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 . . .

The text of the Sefer Yetsirah presented here follows the “experimental exercise” produced by A. Peter Hayman in his Sefer Yeṣira: Edition Translation and Text-Critical Commentary, “Appendix III: The Earliest Recoverable Text of Sefer Yesira” (Mohr Siebeck, 2004). For details on his construction and his review of the available recensions of Sefer Yetsirah, please refer to Hayman’s complete commentary. Numbers in parentheses indicate sections. I have added spaces between sections indicate traditional chapter breaks. Square brackets indicate some doubt as to whether the included wording was present in the earlier form of the text (p.124). . . .

A hymn of praise found in the description of the 7th dome of heaven in Sefer ha-Razim . . .

An earlier form of the prayer known as Aleinu, as found in the esoteric Jewish literature of the first millennium CE. . . .

Richard Collis’s English translation of Aleinu with Al Kein and Al Tira is provided in the liner notes for tracks 61 and 62 of his album We Sing We Stay Together: Shabbat Morning Service Prayers (2019). . . .

If one has had a terribly disturbing and potentially auspicious dream, this ritual recorded in the Talmud Bavli (Berakhot 55b) provides a remedy in the form of a means by which the dream itself is judged positively by a small court of one’s peers. . . .

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. . . .

It is challenging to think of how to mark Nicanor Day, as it remains at a disadvantage, not only on years when it conflicts with Ta’anit Esther but on all years since it has no mitzvot. This is probably the main reason that, unlike Chanukah and Purim, it was lost to Jewish practice for more than a thousand years. Nevertheless, we do have its megillah, which has been translated into Hebrew and English. Perhaps, if we start reading chapters 13-15 of 2 Maccabees, even just to ourselves, on the 13 of Adar, we can begin to resurrect a holiday that was celebrated and instituted by Judah Maccabee and his followers over two millennia ago, and which they envisioned would continue throughout Jewish History. With the return of Jews to Israel and Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem, I believe it is about time. . . .

The blessings for kindling the Ḥanukkah lights in Hebrew with English translation. . . .

Selections from 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and Pesiqta Rabbati which inform the story of Ḥanukkah: the desecration and re-dedication of the Temple (especially as it relates to Sukkot and the Brumalia), divine intervention in the Maccabean battles, and the Rekindling of the Sacred Fire. . . .

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). . . .

The popular piyyut for welcoming the Shabbat, in Hebrew with translations in Assyrian-Aramaic and English. . . .

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. . . .

Additional early rabbinic and other sources supplementing the story of the Martyrdom of Isaiah, with attention to Isaiah being granted sanctuary in a tree. . . .

This is the first of four apocryphal psalms from the Cairo Geniza, MS RNL Antonin 798, vocalized and cantillated per Masoretic norms, and translated anew. The origin of these psalms (found in a few pages of an incomplete manuscript) is unclear, with earlier scholars suggesting a medieval pious forgery and more recent scholars suggesting an origin in or contemporaneous with the Qumran community. (In any case, no sign of them has been found in the Qumran scrolls, although some aspects of the Hebrew may suggest a relationship there.) The first psalm found in this partial manuscript is an acrostic psalm. It is incomplete at the beginning, missing the letters alef and bet. It also shows evidence of the Galilean dialect in the confusion between hei and ḥet, a guttural merger also found in Qumran texts and in Samaritan Hebrew. It largely focuses on the covenant with David and his rule. . . .

This is the second of four apocryphal psalms from the Cairo Geniza, MS RNL Antonin 798, vocalized and cantillated per Masoretic norms, and translated anew. The origin of these psalms (found in a few pages of an incomplete manuscript) is unclear, with earlier scholars suggesting a medieval pious forgery and more recent scholars suggesting an origin in or contemporaneous with the Qumran community. (In any case, no sign of them has been found in the Qumran scrolls, although some aspects of the Hebrew may suggest a relationship there.) The second psalm found in this partial manuscript is preserved in its entirety and preserves an introductory schema found for the rest of the psalms here and likely missing from the first. Perhaps the text originally included psalms for each day in Iyyar! This psalm begins by invoking martyrdom, with the powerful image of a shephard killing his own flock. It then transitions into universalist-messianic language reminiscent of texts such as the second paragraph of Aleinu and the Rosh haShanah piyyut Va-ye’etayu, then discussing the beauty of the Torah before ending with a catena of blessings. . . .

The story of Shoshanah & the Elders, according to the text of Theodotion translated into Biblical Hebrew. . . .

This is the third of four apocryphal psalms from the Cairo Geniza, MS RNL Antonin 798, vocalized and cantillated per Masoretic norms, and translated anew. The origin of these psalms (found in a few pages of an incomplete manuscript) is unclear, with some suggesting a medieval pious forgery and others suggesting an origin in the Qumran community. (In any case, no sign of them has been found in the Qumran scrolls, although some aspects of the Hebrew may suggest a relationship there.) Preserved in its entirety, the third psalms in Antonin 798 largely focuses on reversal of fortune. It also appears to invoke the memory of Moshe, but not by name. . . .

The story of Bel and the Dragon according to the text of Theodotion, translated into biblical Hebrew. . . .

This is the third of four apocryphal psalms from the Cairo Geniza, MS RNL Antonin 798, vocalized and cantillated per Masoretic norms, and translated anew. The origin of these psalms (found in a few pages of an incomplete manuscript) is unclear, with some suggesting a medieval pious forgery and others suggesting an origin in the Qumran community. (In any case, no sign of them has been found in the Qumran scrolls, although some aspects of the Hebrew may suggest a relationship there.) Preserved in its entirety, the third psalms in Antonin 798 largely focuses on reversal of fortune. It also appears to invoke the memory of Moshe, but not by name. . . .