Contributed by: Joshua de Sola Mendes (transcription), David Lévi Alvarès, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
Bénissons is the French version of the well-known Bendigamos, a prayer and melody of the Spanish & Portuguese Jewish communities, most probably originating in Bordeaux, France. . . .
Contributed by: Eliyah ben Shlomo Avraham haKohen, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
This is a kavvanah for kosher slaughterers to say prior to the blessing over sheḥitah, first published in the early 18th century, and composed within the school of the ARI z”l. . . .
Contributed by: Nir Krakauer (translation), Isaiah Horowitz, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A piyyut providing the 42 letter divine name as an acrostic, recorded in the work of Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon Berekhiah ben Mosheh of Modena, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A 42 Letter Divine Name acrostic piyyut to comfort someone in the process of dying. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Abe Katz (translation), Mosheh Halperin
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. . . .
Contributed by: Akiva Sanders (translation), Unknown (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
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. . . .
Contributed by: Yitsḥak Luria, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A traditional prayer before studying classic texts of ḳabbalah, by a celebrated ḳabbalist of the 16th century, in pointed Hebrew with an English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Ya'qub Ibn Yusuf, Mosheh ben Yehudah ibn Makhir, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
Modeh Ani first appeared as an addendum in Seder ha-Yom (1599) by Moshe ibn Makhir of Safed. A slightly different formula offers a deep insight into who and what has returned to one’s self upon waking. . . .
Contributed by: Nir Krakauer (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
The earliest recorded prayer or piyyut providing an acrostic for the 42 letter divine name. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (translation), Nir Krakauer (translation), Steven Greenberg, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
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. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Israel Brodie, Yaakov ben Yehudah Ḥazzan of London, Unknown
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). . . .
Contributed by: Meir ben Barukh of Rothenburg, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
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. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Mosheh ben Yaaqov ibn Ezra
This prayer for divine contemplatives, beginning with the incipit “Tefilat Lisgulat Ishim” (prayer for distinguished individuals), is attested in several manuscripts prefaced by the title, תפלת הרב רבינו משה זצ״ל (prayer of our teacher, Rabbi Mosheh, may their righteousness be remembered for a blessing). The assumption of earlier scholars was that the Rabbi Mosheh here refers to Rabbi Mosheh ben Maimon — Maimonides (1138-1204). While our reading of the prayer finds nothing outside the concepts articulated by Rambam in his Mishneh Torah (Yesodei haTorah) and Moreh Nevukhim, it seems more likely that the Rabbi Mosheh referred to here is the famous paytan Mosheh ben Yaaqov ibn Ezra (ca. 1055-after 1138), who is quoted sharing similar ideas as found in this prayer by Rabbi Abraham ben Azriel in Arugat ha-Bosem (ca. 1230). Transcribed from the manuscript Leiden Or. 4779, this is the first time this obscure and long overlooked prayer has been translated. . . .
Contributed by: Moshe ben Maimon, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A variation of the prayer Ribon ha-Olamim from the section of prayers preceding Psukei d’Zimrah/Zermirot. . . .
Contributed by: Moshe ben Maimon, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A medieval manuscript illustration of the aggadah that the Yam Suf was split in 12 discrete channels, one for each tribe, as reflected above by a 12-color rainbow . . .
Contributed by: Moses Gaster, David ben Elazar ibn Paquda, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A poetic introduction to the Azharot of Solomon ibn Gabirol read in the afternoon of Shavuot by Sefaradim. . . .
Contributed by: Nina Davis Salaman (translation), the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A piyyut that expresses the paradox of a divinity that is both “Beyond” and “Present.” . . .
Contributed by: Nina Davis Salaman (translation), the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
The physician’s prayer of Rabbi Dr. Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi in the 12th century CE. . . .
Contributed by: Andreas Rusterholz (transcription), Yehoshua Heshil Miro, Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
“Zweites Gebet vor Neïla” is an abridged, adapted translation by Yehoshua Heshil Miro of the piyyut by Yehudah haLevi “Barkhi Nafshi et Adonai.” There are seven stanzas missing near the end including the final stanza and a portion of the penultimate stanza. The translation was published in Miro’s anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1835 edition, as teḥinah №48 pp. 83-85. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №50 on pp. 86-90. . . .
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Unknown, the Mesorah (TaNaKh), the Mesorah (Masoretic layer 'J'), the Mesorah (Masoretic kernel 'E')
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. . . .