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

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קְדוּשְׁתָּאוֹת לְשַׁבָּת שְׁקָלִים | Qedushtaot for Shabbat Sheqalim, by Elazar ben Qallir

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

The complete qedushta cycle (colloquially called “yotzros,” although it is not technically yotzrot but rather qerovot) for Shabbat Sheqalim by Qallir, including all the catenae of verses and repeated refrains often skipped in Ashkenazi practice. Alphabetical texts are translated with alphabetical acrostics.

אֵרָשֶׁה אֱרֹשׁ רַחֲשׁוֹן | Erasheh Erosh Raḥashon — a reshut for the Ṭal liturgy by Elazar ben Qallir

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

Qallir’s reshut for the Ṭal service on the first day of Pesaḥ. Also included is an acrostic English translation, as well as the catena of verses found in manuscripts but missing from most modern printings

בּױגעזאנג | Baugesang (Building Song): an alphabetical Yiddish adaptation of the piyyuṭ Adir Hu (1769)

Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

This Western Yiddish alphabetical adaptation of Adir Hu is first found in the 1769 Selig Haggadah, under the name of “Baugesang” (meaning Building Song). It grew to be a beloved part of the Western Ashkenazi rite, to the point where the traditional German Jewish greeting after the Seder was “Bau gut,” or “build well!”

אַזְכִּֽירָה יָמִים עִם יָמִים | Azkira Yamim Im Yamim, a piyyuṭ for the First Shabbat of Admonition by Rabbi Yannai (ca. early 6th c.)

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

The works of the great paytan Yannai were, with the exception of a small handful of poems, almost completely lost until their rediscovery in the Cairo Geniza. This poem, an acrostic comparison of the days of Moses and Jeremiah, was written by Yannai to serve as part of the Musaf Ḳedushah on the first Shabbat after 17 Tammuz, on which the opening section of Jeremiah is recited. It bears structural and linguistic similarities to the later famous ḳinah Esh Tuqad. In its liturgical context, it was intended to introduce the final few verses of the Ḳedushah . Nowadays the custom of poetic inserts into the ḳedushah is nearly extinct, but the poem stands as a moving and powerful work nonetheless.

אֲשֶׁר בִּגְלַל אָבוֹת בָּנִים גִּדֵּל | Asher Biglal Avot Banim Gidel — an archaic piyyuṭ on Mosheh’s Death for Simḥat Torah

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

This piyyut of unknown authorship is certainly ancient, showing the lack of a rhyme scheme characteristic of the REALLY old piyyutim (see also Aleinu or El Adon). It is still found in some Ashkenazi and Teman maḥzorim, with many different mostly minor variants (which have been combined together somewhat eclectically into one text here). It is presented here along with an English translation attempting to preserve the Hebrew acrostic. Originally it was recited before the Ashrei leading into musaf, but perhaps for those who follow Ashkenazi customs a more appropriate location would be as an introduction to the Yizkor service on Shmini ‘Atzeret — which for those who don’t keep second-day yontef is the same day. It could also be adapted as part of the liturgy for the seventh of Adar, although the final verse (the old Western rite berakha for finishing a full Torah cycle) would have to be elided.

אַצִיתוּ לִי אִילָנַיָּא | Atsitu Li Ilinaya | The Argument of the Trees — a debate-poem for Purim in Aramaic from the Targum Sheni

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

This Aramaic poem, written in the early Byzantine era by an unknown author, can be found in its entirety within the Targum Sheni for Esther 7:9. It features an argument between an assortment of trees over which one is required to bear the great dishonor of having to be the one to hold Haman. It’s also chock-full of anti-Christian polemic and references to Toledot Yeshu.

אַשְׁרֵי יוֹשְׁבֵי בֵיתֶךָ | Ashrei Yoshvei Veitekha (Psalms 145), an alphabetical English translation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Contributed by: the Mesorah (TaNaKh), David ben Yishai (traditional attribution), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

Why is Ashrei such a beloved part of the service? Partially it is because of its alphabetical structure, making it perfect for communal reading. This translation attempts to preserve this in an English equivalence.

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