“Unglückliche Ehe (Unhappy Marriage)” was first published in Pereẓ (Peter) Beer’s Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion (1815), as teḥinah №39 on p. 127-129 where it was rendered in Judeo-German. The German rendering transcribed above follows teḥinah №39 in Henry Frank’s 1839 edition on p. 108-110. A variation can also be found in the Beer’s 1843 edition as teḥinah №40 on p. 107-109. . . .

The National Anthem of the United States of America with a Yiddish translation by Berl Lapin. . . .

“Bei muthmaßlicher Gefahr zur Verführung (In suspected danger of seduction)” was first published in Pereẓ (Peter) Beer’s Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion (1815), as teḥinah №66 on pp. 184-187 where it was rendered in Judeo-German. The German rendering transcribed above follows teḥinah №66 in Henry Frank’s 1839 edition on pp. 158-160. A variation can also be found in the Beer’s 1843 edition as teḥinah №67 on p. 157-159. . . .

The first anthology of teḥinot published in Judeo-German rather than Yiddish. . . .

A prayer composed for honoring Napoleon Ⅰ by the emancipated Jews of France. . . .

A speech given in honor of Napoleon concluding with a prayer by Abraham de Cologna, chief rabbi of the Central Consistory of Israelites, in 1809 on the anniversary of the emperor’s coronation. . . .

A prayer service for the Festival of Napoleon celebrating the Emperor’s birthday in 1808, included a novel prayer by Rabbi Jacob Nunes-Vais (1782-1812) for introducing the traditional prayer for the king, “hanoten teshua,” published in הוד מלכות (Hod Malkhut) Preghiere Recitate, E Cantate Nel Tempio Degli Ebrei Di Livorno, Il di 15. Agosto 1808. Ricorrendo Il Faustissimo Giorno Natalizio Di S. M. I., E R. L’ Augustissimo Napoleone I Imperatore De’Francesi, Re D’Italia, E Protettore Della Confederazione Del Reno. . . .

A prayer composed for convening the Grand Sanhedrin established under the court of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807. . . .

A prayer offered at the inaugural session of the Grand Sanhedrin (9 February 1807) by Rabbi David Sinzheim, as found in Italian in Raccolta degli atti dell’assemblea degli Israeliti di Francia e del regno d’Italia (1807), p. 21-23, and in French in Collection des Proces-verbaux er decisions du Grand Sanhedrin (1807), p. 23-25. . . .

This is a prayer composed by David Hizkiahu Baruch Louzada (1750–1825) for Jewish Militiamen in Suriname mustered in the event of Maroon attacks. . . .

The Birkat Habayit is perhaps the most popular blessing in the Jewish world, appearing as a hanging amulet inside the entrance of many houses of Jews of all streams. I have added niqud to the blessing and I am very grateful to Gabriel Wasserman for his corrections to my vocalization. . . .

A prayer by Rabbi David Sinzheim given during the Festival of Napoleon the Great on 15 August 1806, as recorded in Collection des Actes de l’Assemblée des Israélites de France et du Royaume d’Italie, pp. 218-219, and Raccolta degli atti dell’assemblea degli Israeliti di Francia e del regno d’Italia, p. 221. . . .

“Composed for the Day of Atonement during the Prevalence of the Yellow Fever in New York in 1803,” this prayer was likely composed by Abraham Mears Isaacks (1765-1815). It was published in the Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society number 20 (1911), p. 158, as submitted by Rebecca E. Mitchell, one of Isaacks descendants. . . .

The “Tkhine of the Gate of Tears” by an unknown author presented here derives from the Vilna, 1848 edition. I have transcribed it without any changes from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. If you can scan an image of the page from the edition this was copied from, please share it with us. . . .

A popular prophylactic amulet in the event of an epidemic. . . .

This is a prayer for the welfare of domesticated animals (behemot), specifically cattle. “Tefilat mashbit milḥamot v’ha-dever min ha-behemot” (HUC MS 465) was composed by an unknown author, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century, and possibly in a Jewish community in Italy. The text contains the following clues: 1) a prayer for a local Duke (instead of the Emperor Napoleon), 2) mention of warfare, and 3) mention of some variety of epizootic contagious disease among cattle. Rinderpest, known since ancient times, is the most likely candidate for the latter, especially in Italy in the 18th century (where it was first described by early veterinary science) but it was also in Europe following the defeat of Napoleon. While typhus and hoof-and-mouth disease are also possible, Dr. Susan Einbinder, who brought our attention to this prayer via a lecture on epidemic prayers for the HUC Klau Library, notes that the biblical reference to the “bellowing of the cattle” evokes the actual tortuous lived experience of the afflicted animals, and the suffering of their human minders, helpless to relieve them. The tragedy of rinderpest only ended in the 20th century after a concerted multi-national effort to eradicate the disease — one of the earliest modern multinational initiatives to improve the world. (A related disease, Ovine Rinderpest, first described in the 20th century, has not yet been eradicated and affects goats and sheep as well as cattle.) . . .

The shabbos table song “Yah Ekhsof No’am Shabbat” by Rabbi Aharon of Karlin, translated by Rabbi Morrison David Bial was first published in his anthology, An Offering of Prayer (1962), p. 29-30, from where this translation was transcribed. . . .

An interpretive translation of the shabbes hymn, Yah Ekhsof. . . .

In 1785 Friedrich Schiller wrote his ‘An die Freude an ode ‘To Joy’, describing his ideal of an equal society united in joy and friendship. Numerous copies and adaptations attest to its popularity at the time. The slightly altered 1803 edition was set to music not only by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Ninth Symphony but also by other composers such as Franz Schubert and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Hs. Ros. PL B-57 contains a Hebrew translation of the first edition of the ode (apparently rendered before the 1803 alteration), revealing that the spirit of the age even managed to reach the Jewish community in the Netherlands. Whereas the imagery of Schiller’s original is drawn from Greek mythology, the author of the שִׁיר לְשִׂמְחָה relies on the Bible as a source. In fact, he not only utilises Biblical imagery, but successfully avoids any allusion to Hellenistic ideas whatsoever. . . .

“Tkhine of the Matriarchs for the New Moon of Elul” by Rebbetsin Seril Rappaport is a faithful transcription of her tkhine published in Vilna, 1874, as re-published in The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. . . .