מי שברך לשלום המדינה | Mi sheBerakh for the Peace of the State of Israel, by the Masorti Movement in Israel
Contributed by: the Masorti Movement in Israel, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This prayer for the peace of the nation, first published in the siddur VeAni Tefillati (second edition, page 133), was circulated by the Masorti Movement in Israel on social media on 1 August 2024, amidst increased anxieties over impending retaliatory strikes by Iran and its proxy armies in Lebanon and elsewhere. . . .
ברכת המזון לשבת א׳ דנחמתא (נחמו) | Birkat haMazon additions for Shabbat Naḥamu
Contributed by: Anonymous, Aharon N. Varady (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Supplemental prayers for the Birkat Hamazon on Tisha b’Av, Tu b’Av, and Shabbat Naḥamu. . . .
בִּרְכַּת הָאִילָנוֹת | The Blessing of Flowering Fruit Trees in the Spring Season in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Contributed by: Jacob Chatinover (translation), David Seidenberg, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
When the spring (Aviv) season arrives, a blessing is traditionally said when one is in view of at least two flowering fruit trees. In the northern hemisphere, it can be said anytime through the end of the month of Nissan (though it can still be said in Iyar). For those who live in the southern hemisphere, the blessing can be said during the month of Tishrei. . . .
תפילה על מת בהמה או חיה מחמד | Prayer on the Death of a Beloved Animal, by Aharon Varady (1994)
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A prayer for a beloved animal first compiled in English by Aharon N. Varady for Nethaniel Puzael, his family’s cat, in 1994. . . .
💬 The Rainbow Haftarah by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1993)
Contributed by: Jack Kessler (trōpification), Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Arthur Waskow, Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality, the Shalom Center, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A declaration in 1993 by Rabbi Arthur Waskow in response to the impending danger of global warming and other ecotastrophes brought about by the callous harm of human industry and land use decisions. Translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. . . .
“Just Walk Beside Me” (לֵךְ פָּשׁוּט לְצִדִּי | امشي بجانبي | נאָר גיין לעבן מיר), lines from an unknown author circulating in 1970; Jewish adaptation with translations in Aramaic, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Arabic
Contributed by: Moshe Tanenbaum, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Variations of the original three lines culminating with “…walk beside me…” first appear in high school yearbooks beginning in 1970. The earliest recorded mention we could find was in The Northern Light, the 1970 yearbook of North Attleboro High School, Massachusetts. In the Jewish world of the early to mid-1970s, a young Moshe Tanenbaum began transmitting the lines at Jewish summer camps. In 1979, as Uncle Moishy, Tanenbaum published a recording of the song under the title “v’Ohavta” (track A4 on The Adventures of Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men, volume 2). . . .
סדר אל־תוחיד | Seder al-Tawḥid for Rosh Ḥodesh Nissan
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The project page for the transcription and translation of the Seder al-Tawḥid for Rosh Ḥodesh Nissan. . . .
שיר מזמור לפורים | Shir Mizmor l’Purim, an anti-Prohibition drinking song for Purim by Rabbi Sabato Morais (1889)
Contributed by: Sabato Morais, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This “Shir Mizmor l’Purim” by Rabbi Sabato Morais (we think) was first published in The Jewish Exponent on 15 March 1889. It was preserved by Rabbi Sabato Morais in his ledger, an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. . . .
שריך לינקאלען | Memorial Prayer for Abraham Lincoln, by Isaac Goldstein haLevi (1865)
Contributed by: Abe Katz (translation), Isaac Goldstein, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Exalted are you Lincoln. Who is like you! You were highly respected among Kings and Princes. All that you accomplished you did with a humble spirit. You are singular and cannot be compared to anyone else. Who among the great are like Lincoln? Who can be praised like you? . . .
אֵין אַדִּיר כַּיְיָ (מִפִּי אֵל) | Ayn Adir kAdonai | לָא קָאדִּר סַוָא אַלְלָה (There is none like Allah), minhag Cairo variation with a Judeo-Arabic translation
Contributed by: Akiva Sanders (translation), Unknown (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is a variation of Mipi El in Hebrew with a Judeo-Arabic translation found in the Seder al-Tawḥid for Rosh Ḥodesh Nissan, compiled by Mosheh Asher ibn Shmuel in 1887 in Alexandria. . . .
אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Unum (est &) quis scit? | Eḥad Mi Yode’a, a Latin translation of the counting song by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The text of the popular counting song “Who Knows One?” in its original Hebrew, with a translation in Latin. . . .
חַד גַּדְיָא | Unum hœdulum — a Latin translation of Ḥad Gadya by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A Latin translation of the popular Passover song, Ḥad Gadya. . . .
תפילה להפך – מאבן בֹחן | Prayer for Transformation, from the poem “Even Boḥan” by Rabbi Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir (1322)
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (translation), Nir Krakauer (translation), Steven Greenberg, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A prayer by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus ben Meir that appears in his poem ספר אבן בוחן, יג Sefer Even Boḥan (§13), describing the author’s wish to have been born a Jewish woman. . . .
אַדִּיר בִּמְלוּכָה | Adir Bimlukhah, the piyyut in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The text of the popular piyyut “Adir Bimlukhah” (a/k/a “Ki lo na’eh”) in Hebrew, with a Latin translation. . . .
💬 דָּנִיֵּאל וְהַתַּנִּין | Daniel vs. the Dragon, according to the Judeo-Aramaic text found in Divrei Yeraḥmiel, vocalized and cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Moses Gaster, Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Daniel’s battle with the Dragon, one of the apocryphal Additions to Daniel, is affixed to the end of the book in the Septuagint. 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. (In several locations Divrei Yeraḥmiel uses incorrect Hebrew-specific forms, probably due to scribal error. These are here marked as a qere-ketiv split.) . . .
אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם (מנהג הספרדים במזרח) | Adōn Olam (Ladino translation from the Sidur Tefilat Kol Pe, 1891)
Contributed by: Unknown (translation), Shlomo ibn Gabirol, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The Seder Tefilat Kol Peh was printed in 1891 in Vienna, and features a full Ladino translation of the entire siddur. The Ladino translation here is found on the left side of pagespread №145. Along with a full transcription of the Ladino text, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer has also prepared a full romanization of the Ladino. . . .
אֶזְכְּרָה מָצוֹק | Ezkerah Matsōk (“I remember the distress”), a seliḥah for the Fast of Tevet attributed to Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils (11th c.)
Contributed by: David Asher (translation), Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
“Ezkera Matsok” (I remember the distress) is a seliḥah in alphabetic acrostic recited on the Fast of Tevet in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ minhag Polin. . . .
אוֹמֶץ גְּבוּרוֹתֶיךָ | Omets G’vuratekha, a piyyut by Eleazar ben Qalir for the second night of Pesaḥ in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Elazar ben Killir, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The piyyut, Omets G’vurotekha by Elazar ha-Qalir, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel. . . .
דַּיֵּנוּ | Daiyenu, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The piyyut, Dayenu, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel. . . .
אַדִּיר הוּא | Adir Hu, the acrostic piyyut in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The alphabetic acrostic piyyut, Adir Hu, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel as found in his translation of the Pesaḥ seder haggadah, Liber Rituum Paschalium (1644). . . .