Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

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💬 מְגִלַּת הַפּאָװִדלָא | Megilat Povidl (Shir haMa’alot l’David) — a Purim Sheni scroll for the 10th of Adar liberation of David Brandeis (Powidlpurim) in 1731

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Moritz Grünwald (translation), David Brandeis

The megillah for Plum-Jam Purim or Powidlpurim, a family Purim celebrated by the Brandeis family of Bumsla, Bohemia (Czech: Mladá Boleslav; German: Jungbunzlau) on 10 Adar to commemorate David Brandeis’ liberation from prison on trumped-up charges of poisoning. First published along with a German translation and some genealogical notes in Magazin für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums, vol. 15, 1888. According to Chef/Rabbi Gil Marks z”l, the celebration of Plum-Jam Purim was the origin of prune hamantaschen as a concept — prior to 1731 all hamantaschen had a poppy seed filling!

Six Questions for the Seder Night, as recalled by Paul Christian Kirchner in his Jüdisches Ceremoniel (Nuremberg, 1717)

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Paul Christian Kirchner (translation)

Born into Judaism, Paul Christian Kirchner was baptized a Christian in 1713. In 1717, he first published the word “Jüdisches Ceremoniel” or “Jewish Ceremony,” for which he is most well known — a firsthand recollection (and, to be honest, criticism) of Jewish practices throughout the year and life cycle. While the work is written by an apostate for a Christian audience, and thus it is certainly not an unbiased source — and it had been almost a decade since he left the community so some of his memories are a bit muddled — it is still a fascinating work if only for its depiction of Jewish practices otherwise forgotten. In this portion of Kirchner’s description of the Seder night, he describes a ritual somewhat similar to the one still practiced in many North African communities to this day along with six — count ’em, six! — questions asked by the eldest (‽) child to the father.

קְדוּשְׁתָּאוֹת לְשַׁבָּת הָחֹֽדֶשׁ | Qedushtaot for Shabbat HaḤodesh, by Elazar ben Qallir

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Elazar ben Qallir

The complete qedushta cycle for Shabbat HaḤodesh by Qallir, including all the catenae of verses, repeated refrains, and additional rahitin often skipped in Ashkenazi practice. Alphabetical texts are translated with alphabetical acrostics.

יחץ (מנהג גרבא) | Liturgical Additions for Yaḥats, in the practice of the Jewish community of Djerba

Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

In many communities, the practice of Yaḥats, or breaking the matsah before maggid, is done with liturgical and ritual additions. The additions included here are one practice out of many variants as found in the practice of Djerba, the island off the coast of Tunisia.

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