A Ladino pizmon recited on Shabbat evenings, “El Disho Ke Bueno Era” retells the events of the seven days of creation.

A very old Western Sephardic table-song, mentioned as early as the 18th century in Livorno and possibly even older, this ballad retelling the story of Purim is sung to the tune of “Akh Zeh Hayom Kiviti.” It is related to the briefer Haketia-language song “Haman mamzer el malo.” Also included are literal and singable English translations.

Barukh shèAmar for Shabbat and festivals, in the Old Persian rite, as recorded in MS Adler 23 ENA in the JTS Library. The Old Persian rite shows some fascinating unique linguistic features. The first thing that immediately strikes one is its tendency towards poetic extensions and doublings, even in texts (such as the Avot blessing) where most other rites are almost completely uniform. It also shows some nonstandard vocalizations that appear to be influenced by the Babylonian system of vocalization. In modern Persian communities the standard rite is a variation of the Sephardic rite used throught the Mizraḥi world, but this older rite with its unique facets deserves to be preserved as well. This Barukh shèAmar is an intricate rhyming acrostic chock full of Biblical references.

The Italian rite, unique among Jewish rites, has preserved up until very recently the custom recorded in the Talmud, Masekhet Tagnanith, for communally declared fast days. In this rite, sometimes referred to as the Twenty-Four Blessings, six more blessings are added to the liturgy — the Zikhronot and Shofrot portions more commonly recited on Rosh haShanah, and four different psalms, all interspaced with a poetic litany on behalf of the ancestors’ merit and shofar blasts. I had previously transcribed the version of this liturgy as found in the Goldschmidt Mahzor Roma. But this version below is different, including a more complex variation in the ancestors’ merit passages, as well as relevant Biblical passages for each one. It is found in Vat. Ross. 499, a 1446 manuscript of the Italian rite with a lot of very interesting liturgical content in it.

A personal petition in rhymed prose from the introduction to Vat. Ross. 499, an Italian-rite maḥzor from the year 1446 with a lot of very cool liturgical content in it. Frankly, the title drew me in.

This somewhat crude Purim song is sung in many variants in the Moroccan and Gibraltar Sephardic communities, often to the tune of the popular Purim hymn “Akh Ze Hayom Kiviti.”

This is a pizmon for Shabbat Shirah (Parashat B’Shalaḥ) by an unknown author. The text is as transcribed from the pizmonim included in the siddur משמרת הקדש: קול שומר שבת Mishmeret haQodesh: Qol Shomer Shabbat (Pisa 1821), p. 117.

This is a faithful transcription of the text of the medieval Megillat Yehudith (the Scroll of Judith), not to be confused with the deutero-canonical Book of Judith, authored in Antiquity. We have further set this text side-by-side with the English translation made by Susan Weingarten, and vocalized and cantillated the Hebrew so that it may be chanted.

This is an English translation of Maoz Tsur published by The Hebrew Standard for their 1893 Ḥanukkah issue (vol. 29, no. 12, New York, Friday, 8 December 1893 — 29 Kislev 5654). The Hebrew Standard was one of the biggest English-language Jewish papers in America around the turn of the twentieth century, generally taking a more traditionalist line than the Reform papers and a more moderate line than the leftist ones. This translation, simply titled “Chanukah”, unfortunately goes unattributed in the pages of The Hebrew Standard. The translation follows an ABABCCDD rhyme scheme (for those unfamiliar with rhyme scheme notation, this is the same rhyme scheme as “The Star-Spangled Banner“), unlike the Hebrew’s ABABBBccB.

This Purim song, popular among the Sephardic and Italki communities of Livorno, can be sung to the melody of “Akh, Zeh Hayom Kiviti.” Like a lot of Italian Purim content, a large portion of it is listing different desserts.

The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Holy Children, one of the apocryphal Additions to Daniel, is an interpolation into the third chapter of the book of Daniel. The editor has here included a new vocalized and cantillated edition of the Aramaic text preserved in the 12th century Divrei Yeraḥmiel (Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11 transcribed by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster). The language of this passage is an odd synthesis of Targumic, pseudo-Biblical Aramaic, and even some Syriac forms, so the editor’s vocalization is aiming for a happy medium of all the possibilities.

This is the first of six reshuyot for the first sabbath of rebuke, Shabbat Divrei, the first Sabbath of Rebuke after 17 Tammuz. It is the first reshut recited before Nishmat at the outset of the Shaḥarit service.

This reshut by Shmuel (possibly Shmuel haNagid, although it is not found in his diwan) is the third of six reshuyot for the first sabbath of rebuke, Shabbat Divrei, the first Sabbath of Rebuke after 17 Tammuz. It is the third and final reshut recited before Nishmat at the outset of the Shaḥarit service.

This reshut is the fourth of six reshuyot for the first sabbath of rebuke, Shabbat Divrei, the first Sabbath of Rebuke after 17 Tammuz. It is recited before the Ḳaddish prior to Barkhu and the blessings before the Shema of the Shaḥarit service.

This reshut is the fifth of six reshuyot for the first sabbath of rebuke, Shabbat Divrei, the first Sabbath of Rebuke after 17 Tammuz. It is recited before Barkhu and the blessings before the Shema of the Shaḥarit service.

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.

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..

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.

The custom of reciting BaMeh Madliqin, the second chapter of Mishnah Shabbat, on Friday nights probably originated as an anti-Karaite polemic. While the Karaites were opposed to any use of fire on Shabbat, rabbinic Jews kindle lights before Shabbat, and the recitation of BaMeh Madliqin — the laws of Shabbat lights — emphasized this distinction. One of the best firsthand sources we have for this is the following introductory blessing from the Cairo Genizah (T-S NS 299.150 verso) for the recitation of BaMeh Madliqin, first published by Naftali Wieder in this article. This blessing emphasizes the continuity of the Torah both written and oral from Sinai to the sages and elders.

A blessing before the recitation of psalms, used in the old Eretz Yisrael rite as found in the Cairo Geniza. Since its structure is similar to the blessing before the haftara which is often cantillated, I have taken the liberty of adding psalmodic cantillation to the text.