Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

original works transcription & naqdanuttranslation

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סדר תפילת השיר | Seder Tefilat haShir — the recitation of the Songs of Ascents before Shabbat and Festival services, as found in Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba and Minhag Kaffa

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown, Shlomo haMelekh ben David, David ben Yishai (traditional attribution)

Tefilat haShir refers to an ancient (perhaps dating back to the Temple era!) custom of reciting the fifteen psalms of ascents (Psalms 120 to 134) before Psuqei d’Zimra. First identified as a unique segment of the Eretz-Yisrael rite by Prof. Ezra Fleischer z”l, this custom was so beloved by the Jews who followed the western rite that long after the rest of its prayer traditions were abandoned it was preserved by the Western-rite Jews of Cairo (see Vered Raziel-Kretzmer, “How Late was the Palestinian Rite Practiced in Egypt?” Tarbiz 85 [2018], heb.) Tefilat haShir was preserved in variant forms in several other communities. For instance, it is found in the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba, published in 1560 for use of the Musta’aravi Jews of Aleppo. It is also found in the Krymchak variant of the Romaniote rite, also known as Minhag Kaffa. In both cases it would be recited exclusively on sabbaths and festivals. (Note that this was not the case in the old Eretz Yisrael rite, where it was a daily practice!) The Kaffa and Aram Ṣoba forms of the Tefilat haShir cycle are very similar, with a few differences in the introduction and the ending. Their core is the fifteen songs of ascents, interlaced with linking verses from elsewhere in Tanakh featuring a Leitwort (theme-word) related to the psalm. Both are included here, with color coding for substantial differences and footnotes to mark minor distinctions. In Minhag Kaffa, as printed in 1735, the Birkat haShir cycle is inserted after the morning Torah study cycle. In the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba, it is the beginning of the service, the first thing recited in the synagogue after monring blessings, and consequently inserted before the Torah study cycle.

בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר | Barukh shèAmar, alphabetic acrostic per the Old Romaniote Rite

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

A full alphabetical acrostic version of the Barukh shèAmar prayer, part of the uniquely complex old Romaniote-rite Psuqei d-Zimra liturgy as found in as found in the 1523 Venice printing of the Maḥzor Romaniote.

בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר | Barukh shèAmar, alphabetic acrostic piyyut from the Old Persian rite attested in JTS MS 4522

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

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.

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סדר תפילת השיר | Seder Tefilat haShir — the recitation of the Songs of Ascents before Shabbat and Festival services, as found in Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba and Minhag Kaffa

בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר | Barukh shèAmar, alphabetic acrostic per the Old Romaniote Rite

בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר | Barukh shèAmar, alphabetic acrostic piyyut from the Old Persian rite attested in JTS MS 4522

נִשְׁמַת כָּל חַי | Nishmat Kol Ḥai, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)

הָאֵל בְּתַעֲצֻמוֹת עֻזֶּךָ | ha-El b’Taatsumōt Uzekha, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)

וּבְמַקְהֲלוֹת | uvMaqhalōt, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)

שׁוֹכֵן עַד | Shokhen Âd, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)

תהלים צ״ב | Psalms 92, translated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

תהלים קל״ו | Psalms 136, translated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer