Contributed by: Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Perhaps Megillat Antiokhus could be read a la Esther on Purim (the holiday with the most similarities), going to Eicha trope in the upsetting parts. A few notes: on the final mention of Bagris the Wicked I included a karnei-farah in the manner of the karnei-farah in Esther. I also included a merkha kefulah in the concluding section, which (according to David Weisberg’s “The Rare Accents of the Twenty-Eight Books”) represents aggadic midrash material. It also serves as a connection to the Chanukah haftarah, which is famously the only one that has a merkha kefulah. –Isaac Mayer
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown
The story of Yiftaḥ, or Jephthah, is read as the haftara for Parashat Ḥuqqat. However, in most practices the end of the story is not read. This is probably because it is horrific — because of Yiftaḥ’s foolish vow, he sacrifices his own daughter! Unlike the story of Isaac, there is no angel, no last-minute salvation. The knife falls, the girl dies. That would be bad enough, but the daughter of Yiftaḥ isn’t even named in the text! The text of Biblical Antiquities, traditionally albeit incorrectly attributed to Philo of Alexandria, is one of the more interesting and under-studied deuterocanonical works. Almost certainly written in Hebrew but preserved in its entirety only in Latin, it is an example of the genre of “rewritten Bible,” a proto-midrashic genre also found in texts such as Jubilees. It is the earliest source for a substantial number of legends that became part of the midrashic canon — from Abraham’s casting into the furnace to Dinah’s marriage to Job. And it has a unique tendency to elaborate on the stories of women in the Bible. In the case of Yiftaḥ’s daughter, Biblical Antiquities gives her three things she deserves: agency, a song, and a name. Agency, because she is a willing participant in the process of sacrifice, encouraging her father to go through with it and leaving the sages speechless. A song, because she laments the fact she will die a virgin. And a name — in the Latin text, Seila. In the Hebrew, Sheila, “asked for.”
Contributed by: Jospeh Ziegler (translation), Emmanuel Tov (Hebrew reconstruction), Septuagint/ⅬⅩⅩ (translation), Barukh ben Neriyah, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The book of Barukh (also, Baruch and Barouch) in its reconstructed Hebrew vorlage from verse 1:1 till 3:8.
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The Apostrophe to Zion is an alphabetical acrostic poem, directed at Zion in the second person. It has been found in multiple locations in Qumran, including the Great Psalms Scroll 11QPsa as well as another fragmentary scroll in 4Q88. It was considered a regular part of their psalmodic canon.
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
This is the Song of Miriam from a parabiblical (or pseudo-biblical) attestation in 4Q365, as reconstructed by scholars based on the work of largely based on the work of Dr. Ariel Feldman, and with addition lacunae filled in by Issac Gantwerk Mayer. Isaac also vocalized, cantillated, and translated the test according to Masoretic norms, and provided a rendering of the text styled according to the Shirat ha-Yam as reproduced by scribes in the Masoretic tradition.
💬 בן סירא מב:כא-מג:לא | ben Sira 42:21-43:31, a hymn of creation translated by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan
Contributed by: Mordecai Kaplan, Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Ecclesiasticus (ben Sira) 42:21-43:31 is presented as “God the Lord of Nature” in The Sabbath Prayer Book of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (The Reconstructionist Foundation 1945), p. 376-372 in the Supplements subsection, “God in Nature.” The text of Ben Sira used here differs in places found in other manuscripts.
Contributed by: Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The end of the scroll of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) reconstructed from Cairo Geniza fragments not contained within the Septuagint.
Contributed by: Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The poem lauding the ancestors from Chapters 44 to 50 of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) is considered by many scholars to be the original influence for the Yom Kippur Avodah service, and the paean to Shimon the Righteous bears a striking similarity to the beloved piyyut “Mar’eh Khohen.” This passage from Ben Sira, the great paean on the merit of the ancestors, takes the Hebrew text of one of the Cairo Geniza manuscripts — Bodleian MS Heb e62 — and versifies it according to the standard Septuagintal text, along with vocalization and cantillation per the standard Masoretic EMe”T system for poetic books. It could be read on Yom Kippur for the avodah service, or just studied as a fascinating piece of Jewish history.

