📖 A Second Passover Seder Plate with Seven Additions, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 14 Apr 2019 by
❧A Passover seder supplement containing seven additional symbolic foods and their associated ritual presentations, along with their collective organization on a second seder plate. . . .
קדיש יתום בלי מנין או אם לבד (אשכנז) | Abbreviated, Personal Mourner’s Ḳaddish for when Praying Alone or Without a Minyan (Nusaḥ Ashkenaz), by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 23 Sep 2019 by
❧This text takes the basic idea of the Baladi-rite ‘Brikh Shmeh d’Kudsha Brikh Hu’ and adapts it for the Askenazi nusach of the Kaddish. It can be used when praying alone wherever a minyan would say the entire Kaddish. It could also be recited by a community in unison out loud when it can’t make a minyan, to show that even if we don’t have a full minyan, we still welcome mourners as part of our community. . . .
אַהֲבָה תְּלַבְלֵב כְּמוֹ־פֶֽרַח | Ahava T’lavlev K’mo Peraḥ (Love blossoms like a flower) — a yotser for Tu b’Av by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 18 Aug 2024 by
❧A yotser for Tu b’Av, the first part of an intended cycle of yotsrot. A retelling of the list of reasons for Tu b’Av given in the Talmud, with repeated refrains from Psalm 45 for the alphabetical verses and the rest of the Tanakh for the name-acrostic choruses. Written in honor of my friend Eliran’s wedding. . . .
עַל־הַנִּסִּים לְיוֹם הָעַצְמָאוּת | Al haNissim for Yom ha-Atsma’ut, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 13 May 2024 by
❧This is an original Al haNissim paragraph for Yom ha-Atsma’ut, focusing on the actual reason for Zionism’s necessity — European antisemitism. As I put it when I wrote the first draft of this paragraph, “Zionism was necessary because of the Europeans. The original enemy of Israel’s independence was the European nations who wanted us assimilated or dead. Israel was not declared independent from the Arab world, it was declared independent from Britain, and I think we should remember that on Yom ha-Atsma’ut.” . . .
Alternative Haftarot for Those who Do Not Recite the Haftarot of Rebuke and Consolation
Contributed on: 29 Jun 2020 by
❧In all modern communities, the standard practice is that on the three Shabbatot before the Ninth of Av and the seven after it the standard haftarah is replaced. Before the Ninth of Av they are replaced with haftarot of rebuke, from Jeremiah and the opening of Isaiah, and after they are replaced with haftarot of consolation from the later parts of Isaiah. Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, though, preserves a very different custom, one where each one of those Torah portions has an associated haftarah, related not to the calendar but to the parashah itself. Here the editor has compiled a list of these haftarah readings, along with brief notes to explain their connection with the parashah. . . .
A Neo-Ḳabbalistic Amulet Against Dog Allergies, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 31 Oct 2022 by
❧An amulet to protect against dog allergies. Made for a relative with a bad dog allergy who was forced, for work reasons, to host an event featuring many dogs. Print on both sides and keep it in your pocket. Best if used with Zyrtec. . . .
An Ashkenazi-style Cantillation System For Ezra/Neḥemiah, Chronicles, and Daniel, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 19 Mar 2018 by
❧There are 24 books in the Tanakh. Of these, 21 (all but Psalms, Proverbs, and Job) share a grammatical system of cantillation marks, or te’amim. Of these 21, Ashkenazim have melodic traditions for reading eighteen of them. The Torah has its system, the prophets have the Haftarah system, the three festival scrolls have their shared system, and Esther and Lamentations have their own unique systems. But what of the three remaining books? . . .
An Ashkenazi-style Cantillation System for Job, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 23 Aug 2018 by
❧An Ashkenazi-style cantillation system for the Book of Job. . . .
An Ashkenazi-style Cantillation System for Proverbs, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 23 Aug 2018 by
❧An Ashkenazi-style cantillation system for the Book of Proverbs. . . .
An Ashkenazi-style Cantillation System for Psalms, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 23 Aug 2018 by
❧An Ashkenazi-style cantillation system for the Book of Psalms. . . .
בַּחֹדֶשׁ זִיו | Ba-Ḥodesh Ziv — a zulat for Pesaḥ Sheni, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 21 May 2024 by
❧A zulat for Pesaḥ Sheni. Each line begins with a word from Numbers 9:11 followed by a letter spelling out “Remember me for good, amen,” excepting the final five lines. The first of these concluding lines is the refrain from the ahavah for the same set, and the final four all begin with hei and transition into the berakhah. This zulat focuses largely on the Temple, where Pesaḥ Sheni offerings were held. . . .
ברכו בלי מנין או אם לבד (אשכנז) | Barkhu replacement for when Praying Alone or Without a Minyan (Nusaḥ Ashkenaz), by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 23 Sep 2019 by
❧This replacement barkhu arranges multiple Biblical verses in a catena. It is introduced and closed with verses from the book of Neḥemiah, verses often considered the source for the custom of calling to prayer. In between are poetic texts from the Song of Deborah and from Psalms that direct the term “Barkhu” — the plural imperative “Bless ye!” — at God. It could be recited alone in the location where the Barkhu would traditionally be recited, or said aloud in a community when no minyan is available. Alternatively, it could be used WITH a minyan as a text to introduce the Barkhu, a new step in of a line of poetic introductions to the service written for multiple generations. . . .
Poetic Birkat haMazon for a Zeved haBat Seudah, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 27 Jan 2022 by
❧After a brit milah meal, there are several poetic additions traditionally included in the Birkat haMazon. But for young daughters a brit milah isn’t going to happen. So this is a poetic Birkat haMazon to be recited after a Zeved haBat ceremony. . . .
ברכת המזון לסעודת סוף הצום לסיגד | Birkat haMazon for the break-fast meal of Sigd (29 Marḥeshvan)
Contributed on: 14 Aug 2021 by
❧This is a poetic Birkat haMazon, similar to those found in the Cairo Geniza, intended for this specific break-fast meal. The editor has included the text in Hebrew, English, and an attempted Liturgical Ge’ez translation. . . .
ברכת המזון לסעודה מפסקת לפני יום הכפורים | Birkat haMazon for the Pre-Fast Meal for Yom Kippur, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 10 Sep 2020 by
❧This acrostic poetic form of Birkat haMazon was written for the se’udah mafseqet (pre-fast meal) before Yom Kippur, in the manner of the poetic Birkat haMazon variants recorded in the Cairo Geniza. . . .
ברכת המזון לסעודה מפסקת ערב תשעה בעב | Birkat haMazon for the Seudah Mafseqet (Pre-Fast Meal) of Tishah b’Av, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 29 Jul 2020 by
❧A Birkat haMazon with additions for the pre-Fast meal of Tisha b’Av . . .
ברכת המזון לראש השנה לבהמה | Birkat haMazon Supplement for Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 18 Aug 2020 by
❧This is a poetic text for Birkat haMazon, signed with an alphabetical acrostic and the name of the author, to be recited on the first of Elul. It celebrates the variety of God’s creation as exemplified by the natural diversity of species, as well as alluding to the livestock tithes traditionally assigned on the first of Elul. . . .
בְּרַח דּוֹדִי | A B’raḥ Dodi for Pesaḥ Sheni, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 21 May 2024 by
❧The genre of B’raḥ Dodi piyyutim, a variety of geulah piyyut oriented around many Shir haShirim citations, is exclusively associated with Pesaḥ in Ashkenazi practice. Maḥzorim for Pesaḥ include B’raḥ Dodi piyyutim for the first two days and Shabbat Ḥol ha-Moed of Pesaḥ and nowhere else. So to reflect the themes of Pesaḥ Sheni, a B’raḥ Dodi piyyut is a great fit! . . .
Dukhening in a Musaf Amidah after a Heykhe Qedushah: a version of the concluding three blessings for Kohanim, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 06 May 2019 by
❧This text is a version of the concluding three blessings (Avodah, Hoda’ah, and Shalom) for kohanim to use during the silent Amidah of a festival Musaf where dukhening is, for one reason or another, impossible. . . .
אֶפְתַּח פִּי לְךָ אָדוֹן | Eftaḥ Pi L’kha Adōn, a seliḥah for Kristallnacht by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 19 Oct 2021 by
❧There’s a lot of controversy over Yom haShoah as a date. One of the key issues is this: traditionally, the ways Jews mourn communal tragedies is through establishing a fast day. It’s forbidden to fast during the month of Nisan. It’s hard to pick any specific date to commemorate a tragedy as enormous as the Shoah, but one which seems appropriate to me would be 16 Marḥeshvan, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the November Pogrom. This piyyut is a seliḥah for Kristallnacht, to be recited on 16 Marḥeshvan (or 15 Marḥeshvan on years like 5782 where the sixteenth falls on a Thursday). . . .
עֲנֵֽנוּ | Egalitarian Aneinu, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 24 Aug 2022 by
❧This is an egalitarian version of the Aneinu litany recited at the end of Seliḥot services, featuring equal representation for the women of the Tanakh and Talmud. . . .
אֵל קוֹל דְּמָמָה | El Qol D’mama — a piyyut for the end of Tishah b’Av by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 27 Jul 2023 by
❧This is an original piyyut, inspired by the structure of the beloved Yom Kippur Ne’ilah piyyut El Nora ‘Alila. In the era of the Sanhedrin, every fast day would have a Ne’ilah service between Minḥa and the conclusion of the fast. While these are no longer in practice for any days other than Yom Kippur, the editor personally feels like it could be worth bringing them back. As part of this idea, this piyyut is meant to be sung after the end of Tishah b’Av mincha but before the fast ends, as we prepare for the weeks of comfort. It is expressly *not* a qinah. . . .
אֶת־אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ הוֹצֵֽאתָ | Et Avotenu Hotseta — a yotser for Pesaḥ Sheni, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 21 May 2024 by
❧A yotser for Pesaḥ Sheni. Each stanza is written with a threefold acrostic — the first two lines in atbash, the third spelling “Yitsḥaq Har’el Ḥazaq,” and the fourth a verse from Numbers 9. . . .
אַרְבָּעָה בָּנִים | The Four Children — an alternative take by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 10 Apr 2024 by
❧This variation on the discourse of the four children in the Haggadah was (barring minor edits) first composed for my family’s experimental small-scale seder in 2019, my second time ever leading a seder. I had come to the conclusion that for a text whose entire ikkar is for the children to learn, the Four Children narrative shows some shockingly bad pedagogy. So I decided to write a subversive take on it, where I applied its framework to some of the most serious problems facing the Jewish community today, and the mainline Jewish community’s failings in dealing with them. . . .
📄 הַגָּדָה שֶׁלַּפֶּסַח הַשֵּׁנִי | Haggadah for Pesaḥ Sheni on the Evening of the 14th of Iyar, compiled by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 13 May 2019 by
❧A guiding text and haggadah for a Seder Pesaḥ Sheni. . . .
סִילְקָא דְּרָב הוּנָא | Items for the Second Seder Plate: Beets, after the rabbinic teaching of Rav Huna (ca. 3rd c.)
Contributed on: 18 Mar 2021 by
❧The color of beets, which never leaves our hands, symbolizes the teachings of the sages, which are still passed down. And the redness symbolizes the blood of the covenant, still there after all these years. . . .
כְּרֵשׁוֹת | Items for the Second Seder Plate: Leeks
Contributed on: 18 Mar 2021 by
❧An old Persian tradition involves hitting each other with leeks during the recitation of Dayenu. Nowadays this is replaced with a gentle tap with a scallion for safety reasons. . . .
קָפֶה בֵּית מַכְּסְוֶיל | Items for the Second Seder Plate: Maxwell House coffee
Contributed on: 18 Mar 2021 by
❧Why is this coffee different from all other coffees? Because Maxwell House coffee is a deeply spiritual representation of the Diaspora experience. . . .
כּוֹס לְמִרְיָם | Items for the Second Seder Plate: Miriam’s Cup of Water
Contributed on: 18 Mar 2021 by
❧Rabbi Yosi son of Rabbi Yehuda says: “Three good sustainers arose for Israel. These are they: Moses and Aaron and Miriam. And three good gifts were given because of them, and these are they: well, and cloud, and manna. The well was given in merit of Miriam… Miriam died and the well ceased, as it is written (Numbers 20:1-2) “And Miriam died there,” and it says right afterwards “and there was no water for the community.” . . .
פִּלְחֵי תָפּוּ״ז | Items for the Second Seder Plate: Orange segments, after the teaching of Susanna Heschel
Contributed on: 18 Mar 2021 by
❧In the early 1980s, while speaking at Oberlin College Hillel, Susannah Heschel was introduced to an early feminist haggadah that suggested adding a crust of bread on the seder plate, as a sign of solidarity with Jewish lesbians (suggesting that there’s as much room for a lesbian in Judaism as there is for a crust of bread on the seder plate). Heschel felt that to put bread on the seder plate would be to accept that Jewish lesbians and gay men violate Judaism like ḥamets violates Passover. So, at her next seder, she chose an orange as a symbol of inclusion of gays and lesbians and others who are marginalized within the Jewish community. She offered the orange as a symbol of the fruitfulness for all Jews when lesbians and gay men are contributing and active members of Jewish life. . . .
קְלִפּוֹת לֶפֶת | Items for the Second Seder Plate: Turnip peels, after the Holocaust remembrance of Pearl Benisch
Contributed on: 18 Mar 2021 by
❧Pearl Benisch… remembers Passover in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in the spring of 1945, just days before her liberation. . . .
כַּוָּנָה וּבְרָכָה עַל רְאִיַּת נְחִיל רֶמֶשׂ גָּדוֹל עַד־מְאוֹד | Kavvanah and Blessing for Observing a Massive Swarm of Creeping Things, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 22 May 2021 by
❧There are blessings for beautiful vistas, and there are blessings for powerful weather. But is there a blessing for giant swarms of bugs? Certainly! There just wasn’t a kavvanah for it… yet. Inspired by the appearance of Brood X in May 2021, this is a meditation and blessing for the unique experience of seeing an enormous number of non-dangerous insects. Cicadas are NOT a plague — they don’t eat crops or spread disease, but they do help revitalize the soil and keep forest ecosystems healthy. As a natural part of the universal order, we should work to see the divinity and goodness in them, even if we might normally think of them as gross. . . .
כִּי־לְךָ תֻּקְרָא כׇּל־בְּרָכָה | Ki Lᵊkha Tuqra Kol Bᵊrakhah, a macaronic poem for Yom Meturgeman by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 18 Dec 2023 by
❧This is a macaronic poem for Yom Meturgeman. Macaronic poetry is poetry in multiple languages at once. In this case, the languages reflected are Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino, and English, with a repeated Hebrew refrain. Each language is meant to rhyme with the colloquial Hebrew as it would be read — i.e. though the Yiddish doesn’t rhyme with the modern Hebrew pronunciation, it rhymes with the traditional Ashkenazi one. . . .
קדוש לסעודה מפסקת לפני יום הכפורים | Ḳiddush for the Seudah Mafseket before Yom Kippur, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 08 Oct 2019 by
❧A kiddush for the se’udah (feast) preceding Yom Kippur and its fast. . . .
לֹֽא־יַשְׁאִ֤ירוּ | Lo Yash’iru — an ofan for Pesaḥ Sheni, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 21 May 2024 by
❧An ofan for Pesaḥ Sheni in tripartite stanzas. Each stanza begins with a citation of Numbers 9:12-14, then an acrostic spelling out “the son of Avraham the priest, ḥazaq.” . . .
מָעוֹז צוּר | Maoz Tsur for Yom ha-Atsma’ut, a complete poetic translation with an added stanza for the State of Israel’s Independence Day by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 17 Apr 2023 by
❧This is a complete poetic rhyming translation of Maoz Tsur with all six of its stanzas including a seventh, final stanza written by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer specifically for Yom ha-Atsmau’ut. . . .
מִי שֶׁשָּׁכְנָה… הִיא תִּשְׁכֹּן עִמָּנוּ | Mē She’shakhna… Hē Tishkon Imanu – a plea for the Divine Presence to dwell with us in the name of biblical women by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 02 Oct 2017 by
❧There is a famous Seliḥot prayer where each of its lines has this structure: “May He who answered ___________, may he answer us.” The blank refers to assorted Biblical figures who faced great challenges, ranging from Avraham the Patriarch to Ezra the Scribe. The traditional list is also VERY male-focused, with the standard text only listing Esther from all the great Biblical women. This is a shame, and many have tried to remedy this. I have found myself under the opinion that all these remedies have a fault – they attempt to combine the original text with the new text. This means either the original text is shortened, or the full text is far too long. As well, the structure is very male-oriented as well, appealing to God’s male side and only using grammatically male language. . . .
💬 מגילת פורים קטן | Megilat Purim Qaṭan, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 15 Feb 2022 by
❧A megillah for reading on the 14th of Adar Alef (Purim Qatan) or the 15th of Adar Alef (Shushan Purim Qatan). Double the Adar, double the fun, so add to the list of Purim sheni megillot, this purely legendary tale riffing on what has become a very familiar post-Shabbes lunch/shabbes afternoon pastime among many Jews since the boardgame, “Settlers of Catan” came into being. . . .
💬 מְגִלַּת לִינְקוֹן | Megillat Lincoln, a Purim Sheni scroll for the 13th of Tevet commemorating the revocation of Ulysses S. Grant’s General Order № 11 (1862, 2020)
Contributed on: 24 May 2020 by
❧A megillah for a Purim Sheni commemorating a day of salvation the Jewry of the United States during the Civil War. . . .
💬 מְגִלַּת וָשִׁעְתּוֹן | Megillat Washiŋton, a scroll for Thanksgiving Day by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (1790, 2018)
Contributed on: 11 Nov 2018 by
❧In many Jewish communities around the world, there have been traditional scrolls read for “local Purims,” celebrating redemptions for a specific community. Here in America, we don’t really have an equivalent to that. But we do have Thanksgiving, a day heavily inspired by Biblical traditions of celebration, and one long associated with all that is good about America. Some Jewish communities have a tradition on Thanksgiving of reading Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, where he vows to support freedom of religion, famously writing that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” – thus rephrasing words originally written in a prior letter by Moses Seixas (say-shas), the sexton of the Touro Synagogue in Newport. This text includes the original English of both Moses Seixas’ letter to Washington and Washington’s return, as well as a somewhat simplified version of the story of Washington’s visit to Newport. Inspired largely by the style of the Book of Esther, it could be read on Thanksgiving morning during the service, using Esther melodies (or going on detours as per personal choice). . . .
מִי שֶׁעָנָה…הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ | Mi she’Anah…Hu Ya’anenu :: A Star Trek Seliḥah, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 19 Aug 2018 by
❧A derivation of the popular piyyut for the Yamim Noraim, “Mi She’anu” which references the archetypal characters of the Star Trek paracosm. . . .
מי שברך למיני פשעי שנאה | Mi sheBerakh for Hate Crimes and Bigotry, by Isaac Gantwerk-Mayer (2017)
Contributed on: 09 Nov 2017 by
❧From resurgent neo-fascist movements to religious extremist attacks, hate crimes are on the rise all over the world right now. At times like this many people live in fear – fear of being attacked or maligned, physical, mental or emotional. Hatred is not new to the Jewish people, but traditionally it was considered “just the way it is.” As Americans, we should believe better. The midrash (Devarim Rabbah 5:10) says that hateful speech kills three – the speaker, the listener, and the subject. This Mi Sheberakh was written as a prayer for all those of every people and nation that are affected by hatred and bigotry. . . .
מי שברך לאסונות טבע | Mi sheBerakh for Natural Disasters, by Isaac Gantwerk-Mayer
Contributed on: 09 Nov 2017 by
❧A Mi Sheberakh prayer for those affected by natural disasters. This prayer uses many standard liturgical phrases in a new context to stress that God, while full of great power, is not a God of destruction but one of peace and life. Quoting the famous vision of Elijah at Ḥorev, this prayer is for those who seek comfort and tranquility from their God. . . .
מִי שֶׁבֵּרָךְ לִמְקַבְּלֵי שֵׁם אֱמֶת אַחַר אִשּׁוּר מְגַדְּרִי | Mi sheBerakh for those receiving a true name after gender confirmation, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 03 Sep 2019 by
❧A Mi sheBerakh prayer, in the manner of those used during the Torah service, to honor those receiving a true Hebrew name reflecting their gender after undergoing gender confirmation. . . .
מי שברך לעגונות | Mi sheBerakh to Support Agunot and Call Get Refusers to Account, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 22 Aug 2019 by
❧This prayer, following the structure of the Mi Sheberakh supplications during the Torah service, is meant to call get refusers to account, by name, and make a statement that their behavior is evil and will not be tolerated. . . .
דָּג לְמִרְיָם | Items for the Second Seder Plate: Miriam’s Fish, recorded by Rav Sherira Gaon in 10th-century Iraq
Contributed on: 18 Mar 2021 by
❧A millennium-old tradition, recorded by Rav Sherira Gaon in 10th-century Iraq. He would always have three cooked foods on the seder plate. The egg, a product of the birds of the sky, a sign of renewal and rebirth, represented Moses, the law, the heavens, and the revelational aspects of faith. The shankbone, a product of the animals of the field, a commemoration of the original Pesaḥ sacrifice, represented Aaron, the priesthood, the earth, and the ritual aspects of faith. And the fish, representing the constant flowing nature of water, represented Miriam, prophecy, the waters, and the spiritual aspects of faith. . . .
מודים דרבנן בלי מנין או אם לבד (אשכנז) | Modim d’Rabbanan Replacement for when Praying Alone or Without a Minyan (Nusaḥ Ashkenaz), by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 23 Sep 2019 by
❧This text uses the passage for the Askenazi nusach of the Modim d’Rabbanan and incorporates it into an extended version of the Modim, slightly editing it so as to fit more appropriately and so as not to repeat the word “modim” (which is forbidden on the grounds of appearing, ḥas v’shalom, to pray to multiple deities—see Berakhot 33b). It was first written for a separate project by the editor (https://opensiddur.org/prayers/lunisolar/musaf/dukhening-in-a-musaf-amidah-after-a-heykhe-qedushah-by-isaac-gantwerk-mayer/) but here it can be found alone. It can be silently recited when praying alone or after a heykhe kedusha, to replace the first paragraph of the Modim prayer. . . .
שָּׁבוּעַ שֶׁל אַחְוָה לְאֻמִּית | National Brotherhood Week (in Israel), an adaptation of Tom Lehrer’s song by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 09 Apr 2024 by
❧A satirical look at contemporary Israeli civil society in Hebrew and English, as adapted from Tom Lehrer’s sardonic “National Brotherhood Week” (1965). . . .
📄 סֵדֶר סִימָנִים לְרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה – שִׁכְתּוּב אַנְגְּלִי שֶׁשּׁוֹמֵר לָשׁוֹן־שֶׁנּוֹפֵל־עַל־לָשׁוֹן | Order of Simanim for Rosh haShanah — an English paraphrase that preserves wordplay, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 10 Sep 2020 by
❧Many communities have a custom of reciting “simanim” on the night of Rosh haShanah — invocations on a series of foods punning over their Hebrew or Aramaic names. This is an assortment of common simanim, along with English loose translations that preserve the punning aspects of the foods. . . .
סדר ספירת הין | Order of the Counting of the Hin (in a parallel universe), by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 06 Jun 2022 by
❧Scene: the Technion Institute, midnight. A physics graduate student accidentally opens a portal to another timeline. The portal remains open just long enough for someone on the other side to pass a siddur through. Mostly the siddur looks very familiar, but there are a few things odd about it. The following is the first of several uploads the editor is planning that reflect this parallel universe, wherein all Judaism is conducted according to the rabbinic norms of our universe, except for two things. Firstly, the festivals of wine-offering and wood-offering as described in the Temple Scroll of Qumran were included as part of scripture. And secondly, the custom of writing the Tetragrammaton in Paleo-Hebrew is preserved. Anyway this is a count of the fifty days after the wine-offering festival, in which the new oil is gathered from the tribes of Israel to the Temple. The instructions say only half a hin of oil per tribe, which suggests that by “tribe” something more akin to “family group” is meant, since a total of six hin wouldn’t be enough for the Temple to function. . . .