Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

original works transcription & naqdanuttranslation

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יוֹנָה נִכְאָבָה | Yonah Nikhavah — reshut №6 from the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Divrei, by Yehudah ha-Levi

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

This reshut, by Yehuda haLevi, is the sixth of six reshuyot for the first sabbath of rebuke, Shabbat Divrei, the first Sabbath of Rebuke after 17 Tammuz. It is recited before the Torah Service after the public repetition of the Shaḥarit Amidah.

עַד־אָן צְבִי מֻדָּח | ʼAd-an Tsvi Mudaḥ — reshut №5 from the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Shim’u, by Yehudah ha-Levi

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

This is the reshut offered before the shaḥarit Torah service on Shabbat Shim’u, by Rabbi Yehuda haLevi.

אֲשַׁחֵר עֲדָתִי | Ashaḥer ʼAdati — reshut №6 from the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Shim’u, by Yehudah ha-Levi

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

Shabbat Shim’u is, in most years, the sabbath before Rosh Ḥodesh Av. In years where Shabbat Shim’u falls on Rosh Ḥodesh Av itself, this reshut would be recited on Shabbat Divrei instead, because the Shabbat blessing of the new moon happens before the new moon and not on it.

יוֹם לְיַבָּשָׁה | Yom le-Yabashah (The Day On Which to Dry Land) — a geulah piyyut for the 7th day of Pesaḥ and Shabbat Shirah by Yehudah haLevi (early 12th c.)

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

Originally written by Yehuda haLevi for the seventh day of Pesaḥ, Yom le-Yabasha — a celebration of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds and the establishment of the covenant as signified by the circumcision and tsitsit — it quickly became a beloved piyyut on that occasion and more.

הֲלַנֹּפְלִים תְּקוּמָה | Halanofəlim Tequmah — reshut №4 from the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Ḥazon, by Yehudah ha-Levi

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

“Halanofelim Tequmah” is the second reshut offered before Nishmat at the outset of Shaḥarit (concluding the Zemirot). It is the fourth reshut among the reshuyot in the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Ḥazon — the final shabbat before 9 Av.

יְדִיד עֶלְיוֹן | Yədid ‘Elyon — an ahavah piyyuṭ for Parashat ‘Éqev by Yehudah ha-Levi

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

An original rhyming translation of the ahavah piyyut for Shabbat ‘Éqev, a poem by Yehuda haLevi that discusses the halakhot of making and wearing tefillin in honor of the fact that tefillin are mentioned in the parashah.

אִמְרוֹת הָאֵל טְהוֹרוֹת | Imrot ha-El Ṭ’horot — a meorah piyyuṭ for days on which the Decalogue is recited, by Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

A meorah — a piyyuṭ to be inserted before the ḥatima of the first blessing of the Shema’ — by the great payṭan Yehuda haLevi. This piyyuṭ was traditionally recited in eastern Ashkenazi communities on Shabbat Yitro and VaEtḥanan, the two Shabbatot where the Ten Commandments are read. Some also included it on the first day of Shavuot for the same reason.

מִי כָמֽוֹךָ וְאֵין כָּמֽוֹךָ | Mi Khamokha v’Ein Kamokha, a retelling of Megillat Esther in a piyyuṭ for Shabbat Zakhor by Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi (ca. 11th c.)

Contributed by: Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

The poem Mi Khamokha v-Ein Khamokha, an epic retelling of the book of Esther in verse, was written for Shabbat Zakhor, the Shabbat before Purim, by the great paytan Yehuda ben Shmuel haLevi. It was originally written as a “geulah,” meant to be inserted into the prayer after the Shema in place of the verse beginning with “A new song…” But later Sephardic poskim ruled that it was forbidden to insert piyyutim into the Shema blessings, so in the communities that recite it today it is generally either read after the Full Kaddish as an introduction to the Torah service, or (for instance, in most Spanish and Portuguese communities) within the verse “Kol atzmotai tomarna” in the Nishmat prayer. Wherever you include it in your service, it’s a beautiful and intricately rhymed piyyut, and surprisingly easy to understand at that. It is presented here in a gender-neutral translation with all the Biblical verses cited, alongside a new translation that preserves the fourfold acrostic, two alphabetical and two authorial. –Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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