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.

A pizmon (a seliḥah with a refrain, to be recited aloud) recited in the Sephardic rite for the seventeenth of Tammuz, Elohei Yeshuatenu, like most seliḥot for that day, features stanzas for each of the five tragedies that occurred on the day. But what’s unique about it is the legend of its author. This piyyuṭ is signed with the name Andreas, the signature of the legendary Jewish Pope Andreas, whose popular story can be found throughout the Jewish world.

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.

Im Afes Rova’ ha-Qen, an Aqedah (poetic retelling of the binding of Isaac) written by the 12th-century scholar R. Ephraim ben Isaac of Regensburg, is one of the few piyyuṭim of Ashkenazi origin to have a beloved place in the Sephardic liturgy. (Much more commonly things go the other way.) In current Sephardic practice it is recited every single weeknight in the month of Elul, as part of the seliḥot liturgy — as well as on the second day of Rosh haShanah. It is also recited in most Ashkenazi Seliḥot liturgies — in the Bohemian and Lithuanian customs on the fast of Gedaliah, and in the Polish custom on the fourth day of the ten days. Which means that not only is this Ashkenazi piyyuṭ beloved by Sephardim, it is substantially *more* beloved by Sephardim than it is by Ashkenazim! And as with any beloved piyyuṭ, it has been translated into the colloquial for all the people to appreciate its language. The following is not only the complete Hebrew text of Im Afes along with a new English translation, but also a rhyming Ladino translation composed by R. Reuven Eliyahu Yisrael, the spiritual leader of the Sephardic community of Craiova, Romania, and published in the aforementioned town in the year 1910 (in טראדוקסייון ליברי די לאס פואיזיאס איבראיקאאס). To demonstrate the techniques used by R. Yisrael in his translation, a literal translation of the Ladino, as well as a transcription into the Latin-script Aki Yerushalaim orthography, is also provided.

This is a transcription of “Amarer b-Vekhi,” a seliḥah for the 17th of Tammuz by Menaḥem ben Makhir. The German translation by an unknown translator can be found in סידור שפה ברורה Tägliches Gebetbuch der Israeliten für das ganze Jahr (B.L. Monasch, Krotoschin: 1845), pp. 405-407.

A seliḥah for the seventeenth of Tammuz, the second piyyuṭ recited in the Eastern Ashkenazi custom for that day, written by Menachem ben Machir, an eleventh-century German paytan. This was first translated in 2005 for a summer event with the European Academy for Jewish Liturgy.

This is a transcription of “Atanu l’Kha Yotsér,” a seliḥah for the 17th of Tammuz of unknown authorship found in 13th century Ashkenazi manuscripts and translated by Isaac Seligman Baer in הסליחות לכל השנה: לפי מנהג האשכנזים Ha-Seliḥot le-khol ha-shanah: le-fi minhag ha-Ashkenazim (1865), pp. 558-561..

This is a transcription of “Shə’éh Neèsar,” a seliḥah for the 17th of Tammuz by Shlomo ibn Gabirol and translated by Isaac Seligman Baer in הסליחות לכל השנה: לפי מנהג האשכנזים Ha-Seliḥot le-khol ha-shanah: le-fi minhag ha-Ashkenazim (1865), pp. 566-569.

“ben Adam Mah Lekha Nirdam,” of unclear origin, is the opening piyyuṭ of the Sephardic seliḥot service every morning. Drawing a parallel between the literal slumber from which the petitioner has just awoken and the metaphorical slumber of sin, it serves as a fitting introduction to the early morning liturgy. As with any piyyuṭ in such a prominent place, of course, has been translated into the colloquial for all the people to appreciate its language. The following is not only the complete Hebrew text of Ben Adam Ma Lekha Nirdam along with a new English translation, but also a rhyming Ladino translation composed by R. Reuven Eliyahu Yisrael, the spiritual leader of the Sephardic community of Craiova, Romania, and published in the aforementioned town in the year 1910 (in טראדוקסייון ליברי די לאס פואיזיאס איבראיקאאס). To demonstrate the techniques used by R. Yisrael in his translation, a literal translation of the Ladino, as well as a transcription into the Latin-script Aki Yerushalaim orthography, is also provided.

Recited in many Sefaradi and other non-Ashkenazi rites for the seventeenth of Tammuz, this piyyuṭ, like many 17 Tammuz seliḥot, has a stanza for each of the five tragedies discussed in the mishnah. It is here included alongside an acrostic translation.

Traditional Ashkenazi practice entailed the recitation of a large number of seliḥot piyyutim in every single one of the Yom Kippur ‘amidot. In many Ashkenazi communities today, these are (excepting Ma’ariv and Ne’ilah) skipped on account of time. But this has always felt like a great shame to me, because seliḥot are, in a sense, the theological and liturgical core of the Yom Kippur practice. So a while back I made a bunch of spreadsheets to compare all the attested Yom Kippur seliḥot rites as listed in Goldschmidt’s maḥzor, and designed an abbreviated cycle of seliḥot for Shaḥarit, Musaf, and Minḥah. Each cycle features two regular seliḥot, one ‘aqedah (a retelling of the binding of Isaac), and one pizmon (a final seliḥah with a repeated refrain, sung communally), for a total of four seliḥot and five repetitions of the thirteen attributes. This is the first result of this process, for Shaḥarit. Musaf and Minḥah selections will arrive eventually, albeit probably not this year.