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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. . . .
אִמְרוֹת הָאֵל טְהוֹרוֹת | Imrot ha-El Ṭ’horot — a meorah piyyut for days on which the Decalogue is recited, by Yehuda ben Shmuel haLevi
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi
A meorah — a piyyuṭ to be inserted before the ḥatima of the first blessing of the Shema’ — by the great payṭan Yehuda haLevi. This piyyuṭ was traditionally recited in eastern Ashkenazi communities on Shabbat Yitro and VaEtḥanan, the two Shabbatot where the Ten Commandments are read. Some also included it on the first day of Shavuot for the same reason. . . .
🆕 חֲנַנְיָה מִישָׁאֵל וַעֲזַרְיָה | Ḥanaiah, Mishael, and Azariah — a piyyut for the Seder Meturgeman of Shavuot
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Meir ben Isaac Nehorai of Orléans, Unknown
This piyyut, “Ḥanaiah, Mishael, and Azariah,” was originally written to be recited as an introduction to the targum of the Second Commandment, the prohibition on worshiping other gods. It is a dispute-poem retelling the story of Ḥanaiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three “holy children” of Daniel chapter 3 who would rather be thrown into an oven than worship an idol. It’s an intricate multi-part acrostic that I absolutely love. (I also am partially convinced it may be influenced by the apocryphal “Song of the Three Holy Children,” if not in context then in the idea of an extensive poem related to their story.) Since the original poem’s acrostic only goes halfway through the alphabet, the great Meir bar Isaac Nehorai of Orleans wrote a continuation that is also included here. . . .
