This is an expanded posthumous adaptation of the Yiddish translation of “Teḥinah Imahot” originally written by Leah Horowitz and published in the late 18th century. This variation is found in The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled and translated by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992), pp. 84-88. The concluding prayer is longer in this variation than in the earliest published version.

This is a transcription of the Megillat Aqdamut (also known by other names) in its first printing in Yiddish, in Fürth 1694. The transcription is based on an earlier transcription of the Fürth 1694 printing published by Isaac Rivkind in “די היסטאָרישע אַלעגאָריע פון ר׳ מאיר שַ״ץ” (“The Historical Allegory of Rabbi Meir, shatz [Shaliaḥ Tsibur]”) the first chapter in Filologishe shriftn vol. 3 (1929), pp. 1-42. (The transcription of the Aqdamut appears on pages/numbered columns 12-33.) The legendary retelling serves as a frame tale for the recitation of the Aramaqic targumic piyyut, Aqdamut Milin, by Rabbi Meir ben Yitsḥaq Nehorai of Orléans (d. ca. 1095).

This is Dr. Morris Faierstein’s transcription and translation of one of the earliest teḥinot from the earliest surviving edition of the Tsenah u-Re’enah (Basel/Hanau 1622) as found in his article “The Earliest Published Yiddish Tehinnot (1590–1609)” in Hebrew Union College Annual, 2020, Vol. 91 (2020). The transcription of the Yiddish sourcetext is found on page 206 and the English translation is found on page 187. The translation is shared under the libre Open Access license (Creative Commons Attribution) provided for the critical translation of the text in Ze’enah U-Re’enah: A Critical Translation into English (Volume 96 in the series Studia Judaica, ed. Morris M. Faierstein; De Gruyter 2017).

The text of the popular Passover song “Who Knows One?” in its original Hebrew and Yiddish, with a translation in English.

Making sense of Ḥad Gadya beyond its explicit meaning has long inspired commentary. For me, Ḥad Gadya expresses in its own beautiful and macabre way a particularly important idea in Judaism that has become obscure if not esoteric. While an animal’s life may today be purchased, ultimately, the forces of exploitation, predation, and destruction that dominate our world will be overturned. Singing Ḥad Gadya is thus particularly apropos for the night of Passover since, in the Jewish calendar, this one night, different from all other nights, is considered the most dangerous night of the year — it is the time in which the forces of darkness in the world are strongest. Why? It is on this night that the divine aspect of Mashḥit, the executioner, is explicitly invoked (albeit, only in the context of the divine acting as midwife and guardian/protector of her people), as explained in the midrash for Exodus 12:12

A prayer for the welfare of the government in Yiddish from A Naye Shas Tkhine Rav Pninim (after 1933).

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!”

A quadrilingual text of U-N’taneh Tokef — Yiddish, Ladino, English, and Hebrew.

The Yiddish translation of the Aramaic piyyut “Arkin” is appended to the first known printing of the Maaséh Aqdamut (Fürth 1694). The transcription is based on an earlier transcription of the Fürth 1694 printing published by Isaac Rivkind in “די היסטאָרישע אַלעגאָריע פון ר׳ מאיר שַ״ץ” (“The Historical Allegory of Rabbi Meir, shatz [Shaliaḥ Tsibur]”) the first chapter in Filologishe shriftn vol. 3 (1929), pp. 1-42. (This translation of the Aqdamut appears on pages/numbered columns 40-42.)

The Megillat Antiochus was composed in Palestinian Aramaic sometime between the 2nd and 5th century CE, likely in the 2nd Century when the memory of the Bar Kochba revolt still simmered.. The scroll appears in a number of variations. The Aramaic text below follows the critical edition prepared by Menaḥem Tzvi Kaddari, and preserves his verse numbering. The English translation by Rabbi Joseph Adler (1936) follows the Hebrew translation in the middle column, the source of which is a medieval manuscript reprinted by Tzvi Filipowsky in 1851. Adler and Kaddari’s verse ordering loosely follows one another indicating variations in manuscripts. Where Aramaic is missing from Kaddari’s text, the Aramaic version from Adler’s work is included in parentheses. Adler also included a Yiddish translation which we hope will be fully transcribed (along with vocalized Hebrew text, a Hungarian translation, and perhaps even a Marathi translation from South India) for Ḥanukkah 5775 , G!d willing.

The mantra-like piyyut “Ēin k-Ēlohēinu,” a praise of God’s attributes and uniqueness featuring incremental repetition, is found in siddurim as far back as the siddur of Rav Amram, and may date back to the Hekhalot literature. Many versions of it have been compiled in different languages, most famously Flory Jagoda (zç”l)’s Judezmo variant “Non como muestro Dyo.” Here the editor has compiled traditional Yiddish and Ladino translations, as well as developed new Aramaic and Arabic translations for this piyyut. The post-piyyut verses used in both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic rites have been included.

This is a faithful transcription by the Yehoyesh Project of the Yiddish translation of Psalms 2 made by Yehoyesh Shloyme (Yehoash Solomon) Blumgarten (1870-1927) published in Torah, Neviʼim, u-Khetuvim vol. 2 (New York: Yehoʼash Farlag Gezelshaft, 1941). The complete transcription of Torah, Neviʼim, u-Khetuvim by the Yehoyesh Project in copy/pasteable and searchable plaintext may be found here.