Bénissons, a French table song for the Birkat haMazon (ca. 18th c.)
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. . . .
תפילה לפני שחיטה | Prayer before Kosher Slaughter, by Eliyah ben Shlomo Avraham haKohen (Sefer Shevet Musar, 1712)
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. . . .
אֵל בָּרוּךְ | El Barukh :: A piyyut containing the 42 Letter Name, recorded by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz
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. . . .
אֶהְיֶה בְּעֵדֶן | Ehyeh b’Aden :: A piyyut containing the 42 Letter Name, in Sefer Ma’avar Yaḇoq (1626)
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. . . .
וִדּוּי בַּיָּמִים מֵחֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה וְאֵלֶךְ | Vidui for those fifty years old and over, by Rabbi Mosheh Halperin (1611)
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. . . .
אֵין אַדִּיר כַּיְיָ (מִפִּי אֵל) | Ayn Adir kAdonai | לָא קָאדִּר סַוָא אַלְלָה (There is none like Allah), minhag Cairo variation with a Judeo-Arabic translation
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. . . .
תפילה קודם לימוד הקבלה | Prayer Before Studying Ḳabbalah, by Rabbi Yitsḥaq Luria (translated by Aharon Varady)
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. . . .
מוֹדה אֲנִי | Returning the body to the soul: an adaptation of Modeh Ani by Moshe ibn Makhir
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. . . .
אֱלֹהִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל | Elohim b’Yisrael :: A piyyut containing the 42 Letter Name, recorded in Sefer haPeliah
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. . . .
תפילה להפך – מאבן בֹחן | Prayer for Transformation, from the poem “Even Boḥan” by Rabbi Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir (1322)
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. . . .
אֱלֹהַי נְשָׁמָה (נוסח אנגליה) | Elohai Neshamah, the complete daily vidui as found in the Ets Ḥayyim of Jacob Jehudah Ḥazzan on London (1287)
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). . . .
Prayer for Dwelling in the Sukkah of the Leviyatan, as taught in the name of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (ca. 13th c.)
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. . . .
רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָמִים לֹא עַל־צִדְקוֹתֵֽינוּ | Ribon ha-Olamim, not in the merit of our righteousness — a variation from the Seder Tefilot of Maimonides, MS Constantinople 1509
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. . . .
הנסים שהיו על הים סוף | The Miracles at the Sea of Reeds as related in Rambam’s commentary on the Pirqei Avot
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 . . .
אָמוֹן יוֹם זֶה | Amon Yom Zeh, an introduction to the Azharot of ibn Gabirol by David ben Elazar ibn Paquda (ca. 12th c.)
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. . . .
יָהּ, אָנָה אֶמְצָאֶךָּ | Yah, Where shall I find you?, a piyyut by Yehudah haLevi (ca. early 12th c.)
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.” . . .
בָּרֲכִי נַפְשִׁי | Preise ihn, meine Seele! | Barkhi Nafshi, a piyyut by Yehudah haLevi in abridged translation by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1835)
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. . . .
אֱלִי, רְפָאֵנִי וְאֵרָפֵא | Eli Refa’eni v’Erafé, the personal physician’s prayer of Rabbi Dr. Yehudah haLevi (ca. early 12th c.)
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. . . .
עֲקֵדַת יִצְחָק (מנהג הספרדים) | The invocation of Aqédat Yitsḥaq (the Binding of Isaac, Genesis 22:1-19) in the morning (minhag haSefaradim)
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. . . .
עֲקֵדַת יִצְחָק (אשכנז) | The invocation of Aqédat Yitsḥaq (the Binding of Isaac, Genesis 22:1-19) in the morning (nusaḥ Ashkenaz)
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 Ashkenaz. . . .