Qedushta Additions for the Public Repetition of the Amidah on Sigd, adapted from the original liturgical texts by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is a Hebrew adaptation of the poems traditionally recited by the Beta Israel community for the festival of Sigd, altered and adapted to fit the traditional qedushta form of poetic Amidah additions. The texts of the first few prayers were rewritten substantially and combined with relevant verses so as to fit in the strict form of the magen, mehaye, meshalesh, and El Na. After this, the qiqlar is slightly edited to fit a couplet rhyme scheme, while the silluq (the freest of the genres of qedusha piyyut) is almost entirely preserved — the only change being several verses whose placement is postponed so as to better lead into the qedusha as a silluq should. Regarding translations, the silluq largely uses my original translation with slight alterations (replacing the clunky use of ‘God’ as a pronoun with a gender-neutral THEIR, translating the Agaw passages into Latin rather than English to preserve general comprehensibility while clarifying that this is a different language), while the rest of the poems are different enough for their translation to largely be from scratch. These would be recited with the Ark open for all the piyyutim, as one would on the Yamim Noraim, ideally using melodies from the Sigd liturgy. . . .
אַקְדָּמוּת מִלִּין (לַפּוּרִים) | Aqdamut for Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)
Contributed by: Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is the Aqdamut for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Aramaic into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
הוֹשַֽׁעְנוֹת לַפּוּרִים | Hosha’not for Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)
Contributed by: Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is the Hosha’not for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Aramaic into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
נְעִילָה לַפּוּרִים | Ne’ilah for Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)
Contributed by: Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is the Ne’ilah for Purim (a parody of the last two paragraphs of the Ne’ilah confession) by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Aramaic into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
הַקָּפוֹת לַפּוּרִים | Haqafot for Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)
Contributed by: Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is the Haqafot for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Hebrew into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
פזמון בשעת המגפה ח״ו | Pizmon for a time of plague (God forbid!), by Rabbi Moses Mendels (ca. early 17th c.)
Contributed by: Mosheh ben Yeshayah Menaḥem Bachrach, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This seliḥah, “Moshel ba-Elyonim Atah Yadata,” was written by Rabbi Mosheh ben Yeshayah Menaḥem Bachrach during an epidemic. It is included in the Seliḥot of Posen, Krakow, Prague, Worms, and Alsace. The text here was transcribed from the Siddur Kol Bo, vol. 3 (1923), p. 33. . . .
מִי כָמֹֽכָה לְשַׁבָּת שֶׁל חֲנֻכָּה | Mi Khamokhah l’Shabbat shel Ḥanukkah (a Mi Khamokha piyyut for the Shabbat of Ḥanukkah) — by Israel Najara
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Yisrael Najara
This is a Mi Khamokha piyyut by Yisrael Najara for Shabbat Ḥanukkah retelling Megilat Antiokhos in a lengthy fourfold acrostic with each stanza ending in בוֹ. . . .
אֲנָא אַתְקֵינִית | Ana Atqenit (I am the one), a piyyut in Aramaic for introducing the first commandment as read in the Targum
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Ana is a poem for the first commandment, that discusses all that God did for the ancestors. . . .
אַרְעָא רַקְדָא | Ar’a Raqda (And the Earth Danced), a piyyut in Aramaic for introducing the Decalogue as read in the Targum
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
“Ar’a Raqda,” a piyyut read directly before the Ten Commandments in the Targum, uses wedding imagery and language from the Shir haShirim to paint Sinai as a ḥuppah. . . .
אֱלֹהִים בְּעָלֽוּנוּ | Elohim B’alunu — a seliḥah on the York massacre of 1190 by Joseph ben Asher of Chartres (trans. Isaac Gantwerk Mayer)
Contributed by: Yosef ben Asher (of Chartres), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This seliḥah poem, written by R. Joseph of Chartres, commemorates the martyrdom of approximately 150 Jews in Clifford’s Tower, York, England, in the year 1190. A summary of the events of 1190, sometimes referred to as “the English Masada,” can be found here. Like many medieval Jewish poems about massacres, Elohim B’alunu carefully treads the line between assuming guilt and declaring innocence. This poem, interestingly enough, directly calls out the person seen by R. Joseph of Chartres as ultimately responsible — the crusader King Richard Ⅰ. Beloved in Christian memory, this radical zealot of a king has a much darker, more horrific reputation among Jewish and Muslim groups. . . .
הפטרה לחג השבועות ביום השני | Haftarah reading for the Second Day of Shavuot (Ḥabaquq 2:20-3:19) with its Targum and the piyyut Yetsiv Pitgam by Rabbeinu Tam (ca. 12th c.)
Contributed by: Yaaqov ben Meir, Yonatan ben Uziel, the Mesorah (TaNaKh), Ḥabaquq haNavi, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The haftarah for the second day of Shavuot, Ḥabakkuk 2:20-3:19, interspersed with a cantillated text of the Targum Yonatan ben Uzziel. Since Targum Yonatan is a bit more drash-heavy than Targum Onkelos, it is translated separately as well. The haftarah reading includes the piyyut Yetsiv Pitgam, with an acrostic rhyming translation of the poem, with the second-to-last verse restored to its rightful place, as well as a concluding paragraph for the meturgeman to recite, as found in the Maḥzor Vitry. . . .
אַבְנֵי יְקָר | Avnei Y’qar — a Ḥanukkah piyyut attributed to Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
“Avnei Y’qar” is a succint piyyut for Ḥanukkah, traditionally attributed to R. Abraham ibn Ezra, and particularly beloved by the Yemenites. Interestingly, it doesn’t mention the miracle of the oil whatsoever, focusing on the degradation of the land under Greek occupation as well as the Hasmonean victory itself. Included is a poetic acrostic translation into English. . . .
Maaravot for the first night of Shavuot, by Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils
Contributed by: Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The maaravot-cycle of piyyutim for the first night of Shavuot, by Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils. In normative maaravot fashion, it is one extended cycle with an overarching structure (the first words of each of the Ten Commandments) throughout the whole of the kriat shema, with additional piyyutim incorporated into the first blessing after the shema. . . .
יוֹם הַבִּכּוּרִים | Yom ha-Bikkurim, the bikkur piyyut for the first day of Shavˁuot in the Old French and Romaniote Rites
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A “bikkur” piyyut traditionally added at the end of Hashkivenu for Shavˁuot in the Old French (and Maḥzor Vitry) and Romaniote rites. From the acrostic we know the author was named Yosef ben Yaˁakov. Other than that we know very little about this poem’s origin and age, although its structure fits with the early Ashkenazi piyyut oeuvre. . . .
קרובות לראש שנה לאילנות | Ḳerovot for Tu biShvat, by Yehudah ben R’ Hillel haLevi (ca. 11th c.)
Contributed by: Yehudah ben Hillel haLevi, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Ḳerovot for Tu biShvat, a celebration of Divine verdancy, which namedrops a stunning array of flora from throughout the land of Israel. . . .
אִזֵל מֹשֶׁה | Izel Mosheh (Arise, Moses) — a piyyut for the Seder Meturgeman of the 7th Day of Pesaḥ
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This piyyut, Izel Moshe (Arise, Moses), the fifth in a series of Aramaic piyyutim from the seventh day of Pesaḥ, is meant to be recited after the second verse of the song proper, as an elaboration on God’s strength. The English translation preserves the Hebrew acrostic of the original. . . .
אֱלָהָא עָלַם | Elaha Alam (Ageless God) — a piyyut for the Seder Meturgeman of the 7th Day of Pesaḥ by Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans (ca. 11th c.)
Contributed by: Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This piyyut, Elaha Alam (Ageless God), the fourth in a series of Aramaic piyyutim from the seventh day of Pesaḥ, is meant to be recited after the first verse of the Song of the Sea proper as an introduction to the targum of the text. . . .
אֲבוּנָן דְּבִשְׁמַיָּא וּבָרְיַן | Abunan D’biShmaya (Our Parent in Heaven) — a piyyut for the Seder Meturgeman of the 7th Day of Pesaḥ by Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans (ca. 11th c.)
Contributed by: Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This piyyut, Abunan D’biShmaya (Our Parent in Heaven), the second in a series of Aramaic piyyutim from the seventh day of Pesaḥ, is meant to be recited after the fifth verse of the first aliyah (or second verse of the second aliyah on Shabbat). . . .
אִילּוּ פּוּמֵּי נִימֵי | Ilu Pume Nima (If Our Mouths Were Thread) — an introductory a piyyut for the Seder Meturgeman of the 7th Day of Pesaḥ by Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans (ca. 11th c.)
Contributed by: Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This piyyut, Ilu Pume Nima (If Our Mouths Were Thread), the first in a series of Aramaic piyyutim from the seventh day of Pesaḥ, is meant to be recited after the first verse of the first aliyah, as an introduction or ‘reshut’ to the seder meturgeman as a whole. . . .
קרובות למוסף שבת שקלים | Ḳerovot for Musaf Shabbat Sheqalim
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The traditional Ashkenazi qerovot added to the Musaf repetition for Shabbat Sheqalim, alongside a new gender-neutral translation . . .