Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
This is an original Esperanto translation of Ein K’Eloheinu, with a transcription using my own original Hebraization schema. . . .
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Yanai haPayetan, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The piyyut, Omets G’vurotekha by Elazar ha-Qalir, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel. . . .
Contributed by: Marqeh ben Amram, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Itti Bishlam is a sixteen-hundred year old Samaritan Aramaic poem attributed to the great Samaritan sage Marqeh son of Amram. In twelve stanzas it tells the story of the night of the tenth plague and the Exodus. Samaritans traditionally recite it on the night before the holidays, the Sabbaths before the holidays, and the evening before the first day of the first month (the Samaritan new year, fourteen days before Passover). Largely a half-alphabetical acrostic, the fifth stanza of Itti Bishlam begins with an īt (ḥeth) rather than the expected īy (her), understandable considering the loss of guttural distinctions in Samaritan phonology. (See the number of Jewish poems which confuse sin and samekh for a parallel occurrence.) Itti Bishlam is, interestingly enough, lacking polemic or sectarian content — it never calls upon the Samaritan holy mountain of Aargaarizem (Mt. Gerizim), nor does it include any context that contradicts the traditional Jewish interpretation of the paschal narrative. It is worthwhile for Jews to learn about and understand the liturgical practices of their sister religion, and this poem is a great place to start! . . .
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A unique Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael variant of the Qaddish found in the Cairo Geniza, most well known for including the names of the leading rabbis of the community in its text. . . .
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A traditional Cochin Ḳaddish Shalem, based on siddurim published for the Cochin Jewish community by the Props brothers of Amsterdam. . . .
Contributed by: Paltiel Birnbaum (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Chapter 1 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Paltiel Birnbaum (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Chapter 2 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Paltiel Birnbaum (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Chapter 3 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Paltiel Birnbaum (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Chapter 4 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Paltiel Birnbaum (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Chapter 5 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Paltiel Birnbaum (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Chapter 6 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
A retelling of the story found in Megillat Antiokhus as midrash aggadah. . . .
Contributed by: Anat Hochberg (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This digital edition of Midrash Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah was transcribed from the print edition published in Otzar Hamidrashim (I. D. Eisenstein, New York: Eisenstein Press, 5675/1915, p.189-190). With much gratitude to Anat Hochberg, this is the first translation of this midrash into English. . . .
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: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Jews all over the world announce the new month on the Shabbat before it with a text known as “birkat ha-ḥodesh” or blessing the month. In many rites, such as the Western Sephardic and Moroccan rites, the fast days 17 Tammuz and 10 Tevet are also announced on the Shabbat before them with a text known as “hazkarat tsomot” or announcing fasts. But to my knowledge, only the Italian rite (and possibly the ancient Eretz Yisrael rite from which much of it derives) have a custom of announcing Pesaḥ on the Shabbat before it. This passage, the Announcement of Pesaḥ (Azcaràd Pesah in Italian traditional pronunciation) is recited on the Shabbat before Pesaḥ, commonly known as Shabbat haGadol (Sciabbàd Aggadòl), after the reading from the Torah. Citing the mystical hekhalot literature, it celebrates the sages who established the rules of the calendar. . . .
Contributed by: Yiḥya Tsalaḥ, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Many communities have a custom of announcing on the night of 9 Av the years since the destruction of the Temple. The Yemenite rite is unique in that it announces both the years since the destruction of the second, but also the years since the destruction of the first, in this poetic form recited after the conclusion of the evening kinnot. Why? Because the Yemenite community traced its origins back to the destruction of the first temple, claiming not to have returned under Ezra. Here the original Hebrew text is included along with a new translation and a transcription in the Yemenite pronunciation style. . . .
Contributed by: Jospeh Ziegler (translation), Emmanuel Tov (Hebrew reconstruction), Septuagint (translation/Greek), 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 (translation), Unknown
This is a Birkat ha-Mazon in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ incorporating a reconstruction of a liturgy for a Birkat haMazon for Shavuot witnessed in the Cairo Geniza fragment T-S H6.37 (page 4, recto and verso). Visit here, for a transcription and translation of the former (without the full Birkat ha-Mazon). . . .
Contributed by: Jacques Faïtlovitch (translation), Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The text of the Betä ʾƎsəraʾel legend of the death of Moses, translated to Hebrew by Jacques Faïtlovitch, and vocalized, cantillated, and translated into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
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. . . .