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

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🆕 שֵׁשׁ כְּנָפַֽיִם | Shesh Kenafim — an ofan piyyuṭ for Shabbat Bereshit by Shlomoh ben Yehudah haBavli

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Shlomoh ben Yehudah ha-Bavli

This is the ofan piyyuṭ for Shabbat Bereshit by Shlomo haBavli, with English rhyming acrostic translation and a new rhyming acrostic translation in English. Less commonly recited in Minhag Polin, It is found in Sefer haMinhagim of R. Isaac Tyrnau.

🆕 אֵל נִשָּׂא | El Nisa — a yotser piyyuṭ for Shabbat Bereshit (both Minhag Ashkenaz and Polin), by Shlomo ben Yehudah ha-Bavli

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Seligman Baer, Shlomoh ben Yehudah ha-Bavli

An anonymous piyyuṭ, inserted into Nishmat Kol Ḥai, which, in the old Worms rite (as well as, according to some commentators, the Mainz rite), was recited on Shabbat Bereshit and day 1 of Shavuot. It describes God being clad in the ten midrashic divine garments at creation, the giving of the Torah, and the defeat of enemies.

On cantillating deutero-canonical works, from Sefer haGalui by Saadia Gaon (ca. 10th c.)

Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Alexander Harkavy (translation), Saadiah ben Yosef Gaon

A passage from Rav Saadia Gaon’s Sefer haGalui providing a description and justification of the practice of cantillating works outside the TaNaKh (in the Geonic period!)

אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא יֵין עָסִיס | Asher Bara Yayin ‘Asis — a Poetic Extension of the Blessing over Wine for the Passover Seder (ca. 9th c.)

Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

The following piyyut seems to have been customarily used in some Babylonian communities as an extensive replacement for the “creator of the vine-fruit” opening of the kiddush. Rav Saadia Gaon forbade it for being an alteration of the talmudic formula, but his successor Rav Hai Gaon permitted it for its cherished status. No communities today have preserved a custom of reciting it, but in 1947 Naphtali Wieder (zçl) published a text he found in the Cairo Geniza, which is replicated and translated below. Daniel Goldschmidt (zçl) suggests that it may be in it of itself a compilation of two different rites. The conjunction point is marked below with a black line.

תרומה הבדילנו | T’rumah Hivdilanu (A Gift Distinguished Us) — A Poetic Ḳiddush for the Pesaḥ Seder, according to two of its nusḥaot (ca. 9th c.)

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

Rav Saadia Gaon lists three additions to the Seder Pesaḥ which he considers not necessary, but acceptable. This is the first, a poetic version of the Kiddush. Interestingly enough, it is still recited in many Yemenite communities, which are in general less likely to incorporate poetic sections to their liturgy. Here it is recorded and translated into English according to two nusḥaot — that recorded in the siddur of Rav Saadia (marked in blue), and that recorded in modern Yemenite texts (marked in red). In cases where only the spelling differs rather than the meaning, the editor generally went with Rav Saadia as the older variant.

אתה גאלת | Atah Ga’alta (You Redeemed Our Ancestors), a Poetic Rendition of the Blessing of Redemption in the Pesaḥ Seder (ca. 9th c.)

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

Rav Saadia Gaon lists three additions to the Seder Pesaḥ which he considers not necessary, but acceptable. This is the third, a poetic insert of the blessing of redemption known as Ata Ga’alta. In the form of an alphabetical acrostic, this poem is still recited in many eastern communities including the Babylonians, Persians, and Yemenites, and was a feature of the the old Kaifeng rite. Here it is recorded and translated into English according to the nusaḥ of Saadia Gaon, with notes in several locations for additional phrases used in some customs.

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