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!”

This is a variation of the “Baugesang,” a variation of the piyyut Adir Hu sung in German translation. Better known in form found in the 1769 Selig Haggadah, this is a variation published in 1717 by Paul Christian Kirchner.

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).

The piyyut, Dayenu, in its Latin translation by Johann Stephan Rittangel.

Doyen 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, to the best of his ability, developed this adaptation of the litany of thanksgiving at the culmination of Maggie into Quenya, with thanks and credit to the experts at elfdict and in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord server for their help. He has also transcribed it into a home-brewed transcription system into Hebrew script also used for his Min Yacincë translation of Ḥad Gadya, as well as his Minë mamo ista? Translation of Eḥad Mi Yodea.

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

This piyyut of unknown authorship is certainly ancient, showing the lack of a rhyme scheme characteristic of the REALLY old piyyutim (see also Aleinu or El Adon). It is still found in some Ashkenazi and Teman maḥzorim, with many different mostly minor variants (which have been combined together somewhat eclectically into one text here). It is presented here along with an English translation attempting to preserve the Hebrew acrostic. Originally it was recited before the Ashrei leading into musaf, but perhaps for those who follow Ashkenazi customs a more appropriate location would be as an introduction to the Yizkor service on Shmini ‘Atzeret — which for those who don’t keep second-day yontef is the same day. It could also be adapted as part of the liturgy for the seventh of Adar, although the final verse (the old Western rite berakha for finishing a full Torah cycle) would have to be elided.

This Aramaic poem, written in the early Byzantine era by an unknown author, can be found in its entirety within the Targum Sheni for Esther 7:9. It features an argument between an assortment of trees over which one is required to bear the great dishonor of having to be the one to hold Haman. It’s also chock-full of anti-Christian polemic and references to Toledot Yeshu.

This is an original Esperanto translation of Ein K’Eloheinu, with a transcription using my own original Hebraization schema.

A unique Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael variant of the Qaddish found in the Cairo Geniza, most well known for including the names of the leading rabbis of the community in its text.

A traditional Cochin Ḳaddish Shalem, based on siddurim published for the Cochin Jewish community by the Props brothers of Amsterdam.

Chapter 1 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation.

Chapter 2 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation.

Chapter 3 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation.

Chapter 4 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation.

Chapter 5 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation.

Chapter 6 of Pirqei Avot (Fundamental Principles [of Rabbinic Judaism]) with cantillation and English translation.

This digital edition of Midrash Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah was transcribed from the print edition published in Otzar Hamidrashim (I. D. Eisenstein, New York: Eisenstein Press, 5675/1915, p.189-190). With much gratitude to Anat Hochberg, this is the first translation of this midrash into English.

This is a direct transcription, including cantillation and non-standard vocalizations, of the cantillated Megilat Antiokhos found in the British Library manuscript Or 5866, folios 105v-110r.

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