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. . . .
כִּי בוֹ יִשְׁתֶּה צַדִּיק תָּמִים | Ki Vo Yishteh Tsaddiq Tamim, a parody of Yom Zeh Mekhubad by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)
Contributed by: Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is a parody riffing on the piyyut Yom Zeh Mekhubad 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. . . .
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. . . .
יוֹם פּוּרִים | Yom Purim, a parody of Yom Shabbaton by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)
Contributed by: Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
“Yom Purim” is a parody riffing on the piyyut Yom Shabbaton 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. . . .
יְצִיב פִּתְגָם לַפּוּרִים | Yetsiv Pitgam 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 a parody riffing on the piyyut Yetsiv Pitgam 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. . . .
כׇּל־מְקַדֵּשׁ פּוּרִים | Kol Meqadesh Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)
Contributed by: Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is a parody riffing on the piyyut Kol Meqadesh Shevi’i 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. . . .
אַזְכִּיר מַעֲשֵׂה ה׳ | Azkir Ma’aseh Hashem — a Purim Sheni piyyut of Tripoli for the Shabbat preceding the 29 of Tevet, by Avraham Khalfon
Contributed by: Avraham Khalfon, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
In North Africa, a unique custom developed of reciting a Mi Khamokha v-Ein Kamokha piyyut, inspired by the famed Shabbat Zakhor work of Yehuda haLevi, on the Shabbat before a local Purim (a celebration of community’s deliverance from destruction). This piyyut, written by R. Avraham ben Rafael Khalfon, was recited on the Shabbat before 29 Tevet in the community of Tripoli, to celebrate the victory of the Karamanlid dynasty over the despotic usurper Ali Burghul (after events transpiring from 1793-1804). . . .
יָהּ הַצֵּל יוֹנָה | Yah Hatsel Yonah (Shelter, God, the Dove), complete poetic translation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Yah Hatsel Yonah is a traditional piyyut for Ḥanukkah, of unknown origin (although it spells out the name Yehuda as an acrostic). Beloved in Iraqi Jewish circles, it discusses the hope that Israel, likened to a dove, will be able to celebrate Ḥanukkah during a time of true redemption. Included is a relatively literal (but de-gendered) translation, as well as a poetic singable one. . . .
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. . . .
אַדִּיר לֹא יָנוּם | Adir Lo Yanum — a Sefaradi piyyut for weddings and Torah-reading days
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
According to Joseph Judah Chorny’s On the Caucasian Jews, this acrostic piyyuṭ was customarily used as an epithalion before a wedding. He writes, “Before morning light, the bride is led to the groom’s house accompanied by many women and men, all carrying lit wax candles in their hands, and singing this song along the way.” Variants of this piyyut are found throughout the greater Sephardic world, generally in an abbreviated and slightly altered form. In Syria it is sung during the haqafot for Simḥat Torah, while in Livorno Sephardic practice (and subsequently in most Eastern Sephardic maḥzorim) it is a Shavu’ot piyyut. . . .
כתובה לחג השבועות | Ketubah for Shavuot, by Yisrael Najara (ca. 16th c.)
Contributed by: Yisrael Najara, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
In many eastern Sephardic and Mizraḥi communities, there is a custom that a poetic “ketubah,” or marriage-contract, is recited before the Torah service on Shavuot. This custom, based on the midrashic idea that the Torah is the ketubah for the marriage between the bride Israel and the groom God, is beloved by the ḳabbalists. By far the most commonly used Shavuot ketubah is that of the great paytan and meḳubal Yisrael ben Moshe Najara, who wrote the following some time in the sixteenth century. This is a new translation of Najara’s poem. . . .
כָּאנְדְרִי נְדְרִיהוּם | אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Kaanₔdri Nₔdrihom — a Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (Darija) adaptation of Eḥad Mi Yodeaȝ
Contributed by: Unknown (translation), Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (Darija) adaptation of the Passover counting song Eḥad Mi Yodeaȝ, as found in Mahzor Moȝadé Hashem. . . .
קיו סציאַס אונו? | אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Kiu Scias Unu? — an Esperanto translation of Eḥad Mi Yodéa by Erin Piateski (2010)
Contributed by: Erin Piateski (translation), Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
A translation of Ḥad Gadya into Esperanto by Erin Piateski with a Hebraicization schema for Esperanto by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. Piateski’s translation first appeared in her כוכב ירוק הגדה של פסח | Verda Stelo Hagado de Pesaĥo (2010). . . .
קְי ווֹלְירַה קְי אְינטְינדְירַה | אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Che volera, che entendera — a Judeo-Sienese translation of Eḥad Mi Yodea
Contributed by: Unknown (translation), Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
Eḥad Mi Yodéa is a counting-song that is a beloved part of Seders the world over. Counting up to 13, it is mostly written in Hebrew, but there are versions that can be found in many different languages. This translation is in the Judeo-Italian dialect of Siena, based on Geremia Mario Castelnuovo’s 1956 recording from Leo Levi’s collection of Judeo-Italian ethnomusicological recordings. A link to the original recording can be found here. . . .
חַד מָה יוּדָא | אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Ḥad Mah Yuda :: Who Knows One?, a counting-song in Aramaic translation
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
The text of the popular Passover song “Who Knows One?” in Hebrew set side-by-side with an Aramaic translation. . . .
אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Якумин кӣ медонад | Yakumin Ki Medonad :: a Bukhori (Judeo-Tajik) Translation of Eḥad Mi Yodea by Rabbi Shimon ben Eliyahu Hakham (1904)
Contributed by: Shimon ben Eliyahu Hakham, Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
Eḥad Mi Yodéa is a counting-song that is a beloved part of Seders the world over. It is mostly written in Hebrew, counting up to 13, but there are versions that can be found in many different languages. This translation is in Bukhori, also known as Judeo-Tajik, as translated by the great Shimon ben Eliyahu Ḥakham (1843-1910), the chief rabbi of the Bukharan Jewish community in Jerusalem. His full translation of all liturgical additions in the month of Nisan for the Bukharan community can be found in חוקת הפסח Ḥuqat haPesaḥ (1904) – the source for this transcription on page 128-130 (see included). Shimon Ḥakham transcribed it into vocalized Hebrew script, which is included here alongside transliterations into Tajik Cyrillic and a Roman transcription. . . .
אונו קאַפּרידאָ | חַד גַּדְיָא | Unu Kaprido — an Esperanto translation of Ḥad Gadya by Erin Piateski (2010)
Contributed by: Erin Piateski (translation), Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
A translation of Ḥad Gadya into Esperanto by Erin Piateski with a Hebraicization schema for Esperanto by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. Piateski’s translation first appeared in her כוכב ירוק הגדה של פסח | Verda Stelo Hagado de Pesaĥo (2010). . . .