A prayer of a physician from Markus Herz in German with its Hebrew and English translations. . . .

Fred MacDowell: “Then, as now, war was looked upon by many as a great evil, especially between brothers, and many American Colonists only wanted the oppressive measures of King George III to be lifted, bloodshed ended, and peace restored. The nascent American Congress called for a day of “Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” along these lines for May 17, 1776. It was for this occasion that this prayer was recited in Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. As you can see, a complete service was arranged for this occasion, meant to invoke the solemnity and seriousness of the occasion; after morning prayer, Taḥanun was to be sung to the tune of a Yom Kippur pizmon; a dozen Psalms recited, and then the Ḥazan would recite this prayer written for the occasion, and of course all were to be fasting. The prayer hopes for a change of heart for King George III and his advisors, that they would rescind their wrath and harsh decrees against “North America,” that the bloodshed should end, and peace and reconciliation should obtain between the Americans and Great Britain once more, in fulfillment of the Messianic verse that Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Of course this was not meant to be, and six weeks later the American Congress declared independence from Great Britain, and there was no walking back from the hostilities which had already occurred.” . . .

The text of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America and its signatories in English, with a Yiddish translation published in 1954. . . .

A plaudit of gratitude in Latin and Hebrew for Pope Benedict XIV’s interventions after the River Tiber overflowed its banks and flooded the Jewish Ghetto in Rome. . . .

The Prayer for the mitsvot of kindling the lights of Shabbat from the Teḥinah of the Three Gates by Sarah bat Tovim (18th century). . . .

The Prayer for the mitsvot of preparing Ḥallah from the Teḥinah of the Three Gates by Sarah bat Tovim (18th century). . . .

A prayer in the event of excessive raining causing economic hardship, from Mantua in 1729. . . .

This is a faithful transcription of the prayer of Gele (Gella), daughter of the printer Moshe, as found at the end of Tefillah l’Mosheh (2nd ed., Halle, Germany, 1710), a prayerbook Gele typeset when she was only 11-years-old. This prayerbook is rare owing to the destruction of the press following the incarceration of Gele’s father for publishing a prayerbook containing the prayer “Aleinu,” which had been forbidden by royal decree. The translation provided here was made by Dr. Kathryn Hellerstein as found in A Question of Tradition: Women Poets in Yiddish, 1586-1987 (2014, Stanford University Press), p. 63-4. The layout of Gele’s prayer follows that of Ezra Korman from his anthology of Jewish women’s poetry, Yiddishe Dikhterins, also the source of the page image provided. If you know the location of a copy or digital scan of this siddur, please contact us. . . .

A prayer for protection and blessing offered in the name of of Rebbi Yishmael from the Sefer Shem Tov Qatan. . . .

This is a version of the Invocation of Baraqon, a spell found in the Key of Solomon (Clavicula Solomonis) and its Hebrew translations (Mafteaḥ Shlomo). This particular variation is as found on the folios 70a-70b of a manuscript republished as ספר מפתח שלמה Sepher Maphteaḥ Shelomo (Book of the Key of Solomon): An exact facsimile of an original book of magic in Hebrew (1914) with a partial transcription translated into English by Rabbi Sir Hermann Gollancz. Claudia Rohrbacher-Stricker writes that Gollancz had located the manuscript in the collection of his father, Samuel H. Gollancz. The manuscript itself dated from around 1700 in Amsterdam, in a Sefardic script. Gershom Scholem was able to prove the Arabic origin of the Baraqon operation in “Some Sources of Jewish-Arabic Demonology,” Journal of Jewish Studies, vol. 16 (1965), p. 6. . . .

This is a 17th century prayer for the Holy Roman Emperor found in Ms. 110 (Jewish Museum in Prague, Czech Republic). . . .

A kinah/elegy for those massacred in the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648–1649 composed by a possible eyewitness to the tragedy. . . .

From the Pri Etz Hadar, the first ever published seder for Tu Bishvat, circa 17th century: “speech has the power to arouse the sefirot and to cause them to shine more wondrously with a very great light that sheds abundance, favor, blessing, and benefit throughout all the worlds. Consequently, before eating each fruit, it is proper to meditate on the mystery of its divine root, as found in the Zohar and, in some cases, in the tikkunim, in order to arouse their roots above.” . . .

Johann Stephan Rittangel (1606-1652) was a Christian Hebraist and Professor of Oriental Languages at the University of Königsberg (Prussia) from 1640 till his death. Born Jewish, he converted to Christianity (to Catholicism and afterward to Calvinism, and then Lutheranism). After making a translation of the Sefer Yetsirah into Latin in 1642, he made this translation of the Passover Haggadah. In the Haggadah, Rittangel included musical scores for two piyyutim popularly sung during the final course of the Passover seder: “Adir Hu” and “Ki Lo Na’eh.” . . .

This vidui prayer for those privileged to live past the age of 50 is found in Rabbi Mosheh ben Zevulun Eliezer Halperin’s Zikhron Mosheh (Lublin: 1611), siman 13. . . .

A popular piyyut for Simḥat Torah (4th hakkafah) originally composed as a piyyut for Shavuot and often referred to by its incipit, “Mipi El.” . . .

This is a variation of Mipi El in Hebrew with a Judeo-Arabic translation found in the Seder al-Tawḥid for Rosh Ḥodesh Nissan, compiled by Mosheh Asher ibn Shmuel in 1887 in Alexandria. . . .

A crucial intention to align one’s davvenen practice with the command to love one’s fellow as oneself per Leviticus 19:18, as recorded in Minhagei ha-Arizal–Petura d’Abba, p.3b by Ḥayyim Vital. . . .

A variation of the piyyut “Yedid Nefesh” in Hebrew with English translation. . . .

The piyyut, Yedid Nefesh, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .

An interpretive translation in English of the shabbes hymn Yom Zeh l’Yisrael. . . .

A translation of the piyyut Yom Zeh l’Yisrael. . . .

An abridged rhymed translation of the piyyut Yom Zeh l’Yisrael. . . .

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). . . .

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 . . .

The piyyut, Yah Ribon, in Aramaic with an English translation. . . .

The piyyut, Yah Ribon, in Aramaic with an English translation. . . .

The piyyut, yah Ribon Olam, in Hebrew with a rhyming English translation. . . .

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). . . .

Modeh Ani, in Hebrew with English translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. . . .

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. . . .

The text of the popular counting song “Who Knows One?” in its original Hebrew, with a translation in Latin. . . .

The text of the popular Passover song “Who Knows One?” in its original Hebrew and Yiddish, with a translation in English. . . .

A Latin translation of the popular Passover song, Ḥad Gadya. . . .

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 . . .

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. . . .

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with a creative English translation. . . .

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .

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. . . .

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .

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. . . .

The philosophical-creed-as-piyyut, Yigdal, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .

An early printing of the 42 divine name letter acrostic piyyut, Ana b’Khoaḥ. . . .

The paralitugical Birkat haMazon Tsur Mishelo, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . .

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. . . .

A rhymed translation of Tsur Mishelo, a paralitugical Birkat haMazon. . . .

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. . . .

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. . . .

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. . . .