🆕 אוֹפָן לשבת לפני שבעות | Ofan for the Shabbat before Shavuot (and the second day of Shavuot in some communities)
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Unknown
This anonymous ofan, also recited on the second day of Shavuot in some communities, uses alliteration to describe the many hosts of angels descending upon Sinai in awe and reverence as the Torah was given. The translation preserves the alliteration over the alphabet, seeing as the ofan in this form doesn’t include the entire alphabet either. As an ofan, it is recited within the Ḳedusha d-Yotser, between the verses of Isaiah and Ezekiel (included here). The ofan is recited on the second day of Shavuot in some communities. . . .
אדיר הוא | Awesome One: an Alphabetical English Interpretation of the piyyut Adir Hu, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Adir Hu, a classic Pesaḥ song if ever there was one, is a part of Seder tables all over the planet. Its alphabetical list of God’s attributes, combined with its repeated pleas for a return to Jerusalem, make it a classic, to the point where the traditional German farewell greeting for Passover was not “chag sameach” or “gut yontef” but “bau gut” – build well. This interpretation, while not a direct translation by any means, has the same rhythmic pattern and alphabetical structure, giving a sense of the greatness of God. . . .
שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם | Shalom Aleikhem, the piyyut for Friday evenings in German translation by Franz Rosenzweig (1921)
Contributed by: Franz Rosenzweig (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The popular adjuration of the angels of peace and ministering angels, Shalom Aleikhem, in Hebrew with a German translation by Franz Rosenzweig. . . .
Óró sé do bheatha abhaile | הוֹי בָּרוּך הַבָּא הַבַּֽיתָה (Hoy! Barukh ha-Ba ha-Baitah) — adapted by Pádraig Pearse (1916; Hebrew translation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer)
Contributed by: Pádraig Pearse, Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
“Óró sé do bheatha abhaile” is one of the most popular Irish rebel songs. Adapted from a folk song (with possible 18th century Jacobite origins), the most popular modern version, written by the poet and republical activist Pádraig Pearse and sung by the Irish Volunteers during the 1916 Easter Rising, is full of messianic and biblical imagery that makes it ripe for adaptation into a Hebrew piyyut. Presented here is “Hoy! Barukh Ha-Ba Ha-Bayta,” a Hebrew adaptation singable to the original melody. . . .
בּױגעזאנג | Baugesang (Building Song): an alphabetical Yiddish adaptation of the piyyut 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!” . . .
אֵין אַדִּיר כַּיְיָ (מִפִּי אֵל) | Ayn Adir kAdonai (Mipi El) :: There is none like YHVH
Contributed by: Akiva Sanders (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A popular piyyut for Simḥat Torah (4th hakkafah) originally composed as a piyyut for Shavuot and often referred to by its incipit, “Mipi El.” . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
ἕνας ὁ κύριος | Hénas ho Kýrios, a piyyut in Judeo-Greek for Shavuot (ca. 16th-17th c.)
Contributed by: Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis (translation), Elisabeth Hollender (translation), Unknown
A piyyut in Judeo-Greek for introducing the Decalogue. . . .
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. . . .
קיו סציאַס אונו? | אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Kiu Scias Unu? — an Esperanto translation of Eḥad Mi Yodéa by Erin Piateski (2010)
Contributed by: Erin Piateski (translation), Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
A translation of Ḥad Gadya into Esperanto by Erin Piateski with a Hebraicization schema for Esperanto by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. Piateski’s translation first appeared in her כוכב ירוק הגדה של פסח | Verda Stelo Hagado de Pesaĥo (2010). . . .
קְי ווֹלְירַה קְי אְינטְינדְירַה | אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Che volera, che entendera — a Judeo-Sienese translation of Eḥad Mi Yodea
Contributed by: Unknown (translation), Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
Eḥad Mi Yodéa is a counting-song that is a beloved part of Seders the world over. Counting up to 13, it is mostly written in Hebrew, but there are versions that can be found in many different languages. This translation is in the Judeo-Italian dialect of Siena, based on Geremia Mario Castelnuovo’s 1956 recording from Leo Levi’s collection of Judeo-Italian ethnomusicological recordings. A link to the original recording can be found here. . . .
חַד מָה יוּדָא | אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Ḥad Mah Yuda :: Who Knows One?, a counting-song in Aramaic translation
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
The text of the popular Passover song “Who Knows One?” in Hebrew set side-by-side with an Aramaic translation. . . .
אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Якумин кӣ медонад | Yakumin Ki Medonad :: a Bukhori (Judeo-Tajik) Translation of Eḥad Mi Yodea by Rabbi Shimon ben Eliyahu Hakham (1904)
Contributed by: Shimon ben Eliyahu Hakham, Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
Eḥad Mi Yodéa is a counting-song that is a beloved part of Seders the world over. It is mostly written in Hebrew, counting up to 13, but there are versions that can be found in many different languages. This translation is in Bukhori, also known as Judeo-Tajik, as translated by the great Shimon ben Eliyahu Ḥakham (1843-1910), the chief rabbi of the Bukharan Jewish community in Jerusalem. His full translation of all liturgical additions in the month of Nisan for the Bukharan community can be found in חוקת הפסח Ḥuqat haPesaḥ (1904) – the source for this transcription on page 128-130 (see included). Shimon Ḥakham transcribed it into vocalized Hebrew script, which is included here alongside transliterations into Tajik Cyrillic and a Roman transcription. . . .
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. . . .
אֶחָד מִי יוֹדֵעַ | Eḥad Mi Yode’a :: Who Knows One?, a counting song in Hebrew and Yiddish (Prague Haggadah, 1526)
Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The text of the popular Passover song “Who Knows One?” in its original Hebrew and Yiddish, with a translation in English. . . .
חַד גַּדְיָא | ‘Awa Fwampoptsyìp (One Little Tapirus) — a Na’vi translation of Ḥad Gadya
Contributed by: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish quadrant, and in many communities it was read in translation. This adaptation into the language of the Na’vi is very useful when celebrating liberation from the tyrannical RDA. . . .
חַד גַּדְיָא | | Min Yacincë (מִן יַקִינְקֶי) — a Judeo-Quenya translation of Ḥad Gadya by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Ḥad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout Arda, and in many communities it was read in translation. This translation into Quenya is necessary for any good Lothlórien sedarim. But to be serious, Quenya was one of several languages developed by J.R.R. Tolkien. It serves as the sacred ancestral language of the Noldorin elves in the Middle-Earth legendarium. The editor here has developed this adaptation of the well-known seder table-song Ḥad Gadya into Quenya, as well as a home-brewed transcription system into Hebrew script included here (PDF | ODT). This translation uses several fan-made terms, such as cuimacir for “butcher” and luhtya- for “extinguish”, as well as one original neologism, yacincë for “kid-goat.” . . .
חַד גַּדְיָא | Mēre Hobritsos (מֵײרֶע הוֹבְּרִיטְסוֹס) — a Judeo-Valyrian translation of Ḥad Gadya by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is the translation of Ḥad Gadya into Judeo-Valyrian with a Hebraicization schema for Valyrian by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
חַד גַּדְיָא | Hād-ĕi Gădìyă (הַ֨דֵ֬י גַ֬דִ֖יַ֬א) — a Tărgŭn Bìyènlìyén Dì translation of Ḥad Gadya derived from an alternate timeline by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed by: Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
In our timeline, the Kaifeng Jewish community had originally spoken Persian as their lingua franca, before adopting the Kaifeng dialect of Mandarin that their neighbors spoke. But just change a little and all of history could be different! This is a translation of Ḥad Gadya in a timeline where Judeo-Aramaic was a little more prevalent in eastern Persia all those years ago. In this timeline, instead of speaking Judeo-Persian before adopting Chinese, the Kaifeng Jews spoke Aramaic. And this dialect of Aramaic, like many other languages spoken in the greater Chinese cultural sphere, underwent tonogenesis! . . .