💬 “A Parable Against Persecution,” a pseudepigraphal text written by Benjamin Franklin (1755)
Contributed by: Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Written by future founding father Benjamin Franklin in 1755, “A Parable Against Persecution,” also known as “the 51st Chapter [of Genesis],” is an example of what is often called ‘pseudo-biblicism,’ a trend from the 1740s to the mid-19th century of writing modern events in the already-archaic style of the King James Bible. More strictly, “A Parable Against Persecution” is an example of pseudepigrapha in that it is meant to be read as part of the book of Genesis, telling a story of Abraham facing a non-coreligionist, acting rashly, and learning a lesson about religious tolerance. Already in 1755 we can see Franklin’s radically liberal religious views. . . .
מַא כְׄבַּר הַדִׄה | Ma Khəbar Hādhih, a Yemenite Judeo-Arabic Elaboration on the Four Questions
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
In Yemenite practice, directly after the four questions are recited the youngest literate person at the table reads a brief Judeo-Arabic passage, here transcribed per the Yemenite transliteration system (wherein gimel dagesh = j and qof = g) and translated into Arabic and Hebrew. Instructional notes say this passage is “for the benefit of women and toddlers,” the two main classes of people who would have not had access to Hebrew education at the time. . . .
יָהּ הַצֵּל יוֹנָה | Yah Hatsel Yonah (Shelter, God, the Dove), complete poetic translation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Yah Hatsel Yonah is a traditional piyyut for Ḥanukkah, of unknown origin (although it spells out the name Yehuda as an acrostic). Beloved in Iraqi Jewish circles, it discusses the hope that Israel, likened to a dove, will be able to celebrate Ḥanukkah during a time of true redemption. Included is a relatively literal (but de-gendered) translation, as well as a poetic singable one. . . .
יום טוב של קהל קדוש קארפינטראס ל״ט בחדש ניסן | Poetic Additions for 9 Nisan, for when guards protected the Jews of Carpentras from an attempted pogrom — by Rabbi Mordecai Astruc (1682)
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Unknown, Mordecai Astruc
The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. Here’s a series of piyyutim for the ninth of Nisan in Carpentras. On 9 Nisan 5442 (17 April 1682), the gentile murderer of a Jew from Carpentras was drowned according to law. A mob began to form to attack the Jews for deigning to not be murdered. The rector of the comtat, Michele Antonio Vibò, decided to send guards to protect the Jews from the mob. This decision was celebrated by the Jews with multiple piyyuṭim and a full recitation of Hallel. Uniquely for the minor Purims analyzed in the Seder ha-Tamid so far, we know the author of one of these piyyutim, a sage and payṭan by the name of R. Mordecai Astruc! . . .
אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim for the victims of the Chmielnicki massacre (1648-1649), composed in memory of Yəḥiel Mikhel ben Eliezer, the Martyr of Nemyriv (ca. late 17th c.)
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
One of the most prominent martyrs in the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648–1649 was the kabbalist and sage Yəḥiel Mikhel ben Eliezer ha-Kohen, known to posterity as the Martyr of Nemiryv. This unique poetic El Malei Raḥamim was said in his honor, and communities that fast on 20 Sivan still recite it to this day. . . .
🆕 Judeo-Italian couplets for each course of the Passover Seder (Venice, 1609)
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
A series of fourteen short couplets describing the fourteen traditional stages of the Haggadah, written in Judeo-Italian and first published in the famous 1609 Venice Haggadah of Isaac Gershon. The Italian used in the Venice Haggadah lacks a lot of the most divergent aspects of the Judeo-Italian languages, sticking to a more mainline Tuscan grammatical norm, but there are enough obsolete, poetic, or dialectal forms that several footnotes have been included to explain them. Also included is an original English-language rhyming translation! . . .
📄 מעריב ליל שבת לפי נוסח פרס העתיק | Maariv for the Sabbath Evening according to the Ancient Persian Rite
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
This is a transcript and translation of the Maariv service for Shabbat evening in the Old Persian rite, as recorded in MS Adler 23 ENA (https://hebrewbooks.org/20923) in the JTS Library. The Old Persian rite shows some fascinating unique linguistic features. The first thing that immediately strikes one is its tendency towards poetic extensions and doublings, even in texts (such as the Avot blessing) where most other rites are almost completely uniform. It also shows some nonstandard vocalizations that appear to be influenced by the Babylonian system of vocalization. In modern Persian communities the standard rite is a variation of the Sephardic rite used throught the Mizraḥi world, but this older rite with its unique facets deserves to be preserved as well. This is part 1 of a planned series of transcripts and translations from MS Adler 23 ENA. . . .
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. . . .
פזמון בשעת המגפה ח״ו | Pizmon for a time of plague (God forbid!), by Rabbi Moses Mendels (ca. early 17th c.)
Contributed by: Mosheh ben Yeshayah Menaḥem Bachrach, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This seliḥah, “Moshel ba-Elyonim Atah Yadata,” was written by Rabbi Mosheh ben Yeshayah Menaḥem Bachrach during an epidemic. It is included in the Seliḥot of Posen, Krakow, Prague, Worms, and Alsace. The text here was transcribed from the Siddur Kol Bo, vol. 3 (1923), p. 33. . . .
💬 מְגִלַּת סָארַגוֹסָא | Megillat Saragossa — a Purim Sheni scroll for the 17th of Shəvat commemorating the deliverance of Aragonese (or Sicilian) Jewry
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
The Megillat Saragossa (also known as the Megillat Syracusa) in Hebrew and English, named after the tale of rescue and reversal of fortune in the cultural memory of some Sepharadi communities, to be read on the 17th of Shəvat. . . .
לכה דודי (נוסח אחר) | A different version of Lekhah Dodi found in R’ Moshe ibn Makhir’s Seder haYom (1599)
Contributed by: Mosheh ben Yehudah ibn Makhir, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A different version of the poem Lekhah Dodi according to the book Seder haYom by R. Moshe ibn Makhir of righteous blessed memory, vocalized and translated into English by Isaac Mayer. . . .
💬 מְגִלַּת סֶבַּאצְטִיָין | Megillat Sebastiano — a Purim Sheni scroll for the 1st of Elul commemorating the deliverance of Maghrebi Jewry from King Sebastian of Portugal in 1578
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Presenting the full, somewhat short text of the Megillah of Sebastiano, telling the story of a great miracle that occurred to the Jewish community of Morocco on 1 Elul 5338, or August 4 1578 CE. On that day, King Sebastian of Portugal attempted to conquer Alcácer Quibir in North Africa — and inevitably to force the inquisition on the Jews of Morocco. But he was turned back at the last moment, protecting Moroccan independence for several more centuries. This scroll is traditionally recited in Jewish communities in the Maghreb to celebrate the repulsion of the Portuguese. . . .
מִי כָמֹֽכָה לְשַׁבָּת שֶׁל חֲנֻכָּה | Mi Khamokhah l’Shabbat shel Ḥanukkah (a Mi Khamokha piyyut for the Shabbat of Ḥanukkah) — by Israel Najara
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Yisrael Najara
This is a Mi Khamokha piyyut by Yisrael Najara for Shabbat Ḥanukkah retelling Megilat Antiokhos in a lengthy fourfold acrostic with each stanza ending in בוֹ. . . .
יהי רצון אחרי שיר השירים | Yehi Ratson after Shir haShirim, cantillated and translated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
After the recitation of Shir haShirim — which, in some circles, is recited every Friday night — the kabbalists instituted a yehi ratzon, a petition to be recited in the merit of what was just read. In many communities, this petition is recited using the same melodies as the recitation of the scroll itself. As an extension of this custom, here I’ve added cantillation marks to the yehi ratzon after Shir haShirim. Included also is a recitation of the text following said cantillation marks. . . .
אַדִּיר לֹא יָנוּם | Adir Lo Yanum — a Sefaradi piyyut for weddings and Torah-reading days
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
According to Joseph Judah Chorny’s On the Caucasian Jews, this acrostic piyyuṭ was customarily used as an epithalion before a wedding. He writes, “Before morning light, the bride is led to the groom’s house accompanied by many women and men, all carrying lit wax candles in their hands, and singing this song along the way.” Variants of this piyyut are found throughout the greater Sephardic world, generally in an abbreviated and slightly altered form. In Syria it is sung during the haqafot for Simḥat Torah, while in Livorno Sephardic practice (and subsequently in most Eastern Sephardic maḥzorim) it is a Shavu’ot piyyut. . . .
כתובה לחג השבועות | Ketubah for Shavuot, by Yisrael Najara (ca. 16th c.)
Contributed by: Yisrael Najara, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
In many eastern Sephardic and Mizraḥi communities, there is a custom that a poetic “ketubah,” or marriage-contract, is recited before the Torah service on Shavuot. This custom, based on the midrashic idea that the Torah is the ketubah for the marriage between the bride Israel and the groom God, is beloved by the ḳabbalists. By far the most commonly used Shavuot ketubah is that of the great paytan and meḳubal Yisrael ben Moshe Najara, who wrote the following some time in the sixteenth century. This is a new translation of Najara’s poem. . . .
💬 מְגִלַּת פִּסְגָּה | Megillat Fustat — a Purim Sheni scroll for the 28th of Adar commemorating the deliverance of Egyptian Jewry from Hain Ahmed Pasha in 1524
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Behold, a full text of the Megillah of Fustat, telling a story of a great miracle that happened in 1524 CE (5284 AM). . . .
כָּאנְדְרִי נְדְרִיהוּם | אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Kaanₔdri Nₔdrihom — a Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (Darija) adaptation of Eḥad Mi Yodeaȝ
Contributed by: Unknown (translation), Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (Darija) adaptation of the Passover counting song Eḥad Mi Yodeaȝ, as found in Mahzor Moȝadé Hashem. . . .
י״ט של ק״ק קארפינטראס לט״ו בחדש כסליו | Poetic Additions for 15 Kislev, for when a heavily armed group of gentiles didn’t commit mass slaughter in Carpentras (1512)
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. Here’s a series of piyyutim for the fifteenth of Kislev in Carpentras. On 15 Kislev 5273 (24 November 1512 Julian), a troop of armed men entered the Jewish quarter in Carpentras. While we don’t know much else beyond that, we do know that this was a terrifying enough occurrence to the Jews of Carpentras that when the armed men left, a holiday was declared with multiple piyyutim and a full recitation of Hallel. . . .
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. . . .