
Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.
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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!
Contributed by:
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Unknown
A series of ten short couplets describing the ten plagues afflicting the Egyptians in Egypt, 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!
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alice Montefiore Lucas (translation), Unknown
A rhymed translation of Tsur Mishelo, a paralitugical Birkat haMazon.
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alice Montefiore Lucas (translation), Unknown
A rhyming translation of the pizmon for maariv on Yom Kippur.
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Unknown
This is the piyyut “Ki Hinéh kaḤomer (Lo! as the potter…)” a piyyut by an unknown paytan for maariv on Yom Kippur, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Yom Kippur, Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim vol. 1 (1904), p. 39.
Contributed by:
David de Sola Pool, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A rhyming translation in English to the popular piyyut, Adon Olam.
Contributed by:
Israel Zangwill (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Adon Olam is a piyyut that became popular in the 15th century and is often attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021–1058) and less often to Sherira Gaon (900-1001), or his son, Hai ben Sherira Gaon (939-1038). The variation of the piyyut appearing here is the 10 line version familiar to Ashkenazi congregations. (There are also twelve, fifteen, and sixteen line variants found in Sepharadi siddurim.) The rhyming translation here by Israel Zangwill was transcribed from the Jewish Quarterly Review vol. 13 (January 1901), p. 321.
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alice Montefiore Lucas (translation), Unknown
The cosmological piyyut, Adon Olam, in its Ashkenazi variation in Hebrew with an English translation.
Contributed by:
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
“Aryeh Shâăg” is the second reshut offered before Barukh sheAmar at the outset of the Zemirot (preceding Shaḥarit) on Shabbat Ḥazon — the final shabbat before 9 Av. It is the second reshut among the reshuyot in the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Ḥazon.
Contributed by:
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
“Eftaḥ Pi le-Hodot” is the first reshut offered before Barukh sheAmar at the outset of the Zemirot (preceding Shaḥarit) on Shabbat Ḥazon — the final shabbat before 9 Av. It is the first reshut among the reshuyot in the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Ḥazon.
Contributed by:
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Unknown
“Boré ‘ad Anah” is the second reshut offered before the Torah service following Shaḥarit. It is the tenth reshut among the reshuyot in the Old Sefaradi Tiqun for Shabbat Ḥazon — the final shabbat before 9 Av.
Contributed by:
Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
This is a poetic Birkat haMazon for Pesaḥ, from the Cairo Geniza (CUL T-S H11.88 1v). Much thanks to the work of Dr. Avi Shmidman, whose 2009 doctoral thesis is the foundational work for poetic Birkat haMazon studies. He marks it as Piyyut 64, and his Hebrew-language commentary begins on page 394 of his work. I’ve included two translations of the poetic portions — one literal and one preserving the acrostic and rhyme scheme.
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Unknown
This is the piyyut “Az K’einei Avadim (As slaves, with eyes beseeching,…)” by an unknown paytan for the seventh circuit of the Hoshana Rabba service (on the seventh and final day of Sukkot), published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Sukkot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Sukkot (1908), pp. 183.
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Unknown
This is the piyyut “Az K’einei Avadim (As slaves, with eyes beseeching,…)” by an unknown paytan for the seventh circuit of the Hoshana Rabba service (on the seventh and final day of Sukkot), published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Sukkot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Sukkot (1908), pp. 183.
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Israel Zangwill (translation), Unknown
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alice Montefiore Lucas (translation), Unknown
A rhyming translation of Elohai Neshamah.
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alice Montefiore Lucas (translation), Unknown
A rhyming translation of the evening prayer Hashkivenu.
Contributed by:
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alice Montefiore Lucas (translation), Unknown
A rhymed paraliturgical translation of the prayer over sleeping.