 298-299. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam, translated by Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (1862)
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❧The cosmological piyyut, Adon Olam, in its Ashkenazi variation in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam, translated from Rabbi David Einhorn’s Olat Tamid (1858)
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❧The German translation of “Adon Olam” appearing here is as found in Rabbi David Einhorn’s עלת תמיד Gebetbuch für Israelitische Reform-Gemeinden (1858), pp. 1-2. The English translation here, by Joshua Giorgio-Rubin, translating Rabbi David Einhorn, is as found in Rubin’s Olat Hadashah: A Modern Adaptation of David Einhorn’s Olat Tamid for Shabbat Evening (2020), p. 14. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (מנהג הספרדים) | Adōn Olam, rhyming translation by Rosa Emma Salaman (1855)
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❧A rhyming English translation of Adon Olam by Rosa Emma Salaman. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (אשכנז) | Adōn Olam (rhyming translation by George Borrow, 1842)
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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 George Borrow was shared in his tales in The Bible in Spain (1843), p. 222. (The text in the 1913 edition on page 546 is a bit easier to read.) . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (מנהג הספרדים) | Adōn Olam (rhyming translation by David de Aaron de Sola, 1836)
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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 12 line version familiar to Sepharadi congregations. (There are also fifteen and sixteen line variants found in Sepharadi siddurim. The Ashkenazi version has ten lines.) The rhyming translation here by David de Aaron de Sola was transcribed from his prayerbook Seder haTefilot vol. 1 (1836), p. 122. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם | Before the Glorious Orbs of Light, a paraliturgical adaptation of Adon Olam by David Nunes Carvalho (ca. 1826)
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❧A paraliturgical adaptation of the piyyut Adon Olam by an early leader of the Reform movement. . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (מנהג הספרדים) | Adōn Olam, translation by Isaac Pinto (1766)
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❧This is Isaac Pinto’s English translation of Adon Olam from Prayers for Shabbath, Rosh-Hashanah, and [Yom] Kippur (1766), p. 29. The translation there appears without the Hebrew. The Hebrew text of the piyyut set side-by-side with the translation was transcribed from Rabbi David de Sola Pool’s Tefilot l’Rosh haShanah (1937). . . .
כָּל־בְּרוּאֵי | Kol B’ru-ei, a piyyut by Shlomo ibn Gabirol (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)
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❧A piyyut by Shlomo ibn Gabirol included in the arrangement of Baqashot before the morning service in the liturgical custom of Sefaradim translated by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola. . . .
💬 התפילות של מרדכי ואסתר | the Prayers of Mordekhai and Esther, from Divrei haYamim l’Yeraḥmiel (ca. 11-12th c.)
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❧The dream and prayer of Mordecai, and the prayer of Esther, as copied in the medieval pseudo-historical Chronicle of Yeraḥmiel. . . .
שַׁחַר אֲבַקֶּשְׁךָ | Shaḥar Avaqeshkha (At dawn I seek you), a reshut by Shlomo ibn Gabirol (ca. 11th c.) translated by Nina Salaman (1901)
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❧The reshut for praying at dawn, in Hebrew with English translation. . . .
אֶזְכְּרָה מָצוֹק | Ezkerah Matsōk (“I remember the distress”), a seliḥah for the Fast of Tevet attributed to Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils (11th c.)
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❧“Ezkera Matsok” (I remember the distress) is a seliḥah in alphabetic acrostic recited on the Fast of Tevet in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ minhag Polin. . . .
שַׁחַר אֲבַקֶּשְׁךָ | Shaḥar Avaqeshkha (At dawn I seek you), a reshut by Shlomo ibn Gabirol (ca. 11th c.) translated by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola (1857)
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❧The reshut for praying at dawn, in Hebrew with English translation. . . .
בַּחֹֽדֶשׁ הָֽרְבִיעִי | baḤodesh haRevi’i (In the fourth month), a ḳinah for the 17th of Tamuz attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol (ca. 11th c.)
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❧The seliḥah with its English translation as found in Siddur Siftei Tsadiqim (The Form of Prayers) vol. 6: Seder haTefilot laTaaniyot (ed. Isaac Leeser 1838) p.107-109. . . .
לְמַעַנְךָ וְלֹא לָנוּ | l’Maankha v’lo lanu (For your sake, not for ours), a piyyut by an unknown paytan (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)
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❧This translation by Rabbi David de Aaron de Sola of “Lema’ankha v’lo lanu” by an unknown paytan was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . .
הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Ben Ḳodesh l’Ḥol, a piyyut attributed to Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat (rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)
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❧A rhymed translation of the piyyut sung following the Havdallah ritual. . . .
אַקְדָמוּת מִילִין | Aḳdamut Milin, a preface to the Targum for the Shavuot Torah Reading, attributed to Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans (ca. 11th c.)
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❧An Aramaic piyyut composed as an introduction to the reading of the Targum for the Torah reading on Shavuot. . . .
יוֹם שַׁבָּתוֹן | Yom Shabbaton, a Shabbat song by Yehudah haLevi (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
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❧An interpretive translation of Yehudah haLevi’s shabbat song, “Yom Shabbaton.” . . .
עֲקֵדַת יִצְחָק (מנהג הספרדים) | The invocation of Aqédat Yitsḥaq (the Binding of Isaac, Genesis 22:1-19) in the morning (minhag haSefaradim)
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❧The prayers invoking the memory of the Aqeidat Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:1-19) in the morning preparatory prayers in the liturgical custom of the Sefaradim. . . .
עֲקֵדַת יִצְחָק (אשכנז) | The invocation of Aqédat Yitsḥaq (the Binding of Isaac, Genesis 22:1-19) in the morning (nusaḥ Ashkenaz)
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❧The prayers invoking the memory of the Aqeidat Yitsḥaq (Genesis 22:1-19) in the morning preparatory prayers in the liturgical custom of Ashkenaz. . . .
אבלה נפשי | Avlah Nafshi (My soul mourns), a seliḥah for Tsom Gedalyah attributed to Rav Saadia Gaon (10th c.)
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❧A seliḥah for the Fast of Gedalyah, attributed to Rav Saadia Gaon. . . .
הַיּוֹם תְּאַמְּצֵנוּ | haYom T’amtseinu, a piyyut for the end of musaf on Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur
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❧The full text of the alphabetic mesostic piyyut, Hayom, according to the Italian nusaḥ. . . .
אַחֵֽינוּ | Aḥeinu (Our siblings)
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❧“Aḥeinu” is the final prayer in a set of supplications recited on Mondays and Thursdays as the Torah scroll is being prepared to be returned to the Aron. The prayer is first found with variations in wording in the surviving manuscripts of the Seder Rav Amram Gaon (ca. 9th c.). . . .
תפלת אחר הקמת המצבה, מנהג ק״ק פרעסבורג יצ״ו | Prayer after the Unveiling of a Tombstone, according to the custom of the Jewish community of Pressburg
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❧A prayer for unveiling a tombstone, according to the custom of the Jews of Pressburg. . . .
רָנּוּ שָׁמַֽיִם | Ronnu shamayim, a piyyut celebrating the Decalogue by Elyaqim
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❧This piyyut is signed “Elyaqim Ḥazaq.” Alas, we do not know who this Elyaqim was or even whether he was a rabbinic or Karaite Jew. The piyyut has been preserved for us in the Karaite cycle (Vilna printing press, 1852, Vol. IV, p. 135.) and there are several other piyyutim signed with his name. . . .
אֲדוֹן הַסְּלִיחוֹת | Adon haSeliḥot (Lord of Forgiveness), a pizmon for Seliḥot and Yom Kippur
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❧A pizmon in the nusaḥ hasepharadim recited at Seliḥot during the monh of Elul and Yom Kippur. . . .
אֲדוֹן הַסְּלִיחוֹת | Adon haSeliḥot, a pizmon for Seliḥot and Yom Kippur with an alphabetic acrostic translation by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1937)
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❧An alphabetic acrostic pizmon for seliḥot and Yom Kippur with an alphabetic acrostic English translation. . . .
כִּי בְּשִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר בְּתַמּוּז | Ki b’Shivah Asar b’Tamuz, a seliḥah for the 17th of Tamuz
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❧A penitential piyyut for the fast of the 17th of Tammuz. . . .
מִימִינִי מִיכָאֵל | “Mikhael is on my right,” the angelic invocation for divine protection from the Ḳriyat Shema al haMitah
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❧The “angels on all sides” formula included with the Bedtime Shema service in many contemporary siddurim. . . .
מה אלו | “Who are these?” — the Origin of the Angels of Healing: Sanoi, Sansanoi, and Semanglof, as told in the Alphabet of ben Sira (ca. late first millennium)
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❧The origin story of Lilith as told in the Alphabet of ben Sira. . . .
אֵל אָדוֹן (אשכנז) | El Adōn, a piyyut attributed to the Yordei Merkavah (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
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❧The piyyut, El Adon, in Hebrew with an interpretive “praying translation” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalom, z”l. . . .
יְיָ בּוֹקֶר אֶעֱרוֹךְ לְךָ | Hashem Boqer E’erokh Lakh (Hear my voice at dawn), a reshut by an unknown paytan (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)
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❧This translation of “Adonai boker e’erokh lekha” by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of a piyyut by an unknown paytan was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . .
אֲשֶׁר הֵנִיא | Asher Heni, a piyyut recited after the reading of Megillat Esther and its concluding blessing
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❧An alphabetical acrostic piyyut celebrating the victory of Esther and Mordekhai over the forces of Haman. . . .
אַדִּיר הוּא | Adir Hu, the acrostic piyyut in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
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❧The alphabetic acrostic piyyut, Adir Hu, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel as found in his translation of the Pesaḥ seder haggadah, Liber Rituum Paschalium (1644). . . .
הספר ששמשו בו הכשדים | Theurgy of the Kasdim, an astral-magic treatise on the seven angels of the week
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❧A work of Jewish astrology and magic containing recipes specific to the angelic rulers of each day of the week. . . .
רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָמִים אַתָּה צִוִּיתָֽנוּ לְהַקְרִיב | Ribon ha-Olamim atah tsivitanu l’haqriv — let the offering of our lips substitute for animal sacrifice
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❧This is the Ribon ha-Olamim prayer contained within the concluding readings of the Qarbanot section as an introductory preface to the Morning prayers. In most siddurim in which the Karbanot are included, this prayer appears immediately after Ana b’Khoaḥ and before the rules of Midrash Halakhah taught by Rebbi Yishmael. . . .
Υγρομαντεια | The Hygromancy of Solomon (ca. 5th c. CE)
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❧A guide to the activities one might engage upon in every hour of the week corresponding with their ruling planet, numinous and cthonic power. . . .
Reconstruction of a Greek text of the Shabbat Amidah preserved in the Constitutiones Apostolorum (circa 380 CE), by Dr. David Fiensy
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❧This is a reconstruction of a sabbath liturgy for the Tefillah of the Amidah, at least in some variant of its public recitation, in Greek and preserved in an early Christian work, the Constitutiones Apostolorum (Apostolic Constitutions), a Christian work compiled around 380 CE in Syria. Several prayers derived from Jewish sources appear in the Apostolic Constitutions and they can be found grouped together and labeled “Greek” or “Hellenistic Syanagogal Works” in collections of apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. Because explicitly Christian references appeared to be added onto a pre-existing text with familiar Jewish or “Old Testament” themes and references, scholars in the late 19th century were already suggesting that as many as 16 of the prayers in the Apostolic Constitutions books 7 and 8 were derived from Jewish prayers. A more modern appraisal was made by Dr. Fiensy and published in Prayers Alleged to Be Jewish (Scholars Press 1985). Based on a careful analysis of the prayers, he concludes that the only prayers which can be identified as Jewish with certainty are those found in sections 33-38 of book 7. . . .
היסטוריולה של סממית וסידרוס | Historiola of Smamit and Sideros, a reconstruction based on Amulet 15 & Amulet Bowl 12a
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❧A very old tale told for the protection of pregnant women and their infant children as found in amulets from late Antiquity. . . .
אסו ית ארסינואי | Two healing prayers for Arsinoë’s recovery (Amulets 80.AM.55.1 & 80.AM.55.2, J. Paul Getty Museum)
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❧Healing prayers written on a pair of amulets for the recovery of a woman named Arsinoë . . .
קדיש שלם | Ḳaddish Shalem, translated by Rabbi Dr. Jakob Petuchowski (1966)
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❧The Aramaic text of the Ḳaddish Shalem, with an English translation by Dr. Jakob Petuckowski. . . .
ברייתא דרבי ישמעאל | The Baraita of Rebbi Yishma’el: thirteen principles of halakhic exegesis (translated by Rabbi Ben-Zion Bokser)
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❧The thirteen exegetical rules by which halakhot from the Torah may be derived, according to Rebbi Yishmael, included with the preliminary prayers before the Psukei d’Zimrah/Zemirot of Shaḥarit. . . .
💬 פרקי אבות פרק א׳ | Pirqei Avot: Chapter One, cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Chapter 1 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
💬 פרקי אבות פרק ב׳ | Pirqei Avot: Chapter Two, cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Chapter 2 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
💬 פרקי אבות פרק ג׳ | Pirqei Avot: Chapter Three, cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Chapter 3 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
💬 פרקי אבות פרק ד׳ | Pirqei Avot: Chapter Four, cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Chapter 4 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
💬 פרקי אבות פרק ה׳ | Pirqei Avot: Chapter Five, cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Chapter 5 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
💬 פרקי אבות פרק ו׳ | Pirqei Avot: Chapter Six, cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Chapter 6 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
💬 מַעֲשֶׂה חֲנֻכָּה ב׳ | Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah “bet” in Ladino, a retelling of Megillat Antiokhus with details from II Maccabees by Rabbi Isaac Magriso (1764)
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❧This is a largely uncorrected transcription of Rabbi Isaac Magriso’s telling of Megillat Antiokhus in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) from the Me’am Loez: Bamidbar Parshat BeHe’alotekha (Constantinople, 1764). The paragraph breaks are a rough estimation based on my comparison with the English translation of Dr. Tzvi Faier (1934-2009) appearing in The Torah Anthology: Me’am Loez, Book Thirteen – In the Desert (Moznaim 1982). I welcome all Ladino speakers and readers to help correct this transcription and to provide a complete English translation for non-Ladino readers. . . .