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Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown, Shlomo haMelekh ben David, David ben Yishai (traditional attribution)
Tefilat haShir refers to an ancient (perhaps dating back to the Temple era!) custom of reciting the fifteen psalms of ascents (Psalms 120 to 134) before Psuqei d’Zimra. First identified as a unique segment of the Eretz-Yisrael rite by Prof. Ezra Fleischer z”l, this custom was so beloved by the Jews who followed the western rite that long after the rest of its prayer traditions were abandoned it was preserved by the Western-rite Jews of Cairo (see Vered Raziel-Kretzmer, “How Late was the Palestinian Rite Practiced in Egypt?” Tarbiz 85 [2018], heb.) Tefilat haShir was preserved in variant forms in several other communities. For instance, it is found in the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba, published in 1560 for use of the Musta’aravi Jews of Aleppo. It is also found in the Krymchak variant of the Romaniote rite, also known as Minhag Kaffa. In both cases it would be recited exclusively on sabbaths and festivals. (Note that this was not the case in the old Eretz Yisrael rite, where it was a daily practice!) The Kaffa and Aram Ṣoba forms of the Tefilat haShir cycle are very similar, with a few differences in the introduction and the ending. Their core is the fifteen songs of ascents, interlaced with linking verses from elsewhere in Tanakh featuring a Leitwort (theme-word) related to the psalm. Both are included here, with color coding for substantial differences and footnotes to mark minor distinctions. In Minhag Kaffa, as printed in 1735, the Birkat haShir cycle is inserted after the morning Torah study cycle. In the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba, it is the beginning of the service, the first thing recited in the synagogue after monring blessings, and consequently inserted before the Torah study cycle.
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
A full alphabetical acrostic version of the Barukh shèAmar prayer, part of the uniquely complex old Romaniote-rite Psuqei d-Zimra liturgy as found in as found in the 1523 Venice printing of the Maḥzor Romaniote.
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
Barukh shèAmar for Shabbat and festivals, in the Old Persian rite, as recorded in MS Adler 23 ENA 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 Barukh shèAmar is an intricate rhyming acrostic chock full of Biblical references.
Contributed by: Richard Collis (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This Chinese translation of an Ashkenazi nusaḥ for the prayer Nishmat Kol Ḥai is found on pages 1-2 of the liner notes for the Chinese edition of Richard Collis’s album We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers (Wǒmen gēchàng, wǒmen xiāngjù — Ānxírì chén dǎo qídǎo).
Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
The text of the prayer Nishmat Kol Ḥai in Hebrew with English translation.
Contributed by: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This “praying translation” of the piyyut Nishmat Kol Ḥai is included in Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s Sabbath Supplement to his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi ~ As I Can Say It (for Praying in the Vernacular) (2009). The translation includes several prayers that follow the piyyut: Ha-El B’ta’atsumot Uzekha, and Shoḥen Ad.
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The text of the prayer Nishmat Kol Ḥai in Hebrew with a Latin translation
Contributed by: Richard Collis (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This Chinese translation of the short piyyut “Ha-El b’taatsumot” following Nishmat Kol Ḥai is found on page 2 of the liner notes for the Chinese edition of Richard Collis’s album We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers (Wǒmen gēchàng, wǒmen xiāngjù — Ānxírì chén dǎo qídǎo).
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The text of the short prayer ha-El b’Taatsumōt Uzekha in Hebrew with a Latin translation.
Contributed by: Richard Collis (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This Chinese translation of an Ashkenazi nusaḥ for the prayer “Uvmaqhalot Riv’vot” following Nishmat Kol Ḥai is found on page 3 of the liner notes for the Chinese edition of Richard Collis’s album We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers (Wǒmen gēchàng, wǒmen xiāngjù — Ānxírì chén dǎo qídǎo).
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The text of the short prayer uv’Maqhalōt in Hebrew with a Latin translation.
Contributed by: Richard Collis (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This Chinese translation of an Ashkenazi nusaḥ for the piyyut “Shokhen Ad” following Nishmat Kol Ḥai is found on page 3 of the liner notes for the Chinese edition of Richard Collis’s album We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers (Wǒmen gēchàng, wǒmen xiāngjù — Ānxírì chén dǎo qídǎo).
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The text of the short prayer Shokhen Ad in Hebrew with a Latin translation.
Contributed by: the Mesorah (TaNaKh), Unknown, David ben Yishai (traditional attribution), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
An English translation of Psalms 92 set side-by-side with the Masoretic text.
