אֲדוֹן הַסְּלִיחוֹת | Adon haSeliḥot, a pizmon for Seliḥot and Yom Kippur with an alphabetic acrostic translation by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1937)
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❧An alphabetic acrostic pizmon for seliḥot and Yom Kippur with an alphabetic acrostic English translation. . . .
כִּי בְּשִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר בְּתַמּוּז | Ki b’Shivah Asar b’Tamuz, a seliḥah for the 17th of Tamuz
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❧A penitential piyyut for the fast of the 17th of Tammuz. . . .
מִימִינִי מִיכָאֵל | “Mikhael is on my right,” the angelic invocation for divine protection from the Ḳriyat Shema al haMitah
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❧The “angels on all sides” formula included with the Bedtime Shema service in many contemporary siddurim. . . .
מה אלו | “Who are these?” — the Origin of the Angels of Healing: Sanoi, Sansanoi, and Semanglof, as told in the Alphabet of ben Sira (ca. late first millennium)
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❧The origin story of Lilith as told in the Alphabet of ben Sira. . . .
אֵל אָדוֹן (אשכנז) | El Adōn, a piyyut attributed to the Yordei Merkavah (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
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❧The piyyut, El Adon, in Hebrew with an interpretive “praying translation” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalom, z”l. . . .
יְיָ בּוֹקֶר אֶעֱרוֹךְ לְךָ | Hashem Boqer E’erokh Lakh (Hear my voice at dawn), a reshut by an unknown paytan (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)
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❧This translation of “Adonai boker e’erokh lekha” by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of a piyyut by an unknown paytan was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . .
אֲשֶׁר הֵנִיא | Asher Heni, a piyyut recited after the reading of Megillat Esther and its concluding blessing
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❧An alphabetical acrostic piyyut celebrating the victory of Esther and Mordekhai over the forces of Haman. . . .
דַּיֵּנוּ | Daiyenu, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
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❧The piyyut, Dayenu, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel. . . .
אַדִּיר הוּא | Adir Hu, the acrostic piyyut in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel (1644)
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❧The alphabetic acrostic piyyut, Adir Hu, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel as found in his translation of the Pesaḥ seder haggadah, Liber Rituum Paschalium (1644). . . .
הספר ששמשו בו הכשדים | Theurgy of the Kasdim, an astral-magic treatise on the seven angels of the week
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❧A work of Jewish astrology and magic containing recipes specific to the angelic rulers of each day of the week. . . .
💬 פֶּרֶק שִׁירָה | Pereq Shirah, a litany of verses spoken by the creatures & works of Creation (after the arrangement of Natan Slifkin)
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❧Talmudic and midrashic sources contain hymns of the creation usually based on homiletic expansions of metaphorical descriptions and personifications of the created world in the Bible. The explicitly homiletic background of some of the hymns in Perek Shira indicates a possible connection between the other hymns and Tannaitic and Amoraic homiletics, and suggests a hymnal index to well-known, but mostly unpreserved, homiletics. The origin of this work, the period of its composition and its significance may be deduced from literary parallels. A Tannaitic source in the tractate Hagiga of the Jerusalem (Hag. 2:1,77a—b) and Babylonian Talmud (Hag. 14b), in hymns of nature associated with apocalyptic visions and with the teaching of ma’aseh merkaba serves as a key to Perek Shira’s close spiritual relationship with this literature. Parallels to it can be found in apocalyptic literature, in mystic layers in Talmudic literature, in Jewish mystical prayers surviving in fourth-century Greek Christian composition, in Heikhalot literature, and in Merkaba mysticism. The affinity of Perek Shira with Heikhalot literature, which abounds in hymns, can be noted in the explicitly mystic introduction to the seven crowings of the cock — the only non-hymnal text in the collection — and the striking resemblance between the language of the additions and that of Shi’ur Koma and other examples of this literature. In Seder Rabba de-Bereshit, a Heikhalot tract, in conjunction with the description of ma’aseh bereshit, there is a clear parallel to Perek Shira’s praise of creation and to the structure of its hymns. The concept reflected in this source is based on a belief in the existence of angelic archetypes of created beings who mediate between God and His creation, and express their role through singing hymns. As the first interpretations of Perek Shira also bear witness to its mystic character and angelologic significance, it would appear to be a mystical chapter of Heikhalot literature, dating from late Tannaitic — early Amoraic period, or early Middle Ages. . . .
רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָמִים אַתָּה צִוִּיתָֽנוּ לְהַקְרִיב | Ribon ha-Olamim atah tsivitanu l’haqriv — let the offering of our lips substitute for animal sacrifice
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❧This is the Ribon ha-Olamim prayer contained within the concluding readings of the Qarbanot section as an introductory preface to the Morning prayers. In most siddurim in which the Karbanot are included, this prayer appears immediately after Ana b’Khoaḥ and before the rules of Midrash Halakhah taught by Rebbi Yishmael. . . .
Υγρομαντεια | The Hygromancy of Solomon (ca. 5th c. CE)
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❧A guide to the activities one might engage upon in every hour of the week corresponding with their ruling planet, numinous and cthonic power. . . .
היסטוריולה של סממית וסידרוס | Historiola of Smamit and Sideros, a reconstruction based on Amulet 15 & Amulet Bowl 12a
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❧A very old tale told for the protection of pregnant women and their infant children as found in amulets from late Antiquity. . . .
אסו ית ארסינואי | Two healing prayers for Arsinoë’s recovery (Amulets 80.AM.55.1 & 80.AM.55.2, J. Paul Getty Museum)
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❧Healing prayers written on a pair of amulets for the recovery of a woman named Arsinoë . . .
קדיש שלם | Ḳaddish Shalem — Chinese translation by Richard Collis (2022)
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❧This Chinese translation of an Ashkenazi nusaḥ for the “Qaddish Shalem,” the full-ḳaddish is found on page 27 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). . . .
חצי קדיש | Ḥatsi Ḳaddish — Chinese translation by Richard Collis (2022)
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❧This Chinese translation of an Ashkenazi nusaḥ for the “Ḥatsi Qaddish,” the half-ḳaddish is found on page 4 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). . . .
בִּרְכַּת הַקֶּשֶׁת | the Blessing upon observing a Rainbow (with art by Ilene Winn-Lederer)
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❧The prescribed rabbinic blessing upon observing the meteorological phenomena of a rainbow, together with exceptional art inspired by early rabbinic midrash. . . .
💬 פרקי אבות פרק א׳ | Pirqei Avot: Chapter One, cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Chapter 1 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .
💬 פרקי אבות פרק ב׳ | Pirqei Avot: Chapter Two, cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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❧Chapter 2 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation. . . .